Rent or buy cell phone for short-term use in Europe?

June 13, 2010 10:02 AM

I'm travelling through the UK, France, Germany, and Austria for a couple of weeks and need a cell phone. I don't want to pay the roaming fees AT&T would charge. Should I a) rent a cell phone in Europe or b) buy a prepaid one? Should I do this once for the trip, or switch each time I change countries? Should I be switching SIM cards? I want the easiest option that's not too expensive. Thanks.
posted by shivohum to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

A MAXroam sim card would cover all of those countries, give you local numbers in each, and a US number you can be reached on, too. Works in any unlocked GSM phone, has data.

Full disclosure: they were a client years ago.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:15 AM on June 13, 2010

I went on a similar trip (having no GSM phone) and bought a Vodafone prepaid phone from a Vodafone store in the UK for 20GBP with lots of credit. I accepted the Vodafone Passport option. Calls are a little more expensive outside of the UK but I think it will work out cheaper than AT&T. However you will have to do the math yourself. I am not aware of "renting" phones as a viable option.

If you want to use your own phone you should tell us your model and we will see if your phone can be unlocked (made to work with other SIM cards which you can purchase cheaply).
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:18 AM on June 13, 2010

There's been some new EU rulings on this. Here's a good quick summary from the Times.
posted by vacapinta at 10:40 AM on June 13, 2010

o2's cheapest PAYG phone (including a sim) is £10, they'll probably get you top up by £10 at the same time, so total bill £20.

Here's their list of charges for calling from/to W.Europe and the UK, 35p per minute isn't too bad I suppose. I'd guess the other large mobile companies would offer a similar deal.
posted by selton at 11:06 AM on June 13, 2010

I visited France and UK last year, using an iPhone I bought used & unlocked. I was able to put a SIM card in it in each country I visited for just as little money as people say, PLUS I was able to put foreign-language dictionaries on the phone. So extremely handy that time I had to explain my horrible migraine symptoms to the French pharmacist!
posted by amtho at 11:15 AM on June 13, 2010

If cost is your main consideration:

1. You should follow amtho's suggestion of getting a cheap unolcked GSM phone and buy a new sim in each country for the cheapest price.

2. Do a bit more research on call pricing based on:

a) whether you will be receiving more calls (if from the USA, not a good idea because calling EU mobiles is not cheap)

b) whether your outgoing calls will be to local/international destinations (if international, then I wouldnt touch a Vodafone/O2 sim with a bargepole as they will gouge your money out of you - I would go for Lyca/Nomi or other specialised sim which gives you cheap international calls - similar sims are available in other EU countries)

c) check that the sim you buy gives cheapers calls to landlines than mobile because you can use calling cards to call internationally if that is the case. Again the winners are non-mainstream sims such as Tesco/Ikea.


If your main consideration is convenience:

Then you should follow the advice given by DarlingBri or Kabbadi Champ (nice name btw, I played it when I was very young)

Any option above will be cheaper than using your USA sim.

If you want more mefimail me.
posted by london302 at 11:53 AM on June 13, 2010

My own research today re renting (though I am looking for a long-term phone, I can't help but read text in front of me) is that renting is the most expensive of any of these options, and you should go with the advice of others here on getting a cheap GSM and SIM cards (which are easy to buy).
posted by whatzit at 4:18 PM on June 13, 2010