A cheap phone for my European vacation?

June 22, 2017 6:57 PM

I am going to Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands and I want to have a phone in case of emergency. My normal cell phone doesn't offer any sort of international roaming and it is "locked" so I can't just swap SIM cards, so I think I probably need a cheap "burner" phone that works in Europe. What's my best option here?

Do you think the Amsterdam airport will cell burner phones by any chance that work in all these countries? What about the Copenhagen airport? Or should I order one online and have it sent to my hotel in advance?

I want something very cheap that I can use for three weeks in case of emergency -- just simple phone calls and text messages are all I need. I also want the least amount of hassle, and I want a phone that will work in all three countries. Thank you!

posted by AspirinPill to Travel & Transportation (20 answers total)

What carrier do you have? Some will unlock the phone for you if you will be traveling internationally. Even the hated Sprint did that for my wife's phone a few years back when we traveled to Ireland.

If you can get the phone unlocked then you can just order the SIM ahead of time (eBay) and put it in your phone when you get there.
posted by kindall at 7:10 PM on June 22, 2017

The phone is likely to be cheaper in the US, so I would buy one there before you go and then buy a local SIM when you arrive (although there are various options for arranging the SIM in advance in the US also). However, like the poster above, call and ask your carrier about unlocking your phone first.
posted by ryanbryan at 7:19 PM on June 22, 2017

Response by poster: Boost Mobile, which I think is affiliated with Sprint. They specifically state they don't offer roaming and unlocking varies on a number of factors and may only work with certain types of carriers even if they do unlock. I don't know enough about doing this and it sounds like a hassle. I don't know what SIM card to buy or how to set it up to cooperate with my phone.

I really just wanted to know if I could buy a cheap burner phones that work will in the countries I need with would be ready to go without me doing anything. The very last thing I want is to get to Europe and have no means of communicating with the people I am meeting up with.
posted by AspirinPill at 7:24 PM on June 22, 2017

Blu is a decent brand of phone available through Amazon (and elsewhere) that's very reasonably priced. I bought this one in 2015 for my time in Rwanda. I specifically wanted a smartphone and those capabilities. They have cheaper options if that's not important to you but having that functionality of different apps was extremely helpful to me (google maps being the main one!)

The blue phones are automatically unlocked so you can just pick up a cheap SIM card when you get there (but still have a wifi option available as well- get whatsapp for communication with those back home as well!)
posted by raccoon409 at 7:24 PM on June 22, 2017

(I realize that I wasn't using it in Europe, but it would work there as well- i think I might have even made a call or two with my Rwandan SIM card when I transited through Switzerland)
posted by raccoon409 at 7:27 PM on June 22, 2017

Call Boost and ask them if they will unlock your phone. Then tell us what phone you have and we'll tell you if it works on European frequencies. (Most recent ones do; the days of manufacturers making separate versions of a phone with different radio hardware for different regions are largely behind us. Modern mobile radios support all frequencies used worldwide.)

As to how to get it to work, you make sure you get the right size SIM for your phone (there are three sizes) and you take the old one out and put the new one in. Easy peasy.

N.B. I would avoid using the term "burner phone" as it has... shady... connotations.
posted by kindall at 7:36 PM on June 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just get your phone unlocked and then buy a SIM when you arrive. That's the lowest hassle method, really. Why buy another phone when you already have one? And it is nice to have a smartphone with data for maps and such.

If you post your specific phone model here, people can point you towards unlocking options.
posted by ssg at 7:37 PM on June 22, 2017

Response by poster: These are the listed frequencies for my phone: CDMA 800/850/1900 - LTE 2/4/5/12/25/26/41

Just dawned on me that I own an AT&T Z222 "Go Phone" that I used in Canada for emergencies a couple years back. Maybe I can just have this turned on for European roaming at an AT&T store.
posted by AspirinPill at 7:46 PM on June 22, 2017

You can easily purchase a cheap phone and SIM at any of the numerous phone stores you'll find in any of those countries. There's no longer any data roaming in Europe so the phone/SIM you get will be all you need.
posted by humboldt32 at 7:59 PM on June 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Just a word of warning: I bought a SIM card at the airport either in Amsterdam or in Copenhagen (can't remember which one I went to first) a couple of years ago, intending to use it in both the Netherlands and Denmark. The person who sold it to me claimed that Lebara SIM cards would work in both countries (and indeed, I had bought prepaid Lebara cards in each country individually in the past with no problem). So I put enough credit on it for my whole trip. However, when I entered the other country, it did not work after all, and I had to buy a new Lebara SIM there, losing my previous credit (although it did work in Germany on the way). So yeah, maybe assume you will need a new SIM card for each country, unless you get particularly lucky. (The rates will be better that way anyway.)
posted by lollusc at 8:27 PM on June 22, 2017

The rates will be better that way

Much, much better.

International roaming is like hotel room phones. Just don't use it. In-country prepaid SIM ftw.
posted by flabdablet at 10:32 PM on June 22, 2017

Sadly, your phone won't work in Europe, nor will the AT&T phone.
posted by ssg at 10:35 PM on June 22, 2017

Response by poster: Sadly, your phone won't work in Europe, nor will the AT&T phone.

Both phones use SIM cards and are able to connect to GSM frequencies that are used in Europe (and are dual CDMA/GSM) so I don't see why not, if they are unlocked. In AT&T's case, I believe they specifically offer roaming in Europe without the need for a new SIM card. Please explain why you say that or please don't leave unhelpful comments. Thanks.
posted by AspirinPill at 10:55 PM on June 22, 2017

The rates will be better that way

Much, much better.

This is no longer true: roaming charges have been abolished by the EU.
posted by jouke at 11:38 PM on June 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: International roaming within the EU is no longer a thing, the rules changed on June 15.
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-17-885_en.htm

If I were you I would buy a cheap prepaid phone at the airport or in the first large electronics store you see. There are stores at Schiphol that sell phones and I'd be surprised if they did not offer anything useful.
For some context: Mediamarkt (a large Dutch electronics store) sells very simple candybar phones that start at 13 € and come with 5 € in prepaid credits.
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:46 PM on June 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Well, I just spent hours searching and I actually don't think my normal phone can be unlocked and used overseas because the SIM card is for LTE, not GSM. (The confusing part is it seems this same model of phone is used in different places so the specs were different on different sites, or maybe the sites are just wrong. Who knows.) Really wish people had just answered the question I asked in the first place instead of sending me on a wild goose chase to try to bring my own cell phone with me. I am going to buy a phone when I land.
posted by AspirinPill at 12:12 AM on June 23, 2017 [3 favorites]

If you'd prefer your cheap travel phone to have smartphone capabilities, the simplest Android model at Mediamarkt will cost you €50. So that's an option too.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:13 AM on June 23, 2017

Tmobile plans include global roaming with their normal phone plans (they start around 50 bucks a month) You could get a burner phone and Tmobile plan for one month. (dont get the payasyougo plan) its a bit of a hassle signing up and cancelling after a month, but it can be done.

You should also check out freedompop, they have ridiculous to free monthly plans for phones and hotspots that worked well in Germany, they also have options to just get a SIM card to put into a cheap burner phone you find.

Ed
posted by edman at 12:01 PM on June 23, 2017

I bought a blu phone like this one on Amazon for Europe. They're cheap and fairly hard to break, and I liked not having to scramble for a phone upon landing (though of course I did have to find a SIM card).
posted by BungaDunga at 6:07 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: In case anyone finds this thread, the shops at Schiphol said their SIM cards only worked in the Netherlands, which I thought was odd. But I had a lot of time to kill in the airport and I asked multiple employees at a couple different shops and they all said the same. I bought a SIM card in Copenhagen, but I never ended up using it. The free wifi in restaurants and hotels was enough for me to communicate and Whatsapp was a good replacement for being able to make phone calls the old-fashioned way. I did all my texting and phone calls through Whatsapp. I did like having my SIM card and unlocked phone in case of emergency, but I never needed it.
posted by AspirinPill at 12:51 PM on August 2, 2017