Best cell service option whilst living overseas?

March 29, 2007 12:03 AM

I'm in the market for a quadband GSM phone, for extended travelling purposes. Should I buy one independently or go through a cell provider?

I will soon be leaving the US for a few years, and am looking into
long-term options for cellphones. I'll be in Europe/Scandinavia primarily (Romania and Iceland, specifically), but will also be spending time travelling the Continent and Oceania, as well as some time in the States.

Am I better off buying an unlocked phone and prepaid SIM cards on my
own, or going with a service provider's plan? I'm currently using
T-Mobile, who offers quadband phones and prepaid international roaming (I want to pay up-front, as opposed to using a monthly plan).

Does anyone have any experience with this? What's a better option, from a cost/convenience standpoint? Recommendations for good providers? Unlocked phone/SIM card sellers?

posted by the luke parker fiasco to technology (11 comments total)

You're going to be better off buying an unlocked phone once you reach your destination. The market for unlocked phones is far, far more competitive outside the US.
posted by nathan_teske at 12:33 AM on March 29, 2007

while prices outside the US for international calls has gone up over the past few years, they are better than the "plans" that companies like cingular and t-mobile offer here in the united states for four-band phones. which are outrageous if you expect to use your phone a lot overseas.

to be honest, im not really sure how unlocked phones work overseas, somebody else is better off explaining that. but when i was abroad i did have a phone bought for me, and i always used that, and never my american phone (which was about a dollar a minute, plus a 10-15 dollar monthly charge for international activation), and the best of all worlds was simply buying pre-paid calling cards and using public telephones. but i was essentially travelling (business was very casual) and i confined my travelling to 1 or 2 countries. im not sure getting a european phone in one country and using it in another is such a promising alternative.
posted by phaedon at 12:45 AM on March 29, 2007

You can get a T-mobile prepaid sim with a US phone number, then get a cheap unlocked phone when you're in Europe and SIMs for the countries you want. You can get prepaid accounts at convenience stores and the carriers' stores. I kept my SIMs in a little case and would pop them in as needed in order to make sure I'm paying the least, but still reachable at my US # [fetching voicemail, and calling people back with the cheapest SIM I can use].

The T-mobile SIM will be nice to have a US phone number, but the cost/minute for calling people down the street in Europe will be expensive. The local SIMs will have local numbers and decent local and European rates -- and maybe even cheaper rates to the US.

T-mobile's phones are locked to their network. They will unlock a phone after a while, on the post-paid accounts it is six months. That is six months where every call is $1.99/minute. And friends in Europe will have to pay for a call to the States to talk to you. The reverse is people in the States will be able to call you cheap over there [but you pay more per minute to take the call].
posted by birdherder at 12:48 AM on March 29, 2007

I think we need some more information. How long will you be in each of these places? And will you be shuttling between Romania and Iceland all the time, or spending a year in one place and a year in another? Furthermore, would the cell phone be for calling home, or just for local business? Would SkypeIn with voicemail and call forwarding to your cell phone work?

As a data point, I lived in Indonesia for a year, bought the cheapest Nokia GSM phone out there, and did pay-as-you-go; it was way cheaper than using my home cell phone - but SkypeOut was cheaper, and once I got an internet cafe to install it (no internet hookups in the kampung - and something that won't be a problem in your destinations), I was happily spending 2 cents a minute to call the US and Europe. Not to be the ultimate Skype fanboy, but yeah, it was awesomely cheap.
posted by mdonley at 1:17 AM on March 29, 2007

I think we need some more information. How long will you be in each of these places? And will you be shuttling between Romania and Iceland all the time, or spending a year in one place and a year in another? Furthermore, would the cell phone be for calling home, or just for local business? Would SkypeIn with voicemail and call forwarding to your cell phone work?

As a data point, I lived in Indonesia for a year, bought the cheapest Nokia GSM phone out there, and did pay-as-you-go; it was way cheaper than using my home cell phone - and once I got an internet cafe to install Skype, I was happily spending 2 cents a minute to call the US and Europe using SkypeOut. Not to be the ultimate Skype fanboy, but yeah, it was awesomely cheap.

Oh! Could you not get a local phone/data plan with web access and access Skype from there? Hmmm...
posted by mdonley at 1:23 AM on March 29, 2007

Definitely get an unlocked (quad band) phone. You can still use it with TMobile or Cingular service, but you have the freedom to switch providers once overseas. The only disadvantage is that when switching to another service, your phone number will change.

If you already have a US plan and want to keep it, particularly TMobile, enable it for overseas use, and pop that chip in the phone when needed. The rates will be much higher per minute, but you'll have your US number. If you are in one country for a long time, though, it would be more cost effective to switch to a local provider. Having an unlocked phone will allow you to do that.

The PEBL can be purchased on eBay or through online retailers for about $125. I have also used the Nokia 6131 overseas, which is a terrific phone, though with a poor battery life.

Quad band phones used to be rare and expensive, but now you have a lot of options. Keep your phonebook in the phone, not the SIM, so that you will not lose your contact list if you switch providers.
posted by bchaplin at 5:15 AM on March 29, 2007

You're going to be better off buying an unlocked phone once you reach your destination.

Are the ones sold overseas generally quad-band? Everyone outside the US only needs dual-band.
posted by smackfu at 7:35 AM on March 29, 2007

You should be able to get an unlock code for most GSM phones, even if you have to pay a little for it. Nokias for example can be unlocked by entering a code on the keypad; some others require a download or firmware update. You'll get a better deal on a phone if you buy it with service; I just picked up a quad-band Nokia from Cingular for $100 rather than the $350+ it would have cost me to buy the same phone unlocked at an online retailer.

SIM cards for phones shouldn't be expensive. Anyone know if it would cost you an arm and a leg to have calls forwarded from the US number to the Europe one, or would this sneak under the radar somehow? I have a feeling it would end up costing someone some amount of money...

Another alternative - the Nokia E61 (NOT the E62, which is sold in the US) has WiFi built in, and can do VoIP calls if a WiFi access point is available. This is a quad-band phone. It's kind of large (slight bigger than an iPod) but the WiFi could make it really, really easy to use outside of the US. I actually bought the E62, so no WiFi; after my purchase I learned that the E61 is not sold in the US specifically because US carriers do not want to risk allowing customers to use WiFI/VoIP rather than paying for data plans and voice calls. I like my phone, but damn - I really wish the WiFi could be added to my current model!
posted by caution live frogs at 7:53 AM on March 29, 2007

You actually only need the 850mhz band in parts of the US on the Cingular network, so the typcial triband sold outside the US will work everywhere except in those 850 areas in the US.

US Triband: 850/1800/1900mhz
Rest of World Triband 900/1800/1900mhz
Quadband: 850/900/1800/1900mhz

A quadband phone is best, and yes they are sold outside the US as well, to make sure you have coverage everywhere you go. Most phones sold are tribands. Either to the US or ROW frequency. If you get a European triband you'll be able to use it everywhere on the planet except some rural places in the US.

I've been using a European tri-band in the US on T-mobile and have never found a place where I needed 850mhz. But the 900mhz band is very popular outisde the US and so if you have a US triband, you will find yourself without service in a lot of places.
posted by birdherder at 8:02 AM on March 29, 2007

You're better off buying a phone in Europe but if you can't wait that long you can either buy a phone on eBay or sites like: myworldphone.com plemix.com mobilebee.com etc.
posted by riffola at 8:19 AM on March 29, 2007

for clarification ...

i won't be doing much shuttling; i'll be in romania for a couple of years, iceland about the same, with some incidental travelling in-between. my main concern is that i don't know yet where in romania i'll be; whether i'll have the opportunity to pick up a phone while i'm there, or have easy access to SIM cards. (which also raises the question of whether the phone will get signal, but for long-term purposes it seems worthwhile to have it regardless.) the comment about phone numbers brings up a good point; i'd prefer to have a static number, but not if the costs run prohibitively high.

from what people have been saying, it seems that going pre-paid with a provider for the minimum number of minutes might be the way to go (if only for the phone discount) and then look into SIM cards for the destination locations. the initial US prepaid SIM might be pricier, but good to have around for emergencies, and as a US number for incoming calls.

thanks for the feedback, everyone.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 11:02 AM on March 29, 2007