gps and cell in europe

[g4fishing]

Going to Europe next summer (Spain, France, Italy, Germany) and will be driving. Would like to get a gps for navigation and a cell phone that will work there. Anyone have any info on either of these? Thanks.

 

[Jimster]

cell

Depending on how long you will be gone and what use you intend to make of each item makes a difference. It also makes a difference as to what service you have now. I believe AT & T phones will work there now. It is just a matter of subscribing. If that's not what you have, then you can rent or purchase a phone. Often Rail Europe has a promo to give you a low cost cell with the purchase of rail passes. I have one of those and while the phone itself is not all that great, it gets the job done at a relatively low cost. I have a friend that calls me from Europe from time to time with Skype and the would be a possibility if you are taking a laptop. As for a GPS, my guess is that the best approach would be to find a rental car company that will include that with the price. I suspect that is possible through Hertz for one. There are also some companies and airlines that make both of these available for a price. Do a google search and I'm sure you'll come up with some. I hope for your sake you don't plan on driving in Rome!

 

[alanmj]

There are technology differences between the US and Europe with regard to cell phones. Do a google search and you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about GSM and 850/900/1800/1900 MHz frequencies. For Europe you need an 1800 MHz GSM phone, but that won't work in the US, which uses 1900 MHz.

You can either purchase a cell phone in Europe for European use, or get a tri-band GSM phone in the USA and use it in Europe. Cheapest way though is not to use your US SIM card when in Europe, but to purchase one in each European country. This will mean a different number in each country (and only worthwhile for stays of a week or more), but means that received calls are free, and dialing out is much cheaper. To put in other SIM cards though you need to have your phone unlocked from the network provider you purchase it from in the U.S. Not sure about the U.S., but in Canada Rogers charge an extortionate amount ($300) to unlock one of their phones. But there are many web sites that will give you the unlock codes for as little as $15.

GPS works anywhere. Buy one in the US as they are much cheaper than in Europe. You will need to get the maps additionally though.

 

[somerville]

Going to Europe next summer (Spain, France, Italy, Germany) and will be driving. Would like to get a gps for navigation and a cell phone that will work there. Anyone have any info on either of these? Thanks.

For the cell phone, you will need one that uses the GSM system and can operate on the European frequencies. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM, and most newer phones can operate on European frequencies. If you have AT&T or T-Mobile, you can arrange ahead of time for international roaming. If you want to use a carrier in the country you are going to be visiting, you will need an unlocked phone, in order for that carrier's SIM card to work. If you have been with AT&T or T-Mobile long enough, they may unlock your phone for free. Otherwise, you may have to pay a third party to unlock it or purchase an unlocked phone.

As for GPS, any GPS should work in Europe, as long as you have European maps installed. I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 370 because it comes preloaded with both North American and European maps. It was cheaper to buy the 370 with preloaded maps than to buy the European maps separately at a later time.

 

[Linda74]

We just purchased a TOMTOM 920 GPS. It has maps of North America and Europe. So far, it works well here and we look forward to taking it to Europe in April and May. The cost to rent a GPS was very expensive, that is why we purchased here. I have used my AT&T cellphone the last few times in Europe. It is a Motorola and considered a "world phone." It works great, I just call AT&T before I go and add on a package for about $4.99 per month which reduces the cost of calls. Just check to see that your countries on are on the package. It also works great in Mexico. The calls are expensive, still....about $1 to $2 per minute....If you get a European cell phone, incoming calls may be free but the person making the calls from here still has to pay.

 

[g4fishing]

thanks for the help

Lots of good information - thanks! I think that I will purchase a gps here with pre-loaded maps of Europe. I am here in Canada and have a Rogers phone and their fee to unlock it is way out of line. I think that I will try to purchase a used unlocked phone (may-be ebay?) and then see what kind of sim card/ plan will work over there. Still a bit fuzzy on the phone but I will have to do some more research.

 

[CarlK]

I just bought a TomTom GO 920. I have been using it for about a week, and will use it in Italy in May. Since you are in Canada, check out the Radioworld website. They are located in Toronto, but will mail anywhere. I received good service from them. They carry all the major GPS brands.
Carl

 

[tcc]

Cell Phone

Check out www.mobal.com We went to England last year and I opted to purchase a GSM World Phone for $49. There is no activation fee. You are assigned a phone number (England phone #) which is yours for life. There are no monthly charges. The phone works in over 150 countries (not USA). I bought it strictly for an emergency phone. The phone quality is adequate. The cost per minute is about $1.50 (charged to a credit card). We used the phone about 3 times and received a couple of calls. There were no unexpected charges on the card when we got home. We purchased it as we are planning to use it on several trips overseas.

 

[LGinPA]

Check out www.mobal.com We went to England last year and I opted to purchase a GSM World Phone for $49. There is no activation fee. You are assigned a phone number (England phone #) which is yours for life. There are no monthly charges. The phone works in over 150 countries (not USA). I bought it strictly for an emergency phone. The phone quality is adequate. The cost per minute is about $1.50 (charged to a credit card). We used the phone about 3 times and received a couple of calls. There were no unexpected charges on the card when we got home. We purchased it as we are planning to use it on several trips overseas.

tcc,
Thank you for this useful information and link. This seems to be quite a value for those who travel out of the country regularly and is both inexpensive and practical. We may consider this before we head over to Ireland this September.

Thanks!

 

[alanmj]

Check out www.mobal.com We went to England last year and I opted to purchase a GSM World Phone for $49. There is no activation fee. You are assigned a phone number (England phone #) which is yours for life. There are no monthly charges. The phone works in over 150 countries (not USA). I bought it strictly for an emergency phone. The phone quality is adequate. The cost per minute is about $1.50 (charged to a credit card). We used the phone about 3 times and received a couple of calls. There were no unexpected charges on the card when we got home. We purchased it as we are planning to use it on several trips overseas.

Nothing special about the GSM World Phone. You can get a Prepaid GSM phone for virtually nothing in any European country. I just upgraded to a Motorola KRZR K1 phone - it cost me 79 euro and I got 120 euro calling credit. Beat that.
-No monthly charges
-If you buy it in Germany you'll have a German number, or in Italy an Italian number, or in the UK a UK number...
-Local calling is much cheaper than $1.50/minute
-Receiving calls and texts when you are in the country you bought it from is free
-Number good for 12 months if you don't use it. If you go back to Europe, you just purchase a new phone (and get calling credit) or purchase a new SIM card and put it in your old phone
-Some phones are tri-band or even quad-band, so will work worldwide.

The only "problem" is that it's locked to the network you bought it from, so you can't use it on another network. But there are companies out there that will send you the unlock code for as little as $15. Then you just buy local SIM cards when in different parts of the world (Australia, South Africa, India, etc.).

 

[Fletcher921]

We use the Mobal phone service each time we go overseas. A bit pricey per minute but great for calls now and then. It is just not good for everyday chat calls.

 

[rfb813]

Try United Mobil: www.united-mobile.com.
We have used them for a SIM card in our unlocked ATT phone. They are the cheapest we have found and it worked worldwide. I called ATT and asked them for the code to unlock my phone and they gave it to me over the phone (I called via landline and checked that it worked the ATT rep stayed on the phone with me until I confirmed that it worked). The first time they e-mailed the unlock code to me for my other phone. Most ATT/Cingular phones ar Tri-band or Quad-band phones that work world wide except Japan and Korea. Some of the newer 3G phones even work in Japan and Korea and a re ture world phones.

 

[SmithOp]

We used Orange pay as you go in UK. They offer a sim for unlocked phones, or buy a pay go phone from them, which we did. We opted for phone and text only, but you can get data and gps too, we preferred stopping at pubs for directions I think it was £5.

We didn't rent a car so GPS was not an issue.

We liked being able to add minutes (top up) at any convenience store, and being able to change plans on the fly, we chose Camel for a lot of international calls.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[DanM]

If you are using a local sim in Europe, consider forwarding all your calls at home/workto a Google Voice number, and forwarding the GV number to your European number. This provides free service in the U.S. and calls to most European countries at 10 cents per minute. So the folks that call you at home don't get any overseas charges and you absorb a relatively modest fee...cheaper than paying ATT or Verizon on a per call basis to receive service and keeping your number and no surprises for the friends and family back home.

Plan B, which I did on my last trip, was to use a tablet with an earpiece instead of a phone. Cell companies generally don't let you use VOIP on phones, but let you use it on laptops and tablet data plans. The GrooveIP app for Android and Talktone for IPad are VOIP programs that let you use Google Voice over the Internet for free calls to and from the U.S. and, as indicated above, 10 cents a minute for calls to Europe. So, if I called Mom in NY or she called me, it was free. If I called a restaurant down the street from the hotel in Milan for a reservation, it was 10 cents a minute. Mom talks longer, so it worked out pretty well.