Traveling to europe for 6 months...

[jimmyrules712]

I'm going to europe for a semester of school and I'm exploring my phone options.

From my research I see 3 options I have:

1.) Pay for the ATT World Traveler feature for $5.99 per month to get discounted roaming fees and just not have a data plan (the question is, will my phone-to-phone calls still be free to my family whom I share a family plan with)

2.) Buy a pay-as-you-go phone and just use my iphone as an ipod and wifi internet browser.

3.) Unlock and use it with a local sim card.

Keep in mind I'm not just traveling for a week, I will be ther for almost 6 months. I'm going to be in the UK the majority of the time for the schooling, but I will probably end up traveling to france, spain, UK, and a few other countries.

So what is my best option?

[acosmichippo]

for 6 months, i would go the unlocking route. Unlocking is easy as pie these days, and this way you won't go through data-withdrawal.

if you decide against unlocking, #2 would be my second choice.

[Youngbinks]

I've used the AT&T International Voice Plan several times now (the $5.99 plan) and it has worked great, but for a stay of 6 months I would recommend either unlocking or getting a Pay-as-you-go phone when you get over there. With the $5.99 plan you don't get free calling in network but the calls are greatly reduced in price.

If you make sure your family has a good international calling plan from their house, then you can buy a SIM that gives YOU free incoming calls. I used one of these before and it worked out really well. If they have an international plan then it costs them <$0.20 per minute on most occasions so that's even cheaper than the $5.99 plan AND you don't have to pay for incoming calls.

[jslappa]

I have the best option for you, and it's FREE! Read on!

First, you will need to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone. Takes 2 minutes these days.

Second, from your iphone go to i.talkster.com. Save the site as an icon on your iphone home screen. You put your real phone number in, then the number you want to call. Talkster then gives your phone a local number for your family to call you back from. That's it!

Your family can save that number as another number to reach you and it will be a local call for them! The same thing happens for you....Let's say you are in the UK. Your family will be assigned a UK number that you can save and any time you want to call them you dial that number. It's a local call for you.

The most important thing here to remember is that you must have a SIM card from the country you are in. When you go to France, get an O2 SIM or whoever, and you will be able to make local calls to your family. You don't have to buy a new phone every time you switch countries, all you need is a SIM for each country. Off to the UK this week? Get a prepaid UK SIM, pop it in and tap your Talkster icon. Enter your number, and their number, and that's it!

Oh yeah, it's free but you and your other caller will have to sit through a 10-second commercial, then you can talk as long as you want. You can even conference call with up to 4 other people from 4 different countries. Unlocking your phone and using i.Talkster.com is going to save you and your friends a bunch of coin.

[acosmichippo]

Oh yeah, it's free but you and your other caller will have to sit through a 10-second commercial, then you can talk as long as you want.

ew. no thanks.

[jslappa]

a 10 second commercial is definitely worth it to me to talk to my wife for the cost of a local call. I have a good friend stationed in Germany and he saves hundreds of dollars when he calls his wife back in the states.

What's the world coming to when poeple aren't willing to listen to a commercial to get something for free? Sheesh.

[acosmichippo]

what's the world coming to when everything we do is invaded by people wanting us to buy their crap?

nothing personal, man... just my feelings.

[jslappa]

I hear you Hippo. A valid point, indeed. I used Talkster on a trip to Germany and I was kinda embarrased when my US friend checked me on making him sit through a commercial, just to talk to me. He jokingly said that if I had enough money to fly to Germany, that I certainly had enough money to buy a calling card and spare him the stupid commercials. I see his point, but my wife is all about the Benjamin's!

[dturner]

One word: Skype.

[sl0ppyshat]

all depends how long you are planning to talk on the phone for.

A prepaid sim and a cheap phone is the easiest route to go. When I was aboard, most people used text messages anyways. Incoming texts are free which is nice.

Check with local cell companies also if you are planning to use your iphone. You dont want to drain your sim because of internet usage.


If you need to call home, like dturner said skype! dont use the cell.

[satishna108]

6 months travel sounds pretty cool.

[focuzed]

hope you have safe travel and a great experience !

[jimmyrules712]

all depends how long you are planning to talk on the phone for.

A prepaid sim and a cheap phone is the easiest route to go. When I was aboard, most people used text messages anyways. Incoming texts are free which is nice.

Check with local cell companies also if you are planning to use your iphone. You dont want to drain your sim because of internet usage.


If you need to call home, like dturner said skype! dont use the cell.

I think that over the 6 month period I will be there I will use skype for calls to and from the USA, so I'm looking at this set up just for local calls in Eurioe. I think I will be making a decent amount of local calls because I will be traveling around with groups of people.

I do not care about the data service, I'd rather not have it then pay a lot extra for it.

Since I'm going to be there so long I'm leaning towards the unlocking route rather then the cheap phone route (i'd do the opposite if I was only going for a week).

So that being said, is there a particular unlocking method anyone recomends? I'm trying to decide if I want to do it now or wait until the big update comes out this summer.

[ravman]

Unlocking an iPhone is WRONG... WRONG I tell you...

We shud all be signing up to official AT&T plans and helping them break their $15 billion profit that they made this year for next.


I'm going to europe for a semester of school and I'm exploring my phone options.

From my research I see 3 options I have:

1.) Pay for the ATT World Traveler feature for $5.99 per month to get discounted roaming fees and just not have a data plan (the question is, will my phone-to-phone calls still be free to my family whom I share a family plan with)

2.) Buy a pay-as-you-go phone and just use my iphone as an ipod and wifi internet browser.

3.) Unlock and use it with a local sim card.

Keep in mind I'm not just traveling for a week, I will be ther for almost 6 months. I'm going to be in the UK the majority of the time for the schooling, but I will probably end up traveling to france, spain, UK, and a few other countries.

So what is my best option?

[jimmyrules712]

Unlocking an iPhone is WRONG... WRONG I tell you...

We shud all be signing up to official AT&T plans and helping them break their $15 billion profit that they made this year for next.

I actually was already using AT&T before i got an iphone...so I don't have a problem with them...and if they existed in europe I would stay with them....but obviously I have no choice but to unlock.

[acosmichippo]

i don't think he was serious...

...i hope he wasn't serious...

[reas0n]

ziphone is the easiest unlocking method i know of

[jimmyrules712]

i don't think he was serious...

...i hope he wasn't serious...

I know he was being sarcastic, the tone of his message was anti-At&t, which is why I responded saying that I don't have any problems with at&t

[icecream]

hey. im in the same boat.. in the UK for 2 months to study..
i planned on doing the unlocking method + talkster but i have a couple of questions..
i'm already here so i have no access to internet through my phone because i keep it on airplane mode to avoid charges from AT&T ( i heard alot about "i left my phone on" horror stories). that means i have no access to wifi either. how do i get on talkster?
does anyone have any recommendations on a sim that will allow talkster and has no roaming charges? preferably with free incoming texts and calls, international mostly.
thanks guys!

[jslappa]

First of all, you should go ahead and unlock right away, since you will be able to use your WiFi safely after removing your SIM. I haven't had a locked iPhone for so long that I don't remember if you can access anything with the SIM out.

Most places that sell prepaid phones are going to have what you need. I don't remember seeing any prepaid SIMs that offered free texts though. Most had free incoming calls in UK. I used Mobile World, but there are others. The TalkAbroad prepaid SIM allows you to travel to over 30 countries in Europe with free incoming calls, and just one number. That one is more expensive.

I once went on a 3-week cruise and rented a sattelite phone. That had free incoming calls and worked literally anywhere I could see the sky.