Need Cell Phone Help! Going to Antwerp...

S

smithet

Forum Member
My dad has to go to Antwerp, Belgium and needs a cellphone. He's never owned a cellphone before and he's asking me what he will need....but I've never traveled abroad. A co-worker told me I'll need to get him a gsm phone. He's only going to be there a couple weeks, so I'm hoping there's a pre-paid type. Does anyone know where to get a pre-paid gsm phone locally, or if they even exist?
 
i dont know about pre paid.. but verizon has a world black berry.. my dad called me a couple hours ago from lebanon works perfect.
 
prepaid probably wont work overseas as they are all on different networks. all at&t phones work, i dont think verizon will though

i was all over europe a few months ago and always had full service with my sprint phone, albeit i was on different networks...movistar, etc. but i could always get a call through
 
If you want one phone that will work here and there, he needs a tri-band or quad-band phone. I have an 8700c blackberry and have had no trouble with service in several different parts of Europe. If he's just wants service for the trip, but not upgrade his permanent phone, he simply needs a GSM phone with a service plan that supports Europe. Honestly, if it's just a 1-time trip, he may want to look into just renting a cell phone once he's over there. It's pretty popular to rent cells in the tourist areas.
 
Be sure that whatever service you have, they support overseas use. You normally have to let them know before you leave that you need worldwide serve activated. You cant do it once your there, its a total pain in the ass. You cant dial ANY US 800 number from abroad, so your on your own (I had to rent a PC terminal in Paris (CDG) to activate mine over the internet). F'in hassle.

I use T mobile for my service, works better overseas than in the states!

Dont bother renting a phone, unless you dont plan to use it. Before I hand a worldwide phone I rented one for business, and it was about $800 for a weeks use. Its not cheap to take my US phone, T mobile charges about $1 / min roaming.

Learn to text, that usually the cheapest. My last trip to India I think I was under $200 for roaming service due to text use.

Kendall

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http://detroitdyno.com
 
PS - Antwerp is a nice stop. Be sure to tell him to enjoy the beer (if hes a beer drinker), the belgians have more varieties of beer that the french have flavors of cheese.

Kendall
 
my brother in law was just in Europe. He took his T-Mobile phone with him. Before he left he called, and they unlocked it for him so he could use a sim card from there. Once there he purchased a prepaid sim card. Used that card in his phone. Once the minutes expire, you just purchase more minutes.

After he got back, he reinstalled his tmobile sim card.
 
Phones are much cheaper in Europe where it's very easy to get multi band versions. I used to have a World Phone with Verizon. It might be better just for him to get a mobile in Belgium for local use. You can use skype on the computer to call using the internet. Computer to computer is completely free. Dialing to phone numbers has fees, but that could still be much cheaper. Verizon also rents out the world phones. I don't know the rates though. With the availability of the internet, I don't think I'd go through the hassle / cost of getting a US based phone for a few weeks use in Europe.
 
Any unlocked GSM phone can use prepaid SIM cards for overseas. T-Mobile is probably the easiest, as they will provide you with the unlock code, as long as you have been a customer for at least 90 days.
 
When is he going?
We will have our store open in just a couple weeks and will have phones that can be used overseas and can be rented or loaned... plus we give Motown discounts! :D
 
He's leaving this coming monday. I got him a temporary solution, but when he gets back I'm going to try to fix him up right. When your store opens up, I'm definately stopping by. I need to buy a couple new phones and batteries. I'm not looking for a discount or anything, I just like getting the satisfaction of supporting a local business......but discounts are nice.:specool:
 
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