TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Cell Phone Rental in Europe

Re: Cell Phone Rental in Europe

John Levine (johnl@iecc.com)
12 Jun 2005 15:47:25 -0000

> Traveling to Greece and Turkey (Istanbul)and am seeking a reliable
> and competitively priced company to rent a cell phone from. Would
> also like a recommendation as to which phone I should select.

Unless you're only going to be there for a couple of days, you'll be
much better off if you buy a phone and get prepaid SIMs once you get
there. It costs as much to rent a phone for a week or two as to buy
one.

You can get a euro 900/1800 or triband 900/1800/1900 phone on ebay for
under $50. Be sure to get one that has been unlocked to work on any
GSM carrier. (Not "can be" unlocked, any phone can be unlocked, in
theory.) When you get to Greece and to Turkey, buy local prepaid
SIMs, or if you want, you can buy them online ahead of time which
costs more but you know in advance what your numbers will be.

If your goal is primarily so that people in the US can reach you, and
you have a Cingular, AT&T, or T-Mobile GSM phone here, you can use
your current SIM in a euro phone. The per-minute rates are quite
high, but you keep your own US phone number. Call them before you go
to get international roaming enabled, and ask if they have an addon
plan with lower roaming rates.

Another possibility is a "universal" SIM with a Liechtenstein or
Monaco phone number. Their rates are not as cheap as a local SIM, but
you can get one SIM and use it all over Europe and Turkey at the same
not too awful rate.

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