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Canda, US, Europe Cell Phone and Plan

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  SkyHook 
#1 ·
I know there are some people on here who travel a lot, I'd appreciate their feedback on the best international phone and plan. Right now I have AT&Ts one-rate plan, works great for the US and Canada, but I'll be in western Europe for three of the next six months and need a phone and plan that won't eat me alive (I am the company, and I am frugal).

Anybody found the perfect setup? I'd like to avoid my current system of three different phones and a few more SIM cards in Europe, just go, keep my Canadian # probably. Primarily Switzerland, France and Norway. I like the look of the TREOS, and you can buy one that's not SIM locked, so I could use the SIM cards I already have. Ideally I'd be on an unlocked quadband GSM phone, but have a plan that treats Canada and the US, anywhere in those two countries, as one "calling area" and then 50 cents a minute or something in Europe Might be nice if synced with my powerbook too...

Ideas appreciated, thx.
 
#3 ·
I would not have suggested this 3 months ago but at this point, Fido has the best Roaming and European roaming agreements. They offer fully syncable bluetooth phones and their Canadian coverage is now the same as Rogers.

Bluetooth world phones Here , Here and Here

See International Roaming

The rates suck no matter what solution you choose.
 
#5 ·
It is expensive to roam. It averages around a buck a minute or more. The only breaks you can get are with US roaming with some plans but if you travel to Europe, you'll likely pay the buck a minute rate. The only way I've found to avoifd that is to buy PAYG SIMS for same-country calls. Much cheaper but also means you have to track different numbers.

European coverage is great though (for GSM).
 
#6 ·
Buy an unlocked GSM and buy a local pkg that suits your needs there.

Buy pay-as-you-go cards everywhere else you go.

PS. I use telus/mike in TO cause I had a friend who used it. Now he's with Virgin Mobile. D'oh. I have nobody to walkie talkie with.
 
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