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Cell service in Ireland?
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| zwerl1@yahoo.com 2005-06-25, 4:55 pm |
| I'm going on a vacation for a week to Ireland in August. I need to use
a phone to call my office while I'm there. A few questions: 1)anyone
know if Ireland has decent cell coverage? 2)I'm guessing that the cell
service that's there is GSM, but I really have no idea. Anyone know?
3)Would you please recommend the best way for me to go here - do I rent
a GSM from someone else (if Ireland is GSM) or can I get one from
Verizon? I'm a VZW customer. Thanks.
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| Joseph 2005-06-25, 4:55 pm |
| On 25 Jun 2005 05:13:21 -0700, zwerl1@yahoo.com wrote:
quote:
>I'm going on a vacation for a week to Ireland in August. I need to use
>a phone to call my office while I'm there. A few questions: 1)anyone
>know if Ireland has decent cell coverage? 2)I'm guessing that the cell
>service that's there is GSM, but I really have no idea. Anyone know?
>3)Would you please recommend the best way for me to go here - do I rent
>a GSM from someone else (if Ireland is GSM) or can I get one from
>Verizon? I'm a VZW customer. Thanks.
According to GSM World:
Meteor, O2 and Vodafone all have service and all use both 900 and 1800
Mhz. Bring an unlocked GSM phone capable of 900 and 1800 Mhz and
you'll be all set. If Ireland is like most European countries you
should be able to pick up prepaid SIMs in lots of places but most
surely at mobile phone shops (at least in the major centres.) Unless
you're goingi to be in Ireland less than a week renting is a very bad
idea. With what you pay for your rental you could *buy* your own
phone so if you made a return trip you wouldn't have that expense.
Prepaid accounts appear to be around 20 euros with 10 to 15 euro
credit if you register your phone (typically with a postage paid card
that you'll get with your kit.)
And yes, you can make arrangements with Verizon *for a price*
typically they'll charge you a "feature" fee of $7 or so per month and
will even arrange for you to rent a compatible phone. Unless you
absolutely must have your US phone follow you to Europe directly it's
not a smart move.
Right now you can get a Euro/Asian capable brand new Nokia phone for
$49 or a "tri-band" Euro/Asian/North American model for $99. Of
course the tri-band won't do you any good if you're going to stay with
Verizon in the US. There are other ways for your phone to follow you
such as forwarding your number to a service like Kall8
<http://www.kall8.com>
http://www.mobalrental.com/gsm/1100.asp
And BTW, Vodafone owns 40% of Verizon Communications.
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| George 2005-06-25, 4:55 pm |
| zwerl1@yahoo.com wrote:
quote:
> I'm going on a vacation for a week to Ireland in August. I need to use
> a phone to call my office while I'm there. A few questions: 1)anyone
> know if Ireland has decent cell coverage? 2)I'm guessing that the cell
> service that's there is GSM, but I really have no idea. Anyone know?
> 3)Would you please recommend the best way for me to go here - do I rent
> a GSM from someone else (if Ireland is GSM) or can I get one from
> Verizon? I'm a VZW customer. Thanks.
>
You can buy an unlocked phone and get a SIM over there or rent a phone
from VZW. Sometimes you have to consider what you are trying to do. My
buddy (a cellphone only person)just went over there a few weeks ago and
he considered since he was on vacation and he just needed a way to call
his office periodically and really didn't need to be called he would
also take a vacation from the cell phone too. So he checked out calling
cards and found it was reasonable to buy them from shops once you get there.
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| David L 2005-06-26, 9:55 am |
| I have no personal experience, but follow others European cell phone
travels. Basically buy or rent an unlocked cellphone and buy a prepaid
SIM.
IIRC there was one carrier that had much better coverage outside the
metro areas into more rural areas.
Verizon has been expensive and unreliable in the past, setting up GSM
accounts.
Some of the best info outside of someone who regularly uses a cell
phone there, might be found in an Ireland travel specific newsgroup or
travel info site.
I'd google Ireland cellphone in the alt.cellular groups if no one steps
up with current info.
-
David
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