Verizon wireless - World Phone Options for European Travel?

Author

World Phone Options for European Travel?

Richard Kaplan

2007-05-09, 10:33 pm

I have a Treo 700p and Verizon service. I will soon be traveling to
Europe for a short trip and would like at a minimum to be able to
receive my voice calls and ideally be able to receive my email as well
during that trip.

Is there a phone I can buy which will use my existing Verizon phone #
but will roam in Europe? If not, then if I forward my current cell
phone calls to a new phone, what options do I have for a short-term
voice/data phone in Europe without being obligated to a long-term
contract?

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2007-05-10, 10:33 am

Richard Kaplan wrote:
> I have a Treo 700p and Verizon service. I will soon be traveling to
> Europe for a short trip and would like at a minimum to be able to
> receive my voice calls and ideally be able to receive my email as well
> during that trip.
>
> Is there a phone I can buy which will use my existing Verizon phone #
> but will roam in Europe? If not, then if I forward my current cell
> phone calls to a new phone, what options do I have for a short-term
> voice/data phone in Europe without being obligated to a long-term contract?

Well the lack of a way to add WiFi to the 700p makes it totally useless
in Europe.

If it were me paying for the service, and I didn't want to bring a
laptop, I'd bring along a PDA with WiFI for e-mail access, and then I'd
get a prepaid SIM in Europe and just leave the phone number on my
Verizon voice-mail greeting. Maybe I'd set up a Voicestick account with
a U.S. number that forwarded to the prepaid phone which would save those
calling me some money.

If I didn't care about the cost, I'd get the Samsung GSM/CDMA phone and
do global roaming. Note that you're not all that better off even if you
have GSM service, as the roaming rates are very high, but at least you
can use any GSM handset that supports 900 MHz and 1800 MHz with your
AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card. This would be nice, but for many people
giving up Verizon in the U.S. is not an option, because their U.S.
coverage is so much better than the other carriers.

If you're only visiting one country, then buy SIM card specific for that
country as the rates are much cheaper than a SIM card that works in
multiple countries.

Be sure to get a GSM phone that works on both 900 and 1800 MHz (or a
quad band). Watch out for tri-band phones, as the one's primarily for
North American use omit the critical 900 MHz European frequency, just as
the ones intended for use outside North America omit the critical 800
MHz North American frequency. Tri-band phones are virtually worthless as
world phones, though if they have the two bands you need they're no
worse than a dual band phone.

Usually I carry a tablet PC while traveling, as it's relatively small
and light, and much easier to use for the web and e-mail than a PDA or
phone.

If I were to get a PDA phone, I'd get an unlocked HTC 8525, as it's the
only PDA phone with high speed data for both Europe and North America,
and WiFi, and a sliding keyboard. "http://tinyurl.com/2c3em7". It's over
$700.

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