Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2014 22:07:05 -0500
Reply-To: James <jk_eaton@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: James <jk_eaton@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: NVC European Travel - Cell Phones
In-Reply-To: <008e01cf082e$6f416bf0$4dc443d0$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
As Ron says for Germany, so for Finland - except that Finland invented the modern cell phone, so there are more competitors, and price competition is ferocious, so expect lower prices, and a card that probably gives you a good deal on calling in Finland, calling back to the USA or Canada, AND dirt-cheap texting. As Ron says, though, buy a card for each country - cards that call between European countries were/are more expensive than cards that call in-country and back to North America.
In Finland, there are little tobacco/candy kiosks everywhere that sell these (try the "R-Kioski" ones), and nearly every Finn under 60 speaks good/fluent English. Tell the person behind the counter what you want (data/text/local calling/calling back to North America) and they'll suggest the best card. The last time we went, the card we got had national calling at under 3 eurocents a minute (no in-country long distance), calls back to Canada at 6 eurocents a minute, and texts at 2 eurocents each, and was good for a year. We bought the 10 euro version, which did us for three weeks.
Make sure your phone works on the European GSM frequencies, which are not the same as N.A. ones. Ours didn't the last time we went, so a German friend picked up a new Siemens cell phone for us for 25 euro.
James
Ottawa, ON
> Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2014 21:49:30 -0500
> From: vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM
> Subject: Re: NVC European Travel - Cell Phones
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>
> > Hoping some of you international travelers could provide me with some good
> > advice. I have a work trip coming up for a week in Finland & Germany. I'd
> like to
> > know the best deal for getting a SIM card to at least handle data and
> texting while
> > there. ... I'm wondering if it's as simple as picking up a pre-paid card.
>
>
> Pretty much. Buy a prepaid SIM card when you get there, use it and discard
> it. You will probably need one in each country, as it is typically much
> cheaper than "roaming" from country to country on the same card. They
> generally go dormant after a year or so, so don't buy more value than you
> expect to use on your trip unless you're visiting again soon. (You can top
> off if needed.) In Germany (can't comment on Finland) there are various
> smaller phone card brands that use the larger carriers' networks, as in the
> U.S. Some of them offer significantly lower rates (especially when it comes
> to data and making/receiving U.S. calls) than those offered by the companies
> whose towers they actually use. Google it before you leave - there's lots of
> info out there.
>
> - Ron Salmon
> The Bus Depot, Inc.
> www.busdepot.com
> (215) 234-VWVW
>
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