A few questions about European Service Providers.

Hello!

I have been searching around for this info but cant seem to find it...

Are there any providers that cover all of Europe? - Can I get a phone in England, travel to the Netherlands, Sweden, etc. without going into "roaming" mode? Or is this the standard?

What, if any, are the differences between a providers in the US/Canada and Europe?

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When traveling from an European country to another, you have to use the "roaming" mode. But call rates are lower now, much lower than before. Just check any operator's website for details.

Originally Posted by egoa

Hello!

I have been searching around for this info but cant seem to find it...

Are there any providers that cover all of Europe? - Can I get a phone in England, travel to the Netherlands, Sweden, etc. without going into "roaming" mode? Or is this the standard?

What, if any, are the differences between a providers in the US/Canada and Europe?

Hi there,

There are lots of European Service Providers. All of which will cover all countries in Europe. The main players are www . vodafone.co.uk, www . orange.co.uk and www . o2.co.uk. I've given you the UK web address as you mentioned getting a phone in England.

I would recommend buying an unlocked GSM phone before you travel, eBay sell them for around $30. Make sure you buy at least a dual-band GSM phone as countries in Europe operate on 900/1800MHz frequency bands. Tri-band would be better though as this gives you another frequency for other countries on the world which require 1900MHz.

When you get to the UK go into an O2, Vodafone or Orange store and pick up a SIM card to insert into your unlocked phone and away you go. This will also work in all the other European countries you mention, Netherlands, Sweden etc.

As you bought the SIM in the UK, the calls in the UK will be free (incoming) and around £0.15p (30 cents) for outgoing local calls per minute. International calls back to the US will be more expensive. When you travel to other countries in Europe, the phone will work just fine but your UK SIM will then be roaming on another country’s network, therefore incoming calls will not be free and outgoing calls will be slightly more than they were in the UK.

There are many differences between US/Canadian and UK providers. The main ones of interest for you would be compatibility and cost. For example, Verizon’s phone are predominantly CDMA and would therefore be of no use in Europe where they operate on a GSM network. I believe T-Mobile offer GSM phones in the US which you could use overseas. However, you would pay a lot more with a T-Mobile phone roaming on a European network as they don’t have the relationships with the networks. I believe you’d pay around $1.25/minute for incoming and outgoing calls with a US T-Mobile cell phone.

Another consideration, if you want the phone and SIM before you land in England would be to buy a roaming SIM from one of the many smaller virtual mobile operators who ship to the US before you travel. Vodafone, O2, Orange etc, will not ship a SIM outside of the UK this is why I mentioned walking into a store when you get to England. If you like the idea of having the SIM before travel, I would Google something like “international SIM cards” or “Roaming SIM cards” and try to find one with the cheapest call rates for your travel destination, or use a comparison site like www . compare-call-rates.com/compare/international-sim-card/purchase/united-kingdom/usa

I hope this was useful...
Regards,
Woody

Well Top Cell Services s one of the ISP best in the industry.

Hi there.
Before my last trip to Europe (Portugal, Spain, France) I got MTX Connect SIM card and I was really satisfied with it's service. It's FREE to get and covers about 25-30 European countries. Pricing: 0,1 EURO per 1 MB or 10 EURO per 1 day unlimited data. And it's a 3-in-1 Sim. It was important for me because I have a iPhone 6.

Fortunately, there are no roaming fees in the EU since summer 2017 anymore!

Thx for infotmation!