Cellphone For Nine Months In Europe

[jyl]

Daughter is going to Europe in early Sept for nine months.

I'm thinking I should buy her an unlocked iPhone, she should buy a local sim card when she gets there, and just use local carriers for her cellphone service.

Also have her bring her existing iPhone that is on ATT, with a 1 month international plan, just so she will have a cellphone for her initial days in Europe.

Make sense? Any pitfalls I need to think about?

Hmm, can I back up her existing iPhone then restore the new iPhone from that backup, so that all her contacts, data, etc will be on the new iPhone?

[stomachmonkey]

She can use the phone she has.

ATT will unlock it if you are traveling.

Carriers no longer subsidize phones so very likely anything binding her to a lock is expired and they are legally required to unlock.

She can order a local SIM in advance and have it delivered before she ever leaves the US.

Yes you can back up the existing phone and clone to the new one.

[Joe Bob]

That or a burn phone.....prepaid cards for US service and another for euro....

[J-Mac]

The gotcha is data. If she just wants a phone most unlocked phones will take chips from most big carriers in Europe. Blackberry works everywhere, where older
iPhones won't. Make sure the phone will support skype, what's app, viber and if they have any decent internet connection they can make calls to the US or anywhere for pennies on the dollar with a small payment.

[Rick Lee]

What country? Germany won't sell SIM cards to foreigners without a local address. There are lots of ways around this, but it can be a PITA.

[crustychief]

When I go to singapore I Buy a fairly cheap data/call plan for 1 month, You have to use your passport to purchase it. I am willing to bet they have something similar in Europe.

[billybek]

I had purchased a sim card and a one month plan from 3 in the UK.
Three Store - Phones, Mobile Broadband & SIMs
Never ran out of data and the service was pretty good.
A friend had purchased 4 sim cards online and had them sent to our address in Cambridge. They wouldn't ship to a Canadian address. They are travelling through Europe right now so not sure how the plan covers the continent when the plan was purchased through a UK provider.