Newbies to Med trying to figure out phone plans

[lhsmith]

We are USA citizens starting a cruise in June. We are a bit confused about cell phone options. Do we bring our unlocked phones with us and pay roaming charges? Do we purchase country-specific SIMs that shift the charges to family members calling us? Do we just throw the cell phones away and use a SAT phone? What have others done to keep in touch with family at home?

[multihullsailor6]

Hi Larry,

I try and use Skype as much as possible and emails which means of course internet connection, this either through wifi or via a SIM internet card. I do buy local SIM cards for the phone calls (local and international) one cannot avoid and then also send SMS. Sat phone connections are expensive. When on longer offshore routes I have a Spot2 Tracker to send progress updates.

[s/y spindrift]

I suggest you investigate the option of an international SIM card. We use Travel Sim which works in most countries and is reasonable but not cheap. Otherwise a local sim. Best J

[atoll]

sat phone worked out much cheaper for me in the med than a uk roaming mobile if i needed to contact people.
and free for incoming 100character emails.

with a roaming mobile you pay both ways @roughly $1.70 a minute,even for incoming calls,sat phone worked out at $1.00 a minute.

buying a local sim card is also the way to go,but you may need to buy a european phone as well as the work on different freq here

[goboatingnow]

You can easily pick up. Prepaid SIM cards in med countries

That's the easiest , so bring a unlocked quad band gsm phone

Dave

[Boracay]

I don't know about US/Europe but roaming plans from Oz have a poor rep here.

For instance: Roaming plan, smart phone, updates weather & map regular like, roaming charge each time, bill measured in multiple boat bucks on return a few weeks later.

We did find it hard to get a simple prepaid plan in Europe. Maybe other members can advise.

[CarinaPDX]

Agree with Dave - most Med cruisers buy a European GSM phone, unlocked, and buy SIM cards in each country. If you are buying just for Europe, standard gen 2 GSM voice phone, then a two band is all that is needed. A quad band is necessary for use in the US (with T-Mobile and AT&T); for years I would come back to the US for the holidays and slip in a T-Mobile prepaid SIM, then back to the local SIM for each country. Of course, data is another issue, and requires more bands. Cruisers stay in touch by both SMS text messages and email. For email I used local wifi and Airmail (via ham radio, but also available on Marine SSB via Sailmail).

For calling internationally, get an account with a call-back provider.

Skype can work very well, provided a good data connection is available. Unfortunately that is not always the case; the days of unlocked wifi systems is mostly past.

Greg

[Jacques2]

I mostly agree with CarinaPDX... Except that for "phoning" it is very easy to use Syype by wifi. Along the coasts (for what I Know) from France to Turkey you will have cafés and restaurants which offer free wifi connections, you will have marinas and a lot of hotspots... So the most important is to have a 3G connection , it means a 3 G Sim Card for data... If you have an iPhone or iPad these 3G sim card will transform it in a modem that 4 others items cans use (Laptop, tablets, other smartphones, etc...) And it will be of great value to get free weather forecasts ( a lot of choice in the Med), to send mails, or texts, 5MS, to use Googoo earth to prepare your navigation, or reserve a berth, or have a look to SeaSeek, etc...
It means, you can have with you your own mobile phone because you will not use it a lot (only if very necessary) !
In fact the most difficult for you may be to understand the different languages of the different countries you will visit or to find people who speak english to explain you how to do with a sim card in Greece for example (how to pay, charge, etc...) But it is part of a travel, isn't ?

[stevensuf]

try looking up global sim and world sim, they give you a uk and us number and cheap calls in the med.

[hellosailor]

lh-
International roaming is generally expensive. Satphones are generally expensive, even more so, but then again they are cheaper than domestic long-distance cellular calls were 12 years ago.

You might also want to look into a Google Voice number, because that allows you to have calls forwarded to other numbers. So you give the family your GVoice number, and if you change SIMS or plans while you are overseas, you don't need to give everyone new numbers, you can just redirect the GVoice forwarding, from any web connection. An option to consider.

If you look online for prepaid international SIM cards/plans, you'll see a variety with rates, etc. posted for different areas. Some you can buy before you go, others after you get there.

And if you've got GVoice, you can also retrieve your voicemails from over the web, so folks can leave you a domestic US voicemail message, and you can pick it up free from a web connection. Or call them back for free, using GVoice over a web connection or WiFi.

Not as handy as a phone in your hand--but a good resource to look into.

[Kenomac]

Prepaid SIM card on a cheap euro cell phone. We paid only $19 for the phone and use the SIM for local calls; 20 euros prepaid will last a month for local calls here in Spain. Then we use magicjack for incoming calls from the USA and to anyone in the USA. Just as long as we have internet access, the magic jack calls are free. Can get internet access at local marinas and cafes for free and then through a prepaid sim computer card on our laptop for 30 euros per month for 1GB.

[Kettlewell]

Be careful with Google Voice. It sounds great in theory, but I have tried it a couple of different times, separated by several months as I thought maybe my first experience was just bad luck. But, both times I had serious problems: calls not forwarded, or people calling in and not getting the voice mail. I couldn't figure out the problem so I gave up on it.

[boatman61]

Cell phone is for emergencies... Skype and the internet give all the contact I need.. and a lot cheaper

[Visarend]

IMHO, one of the best (and simplest) options for international calls while cruising: GYMSIM - International mobile phone sim cards
Only, their local network in Italy uses a 3G system, therefore only recent 3G compliant phones can be used. No such problem in other countries.
We are using a GymSim since 2006, works fine, costs very acceptable (see their rate card: http://www.gymsim.com/pdfs/world44voicerates.pdf)

[sy_gilana]

Gymsim works well.
Go to Telefonia movil sin ataduras | moviles libres | Simyo and look at their offers.
You can do Portugal/Spain/Italy on Simyo.
In EU you do not pay for incoming calls.
Bring an unlocked phone, or buy an unlocked one through simyo.
Suggest you open a bank account in the EU, just deposit your cruising funds in there.
This way you can have a phone on contract. You can draw cash at atms, without fees, you can shop online, etc etc. Far from being a problem, having a EU credit card linked to your cruising kitty bank account will open doors for you. Make it a NON resident bank account and there are no tax implications. just my 2c...