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Roaming with Cingular in Italy & Austria....advice?
I will be in Italy and Austria for 2 weeks. I was originally going to buy an Italian Sim card and use that but then decided that at most I may call ahead to the hotel or use the phone for emergencies or problems. I think I will just use the Cingular international roaming feature.
Can anyone give advice or things to watch out for? Is it really only $1.29 a minute or are there hundreds of dollars in hidden fees?
The advantage to the european sim card with european phone number would be that it's prepaid. No way to go over. But if I am only going to use maybe 30 minutes it won't be advantageous. Another option is to keep a prepaid phone card in my wallet for use on payphones. You can get plenty of minutes for a traveler for $5.
Anyway ...
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Can anyone give advice or things to watch out for? Is it really only $1.29 a minute or are there hundreds of dollars in hidden fees?
The advantage to the european sim card with european phone number would be that it's prepaid. No way to go over. But if I am only going to use maybe 30 minutes it won't be advantageous. Another option is to keep a prepaid phone card in my wallet for use on payphones. You can get plenty of minutes for a traveler for $5.
Anyway ...
(continues)
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First, make sure you have international roaming activated on your plan. It's not always something you can just start using.
Second, of course make sure your phone supports the correct bands: 900 and 1800. If your phone is quad-band, you're all set. If it's tri-band, check the networks where you'll be going:
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_it.shtml »
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_at.shtml »
Second, of course make sure your phone supports the correct bands: 900 and 1800. If your phone is quad-band, you're all set. If it's tri-band, check the networks where you'll be going:
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_it.shtml »
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_at.shtml »
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US GSM carriers have been known to double-charge you if you let your phone ring and roll to VM while roaming. For just a few calls, it's okay to roam. OTOH, incoming calls are free on prapaid.
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get cingular world traveler added to your account. it costs you $5.99 for the month you use it and only $.99 per minute. no double charges. otherwise you're paying big time. also not only make sure you have a quad-band phone, but also make sure it's unlocked if you want to use it in europe. cingular phones will not work with any other sim chips if not previously unlocked.
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