Cell phone rental recommendation?

marclr911 · Member

Cell phone rental recommendation?

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

I can't help with any rentalinfo as I own my own 'unlocked' phone and keep an Irish Vodaphone account active for my annual trips. Maybe someone else on the board has some insite on rentals. smile

Here's a link to the most recent thread on the subject, though:
http://ireland.activeboard.com/index.spark?forumID=65127&p=3&topicID=10741104

You can probably buy a basic phone on arrival for under $45, complete with a small amount of initial (rechargeable) airtime, or possibly, just use your US phone and number, if you are with ATT / Cingular or T-Mobile at approx. $1.30 per minute. Verizon and Sprint aren't compatable, generally speaking.

Bob

Auld Sod · Veteran Member

Mark,

Just today my wife went to our Cingular office and they got my phone/blackberry set-up for Europe at no charge. The only charges will be any calls incoming or outgoing will be at the .99 cents per minute roaming rate. As it'll only be used sparingly, it should be pretty inexpensive. It'll remain to be seen if my 'net access is operable. That would be great as an extra mapping device.

Caveat: The clerk told her this would work....we'll see how well he knows his product.

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Here's what ATT / Cingular's website has to say:

International Roaming: Rates subject to change. Compatible phone/device required. All carriers within available countries may not be available on certain plans or packages. When outside the U.S., you will be charged normal roaming airtime rates when incoming calls are routed to voicemail even if no message is left. International roaming rates apply for all calls placed or received while outside the U.S. Please consult the following web page, www.cingular.com/international, for a list of currently available countries and carriers. Availability, quality of coverage and services while roaming are not guaranteed. Rates apply to Cingular customers only. Certain billing and credit restrictions apply. Billing may be delayed up to three billing cycles due to reporting between carriers. Taxes are additional. Cellhire is an independent company not affiliated with Cingular Wireless.
Cruise Ship Roaming: Cruise ship roaming rates apply for calls placed while on the ship. To avoid incremental toll charges while on a cruise ship, please insure that you have an international roaming feature activated on your account.
International Long Distance: Rates subject to change. Airtime charges apply. Calling to some countries may not be available. Rates apply to Cingular Wireless customers only. Rates shown are cost per minute. Certain billing and credit restrictions apply. Must meet credit guidelines for International Long Distance Service. Some international carriers charge Cingular higher prices to terminate calls on mobile devices and specialized services (e.g., Premium Rated Services), versus landline phones. Where Cingular is charged a higher fee for these calls, Cingular will pass this cost on to the Customer. The customer will see only one per-minute price on their bill. This single per-minute price includes this higher cost where applicable. Rates apply throughout the same footprint in which the customer's airtime package minutes apply. Please consult www.cingular.com/internationalfor a list of available countries and rates.
Cingular MEdiaTM and Data: Compatible phone required. See MEdia Brochure for details on Text/Instant Messaging, Picture & Video Messaging and MEdia Net or visit www.cingular.com/mediaterms.
DataConnect North America/DataConnect Global: See data terms and conditions.

country details

Ireland

INTERNATIONAL WIRELESS CARRIERS, COVERAGE, AND SERVICE


Network Carrier	Coverage	Available Services	Technology & Frequency

O2	GSM/GPRS Coverage Map UMTS coverage may be limited to major population areas.	Voice Data 2-way text messaging	UMTS 2100; GSM/GPRS 900/1800
Vodafone	GSM/GPRS Coverage Map UMTS coverage is available around all major cities and towns as well as points of entry for airline, ship and road. UMTS/3G Coverage Map	Voice Data 2-way text messaging	UMTS 2100; GSM/GPRS 900/1800
Meteor	GSM/GPRS Coverage Map	Voice Data 2-way text messaging	GSM/GPRS 900/1800
You may not be able to place calls to international destinations other than United States while roaming in this country. Calls can be completed within the visited country and back to the United States.

INTERNATIONAL WIRELESS ROAMING PER MINUTE RATES

Roaming:
Calls Placed/Received
While in Ireland

Cingular Standard International Roaming	$1.29
Cingular World Traveler	$0.99
Cingular Canada	$1.29
Cingular Mexico	$1.29

Data Usage:

All GPRS pay per use rates are $.0195/KB

Text, Picture and
Video Messages:

Send Text Message	$0.50 per message sent
Send Picture and Video Messages	$1.30 per message sent
Receive Text, Picture and Video Messages	Home pay-per-use or package rates apply to all text, picture or video messages received when roaming internationally. Please visit www.cingular.com for details.

Rates are in USD per minute and do not include applicable taxes and fees.

Bob

-- Edited by Itallian Chauffeur at 22:04, 2007-05-02

Marie · Guru

Hi, Mark:

We will be in Ireland for 2 weeks, and I rented a cell phone from Range Roamer. They mail the phone witch charger, adapter, etc. to your home and you mail it back when you get home. Hope it helps!

Marie

marclr911 · Member

Own a Treo 750 thru Sprint... not a GMS. I think I need a rental abroad... Got some rates from Cellhire.. seemed okay... ??

daffydill · Member

A friend and I were in Ireland in September of last year. We thought about renting a cell phone but decided against it when we read, on this site, about the hassle that some people had when trying to return the phone. Instead we bought a cell phone on arrival at Dublin airport - at a Vodaphone store. It cost 49.99 Euros and came with a lot of free minutes. It worked great in both the Republic and Northern Ireland. There are lots of Vodaphone places in both countries where you can reboost. Sorry - I can't remember the cost of calls but I remember, at the time, we thought the costs were very reasonable. Good luck and have a nice trip.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Mark,

If you still want to just rent a phone you can go to my "Discounts" page, scroll down to the box for moblie phone rentals and get a discount by quoting the code there.

Michele

MoCrowe · Member

I'm sorry, but I think I am more confused that ever....I have Tmobile GSM phone with WorldClass International. The customer support says that I am ok to travel to Ireland/no.Ireland with no problem and my incoming and outgoing calls will be .99 min. Do I still need an Irish SIM card? We only want the phone for emergency and minimal sporadic use. All accomodations are booked already. Is the .99 per min roaming charge in addition to local/long distance?

Michele Erdvig · Host

Maureen,

I don't know. Call your cell phone company again. They should be able to tell you the answers.

Michele

larion · Newbie

What I need is a simple mobile solution that'll help me to keep my communication expenses down. Looks like I've found not a bad option offered by CallinEurope.com - they sell sim cards and cell phones that will work in Europe. Does anyone have any experience with them? Any information or feedback will be much appreciated ;)

noshot9 · Veteran Member

Went to Ireland on September 8 and returned on September 23, 2008. Took an "unlocked" GSM Quad Band phone with me and the first stop from Shannon Airport was CMS Communications at Shannon Sky Court Shopping Center. You go right by it leaving the airport. Purchased an Irish Sim Card and had 20Euros credit put on it. As Bob says, this makes it an Irish phone with an Irish phone number. All calls made to you are Free from the USA. Calls within Ireland are about 0.27 Euros each. Great for calling B & B, Dinner reservations, Ferry schedules, etc. within Ireland. We had to change our plans several times and it came in handy. Calls to the USA will cost you more, but it was a simple way to go for us and my wife had the reassurance that we had a phone in case of car breakdown, etc. In my opinion, the only way to go. We made to calls to USA and still had 5 Euros credit on the Sim card when we returned to USA.

dtwalter · Newbie

Hi,
This is my first post here. I'm so happy to have discovered such helpful people!

So, Michelle, I looked at the Mobal World Phone page and it seems like right now I could buy their $99 phone (discounted from $199), plus they are offering an additional $99 credit towards minutes.

Does this sound accurate to you? Is this something they typically offer, or is this a new to you sort of thing?

Thanks so much for any help.

~Tonya

Michele Erdvig · Host

Tonya,

Welcome to the forum. The $99 credit toward minutes for Mobal World Phone is a new offer. They were not offering it earlier in the year. It sounds like a very good deal to me. They also offer a 60 day money back guarantee.

If you order let us know how you liked the phone. And if you have any other questions, please post. We are always happy to help with everyone's trips to Ireland.

Michele