Cell Phones and Calling Cards

Melissa5 · Guru

Cell Phones and Calling Cards

Creativitychick · Member

I bought two "International" AT&T cards from Walmart before we left. I read everything in the fine print at the store before I bought them to be sure they were to call from somewhere else TO the USA. We tried to use them from several Europhones and several B & Bs and they did not work! Total waste of money. I ended up using the Visa at a Europhone pay phone. It was pricey!!

Right off the plane you could buy a cell phone at the airport with a set number of minutes- and just ditch it when you're done, or add more minutes. Or if you have phones you can buy cards/chips. We should have done that- but at the time, we thought the AT&T card would work out.

So- if you buy a Costco card- I hope it works!

L

Melissa5 · Guru

Creativity Chick, thanks for relating your experience. We haven't bought any calling cards yet.

Michele and cell phone experts: We have 2 GSM Quad-band phones. We could buy SIM cards in Ireland. Does anybody know what is the cheapest SIM card we could buy? We will only use about 60 minutes worth of time on these phones in Ireland, for the purpose of keeping in contact with each other when we separate in Ireland. (Handy if the girls separate from us in Dingle to visit pubs for example.)

Or is it cheaper to rent cell phones in Ireland or to buy disposable cell phones in Ireland? Does anybody know?

Michele Erdvig · Host

Melissa,

I have heard in the past that the calling cards from Costco do work, but have no personal experience with them. I generally buy a callling card on arrival in Ireland. The ones that I purchase work for calls within Ireland or outside Ireland. I purchase a card with a toll-free number and a PIN number. If using from a public phone booth you must first insert 50 cent and then dial your numbers. At the end of the call your money is returned to you. If calling from a guesthouse just dial the toll-free, PIN and the number you want to call.

As for the cell phone question you will need to shop around for prices. On my "Discounts" page is a coupon for a discount on renting a cell phone (mobile phone in Ireland). It is a reputable company. I don't know how much a SIM card costs in Ireland. I understand that you can also buy them on Ebay. If you do a web search for ireland sim card you will come up with a ton of info. Your cell phones should be unlocked so it can accept the card you buy.

Michele

dixiedumplin · Newbie

I bought an International calling card online last year (can't remember the brand name) and it didn't work for me.

If you can find a card in Ireland that's called "Talk-A-Lot" it's really great. Had so many minutes on it that my traveling partner and I called almost everyone we knew back here in the US.

yesiree · Guru

I've always had good luck with AT&T calling cards. It's just important to get the 1-800 # for Ireland (or whatever country you are visiting). Once you dial that #, you dial the regular 1-800 # on the card and it operates exactly the way it would from home. Cost comes to about 10 cents a minute on my card. Not sure how MCI works.

Calling cards are easy to get in Ireland too.

If your cell phones worked in Italy, they should work in Ireland too. You can buy SIM cards all over the place in Ireland...even smaller towns have cell phone stores. O2, Vodaphone and Meteor are three big names (Meteor is the cheapest, but has the most limited coverage). Stop in the shop, pick your package (I remember mine being about 60 euro two years ago...that included a lot of prepaid minutes...not sure what the prices are now) and off you go.

Melissa5 · Guru

Thanks for the advice everyone. We will try to buy a minimal amount of minutes on a SIM card for our cell phones, plus buying the calling cards in Ireland. Maybe if I have time to get to Costco I will also buy a card there...Getting down to the frantic count-down days here.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Melissa,

Don't make a special trip to Costco. You will be well covered with everything else.

Michele