# SIM Card Recommendation for DE, CH, FR, and AT



## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

I was hoping to get a SIM card for my Verizon iPhone 5s during my ED (4/19 - 4/28). I haven't seen a recent thread on this subject so I was wondering if anyone who has been in the last 6-12 mos has any experiences to share.

I'll be in Germany and Switzerland mostly and a day each in France and Austria, so my primary goal is to get one SIM card to cover Germany and Switzerland. I can survive without it in France and Austria. My specific concerns are:


is one card possible?
who's the best carrier to use and why?
what kind of rates are we talking about?
anything else I should be concerned with?

Thanks.

Nitin


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## MSY-MSP (Aug 14, 2009)

My first question is what are you planning on using the phone for while you are over there? If you are going to use it just for data then what i would recommend is that you get the $25.00 plan from Verizon for 100mb. Just start the plan right before you leave and cancel it as soon as you get back. This will cover you for all countries data wise at a rate that is probably cheaper and less of an issue than buying and trying to put a different SIM in the phone anyway. The 5s already has or should have a VZW/Vodaphone SIM in it to begin with so you would have to remove that SIM and put the new one back in as well. Also with the VZW phones you need to make sure you turn off CDMA roaming as that will cause your US number to be active as well if it finds a CDMA network. 

Generally what i have found is that i don't use my phone for voice that often anymore and rely way more on data to communicate with folks. I have both a VZW and T-Mobile phone that I use. T-Mobile is great now because data is free in Europe. My iphone with VZW is used sparingly and on wifi a lot. I think the most i have used data wise on it before T-Mobile went free was 250mb in a week. That only cost me $75.00 and was worth not going through the hassle of dealing with getting a local SIM. 

If you are going to be doing a lot of voice calls, then a local SIM does make some sense. 

I believe that there are a couple shops just outside of baggage claim that sell various prepaid SIM cards. you can look at those in the store and figure out which one works best for you.


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## aardvark (Apr 15, 2002)

How much time do you expect to spend on your phone on 9 day vacation?

I'm also on Verizon, and I'm just going to sign up for the $25/100mb global data plan & the $4.99 global voice plan (which gets you a 0.99/minute voice rate, I think). I'm going to use wifi when available, and keep voice calls to a minimum, and it shouldn't be too bad.

Of course, if you're planning to spend a half hour or more talking on the phone every day, then, yeah, it might make sense to switch to a local SIM.


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## UnderEstimated (Jun 25, 2014)

I travel to Europe frequently on business travel and use my Verizon iPhone 5S. I rent a wifi unit from XCOMGlobal when I know I'll be using data heavily and supplement my phone with the $4.99 global voice plan. While in Germany, I'm normally connected through Vodafone.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

MSY-MSP said:


> My first question is what are you planning on using the phone for while you are over there? If you are going to use it just for data then what i would recommend is that you get the $25.00 plan from Verizon for 100mb. Just start the plan right before you leave and cancel it as soon as you get back. This will cover you for all countries data wise at a rate that is probably cheaper and less of an issue than buying and trying to put a different SIM in the phone anyway. The 5s already has or should have a VZW/Vodaphone SIM in it to begin with so you would have to remove that SIM and put the new one back in as well. Also with the VZW phones you need to make sure you turn off CDMA roaming as that will cause your US number to be active as well if it finds a CDMA network.
> 
> Generally what i have found is that i don't use my phone for voice that often anymore and rely way more on data to communicate with folks. I have both a VZW and T-Mobile phone that I use. T-Mobile is great now because data is free in Europe. My iphone with VZW is used sparingly and on wifi a lot. I think the most i have used data wise on it before T-Mobile went free was 250mb in a week. That only cost me $75.00 and was worth not going through the hassle of dealing with getting a local SIM.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the feedback. I wanted data access and the ability to make local (to the country I'm traveling in) calls, for example, hotels. I don't plan to use it to call back to the states or for any long conversations.

The things I'd like to prevent are having to pay for text messages and people in the states calling my US number.

Thanks.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

aardvark said:


> How much time do you expect to spend on your phone on 9 day vacation?
> 
> I'm also on Verizon, and I'm just going to sign up for the $25/100mb global data plan & the $4.99 global voice plan (which gets you a 0.99/minute voice rate, I think). I'm going to use wifi when available, and keep voice calls to a minimum, and it shouldn't be too bad.
> 
> Of course, if you're planning to spend a half hour or more talking on the phone every day, then, yeah, it might make sense to switch to a local SIM.


Thanks, I'm beginning to think this is the most economical option. I don't plan to talk a lot. Overseas I plan to use the phone only to call local (to the country I'm in) business. I don't plan to call numbers in the states. If I have to, I'll use Skype when I'm in a WiFi area. One thing I don't want is to receive text messages and have to pay for those.


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## sactoken (Apr 4, 2004)

MSY-MSP said:


> If you are going to use it just for data then what i would recommend is that you get the $25.00 plan from Verizon for 100mb. Just start the plan right before you leave and cancel it as soon as you get back.


One thing you should know, which I found out the hard way, is that if your "month" overlaps two billing periods, Verizon splits the 100 mb and allocates a portion of it to each period. In my case, I was in Europe for 3 weeks with the first two weeks falling in one billing period and the last week in the next. Because I started the plan half-way through the first billing period, Verizon allocated 50 mb to each period. I used under 100 mb in total but over 50 mb in the first two weeks, so they charged me an additional $25 for the overage! To their credit, they did agree to adjust the bill after I explained that I hadn't been informed of the allocation.


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

This page has an exhaustive list of options:
http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

A couple of the carriers on the Germany page, Aldi and Lidl, offer reasonably priced (€5 for 150 mb for a week) EU roaming add-ons. So you might be able to cover everything for 10 or 15 Euro. But as others have mentioned, for a short stay it may be simpler to use an add-on to your US plan.


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## ChicagoBigHouse (Sep 2, 2013)

Nitin,

I have a very similar travel path and same question. I'd love to hear what your experience is with the SIM card. Perhaps you can just turn off data roaming and use voice calls for the 1.29 per minute? No extra plan? (If that is what the international calls cost).


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## Hound Passer (Feb 2, 2007)

I'm on ATT and their International Plan is expensive @ $120 for 800MB. Calls are $.35/min. But the price is low enough to make this option too convenient. I bought a prepaid Vodaphone SIM in Munich last time which was dirt cheap and let me roam in The Netherlands for a short time. But I wasted about 30 min at the store giving them my personal info and waiting for them to activate it.

Are you looking for voice and data or just data? I know you can buy plain old prepaid data SIMs anywhere in Germany like candy. For some reason data SIMs requires store set up and personal info.


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## tldmat (Mar 4, 2015)

In preperation for an upcoming trip I came across this on http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9525

_the german prepaid SIM provider ORTEL now provides a new EU package called "cross"
it cost 20 Euro / 30 days and offeres
300 minutes to/from all EU countries + switzerland and 750 MB of data @ 7.2 Mbit in all EU countries + switzerland.
additional 500 MB can be added for 9***8364;

(list of all countries covered: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus)

details: http://www.ortelmobile.de/crosseurope.html
_

The Ortel website has and english option and from the terms it lists:

_16) Cross (***8364;20 per 30-day option period)

The Cross (supplemental service) "option" (***8364;20 per 30-day option period) includes a total of up to 300 minutes for German domestic calls, calls from Germany to landline and mobile networks in the countries listed below as well as calls within and between the countries listed below: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, with the exception of special numbers, (value-added) services and call forwarding. 60/60 billing increment (each minute in full). Once the included minutes have expired, calls cost 9 cents/minute. The option also includes an internet package with a data volume of 750 MB per option period for use in Germany and the countries listed above; once the included volume has been used up, the cost will be ***8364;0.25/MB (100 KB billing increment). A bandwidth of up to 7.2 Mbit/s is available within Germany; the bandwidth available in the countries listed above depends on the respective roaming partner. VoIP and peer-to-peer are excluded. Units that have not been used expire at the end of the option period. The option is renewed automatically after 30 days if the customer has sufficient credit and it is only possible to register for each option once every 30 days; options can be cancelled by calling 1155. This option cannot be combined with other options. It is only possible to register for the option using the Ortel Mobile Prepaid Card (starter package: ***8364;9.95) at the standard rate: valid only for SIM cards activated starting 15 August 2012. German domestic calls: 9 cents/min. plus a one-off connection fee of 9 cents per call; calls made to international numbers possible from 1 cent/min. plus a one-off connection fee of 15 cents per call (all prices can be found at www.ortelmobile.de). 60/60 billing increment. Each text message costs 15 cents. All prices indicated are inclusive of VAT. _

As near as I can tell it uses the eplus network and you get free incoming calls and texts.

There are some eBay sellers of the sim. I have not used this sim or plan but I am going to try it when I go.


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## woron (Dec 13, 2011)

Hound Passer said:


> I'm on ATT and their International Plan is expensive @ $120 for 800MB. Calls are $.35/min.


I've used their International plan couple of times. One great feature is that the cost is prorated, but the data package is not. So if you are going overseas for a week, activate this package just before leaving, and cancel it on the way back, you will end up paying $30 for 800MB.

Also, unlike Verizon, they give you a full bucket of data at the beginning of the billing cycle. I was in Mexico for ten days, and my billing cycle restarted right in the middle of my stay. I had cheapest Intl package - 120MB for $30. I've got 240MB to use, and ended up paying $10 (~$5 per each billing cycle).


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

ChicagoBigHouse said:


> Nitin,
> 
> I have a very similar travel path and same question. I'd love to hear what your experience is with the SIM card. Perhaps you can just turn off data roaming and use voice calls for the 1.29 per minute? No extra plan? (If that is what the international calls cost).


Once I figure out what i end up doing, I'll update this thread. I'm starting to feel like the easiest thing to do is call Verizon and sign up for overseas use and cancel it when I'm back. I can easily limit my use overseas and leave it for emergencies only.

But before I do that I have a little more research to do based on other posts in this thread.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

Hound Passer said:


> I'm on ATT and their International Plan is expensive @ $120 for 800MB. Calls are $.35/min. But the price is low enough to make this option too convenient. I bought a prepaid Vodaphone SIM in Munich last time which was dirt cheap and let me roam in The Netherlands for a short time. But I wasted about 30 min at the store giving them my personal info and waiting for them to activate it.
> 
> Are you looking for voice and data or just data? I know you can buy plain old prepaid data SIMs anywhere in Germany like candy. For some reason data SIMs requires store set up and personal info.


Both, but the voice will be of limited use, only for me to call out if I need to reach someone or a business.

Can you tell me what type of personal info Vodaphone was interested in? Innocuous stuff or something more than that? Thanks.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

tldmat said:


> In preperation for an upcoming trip I came across this on http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9525
> 
> _the german prepaid SIM provider ORTEL now provides a new EU package called "cross"
> it cost 20 Euro / 30 days and offeres
> ...


_

When are you heading over? I'd be curious to hear about your experience with this option._


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

nitinkarkhanis said:


> When are you heading over? I'd be curious to hear about your experience with this option.


Not the OP, but I just ordered an Ortel SIM today on Ebay. I'll update with my experience, but we don't head to Europe until April.


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## tldmat (Mar 4, 2015)

nitinkarkhanis said:


> When are you heading over? I'd be curious to hear about your experience with this option.


Being OCD on planning it is still a little ways off. Scarhill's trip will be before mine and I look forward to hearing about his experience.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

tldmat said:


> Being OCD on planning it is still a little ways off. Scarhill's trip will be before mine and I look forward to hearing about his experience.


Looks like Scarhill's trip comes after mine so I feel like the guinea pig here!


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## WaxComb (Oct 11, 2011)

Before T-Mobile, I would buy Ortel Mobile SIM cards from a vending machine in FRA. It was 10 Euros.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

scarhill said:


> Not the OP, but I just ordered an Ortel SIM today on Ebay. I'll update with my experience, but we don't head to Europe until April.


Scarhill, can you post which one you purchased? Will it work in a iPhone 5S. Thanks!


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

nitinkarkhanis said:


> Scarhill, can you post which one you purchased? Will it work in a iPhone 5S. Thanks!


This is the one I ordered: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111587357282

I hope to get it by the end of next week. It doesn't say what size card it is, but you could buy a SIM card cutter if you need it.


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## tldmat (Mar 4, 2015)

nitinkarkhanis said:


> Will it work in a iPhone 5S. Thanks!


It looks like it may be a bit of a pain to get a nano sim from Ortel. From the Ortel Website FAQ:

_How can I get hold of a micro- or nano-SIM card?

You can order a micro- or nano-SIM card as follows:

From the E-Plus network: 1138 (in Germany: €0.49/call)

From other networks: 0177-177-1138 (the call is charged at the rate specified by your service provider for mobile calls to the E-Plus network).

E-mail: info<at>ortelmobile.de

Fax: 0211 17148299

Post: Gladbecker Straße 3, 40472 Düsseldorf, Germany

We charge a one-off fee of €9.95 to swap SIM cards.

Our service team will provide you with an RMA number. When transferring the fee, please enter this RMA number and your phone number as the reference.
As soon as the money has been transferred, we will send you the right SIM card for your device. You do not need to return the SIM card from the starter set.

Once you receive the micro- or nano-SIM card, you will need to activate it via the service hotline. At this time, your original SIM card will be deactivated.

Please have your PUK 1 or customer password ready for verification purposes._

I think some of the eBay sellers offer to cut it down to nano size for free.


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

tldmat said:


> It looks like it may be a bit of a pain to get a nano sim from Ortel.


Good point! I have the SIM cutter I need, so I didn't worry about it. You can buy one for less than their €9.95 charge.


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## Hound Passer (Feb 2, 2007)

nitinkarkhanis said:


> Both, but the voice will be of limited use, only for me to call out if I need to reach someone or a business.
> 
> Can you tell me what type of personal info Vodaphone was interested in? Innocuous stuff or something more than that? Thanks.


Driver's license. Didn't bother me, but just took to long for them to put it in the system. It was like I was buying a postpaid phone, not a paygo SIM.



woron said:


> I've used their International plan couple of times. One great feature is that the cost is prorated, but the data package is not. So if you are going overseas for a week, activate this package just before leaving, and cancel it on the way back, you will end up paying $30 for 800MB.
> 
> Also, unlike Verizon, they give you a full bucket of data at the beginning of the billing cycle. I was in Mexico for ten days, and my billing cycle restarted right in the middle of my stay. I had cheapest Intl package - 120MB for $30. I've got 240MB to use, and ending up paying $10 (~$5 per each billing cycle).


Thanks for the "Pro Tip." Didn't realize that. Very good to know.


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## woron (Dec 13, 2011)

Hound Passer said:


> Thanks for the "Pro Tip." Didn't realize that. Very good to know.


Just to be sure that nothing has changed since last year: use online chat to confirm that this is still the case. I've chatted with AT&T CSR before my last trip and saved the chat log in case of the overbilling. This is how it looked on my bill last year (all in one cycle):

Plan Changes
Added 04/13
4. 120 MB Data Global Add-on Package 19.00
This plan is $30.00 per month. You added this plan
on 04/13. You are charged at the new plan rate
from 04/13 - 05/01.
Removed 04/22
5. 120 MB Data Global Add-on Package 10.00CR
This plan is $30.00 per month. You removed this
plan on 04/22. You received a credit for the days
you did not use this plan 04/22 - 05/01.
*Total Plan Changes 9.00*​


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## boi222 (May 31, 2007)

scarhill said:


> Not the OP, but I just ordered an Ortel SIM today on Ebay. I'll update with my experience, but we don't head to Europe until April.


Curious to hear about your experience as well... please post here afterwards.. this seems like the best option for people traveling multiple countries in Europe rather than spend 30 mins in each country getting a new SIM


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## The Sage (Nov 27, 2014)

I'm on T-Mobile for my cell phone service. T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom. So when I'm in Germany (and most of Europe) I get unlimited data and text. Calls are only $.20 a minute, but with the unlimited data, I can use Skype. I've been with all the major cell phone companies and T-Mobile is the best (AT&T the worst). If you do a lot of travel to Europe, I highly suggest T-Mobile.


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## kcdc368 (Jan 4, 2015)

Hi Sage,

Can you tell me what kind of speed you are getting?



The Sage said:


> I'm on T-Mobile for my cell phone service. T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom. So when I'm in Germany (and most of Europe) I get unlimited data and text. Calls are only $.20 a minute, but with the unlimited data, I can use Skype. I've been with all the major cell phone companies and T-Mobile is the best (AT&T the worst). If you do a lot of travel to Europe, I highly suggest T-Mobile.


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## The Sage (Nov 27, 2014)

kcdc368 said:


> Hi Sage,
> 
> Can you tell me what kind of speed you are getting?


The T-Mobile site lists 3G and above for Germany. The Telekom German website lists LTE speeds.

http://www.t-mobile.com/optional-services/roaming.html

https://www.t-mobile.de/telefonieren-und-surfen/0,21919,25250-_,00.html

I'm currently on a Simple Choice Unlimited Data plan here in the US, which qualifies for free data and text while in Germany.


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

My understanding is that the base unlimited Simple Choice international data is limited to 2G speeds, but that you can buy high-speed add-ons. This post indicates that the free plan is throttled.

Have you used in in Europe and measured the speed? It would be a great deal if you got unlimited 3G data!

Here's their FAQ from this page:


> *Will I get the same high-speed network experience now internationally, as I do here at home in the U.S.?*
> 
> No. Customers will have unlimited web speeds great for web browsing and e-mail, social networking and occasional use of certain features like GPS/maps. Some applications like streaming music or video will be more difficult than when on T-Mobile's domestic network. However, higher-speed data passes will be available for purchase when you are abroad:
> 
> ...


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

boi222 said:


> Curious to hear about your experience as well... please post here afterwards.. this seems like the best option for people traveling multiple countries in Europe rather than spend 30 mins in each country getting a new SIM


I should have the card this week. The first test will be whether I can register it on their website without going to Germany. Because my trip doesn't start in Germany, this is key.

We don't leave for Europe until April 13. Our trip is 29 days long, so I plan to try to activate a plan immediately before leaving so that a month's worth covers me. Once I get there, I'll post an update here.

BTW, I see that this EU Prepaid Data wiki page has been updated with information about Ortel as well as some other options.


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## lezam (Apr 24, 2013)

Regarding the VZW global data - I would personally shy away from it. There are always errors upon returning from trips. Most recently VZW tried to force a $600 bill on me due to an error they made. The global data is convenient while you're abroad, but get ready for a headache upon return.


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## tldmat (Mar 4, 2015)

scarhill said:


> The first test will be whether I can register it on their website without going to Germany. Because my trip doesn't start in Germany, this is key.


I agree, not having to waste time getting set up after arriving is a big plus.



scarhill said:


> BTW, I see that this EU Prepaid Data wiki page has been updated with information about Ortel as well as some other options.


This wiki is one of the better ones I've seen. The page on the Ortel sim walks you thru the details and is quite useful. Thanks for the link


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

An update on the Ortel Mobile package mentioned upthread. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered one from an Ebay seller based in Berlin. It came today. The package included the SIM card with a German phone number written on the attached folder. With that in hand, I went to the Ortel Mobile website (English version) and tried to activate the SIM. That failed. I eventually figured out that the card had already been activated. I was able to go to https://mein.ortelmobile.de/ and register. Unfortunately they don't seem to have an English version of that site so if you don't speak German, Chrome's auto-translate function is your friend.

The steps to register were

 Click on "Jetzt für MeinOrtel registrieren" (Register now for MyOrtel)
 Enter my phone number (Meine Rufnummer) and the PUK1 number from the materials I received, plus my email address.
 Click the "Registrierien" button.
 They emailed me a temporary link to log in and change my password--my phone number became the user name.

Once I logged in again, I was able to access the site, with options to add a credit card or set up Paypal, purchase plans, etc (again all in German). I didn't sign up for the Cross plan now, because it's only good for a month, and I'm not leaving until mid-April. But I think I'm good to go. I'm confident enough that I ordered another card for my wife's phone.

I placed the card in the phone and it prompted me to unlock it with a PIN. It turns out you need the PIN1 value printed on the plastic SIM card holder. It eventually registered as roaming on AT&T. I tried making a call but got a fast busy. I also tried calling the number from my home phone, but that didn't go through either. I did notice that my credit balance declined by one Euro after my fooling around, so I don't recommend you try it before you get to Europe.

There are a number of people selling these on Ebay. If you're interested in the one I bought, PM me and I give you the link. (I have no affiliation with these folks, standard disclaimers apply, YMMV, etc.)

I'll update again once I get to Europe and try it for real.


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## tldmat (Mar 4, 2015)

scarhill said:


> An update on the Ortel Mobile package mentioned upthread. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered one from an Ebay seller based in Berlin. It came today.


Thanks for the update. What size SIM did you receive?


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

tldmat said:


> Thanks for the update. What size SIM did you receive?


It is a regular that can be punched out to make a micro. I used a SIM cutter to make it into a nano for my Moto X.


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## Tanning machine (Feb 21, 2002)

woron said:


> I've used their International plan couple of times. One great feature is that the cost is prorated, but the data package is not. So if you are going overseas for a week, activate this package just before leaving, and cancel it on the way back, you will end up paying $30 for 800MB.


This is no longer true . . . AT&T realized they had created a loophole and you now are paying for a "bucket" of overseas data, which is good for up to 30 days. No proration - you pay for the full price. Change occurred some time last fall (right before my last international trip, when I learned this too late.


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## ktula (Feb 12, 2013)

scarhill said:


> My understanding is that the base unlimited Simple Choice international data is limited to 2G speeds, but that you can buy high-speed add-ons. This post indicates that the free plan is throttled.
> 
> Have you used in in Europe and measured the speed? It would be a great deal if you got unlimited 3G data!
> 
> Here's their FAQ from this page:


It's throttled to 2G even though the connection says 3G/LTE. I have tested this various countries in Asia. Unless there's a change in T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan, even in Germany when connected to the Deutsche Telekom network, you only get 2G data.


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## WaxComb (Oct 11, 2011)

I can confirm that T-Mobile is throttled but it's still using LTE (4G) so it's slightly faster than traditional 2G (EDGE).


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## makai (Nov 16, 2014)

I purchased a Blau SIM at the Munich Airport for my iPhone 5S as advised by Rolf. They had a tool to trim the SIM card to the appropriate size to work with my phone. If I recall correctly, the data speeds were pretty slow but the plan was only 10 euro for 1 GB. I only used mobile data for navigating on foot in cities or quick restaurant information lookups.


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

I Promised that I'd post an update once I tried the Ortel Mobile Cross plan in Europe. I ended up buying two Ortel SIM cards from an eBay seller in Germany, one for me and one for my wife. Each card came with a €7.50 credit and I added another €15 to get me over 20 so I could order the Cross plan. Because we will be in Europe for 4 weeks, my plan was to purchase the Cross plan the day I left so that the 30 days would cover my trip. Unfortunately, https://mein.ortelmobile.de was unavailable on the day we were leaving. So when we arrived in London to change planes, I texted CROSS to 77300 to activate the plan. I received a text acknowledging the purchase and saying another text would come when the plan was activated. My wife got her followup text before we left Heathrow, while mine didn't come until we got to Rome. Once they came, I enabled data roaming and everything worked.

Right now we're in Venice, a week into our trip, and the cards have worked well. We have been roaming on 3G using the Wind and TIM networks here in Italy. We arrive in Munich Thursday morning, so we'll see how things work there.


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## boi222 (May 31, 2007)

scarhill said:


> I Promised that I'd post an update once I tried the Ortel Mobile Cross plan in Europe. I ended up buying two Ortel SIM cards from an eBay seller in Germany, one for me and one for my wife. Each card came with a €7.50 credit and I added another €15 to get me over 20 so I could order the Cross plan. Because we will be in Europe for 4 weeks, my plan was to purchase the Cross plan the day I left so that the 30 days would cover my trip. Unfortunately, https://mein.ortelmobile.de was unavailable on the day we were leaving. So when we arrived in London to change planes, I texted CROSS to 77300 to activate the plan. I received a text acknowledging the purchase and saying another text would come when the plan was activated. My wife got her followup text before we left Heathrow, while mine didn't come until we got to Rome. Once they came, I enabled data roaming and everything worked.
> 
> Right now we're in Venice, a week into our trip, and the cards have worked well. We have been roaming on 3G using the Wind and TIM networks here in Italy. We arrive in Munich Thursday morning, so we'll see how things work there.


Awesome. Thanks for the update. So what countries have you successfully used this in so far? Just UK and Italy?


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## roup1 (Dec 24, 2001)

In Germany, I've had very good luck with the Tchibo prepaid cards that are 5 Euros:

http://www.tchibo.de/sim-karten-smartphone-tarife-allnet-flatrates-bei-tchibo-mobil-c400035510.html


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## kcdc368 (Jan 4, 2015)

I just finished a 3 week ED trip through Germany, France and UK. I brought my T-Mobile phone and use its free data(3G connection but 2G speed only), free text message and free wifi calling, as well as 20cent per minute roaming call charge. I also bought a 1GB 3G sim card to use with my tablet from KeepGo ($80).

My experience is that I rely on my t-mobile phone for about 99% of what I need. I probably use about 30 minutes of roaming call on my T-Mobile, but its was mostly to find my wife or son when we can't find each other in the museums, and to call my AirBNB host in Paris when we arrived at the apartment and can't figure which intercom button to push. I also made a lot of free wifi calls using hotel's wifi connection.

I came home with about 850MB left on my 1GB allowance and I used most of the 150MB on my 3-hour Eurostar ride between Euro Disneyland and London. 

This is just my personal experience and I cannot speak for others.


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## The Sage (Nov 27, 2014)

Regarding T-Mobile cell phones. We just arrived in Munich for our ED tomorrow morning. Immediately after my wife and I turn on our iPhone 6's we got a text message from T-Mobile Germany welcoming us and informing us we have unlimited text and data and calls at $.20 cents a minute. We are both hooked up to T-Mobile Germany's LTE data network.


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## skier (Oct 19, 2004)

The Sage said:


> Regarding T-Mobile cell phones. We just arrived in Munich for our ED tomorrow morning. Immediately after my wife and I turn on our iPhone 6's we got a text message from T-Mobile Germany welcoming us and informing us we have unlimited text and data and calls at $.20 cents a minute. We are both hooked up to T-Mobile Germany's LTE data network.


+1 for T-Mobile. I used to swap SIM's on my trips to Europe; stopped doing that since T-Mo introduced free data and messaging, and $0.2.minute calls. No hassle, and likely less expensive than local cards.


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## GoldCup (Mar 3, 2015)

Do you guys know if it's better to get T-Mobile prepaid and activate the International roaming or get a Vodafone sim card in Munich? 

I will be in Europe - Germany, Austria, Italy ,Switzerland and Istanbul (Turkey) for 13 days. Am currently on AT&T and don't feel like activating the data plan.


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## skier (Oct 19, 2004)

I have no experience with T-Mo prepaid plans. Estimate your data/voice usage when in Europe, and compare the options.


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## nitinkarkhanis (Sep 9, 2007)

I think skier is right. You need to assess what you really need and what you can live without. I decided I could survive without Internet (only used it in free wi-fi zones). So that left me with a decision to make regarding voice calls. Based on past trips to Europe, I managed to get away without making any voice calls, so I elected to use Verizon's roaming plan at $1.29 a minute this trip. In the end, this worked for me, because I didn't make any voice calls either.


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## boi222 (May 31, 2007)

GoldCup said:


> Do you guys know if it's better to get T-Mobile prepaid and activate the International roaming or get a Vodafone sim card in Munich?
> 
> I will be in Europe - Germany, Austria, Italy ,Switzerland and Istanbul (Turkey) for 13 days. Am currently on AT&T and don't feel like activating the data plan.


Damn that sounds like a good plan.. Too bad I ordered ortel cards already. Heck I figure you can even open a new line with them and just cancel.. Most carriers allow 30 day cancellation


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## GoldCup (Mar 3, 2015)

boi222 said:


> Damn that sounds like a good plan.. Too bad I ordered ortel cards already. Heck I figure you can even open a new line with them and just cancel.. Most carriers allow 30 day cancellation


Unfortunately, I couldn't get a T-Mobile prepaid sim that works in Europe. I will probably end up getting a Vodafone sim or just enable AT&T roaming.


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## GoldCup (Mar 3, 2015)

skier said:


> I have no experience with T-Mo prepaid plans. Estimate your data/voice usage when in Europe, and compare the options.





nitinkarkhanis said:


> I think skier is right. You need to assess what you really need and what you can live without. I decided I could survive without Internet (only used it in free wi-fi zones). So that left me with a decision to make regarding voice calls. Based on past trips to Europe, I managed to get away without making any voice calls, so I elected to use Verizon's roaming plan at $1.29 a minute this trip. In the end, this worked for me, because I didn't make any voice calls either.


I am sure that internet is more important than making phone calls for me. Total data consumption for 12 days might be around 1gb. The only reason why I may need a phone is to call local numbers (for reservations/loginout/emergencies).


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## boi222 (May 31, 2007)

GoldCup said:


> Unfortunately, I couldn't get a T-Mobile prepaid sim that works in Europe. I will probably end up getting a Vodafone sim or just enable AT&T roaming.


Open a new line and cancel when you come back?


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## ktula (Feb 12, 2013)

GoldCup said:


> Unfortunately, I couldn't get a T-Mobile prepaid sim that works in Europe. I will probably end up getting a Vodafone sim or just enable AT&T roaming.


Ask a friend/family with existing T-Mo account to add a line for you? I did that for my sis when she went on a trip to Asia and i think it only cost me $20.


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

Another update on my experience with Ortel Mobile's Cross plan. As I mentioned upthread, I ended up purchasing SIMs for my wife's and my phones for use on our 4 week ED trip mostly in Italy, Germany and Austria. We got the cards mostly for data and did very little calling. Local calling seemed to work well, but international calling back to the US less so. Calls often didn't complete or gave a message in German that seemed to be something about not being able to complete the call as dialed. I experimented with different ways of dialing, but never was able to solve it. I did complete some calls, so I don't really know what the problem was.

The real problem with Ortel is their processing of plan activations and refills. I ran into hassles when attempting to top-up with an additional 500 mb after our initial 750 mb allocation was used up. There is no way to top-up before your existing package runs out. You get a text when the package runs out, but once it does you immediately start using any existing credits at 24 cents/megabyte. Both adding credit to your account and activating additional data take random amounts of time.

So the process works like this. When you receive the text saying you're out of data you must immediately disable data or you'll use up any remaining credit. Then, if you don't have sufficient credit for a refill, you must purchase one and wait for anywhere from minutes to hours for it to take effect before you can order the refill. Then you must wait again for minutes to hours for the new refill to take effect before re-enabling data. If you re-enable data before your account has been debited for your purchase, I assume you can end up with too little available to make the purchase. (Purchasing, debiting your account and actually applying the package are discrete events. You choose the package on the website, they debit your account sometime later, then activate the package still later.)

Overall, this was frustrating and difficult to manage, particularly while out and doing things tourists do. Unless they fix this, I'd recommend that people who will need to refill to take this hassle into account when deciding what to do.

On the plus side, being able to roam through five different countries was a plus--much easier than buying separate SIMs for each country. 

Hope this helps!


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## ND40oz (Oct 6, 2009)

skier said:


> +1 for T-Mobile. I used to swap SIM's on my trips to Europe; stopped doing that since T-Mo introduced free data and messaging, and $0.2.minute calls. No hassle, and likely less expensive than local cards.


Another thing I've found is the throttled LTE connection is fine for facetime audio calls. My wife and I both have iPhones and just use that to call each other rather then trying to worry if we're both on wifi. I haven't tried Skype to Skype audio calls with it, but I imagine it's the same.


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## boi222 (May 31, 2007)

scarhill said:


> Another update on my experience with Ortel Mobile's Cross plan. As I mentioned upthread, I ended up purchasing SIMs for my wife's and my phones for use on our 4 week ED trip mostly in Italy, Germany and Austria. We got the cards mostly for data and did very little calling. Local calling seemed to work well, but international calling back to the US less so. Calls often didn't complete or gave a message in German that seemed to be something about not being able to complete the call as dialed. I experimented with different ways of dialing, but never was able to solve it. I did complete some calls, so I don't really know what the problem was.
> 
> The real problem with Ortel is their processing of plan activations and refills. I ran into hassles when attempting to top-up with an additional 500 mb after our initial 750 mb allocation was used up. There is no way to top-up before your existing package runs out. You get a text when the package runs out, but once it does you immediately start using any existing credits at 24 cents/megabyte. Both adding credit to your account and activating additional data take random amounts of time.
> 
> ...


Did you just text datax to top off?
I'm surprised how fast I used up all my data. Can you control how much credit you put on? Or it auto deducts once you have your PayPal added?


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## RKA (Dec 1, 2002)

Thanks scarhill! Are they Ortel sims available in stores in Germany? I'm looking online and I'm afraid I don't have enough time left to wait for a card to be shipped to me.


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## GoldCup (Mar 3, 2015)

RKA said:


> Thanks scarhill! Are they Ortel sims available in stores in Germany? I'm looking online and I'm afraid I don't have enough time left to wait for a card to be shipped to me.


There are few of them. I found one store in Munich station near Le Meridien. The guy just activated and gave it without even asking my name. Just google for the store -"Wings Handy München"


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

RKA said:


> Thanks scarhill! Are they Ortel sims available in stores in Germany? I'm looking online and I'm afraid I don't have enough time left to wait for a card to be shipped to me.


Sorry, I mean to get back to you earlier. I have no personal experience because I bought mine via Ebay, but according to the Prepaid Data Wiki, Ortel SIMs are available


> at their vending partners in Germany like Shell service stations or "real" supermarkets and generally in inner cities at small shops targeting immigrants and migrant workers for 9.95 € with 7.50 € credit. Take care, there are two starter packs: one with a smartphone option prebooked and the other without. Take the one without.


Hope that helps!


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## RKA (Dec 1, 2002)

Thanks guys!


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## jfew (Mar 16, 2015)

I thought I'd share my experience with Ortel Mobile's Cross plan here for other Bimmerfest members (and those arriving here from a search engine). 

I paid 30***8364; at Wings Handy Munchen (just a couple of blocks from Le Meridien in the train station on Bayerstrasse) for an Ortel SIM with enough credit to sign up for Cross. They conveniently activated the card for me while I waited at the store. The card they sell can be used as a full-size, micro or nano SIM and can be punched out by hand to the required size without any special tools. 

Once I got back to my hotel, I inserted the card into my factory unlocked iPhone 6 Plus and had some difficulty getting data to work. Turns out I still had to text 'CROSS' to 77300 to activate the plan, something they failed to mention at the store. Also, I had mistakenly toggled on 'EU Roaming' in the Cellular pane in Settings, under the mistaken assumption this needed to be enabled to avoid roaming on carriers not participating in Cross. Turns out you only need to toggle on 'Data Roaming'; so long as you're in one of the EU countries supported by Cross, you will not be billed additionally for data roaming. 

In retrospect, I think I would have been better off switching to T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan before leaving the US, which offers free international roaming. Although some warn that international roaming on this plan is throttled to unusably slow speeds, various articles I found suggest the speeds internationally for T-Mobile customers on these plans are 3G or better in most countries. I never had 4G/LTE speeds with Ortel, so it would not seem going with an EU carrier offers any benefit from that perspective anyway. 

Besides the mediocre speeds, management of my account on the Ortel Mobile customer portal was troublesome and this was probably the real dealbreaker for me. 

For starters, the portal is only available in German (unlike the rest of their website) so I had to rely on Chrome's built-in translation capability to be able to use the site at all. No big deal, but a bit of a drag since I use Safari pretty much exclusively on my iOS devices. 

Secondly, as others on this thread have noted, adding credit to your Ortel account via PayPal is not instant. This means that it could take minutes or hours before your credit is available to top up your plan (as I had to do several times over the 10 days of my visit). Combined with the fact the Ortel only texts you after you've exhausted your data, you're dead in the water until your credit is available to top up with. Even more frustrating is that any credit left on your account after you've exhausted your data (but before you've topped up your data plan with a additional 500MB for 9***8364 is quickly eaten up by a 0.20***8364; per additional MB fee in the interim. 

Worst of all was the period of several days where the site was "down for maintenance," which prevented me from topping up my balance to add data after exhausting my initial 500MB allotment. In my desperation to top up two days into their outage, I discovered ding.com which allows you to add credit for various mobile carriers worldwide including E-Plus (the German carrier behind the Ortel MVNO). If I were to use Ortel again, I would top up through this method exclusively, as it seems to apply credits to your account instantly. 

My recent experience with Ortel taught me that prepaid SIMs are no longer worth the hassle when the option of free international roaming on a US carrier is possible. I'll miss AT&T's reliability in the US, but it's totally worth it to me to switch to T-Mobile to keep my US number and not have to waste time futzing with top ups and counting data plan megabytes when traveling abroad. Hopefully more American carriers will follow T-Mobile's lead on this.


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## Initial E (May 30, 2015)

Before getting a phone from work i used this company for international sim cards
http://www.onesimcard.com/international-sim-card/

Sort of like a pre-paid plan and it was 5cents / MB. Free incoming calls, euro and us number provided. It was great and I've used it multiple countries in Europe and the Dominican republic


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## The Sage (Nov 27, 2014)

jfew said:


> I thought I'd share my experience with Ortel Mobile's Cross plan here for other Bimmerfest members (and those arriving here from a search engine).
> 
> I paid 30€ at Wings Handy Munchen (just a couple of blocks from Le Meridien in the train station on Bayerstrasse) for an Ortel SIM with enough credit to sign up for Cross. They conveniently activated the card for me while I waited at the store. The card they sell can be used as a full-size, micro or nano SIM and can be punched out by hand to the required size without any special tools.
> 
> ...


Our May ED, both my wife and I traveled with T-Mobile iPhone 6's on the Simple Choice plan. We both switched from Sprint, prior to traveling to Germany. Overall never any issues with data speeds. In some places we got 3G speeds, but in a lot of places we got full LTE speeds. We were overall very pleased with the service in Germany, France and Austria with T-Mobile.

As for T-Mobile domestic, I have found service much improved over my T-Mobile experience from 5 years ago.


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## Eagle11 (Oct 6, 2013)

So got a question... After reading this thread I'm slightly confused..

We both have iPhone 6's from Verizon, will be in Europe for a little over 14 days looking for more data usage then voice, texting and uploading photos to instagram and or FB. What would be best for us, Verizon's plan or get a SIM while in Munich? We will be traveling in Germany, Austria, Slovacia, Italy and France. 
TIA


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

I'm with you Eagle11 - I got totally confused halfway though this thread. Too technical for me. I just want to know a cheap way of using my Verizon Samsung Galaxy in Europe. It would be nice to have that ability but it sounds like a lot of effort.

But the fact is that unless you're Donald Trump and need to make split second multi-million dollar decisions during the day, the WiFi in most hotels and inns is good enough for uploading your daily photos, answering email and posting on Facebook. The rest of the time you'll be too busy enjoying your new car and the sights to want to sit down and post your selfies.


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## RKA (Dec 1, 2002)

Eagle11 said:


> So got a question... After reading this thread I'm slightly confused..
> 
> We both have iPhone 6's from Verizon, will be in Europe for a little over 14 days looking for more data usage then voice, texting and uploading photos to instagram and or FB. What would be best for us, Verizon's plan or get a SIM while in Munich? We will be traveling in Germany, Austria, Slovacia, Italy and France.
> 
> TIA


We did it both ways with our Verizon iPhones. Verizon's data caps are low so even going with the 250mb option at $80 I still managed to get dinged for an additional $25 for extra data. Usually I turned roaming data off but their were a few times I forgot. I turned off work email the entire time as well. So $110 down the Verizon drain, however I needed to be accessible via my US phone number in an emergency so I had little choice.

The Ortel roaming plan was 40 Euro and started us off with 750mb. We also bought an extra 500mb while we were in the store and they told us how to add it when it was needed. We also turned off data roaming when it was not needed, but we did use the maps feature, waze, browser from time to time. Never exceeded the initial 750mb. We did try to make a call in Italy once. We couldn't get the call to complete and eventually gave up. Only other issue is we were limited to 3G, but that didn't matter much for our purposes. Oh, and we noticed coverage was consistently better with Verizon/vodaphone. Ortel was okay, but there were many times it was getting a weak signal or just out of range where the Verizon phone had a good signal.

Hope that helps.


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## Eagle11 (Oct 6, 2013)

RKA said:


> We did it both ways with our Verizon iPhones. Verizon's data caps are low so even going with the 250mb option at $80 I still managed to get dinged for an additional $25 for extra data. Usually I turned roaming data off but their were a few times I forgot. I turned off work email the entire time as well. So $110 down the Verizon drain, however I needed to be accessible via my US phone number in an emergency so I had little choice.
> 
> The Ortel roaming plan was 40 Euro and started us off with 750mb. We also bought an extra 500mb while we were in the store and they told us how to add it when it was needed. We also turned off data roaming when it was not needed, but we did use the maps feature, waze, browser from time to time. Never exceeded the initial 750mb. We did try to make a call in Italy once. We couldn't get the call to complete and eventually gave up. Only other issue is we were limited to 3G, but that didn't matter much for our purposes. Oh, and we noticed coverage was consistently better with Verizon/vodaphone. Ortel was okay, but there were many times it was getting a weak signal or just out of range where the Verizon phone had a good signal.
> 
> Hope that helps.


Not really...

But Gluhwein is right we will be busy enjoying ourself, but do want to post while out and about. Need voice for emergency, work phone stays home. I can't see going over 500mb on this trip but who knows...


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## Eagle11 (Oct 6, 2013)

Gluhwein said:


> I'm with you Eagle11 - I got totally confused halfway though this thread. Too technical for me. I just want to know a cheap way of using my Verizon Samsung Galaxy in Europe. It would be nice to have that ability but it sounds like a lot of effort.
> 
> But the fact is that unless you're Donald Trump and need to make split second multi-million dollar decisions during the day, the WiFi in most hotels and inns is good enough for uploading your daily photos, answering email and posting on Facebook. The rest of the time you'll be too busy enjoying your new car and the sights to want to sit down and post your selfies.


I agree that we will be busy enjoying ourself, but want to be able to get calls or text's since my 91 yr old father lives with us, having a friend stay with him while we are gone, so need be in contact incase of a problem..


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## WaxComb (Oct 11, 2011)

I use T-Mobile now, but regarding topping up Ortel sim cards: just go to an E-Plus store and buy some credit. E-Plus vouchers work with Ortel.

http://www.ortelmobile.de/en/service/faq.html


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