International SIM card / Carrier Advice Needed (US >> European Travel)

[taylerdo]

Hi guys and gals,

I have a US Lumia 635 AT&T GoPhone purchased from Amazon earlier this year. I am eligible for, and requested the unlock code today from AT&T, which I should have on Thursday.

We will be in Germany and Austria in October. I want to use the phone for phone calls. I assume the Wi-Fi will work at hotels, etc., for data like it does at home in the US.

What is the best approach to obtaining and setting up an International SIM card in the phone?

i.e.

Which carriers can you suggest? (To make phone calls, assuming the Wi-Fi will avoid data charges at a European hotel, as data charges are avoided via Wi-Fi in the US.)

Should I get a card now, or just wait until I am in Munich of Vienna to set things up?

Should I have a SIM (like Lebara or another suggested carrier) mailed to the hotel in Europe to avoid fees? (many SIMs appear to be free if mailed within the European country to an address within that country.)

Will I be able to update to Denim after unlocking the phone and setting up the SIM (when the phone is in Europe)?

Data roaming seems to be huge in Europe when you travel out of the SIM's country code. Most of our time will be spent in Austria. Should I get a card for Austria to avoid the majority of the roaming fees?

Thanks for any and all tips and advice. :excited:

Don

 

[mj0]

Indeed roaming costs will be horrendous when using an Austrian SIM card in Germany and vice versa. I wouldn't preoder them since you can get SIM cards pretty much everwhere here - they're widely available even at grocery stores and can be activated within a few hours (minutes, even). Get a prepaid SIM in Munich to use in Germany, then get another one in Austria. The SIM might cost you 5€ but that's still a lot cheaper than dealing with roaming costs, which can quickly add up to hundreds of Euros.

There are plenty of MVNOs to choose from. I can't help you with Austria but for Germany my suggestion would be AldiTalk (available at, you guessed it, Aldi) available in three different flavors: https://www.alditalk.de/sued/Telefonieren_Surfen/index.php

If you want to read up on your options simtarife.de has a pretty good overview of what's available in Germany right now.

 

[taylerdo]

Great tips !

mj0 , thank you for the information. I am "all over it."

I received my unlock code this afternoon from AT&T.

I think I will pick up an 'ALDI TALK Starter Set mit Kombi-SIM-Karte' in Munich to start with, if that makes sense to you mj0 ...

More responses to my other questions, from anyone, are appreciated.

If someone can recommend Austrian MVNOs for a Lumia 635 Prepaid Phone, that would be great !

Again, thanks for any and all tips and advice. :excited:

A couple of planned trip highlights (I already have reservations):

Munich -- BMW Welt Premium Tour; Paulaner Brewery Tour.
Vienna -- Belvedere Palace and Museum, which has Klimt exhibits ('think' Woman in Gold.)
Salzburg -- KTM Factory Tour in Mattinghofen. Red Bull HQ is nearby ... maybe go there, too.

Restaurant and Biergarten tips thrown in after relevant responses to my inquiry are also appreciated (how is Augustiner Keller? Osterwaldgarten?)

Don

 

[mj0]

Yes, that starter kit should work. It comes with 10€ credit that you can then use to choose the "plan" you want. Careful: free Wifi is not as widely available in Germany due to legal reasons as it is in other countries (basically, German law says that if you provide wifi access you're fully responsible for whathever users do) but most hotels/hostels should offer wifi these days. There are some wifi hotspots provided by the city itself, you can find them here: WLAN WiFi Hotspot M?nchen - auf muenchen.de - dem offiziellen Stadtportal. McDonald's sometimes works but more often than not they only offer a paid option (again, for legal and in this case also monetary reasons).

I've sent you a personal message to answer your other non-technical question about Munich :wink: