Smart phone options while in Germany?
 

My sister is headed to Germany for 3+ weeks in 3 days. Landing in FRA.
Despite Verizon's claim that their phone will work over there, it does not seem to realistically be the case.
Since they are three days away from departure, getting an unlocked phone on the internet isn't really an option.

Do they have a German version of a burn phone over there? If so, how expensive are they, including data. They want to use it for searching the internet as well as a phone.

Any advice, insight would be appreciated.

Specifically what do you mean when you say that it won't realistically work? :confused: I used Verizon's global plan last year in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland. Costs aside (is that what you mean?), it worked fine. Is there some issue specific to Germany that is of concern?

As a Verizon customer who is Germany-bound next month, I'm curious, too.

If she's on a global plan it will work. You may/will have high roaming charges, but both voice and data will work. An alternative is to buy a pay-as-you-go SIM, check threads for this in travel technology.

Verizon Wireless will work, pbiflyer; the data charges for 3+ weeks will just be ridiculously expensive.

If your sister has a smartphone, have her buy a SIM card at an electronic stores like Saturn. She can pick the data plan she wants for a tiny fraction of what Verizon Wireless would charge. I did this last summer and bought a SIM card from Saturn.

As others have said, if Verizon says the phone will work there, it should. Cost is another issue.

There is an extensive thread on the subject of German SIM cards here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/germa...d-germany.html

That said, there's not a lot in that thread regarding burners, but they sell them all over the place. If she wants something easy, she can stop by the o2 store at FRA and pick up a Samsung Galaxy Y for €50, which includes €5 of credit upon activation. The reps there should be able to get her set up on a data plan (either 1GB for €15 or 5GB for €25).

She probably should find out what the costs would be to use her Verizon phone in Germany first. It may be extremely expensive and not worth it. However, they do sell contract-free phones at the media stores. Two of the biggest in Germany are Saturn and Media Markt. She needs to look for the ones called Vertragfreies Handys. Then she needs to get a start-up packet (with a SIM card) for a plan that best suits her needs. And there a a lot of them. Some are better for internet usage. Some are better if you're making calls from Germany to other countries. Afterwards, she needs to go online and register it in order to activate it (German law). Moreover, it's easy to reload them. There are several automated vending machines (mostly in subway and train stations) where you put money in, pick who your provider is, and it prints out a long receipt with a code on it. You call the number, enter your code, and the credit gets added to your account.

Thanks for all the input. As it turns out, a small change in their plan 1 year 360 days ago restarted their 2 year clock. They won't wave the one day, so new phones that would be European capable would cost an excessive amount. So that is out.

So they need a phone over there. Sounds like that there are some reasonable options.

Smart phone options while in Germany?
 

Which Verizon phone is she carrying? If it is a LTE phone, then it very likely it is already SIM unlocked and all she has to do is buy a SIM card in Germany.

Hey
The coverage is very poor in Germany. In the most City i have the moste time GSM.
The important question does the phone support GSM900 and its unlocked?

Not see which carrier/phone you are using but Vodafone and tmobile works just fine in urban areas.

Unless you are in the middle of a forest, or on the far north east North Sea coast (which the OP's sister isn't), you'll have better coverage than most European cities!

I see you're the same person who suggested that only non-white people get picked for customs inspections in Germany. Do you actually know what you are talking about or just here for a troll?

I used to assume clueless, but I'm not sure anymore...

Yup, there are. If she has a smartphone that is unlocked, she can buy a SIM card at one of the electronic stores that were already discussed in the thread.

If she buys a SIM card at Saturn, she can ask the salesperson to go online for her and activate it before she leaves the store. It's one less step to take especially since the activation website may not have an English translation.

If the iPhone will work depends on the version of the iPhone. Is it an very old iPhone 4 or is it an 4S, 5, 5C or 5S? The very old Verizon iPhone 4 will not work!! The first generation of Verizon iPhones did not support the GSM/UMTS network. So they don't work in Germany!

With the newer ones you will have no problem. They support the 2100Ghz UMTS frequency used by all carriers in Germany / Europe. If you have a 4G/LTE iPhone it supports the LTE frequency of 1800Ghz (band 3). So you will have no problems.

Just buy a prepaid sim-card. The cards will have voice and data. Depending of you want to do you might want to to go for one that has more data than voice or one that offers cheap international calling (for calling home to the US). The best networks are provided by Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone but are a bit pricier. Vodafone has a lot of MVNOs that sell under their own brand but use the Vodafone network. The two other carriers o2 and E-Plus have a bit weaker net but are cheaper. The cheapest MNVOs normally use the E-Plus or o2 network.

http://www.german-way.com/travel-and...ne-in-germany/

Smart phone options while in Germany?
 

I don't think any prepaid in Gernany offers LTE.

This is simply not true.

It is correct, that US phones sometimes use another frequency for their data as European phones, but this is mostly a problem the other way round (i.e. I need a UMTS Pentaband mobile to make use of the 4G network of T-Mobile in the US). As far as I know, this is not the case if using Verizon phones.

The big companies T-Mobile and Vodafone have a very good coverage and like put by other in 99% of the urban areas your are covered by 4G, in some suburban regions only 3G is available and in very few countryside location you have only basic internet service.

O2 has also a good coverage.

I am not absouletely sure where ToGo lives / travels, but you only run into this problems if you spend most of the time in a rural area far away from any major city (i.e. Mountains, parts of Schwarzwald, area around "Brocken", ...)

The last time i was in Berlin i try to use VoIP on my Cellphone in the Subway and SBahn in Berlin and the Connection often drops or when i try to connect in a Berlin Hotel the connection was very slow.
When i am Home i can watch TV in the Subway and make VoIP Call over hours w/o the connection drops....

Smart phone options while in Germany?
 

ToGo - you didn't mention what carrier you were using and speed. It's not useful to make a blanket statement that coverage in Germany is bad if your only data point is Berlin and not specify the carrier/speed/equipment you were using.

I made VoIP calls using FaceTime and Vonape app without problem on 3G in Duusseldorf. Couldn't get a signal in the countryside.

Basing your comments on that experience is silly. It's possible that back in Asia your city may be more advanced in its cell service buildout, but I don't think anyone has a reasonable expectation to have reliable service in underground tunnels in most cities.

The S-Bahn mostly runs above ground. However, part of the S1/S2 lines run in a tunnel through Mitte where the signal does drop out (usually between the Anhalter Bahnhof and Nordbahnfof stations). But I usually get pretty good reception in the U-Bahn. Mainly because they are really not deep tunnels. In fact, their "ceiling" is basically the road above it.

Simyo, Blau and Aldi do offer LTE.

http://www.lte-anbieter.info/prepaid...e-ratgeber.php

Thanks. I have blau and will take a look next time I'm in Germany.