Using 2 iPhones in Europe
#2
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
That depends on your carrier. If they're recent iPhones on an American carrier, one option would be to buy SIM cards for the countries you visit. If you stick with your carrier and it isn't T-Mobile, it could be two or three dollars a minute.
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist



Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
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#7


Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: LAX / PHL
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#9
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
Maybe not. AT&T AT&T says they'll provide an unlock code if your device is paid for in full. I understand that to mean that, if you bought it on contract, enough months have passed to cover the whole cost of the phone.
The page I linked to above has a link to AT&T's online unlock request form. It would only take you a few minutes to fill it out and see whether your phone qualifies.
The page I linked to above has a link to AT&T's online unlock request form. It would only take you a few minutes to fill it out and see whether your phone qualifies.
#10
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 431
Since you mention that you only want to use your iPhone's for voice calls, there is another solution:
Use your iPhone's only over wi-fi (Skype) when in a hotel room or hot spot.
Purchase 2 cheap pay-as-you-go phones once you land in Europe.
This way, you use inexpensive phone service provided by a Europe carrier for voice calls to each other and only use the iPhones where you can get free wi-fi and avoid all ATT charges for international use. Google "pay as you go phone Europe" and you'll see several choices, the easiest thing to do is grab them at a 7-11 at the airport.
BJ
Use your iPhone's only over wi-fi (Skype) when in a hotel room or hot spot.
Purchase 2 cheap pay-as-you-go phones once you land in Europe.
This way, you use inexpensive phone service provided by a Europe carrier for voice calls to each other and only use the iPhones where you can get free wi-fi and avoid all ATT charges for international use. Google "pay as you go phone Europe" and you'll see several choices, the easiest thing to do is grab them at a 7-11 at the airport.
BJ
#11
Original Poster


Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: united, Hilton, Amtrak
Posts: 1,236
Thank you, I will look into that. I also discovered that they have a 30 minutes for 30 dollars plan which would work for my situation. We would only be calling each other if we got separated and needed to find each other.
#12




Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: UA AU (ex 10+ year 1k) 1.5MM, AS AG, HH ex Dia
Posts: 340
In most of Europe the going rate for AT&T is $1.50/minute, so if you call each other that will be $3.00/minute (a minute on each end). If you're really just planning on this as an emergency back-up, that's ten minutes of calls before the roaming plan makes sense. Another option is texting each other - text while roaming is something like 35 cents each. OCTeckels and I do that to coordinate when we get split up.
I know with the AT&T data roaming plans, you can backdate the start of the plan to the start of your billing period. It's possible that you can do the same with the voice roaming. You can manage this yourself on the AT&T website, and you can go all the way to picking dates and still cancel if you want to check in advance.
I know with the AT&T data roaming plans, you can backdate the start of the plan to the start of your billing period. It's possible that you can do the same with the voice roaming. You can manage this yourself on the AT&T website, and you can go all the way to picking dates and still cancel if you want to check in advance.
#13




Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,893
And with iMessage enabled, all your friends in any part of the world could contact you via iMessage on their iDevices. I probably wouldn't try to use Skype for 120MB though.. the video streaming will eat up the data really fast, but iMessage would be perfect. The only problem with iMessage is that if you have a lot of friends and family members who like to do group messages with pictures.... that would eat up the data really fast also.
Last edited by Need; Mar 12, 2014 at 2:55 pm


