Shoutbox

Which Canadian phone company are you with?

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Originally posted by wacky
roaming will cost me if my phone is bought in Europe? or did you mean if I bring a phone from Canada? cuz I'll be getting it in Europe, most likely

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Yes, you pay higher rates if the phone is bought within Europe too.

Most likely you'll buy a cheap prepaid phone (which most of the time comes with anywhere between 10 an 30 euro of credits). That phone will be tied to a network provider from the country you buy it in. So if you use that phone in another country (even within Europe) you will pay higher rates. But as long as you don't have endless conversations you'll probably be fine. In the case of text messages sending a text messages from/to other European countries is close to the normal price for me.

quote:

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Originally posted by wacky
from what I seem to have understood, the UK does have some great deals but the rest of Europe not so much.. and I won't be visiting the UK so the great deals don't apply

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Just looked at the first Dutch store that happened to came to mind: For 20 euro you can get a very basic phone with 15 euro of credits to call with.

The only things that you may have to look out for:
* It says the phone is dualband, but it doesn't say which actual frequencies. CookieRevised/Adeptus, will it work in all of Europe? I haven't had anything other than quadband in a while so forgot which one we actually use .
* It says "maximum of 15 euro credits"... It could be you only get a part of those "free" credits after registering (which will be nearly impossible to do for you). But you can buy more credits without registering in a lot of stores. Just make sure you have enough credits when you leave the country where you bought the phone, you won't find credits for one European country's provider in another European country... or at least not easily.


EDIT:
To give you an idea of the rates you would be paying... if you bought the phone linked above which is on the Dutch T-Mobile network:

When you use it in the Netherlands...
Calling within the Netherlands: 0.35 Euro/Minute
Being called: free
Sending SMS: 0.23 Euro/Message
Receiving SMS: free
Calling to Canada: 1.00 Euro/Minute

When you use the Dutch phone in other European countries (including Belgium and Switzerland)...
Calling within Europe: 0.51 Euro/minute
Being called: 0.23 Euro/Minute (which is why you want to make sure you have enough credits with you)
Sending SMS: 0.13 Euro/Message (yes, sending SMS when you are abroard is acutally cheaper... yay EU forcing maximum rates)
Receiving SMS: free
Calling to Canada: 1.25 Euro/Minute

So yeah, because it is prepaid you will already be paying higher rated than a contract and using it in other countries adds even more to it. But I guess it's not much worse than using a Canadian phone in Europe would be. Although if you buy the phone in Belgium or Switzerland rates will be different, but probably not too much.

quote:

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Originally posted by Lou
Which Canadian phone company are you with?

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Koodo


Thanks Menthness ()
I think that's what I'll do. I was actually looking at something similar but with Belgian providers. When I tried to look at the ones found in the Netherlands, I got discouraged because it was only in Dutch depending how many days I spend in the Netherlands, I may simply get one once I arrive in Belgium.

At least now I know what my possibilities are


edit: just saw your edit.. thank you very very much for the info. Much more than I could have asked for!

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Originally posted by wacky
Koodo

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Telus*

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Originally posted by SonicSam

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Originally posted by wacky
Koodo

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Telus*

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I'm aware.. I don't understand why Telus doesn't give better deals simply as Telus

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Originally posted by Menthix
* It says the phone is dualband, but it doesn't say which actual frequencies. CookieRevised/Adeptus, will it work in all of Europe? I haven't had anything other than quadband in a while so forgot which one we actually use .

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Yes, as long as you stay in Europe you can't go wrong with a dual band. In Europe there is only one 'dual band' so to speak: 900/1800 Mhz. US uses two different GSM bands though: 850/1900 MHz. You wont find 'US dual band' GSMs here.

The four GSM bands are (there are more though, but you only need to know about these ones):
- 850 MHz   (824.2 - 848.8 MHz Tx;  869.2 - 893.8 MHz Rx)
- 900 MHz   (880-2 - 914.8 MHz Tx;  925.2 - 959.8 MHz Rx)
- 1800 MHz  (1710.2 - 1784.8 MHz Tx; 1805.2 - 1879.8 MHz Rx)
- 1900 MHz  (1850.2 - 1909.8 MHz Tx; 1930.2 - 1989.8 MHz Rx)

The two main types of tri band phone's are:
900/1800/1900 MHz: Excellent for international use, good for US
850/1800/1900 MHz: Excellent for US, not very good intl.

http://thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/quadbandphones.htm
(contains a nice graphic table, although old (2007), it is a good indication)

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As for prices for prepaid in Belgium:

Unfortunatly, in general, the prices in Belgium for telecom are rather steep compared to other EU countries (twice as high, or more, than the cheapest formula in Europe). This said, the prices for roaming are decreasing quite a lot, but still, it can be cheaper.

In general, if you buy a prepaid in Belgium from a major provider, imho your best bet would be a prepaid card from Base (the other two major providers are Proximus and Mobistar). There are other, smaller providers, but you wont find them as much as the major ones. The most widespread is Proximus, but this is certainly not the cheapest. And although the smaller providers might offer a lot cheaper prices, their roaming prices might be more expensive than the major ones....

It's hard to compare prices in Belgium for this though. Because the prices depend on quite a lot of things. Eg: when you call (not only the hours, but also on certain days/weekends/etc), to what provider your call, how long you call, even in some cases to what number you call (you sometimes can get cheaper prices if you opt in to certain promotions involving your "friends' numbers" etc). It also depends on what kind of (sub)formula you get. In some prepaid formulas you get a certain amount of free sms's and calling minutes, etc. Then it also often depends to what country you call or sms (even in Europe), etc... Most providers also give you a lot of free sms's and calling minutes to call to numbers of that same provider. But personally and generally speaking, I always found Base the cheapest, incl. for roaming (I also have a prepaid Base card btw).

The prices given by Menthix are a good indication for the prices in Belgium too. Eventhough I said the prices here are a lot more than in other EU countries, they aren't that much more than what Menthix showed. In fact, when I looked at a comparisson table (this table didn't involve roaming though) the prices are a lot cheaper... But again, it isn't that transparant in Belgium and there are quite a lot exceptions and special formulas. The benefit is that you can almost pick and choose what's best for you. The downside is that there are so many different formulas that it is very hard to compare them all. Even for people in Belgium it is very hard to pick the best formula.

Either way, you can't go really wrong with whatever you choose though. Yes you might be paying a few cents more compared to another, better formula. But the confusion and time spending in picking one isn't worth the hastle tbh.  Especially not when you're only going to use it for a few weeks. As long as you don't overdo it of course and only use your cell phone for basic communication and stick to texting.

Thank you cookie, I'll keep that in mind I don't think I'll be using it that much. Maybe I'll be sending a lot of text messages, but I'll stay conscious of how I am using it.

I think I may be lucky enough because my friend let me have his phone that he had in Australia. I'm just not sure if it would work in Europe.
Operating Frequency:
    * Dual band GSM 850/1900 MHz
    * Dual band EGSM 900/1800 MHz

I'm not sure what EGSM is (I really don't know much about all this.. )
And my other problem is that the charger fits in an Australian outlet (I can't charge it here or in Europe) so I need to find a place were I can get a converter. I Don't know how easily I can find one here that would convert Australian to European, but I'll try to find one anyway if the phone should be supposed to work in Europe.

I'm sure there's wifi you can steal. Use that + Skype with a month of Worldwide (like $10 or something)

https://buy.skype.com/paymonthly/?currency=CAD&so...llSubscriptionsTab

Unlimited World

C$ 13.99/month2

quote:

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Originally posted by wacky
Operating Frequency:
    * Dual band GSM 850/1900 MHz
    * Dual band EGSM 900/1800 MHz

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If that is all one phone you're talking about it should be good almost anywhere, as it is a quad band.

So you have a SIM card to use with it? Or, if you are planning to buy a SIM card for it here.... is it unlocked so it will accept a SIM from any provider?

quote:

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Originally posted by Menthix
...as it is a quad band.

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I'm not 100% sure if E-GSM is the same as GSM though, it might be, but don't take my word for it (eventhough the frequencies are the same).

It might be a phone which supports two different types of cellphone networks both with with dual band frequencies. It might be that, in lamens terms, this is 'quad band', but personally I'm not sure about that, because:

For the Dutchies amung us:

http://www.gsmhelpdesk.nl/helpdesk/helpdesk.php?id=11
...where they make a distinction between GSM 900Mhz/1800Mhz networks and E-GSM networks.

And according to http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_(communicatie)
E-GSM (900Mhz) is an extention on GSM (900Mhz). So it might be that a phone which supports only GSM 900Mhz will not work on a E-GSM 900Mhz network and vice versa.

In The Netherlands only Orange, Telfort, and maybe T-Mobile support E-GSM (900Mhz), In Belgium, all three major providers support it though.

And Since Orange (The Netherlands) and Base (Belgium) have deals with eachother in regards to roaming, I think if you take an Orange/Base sim card you're good in both countries.

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quote:

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Originally posted by wacky
I think I may be lucky enough because my friend let me have his phone that he had in Australia. I'm just not sure if it would work in Europe.

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What exact type of phone is it?

Normally, you can find power adapters for almost any phone here though.

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Also, Be carefull with using just a plug converter! For many devices (might also be your phone) it isn't enough to simply convert the plug!

The electrical grid in Europe is 220/240V and works on 50Hz, in US/Canada it is 100/120V working on 60Hz.

Plugging in a device which doesn't support the European voltage and frequency and you'll damage your device permanently.

On each device (eg: your cell phone power adapter, or laptop power adapter) the supported voltages and frequencies should be listed in small print.

If it supports both the US/Canadian and the European power grid you should see something like: "Input: 110/220V - 50/60Hz".
note: 110V can also be 100V or 120V, and 220V can also be 230V or 240V
Laptop power adapters usually (but not always!) support both power grids.

If it is not listed, or if it only lists "110V - 60Hz", then you also need to buy a "power converter" (also called "transformer" or "voltage converter"). This is usually a brick-like block and is relative heavy.
eg: http://www.voltageconverters.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=PB1650


some reading materials:
http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap11/electric.htm
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap06/packing.htm

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As for plugs:
Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland all have different kind of sockets.

Though, if you have a plug type C (without the earth), you can use it both in Belgium as in The Netherlands. The only difference between Belgium and The Netherlands is that in The Netherlands the earth is located on the side of the plug/socket, while in Belgium it is with a thick pin off-center in the middle.

If you do need earthing, make sure your plug supports both side and center earthing (commonly found in Belgium -almost all plugs have it-, a bit less common in The Netherlands), aka plug type E.

Switzerland uses a total different plug/socket (type J), which is incompatible with the ones use in Belgium or The Netherlands. Although, it might be that a plug type C also fits a socket type F J, but that depends on its subtype (I suggest you don't try it though unless you know what you're doing - never force a plug into a socket).

A travel plug adapter can commonly be found in most hardware shops. You could also buy them in the Airport, though they would be a bit expensive.
(Plus, I have a whole bunch of them also, which came with other adapters. I have no use for them since they change a US/Canadian plug type to Belgium/Netherlands type... so I suppose you can have them).