Expert: DebiN - 9/9/2009

Question
Hi Debi, Hope you can help me with this. My daughter is on her way to France, Italy, Germany and Spain for three months. I know you can buy disposable phones in Europe but would like to find out if I can get a phone over there with unlimited incoming calls and international text. She will split the cost with her friend. I don't know where to start looking...there are so many. I also thought of giving her my Blackberry World and checking out their Canadian Plans for overseas. I am with Bell Canada. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. They leave next week!  Thanks so much.

Answer
If you get her a BlackBerry World phone with an international BlackBerry data plan, she will be able to use it in Europe for data only without paying extra and could keep in contact with you via email. But the plan does not include voice or text, so you would be paying roaming charges for that and the cost is likely around $.99 a minute for voice and around $.50 or more for text. With the data plan being around $70.00 (they don't have an international only plan, the plan is domestic plus international, so it's typically around $65 to $70), it's probably not worth it to pay these much. It's much less expensive to have her get a local phone and then the costs for calls sent and text will be less with international dialing then if they were international roaming. I'm not aware of any carrier there who offers free unlimited incoming calls. These are typically North American "gimmicks" and in Europe they don't have these type of gimmicky plans. Free incoming just means more expensive outgoing and of course in your daughter's case, it would be great because she wouldn't be making outgoing calls! However, they don't have it so it isn't an option. If you don't mind paying the charge for you to make an international call to her, then getting her a local phone is still the best option because she will only be paying for the minutes she talks to you when you call her and not at an international rate, just domestic. Only if she calls you would she be paying for an international dialed call. It's not unlimited, but at least it would only be a few cents a minute. No way around international text charges, but perhaps she can find a package deal. I hope this helps and good luck and I am very jealous of her upcoming trip! Thanks. DebiN