...Italy, Spain, Austria? We will visit all the above countries within 30 days. Would we need to rent phones for each country?
Other - Europe - 4 Answers
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1 :
No. European phones use a system called GSM, and Virgin Mobile uses an incompatible system called CDMA. All European countries use the same GSM system, so the same phone will work in all of them. Get a cheap phone in the first country you visit, load it up with a reasonable amount of airtime, and just use it. I've bought an adequate phone in the UK for 10 pounds ($16) and the airtime cost about 30 cents/min in the UK and 50 cents/min in other countries.
2 :
I believe there's also a phone carrier called Virgin Mobile in the UK, but the US incarnation is different. Virgin Mobile USA uses Sprint's network, and their phones use CDMA technology (just like Sprint's). In Europe, there's no CDMA service, so your phone won't work there. You could try asking Virgin Mobile USA's customer service whether they have any kind of rental agreement with a European carrier, so that you could rent a phone in Europe and pay for calls out of your current balance, but even if they do, it'll probably be cheaper to just find a cheap phone to rent or buy once you get there. The good news is you shouldn't need to get a separate phone for each country. All of Europe uses GSM technology on the same radio frequencies, and once you have a phone that works in any European country, it should work in all of them.
3 :
Q. Can I use my Virgin Mobile phone if I am traveling outside the United States? A.Our coverage area includes all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. At this time, our phones won't work on networks outside that area. Sorry. Reference: www.virginmobileusa.com/help/helpDetails.do?tier=service&categoryId=37&topicId=293 *** You may want to consider T-Mobile's 'World Class' service. You can either rent or activate service with a T-Mobile phone. Information on the web: www.t-mobile.com/international/default.aspx?WT.srch=2&Result_Inq=answer&InqSource=TMO Customer Service: 1-800-T-MOBILE Store Locator: locator.t-mobile.com/Locator.aspx
4 :
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