<p>I'm in the US. Can someone give me advise on staying connected with my son while he studies abroad in Europe? I'm not even sure what my options are. Can we still Facetime? Will his iphone work over there?? Should I get an international calling card? Get a temporary international phone for him while he's there? Just not sure what the cheapest and best solution is? Any help would be so appreciated!!</p>
<p>SKYPE is probably best.</p>
<p>The school or the study abroad program may already have the information posted on their website. There is also probably some sort of study abroad office at your child’s school you could check with. Your student may already have the answer to your question but I realize that doesn’t always mean they will share that information with you! You can also check the forums on tripadvisor dot com. Very helpful with information about ease of purchasing cell phones, etc. All of this is going to vary depending on where your child is traveling.</p>
<p>The easiest thing for him to do to have a functional phone in Europe would be to get a SIM card for his phone once he’s there.
In terms of keeping in touch with him, though, Skype is definitely the way to go (or Google hangouts, Oovoo, or your video calling service of choice). When my brother was in Germany for a year, Skype and email was how we kept in touch with him. I am currently in Germany and that’s how I keep in contact with my dad. Facetime should still be able to work even if he doesn’t have a SIM card for his phone. It can work over wifi, so using it would basically be like using Skype. I can use Facetime on my iPad/iPod touch, so no cell network required. (Though I don’t actually use it because it only connects to other Apple devices. Skype is better for cross-platform communication.)
I also facebook chat with my friends and boyfriend most days. If both of you regularly use Facebook, this could be a good way to keep in touch for little things. Google/gmail also has a nice chat feature you could use instead.</p>
<p>We talked to our son using Skype last spring when he spent a semester in Denmark. I am pretty sure that we had more contact during those four months than the other three years combined when he was only 5 hours away. When he returned from abroad, we went back to our hit and miss phone calls. When I complained, he said that he leads a boring life and doesn’t really have much to say. I am hoping that he gets one of the jobs or grad school that he is applying (so far Korea, Japan, Denmark or Iceland) so we will again have regular phone calls!</p>
<p>What about text messaging between US and England? Would this be possible (or feasible or affordable?) with iphones?</p>
<p>There is an app
what’s app
which allows you to text to any one else who has that app.
For the iPhone, depending on your carrier, a sim card should work. I know AT&T works, google yours.
But the phone itself needs to be unlocked. For AT&T I just called in to have the phones unlocked, it only works on older phones, not brand new.
Also, I had an issue where the phone looked active but data was not working. It took quite a bit of time on th UK phone help line before we figured out how to manually add their network
in the non English speaking country I had to get a bi lingual person to help me, still took an hour, not simple but worth the hassle.
So if he gets phone but not data service ask about adding the phone company network manually.</p>
<p>arattay:</p>
<p>my son goes to school in Scotland</p>
<p>we simply email back and forth</p>
<p>it is no different than him being at the local state university in that respect.</p>
<p>I don’t even know how to call him on the phone.</p>
<p>My daughters studied in UK, one a year, one a semester. We used Skype the most, not always face to face, usually like quick messages. They didn’t have Iphones, but I bought a sim card from goabroad and they used that in their ATT phone…texts were cheaper but rarely did they call, although that was cheaper too. I could go online and put more money on it and also see where they were…when she went to Scotland it had a tracker in the phone so I could see she was there on their website. That was kind of cool. : ) It was under 70 for the Sim card if I remember correctly and it was for the year.
I used just regular email to send messages also and links…but skype was quicker many times.</p>
<p>Europe is easy. A lot of public places have free wifi. When D1 was in London for training, she unlocked her iphone and bought a local sim card. She had unlimited data and texting with a generous international calling plan for under 50/mon. It was a challenge when she went to Australia where they didn’t have unlimited internet in her dorm and unlimited texting. She ran up a big bill when she tried to stream movies and youtubes.</p>
<p>I would start googling to see what wireless options are available.</p>
<p>My daughter is in Europe right now; had her turn off the data on the i-phone. She uses it at wi-fi spots to email/message me through FaceBook but never, ever uses data for any type of text or talk on her ‘home i-phone’. That emailing from her phone at wi fi spots has worked just fine along with messaging on FaceBook, which is ‘new’ and something we NEVER do when she is here in the U.S.A at college. She was required to have a cell that works 24/7 while in the program, and there were cheap ones recommended for her once she got there. It hasn’t killed her budget at all having that ‘other phone.’ I think T-Mobile has some new deal where their phones can be used ‘anywhere’ around the globe with no extra charges, but that is not our carrier. If that’s the plan you have, though, you could check that out, too. I feel your angst. I was really worried before my kid left for her semester away, but it has been just fine in the end. Good luck with figuring out which system(s) work best for you.</p>
<p>skype,whatsapp, viber, other apps might be helpful but skype is probably the best start</p>
<p>I’m in France right now and I call my parents pretty much every day.</p>
<p>I have unlimited calls to the US as part of my cell phone plan (Free is the company-most people I’ve met use it here). I also have unlimited data and texting to French numbers. For contacting my friends at home, I i message them (which is free over wifi/data). For calling my parents, I just call them. If they want to talk to me, then my mom Facebook messages me and says: “Call me.” Or she’ll call me and I won’t answer, and then call right back, so that it doesn’t cost anyone anything.</p>
<p>I also have a US number that I set up with Google Voice. I downloaded a phone app on my iphone called “GV Phone” and it basically makes my phone act like a US phone. Anyone who has my US number can call and/or text me and it shows up on that app.</p>
<p>Contact is extremely easy as long as you have data and/or wifi. I wouldn’t rely on finding wifi though. We had the hardest time in Italy over fall break because none of us had data and the only places with free wifi were McDonald’s.</p>
<p>Very helpful.</p>
<p>Interesting, AUGirl. My daughter has a cell in Amsterdam (actually, two, counting her I-phone from here) and she hasn’t figured out these ideas that you are using. She doesn’t have the money, I think, for the unlimited calls to the U.S. plan with the European phone she purchased (and / or rented?). The GV phone app isn’t using any data? It’s VERY cool to know about that app. Thanks for the info. I agree with oldfort that your post is helpful, indeed. Enjoy the rest of your study abroad program!</p>
<p>^The GV Phone does use data. You have to be connected to the internet via either data or wifi for it to work. Sorry for the confusion. But, it’s great if someone doesn’t have the unlimited calls to the US plan.</p>
<p>But, I’d definitely tell people to do research on phone companies before coming. A lot of the cell phone companies in Europe are going to having free calls to certain countries and the plans are pretty reasonable. Mine is only 20 Euro a month, so definitely very affordable. It’s cheaper than my cell phone bill at home and I only pay $30/month at home.</p>
<p>Also, check to see if you can get an unlocked GSM smartphone. The problem we have in the US is that most cell phone companies (so Verizon and Sprint for example) use CDMA technology and you can’t switch phones between companies. In Europe (and most of the rest of the world), they use GSM technology with Sim Cards. (I think T Mobile and AT&T use sim cards). If you can get your phone unlocked or buy an unlocked phone, then there’s no problem using any of the companies here in Europe. It’s extremely helpful to be able to use a smartphone for things like Google Maps, Traffic updates, emails, etc. I ended up buying a new one before I came here and while it was a couple of hundred dollars, I don’t regret it. It was one of the most practical purchases I’ve made, because I use it so much.</p>
<p>Getting an international calling card is the perfect communications solution for make and receive local and international calls, send and receive text messages (SMS) whilst in the US without spending a fortune in roaming charges.For using the calling card make sure that your mobile is unlocked .If it locked with any particular network means you need to unlock .Unlock it with a relevant online vendor like [url=<a href=“http://www.onlinegsmunlock.com/apple-iphone/rs7wp9/]OnlineGSMUnlock.com[/url”>http://www.onlinegsmunlock.com/apple-iphone/rs7wp9/]OnlineGSMUnlock.com[/url</a>] .</p>
<p>Our S was in Scotland for fall semester and had no problems communicating and calling. His iPhone 5 from Verizon is not locked on the GSM side (none of them are - just the CDMA side is locked). He went to the UK phone carrier 3 (Three) and had a UK sim card /local number in his phone in about five minutes. He used a pay as you go/prepaid plan that cost him about 25 Pounds per month. With iPhones and WiFi, we were able to facetime at home at anytime at no cost. Texting him in the UK was as simple as texting him here. I made sure we had the 3.99 per month international service on our phones and no problem with texts or calls. We used facetime about 90% of the time to keep costs low. He had wifi nearly everywhere he needed it in school and when off the wifi grid, he had a data allowance with his 3 package.</p>
<p>Verizon allowed us to suspend his local service for up to 3 months which we did. He swapped out his 3 sim card in the plane on the way home and reinserted his Verizon sim card. When he landed in Newark and turned his phone on it was as though he never turned it off or converted it.</p>
<p>It turned out to be a very simple and inexpensive process. We too, had originally considered a UK phone, prepaid calling cards, Skype, etc., but found the process we used after doing some research and speaking with a couple of Verizon reps and a rep at the Apple store. We also invested a couple of dollars in calls to UK carriers as part of our research. The research paid off and this part of his being overseas worked out very well. In fact, he probably talked to us more from Europe than he does from his home college here in the states.</p>
<p>One warning - calls from US landlines and some mobile lines to mobile numbers in other countries are very expensive. Our land line to land line cost for calls to the UK are about 3 cents per minute but US land line calls to a UK mobile are 40 cents per minute! :eek: DW learned the hard way to use facetime or her cell to call S while in the UK.</p>
<p>Skype, Facetime and gmail.</p>