<p>My daughter leaves in two weeks for a semester abroad at Leiden University in the Netherlands. We talked with our cell provider, Verizon, and the salesman was honest enough to say we didn't want their international service as it was extremely expensive! Any thoughts/experiences on a provider for Europe/Netherlands? A friend of hers has an international phone purchased in Israel for her time abroad. They were thinking if it was outfitted with a new SIM card, it might work without having to buy a new phone. Thanks for all the advice, in advance!</p>
<p>When my kid did his study abroad, his cell phone was purchased in the country where he studied. In his case it was Orange Mobile (he was in london). The college actually arranged it, but the reality was it would have been just as easy for DS to do it himself. He didn’t like the model phone they gave him so he went into one of their stores and swapped the phone. “buying minutes” was something he could do at almost every convenience story in London. He was told that getting the phone in the country was the cheapest way to go.</p>
<p>DD used the same phone (she just took it) when she went to Europe (not to the UK) a couple of years later. If we had known it was going to work, we would have gotten DS’s “numbers” and purchased some minutes for it online. Oh well.</p>
<p>For conversations with your study abroad student with the family here in the states, I would suggest Skype (if she’ll have a computer with her).</p>
<p>We have what’s known as an “unlocked” cell phone that my kids use when abroad. You buy a cheap SIM card in whatever country you’re in and can make cheap calls. We all also Skype.</p>
<p>Some phones don’t have sim cards…I’m not sure you can swap them out on Verizon phones.</p>
<p>Thanks, Thumper…that’s sort of what we’ve been told. We use Skype now to talk with grandson across country. She’s going to make good use of it.</p>
<p>D1 is currently studying abroad in Asia. She has been renting a cell phone in the country that she’s currently in, but it doesn’t include international service, so we keep in touch with her with a combination of (primarily) Skype, Facebook and email.</p>
<p>T-Mobile phones use SIMs. When you set up a pre-pay account with T-Mobile you get a suitable phone. You need to “unlock” it. Most communities have a phone shop that provides such a service for $10-20. Alternatively you can easily buy “unlocked” T-Mobile phones on EBay for as little as $75.</p>
<p>Then you would buy a SIM card for each country where you need the phone.</p>
<p>In terms of costs, Europe-USA calls are expensive. Skype is the cheap alternative.</p>
<p>When I studied abroad I purchased a cellphone that was pay-as-you-go in the country I was in (France). I’m sure it’s just as easy to do in the Netherlands. I would NOT go with international service from an American company – I had friends who tried this and it ended up not working and they had to buy phones in France anyway.</p>
<p>However, it will be REALLY expensive to call the US will prepaid minutes. I second the Skype idea, it’s free and really convenient. (I used it for a whole year to talk to my parents while I was abroad.)</p>
<p>She needs a local plan and phone for local friends and skype for those faraway as well as fb etc.</p>
<p>I love my iPhone if you already have one that acts as a computer in wireless zones including being able to skype.</p>
<p>I have T-mobile and buy SIM cards in the country where I am. I keep my regular SIM card and put it back when I return to the US.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the suggestions. I will look into the T mobile and a SIM card from Holland. As well as the prepaid method in country.</p>
<p>In addition to skype you should get a long distance calling card - there are different cards with cheap rates for specific countries. Then there is a way to call home when not close to a computer.
There are sites in the US where you can buy them if you want to have it before leaving - this is the one I have used for China and Thailand:</p>
<p>[Phone</a> Cards and International Calling Cards from NobelCom](<a href=“http://www.nobelcom.com/]Phone”>http://www.nobelcom.com/)</p>
<p>We lived in China when my oldest started college in the US and we bought her a US to China card which lasted over a year and she used it a lot. Skype was even blocked in China for a good part of that year so it really lasts a long time.</p>
<p>I just ordered a SIM card for my daughter from cellularabroad.com. It has SIM cards for all the European countries; we ordered the one for her country. Reasonable rates, and it’ll get here in time. They also sell phones with the SIM card (she didn’t need one). The SIM can be recharged on line, and it includes the charges for texting and her data plan. </p>
<p>I figured it was easier to order here because (1) I’ll know her international phone number before she leaves; (2) she’s arriving a day earlier than she should have - we misread the meaning of “start date”, so she may need to do some calling; (3) I paid in dollars, not euros so I don’t have to worry about the exchange rate; (4) it recharges in dollars so I don’t have to worry about the exchange rate; (5) there’s no additional “foreign currency transaction fee” to worry about.</p>
<p>I’ll let you know if it’s any good!</p>
<p>Also you can search for info on an expat website - they usually have great forums that can provide better details on what works in that country - in Shanghi the shanghaiexpat.com site was invaluable!</p>
<p>Just found one on google: [Living</a> in the Netherlands – For Expats, By Expats | Expatica The Netherlands](<a href=“http://www.expatica.com/nl/main.html]Living”>http://www.expatica.com/nl/main.html)</p>
<p>Please do let me know if it works, Chedva. I’ve got two weeks to order and receive, it it’s a good deal.</p>
<p>Thank you, ShanghiMom…will check it out.</p>
<p>I’m so confused. DS got his mobile phone in the UK. His sister used it years later (it still had minutes on it) in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands (Amsterdam). She did not need different “sim cards” for each country.</p>
<p>And DS used the same phone in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Spain, and Austria…no change in the sim card. Same orange mobile phone…with minutes added.</p>
<p>And if you want to buy prepaid long distance cards to use…buy them also in the country where you will be studying. They are available in the airports if you’re in a hurry to get one…you can get it right when you get there. BUT really Skype is better for international to U.S. calls.</p>
<p>momray, I’ll let you know, but my d will be leaving at the same time yours will, so I don’t think I’ll be able to give you any updates in time. I’d just go on and look for it.</p>
<p>thumper1, the reason I bought a country-specific SIM card, which does work in most of Europe, is that d wanted a phone number from the country in which she’ll be studying. That way, professors, local students, etc. can call her without making international calls.</p>
<p>Chedva, my son did the same thing. Purchased the phone IN the UK for use in the UK where he was studying. That phone was able to be used all over Europe…only ONE sim card.</p>
<p>I think that all of Europe uses the same cell phone system - GSM, which requires the use of SIM cards. AT&T and T-Mobile in the US also use GSM, but Verizon does not. The same phone can be used in all of the European countries, but the costs will differ, and the roaming costs are usually very expensive when used in a different country than the account/phone number are from.</p>
<p>The friend’s phone from Israel would probably work, as long as it is unlocked. Your D should just be able to buy a pre-paid SIM card in the Netherlands. If the phone didn’t work, it is probably cheapest and easiest for her to just buy a cheap phone there in the Netherlands.</p>