Going to Ireland, please help...

[ChuckG73]

So I have the Maxx HD and will be going to Ireland for a week with my wife and leaving our two boys at home with our nanny. I want to be able to call home and send and receive emails and texts during the week I am in Ireland. What are my best options? Do I swap out the sim card for a pre-paid in Ireland or do I contact Verizon and activate international calling?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

So I have the Maxx HD and will be going to Ireland for a week with my wife and leaving our two boys at home with our nanny. I want to be able to call home and send and receive emails and texts during the week I am in Ireland. What are my best options? Do I swap out the sim card for a pre-paid in Ireland or do I contact Verizon and activate international calling?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

I would activate international calling, you can disable it as soon as you get back. Its pro rated I believe.

 

[ChuckG73]

Data charges seem to be outrageous if I use the international plan with VZW, I was hoping to be able to use Google Maps on my phone while I am there...hmmmm

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

Data charges seem to be outrageous if I use the international plan with VZW, I was hoping to be able to use Google Maps on my phone while I am there...hmmmm

Well thats a completely different story. For data I would honestly go with whatever you can afford. I know Verizon has insane pricing for those plans but have never had to consider other carriers so i would price it out and see how much it would cost compared to a plan with VZW. If the price outweighs the hassel then go with a different carrier for the time.

 

[dbeedle]

I've done some research for a trip to Italy my wife and I are planning...having communications there is one of the reasons I chose to get the Razr recently. I think there are a couple options depending on how much voice, text and data you'll be doing. The easiest and surest is the Verizon International Roaming plan as has been suggested. That can add up though if there is a fair amount of activity as the rates are not the best. Second, best, in my opinion, based on better rates and convenience would be to get one of the pre-paid international SIMs before you go. I've looked at a couple companies that offer this: www.telestial.com and www.onesimcard.com. Both of these claim good reviews from some prominent tech magazines and the like and both offer voice and text rates better than Verizons. Data rates look to be higher though. I've not uses these yet but they seem to be attractive. Each of these also offers simple international phones which may also be an option. Third, get a local SIM when you get there, as you mentioned. The Razr, as I understand, is unlocked for International SIMs so this may work well too and be the least expensive. Not so high on my convenience scale as you have to find and go somewhere to get the thing. On the other hand, in an English speaking country, it may be less troublesome to convey what you want to do to the techs there and, as I understand, the pre-paid SIMs are pretty easy to find there. This may also be your best bet for data rates. Verizon looks to be $.25/MB ($25 per 100MB). It may be wise to research this of you are going to use data. Option 3 may be the better choice!

EDIT: Did a quick google for Ireland SIMs specifically, it looks like there are much cheaper options out there. Especially for data. A google of "sim cards ireland uk" pops up some options that look good...at least to my inexperienced eye!

EDIT 2: On the other hand, options 2 and 3 may mean that you will have a UK phone number which would mean international rates to whoever is calling and texting. I have had a tendency to forget about that. Option 2, though, has a US number or has the ability to add a US number.

 

[oscarnyc]

Wouldn't the phone have to be unlocked to be able to put a pre-paid SIM card into it? Or is there some special functionality that allows it be unlocked overseas but not domestically (so people couldn't use it on ATT for instance)?

 

[dbeedle]

Wouldn't the phone have to be unlocked to be able to put a pre-paid SIM card into it? Or is there some special functionality that allows it be unlocked overseas but not domestically (so people couldn't use it on ATT for instance)?

From what reading I've done (and it's only been reading) the phone is locked domestically (U.S.) but unlocked Internationally. So, no T-Mo or AT&T SIM but, my read, is it works out of the US.

Here's one of the threads: [Q] GSM Support - xda-developers

 

[cliberti]

Not sure if Three UK operates in Ireland. If they do their SIM with like 3k texts, unlimited data and very minimal minutes is pretty cheap. It was 15 pounds in England.

 

[Snareman]

I remember a few years back when I went to Italy and had unlimited data for about $2/day. Its hideous what their prices are these days. At least this phone has the GSM antenna so I don't have to take my Blackberry anymore. Of course, the nice thing about the BB is that it uses almost no data so its easy to stay under the limit. The downside is that the BB sucks in comparison capabilitywise.

 

[ChuckG73]

Just spoke with a rep from VZW and they said in order to use a sim card in IRE I would have to unlock my Maxx HD and that would stop it from being able to work with VZW ever again. I got irritated and hung up. I know this is not the case, but is any positive this thing work out of the country with another sim?

 

[dbeedle]

Just spoke with a rep from VZW and they said in order to use a sim card in IRE I would have to unlock my Maxx HD and that would stop it from being able to work with VZW ever again. I got irritated and hung up. I know this is not the case, but is any positive this thing work out of the country with another sim?

A few threads on another site seem to indicate that it can work. I posted one earlier here's another: Droid razr maxx hd verizon is working in EUROPE? - xda-developers

I'm watching these with interest though I don't plan to get an International SIM anytime soon. I sometimes travel to where it might be handy.