What to do about my US iPhone while traveling around Europe?

score:4

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You could still use your iPhone, buy apps that work offline for maps, city guides, etc., try to find Wifi for the rest including Skype calls back home and limit expensive roaming calls to a minimum. It's obviously less comfortable than having unlimited Internet everywhere but it's easy to set up (compared to other solutions like unlocking/buying pay-as-you go SIM card or buying some secondary phone) and still lets you use some of the iPhone's functionality.

Upvote:3

As @annoyed said, you can still use your iPhone offline or through wifi.

Getting a nano sim might be a challenge, especially if you want a prepaid card. Last year I tried getting one in France and failed.

For calls you could use a very cheap model. There was the Bic phone for a while, but I haven't seen them in any shop lately. Still you can buy pretty cheap sim-lock free phones in almost any multimedia store. I have seen Mediamarkt sell them as cheap as 19 Euro, but now they their cheapest online offer is 25 Euro

Upvote:3

You could buy a factory-unlocked iPhone, and sell it when you are done with it. I bought a factory-unlocked phone prior to two international trips in 2012, and I was very happy I did. Note that as of yesterday when I was in an Apple store, factory-unlocked iPhone 5s phones are not yet available.

Upvote:6

You can buy nano SIM cards everywhere in Europe, as we do have iPhones too :-)

You may consider buying a simple phone + a card if you're just going to make calls though (and may use the Internet where Wi-Fi is available on your iPhone then). It depends on which countries you're going to, and for how long.

Some countries have regulations that are very favorable to the customers, like France where by law you can have your phone unlocked after 6 months of contract. Phones sold with prepaid cards (and therefore no contract!) are also quite cheap there (starting at 29 €) so if you have friends there and plan to come in 6 months you can get an unlocked phone almost for free :-) Check your local thrift stores / used/refurbished phones stores for unlocked/unlockable phones too, that may do the trick. Just remember that we use GSM for calling, not CDMA, so you should look for phones that work in Europe too!

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