Vienna Travel Forum

Hi,
We are travelling to Vienna-Salzburg-Prague-Paris. Could anyone please tell me where to buy SIM cards to our cell phones (I've already checked they will work in Austria)? We want to be able to use them in Paris as well. Is roaming in Europe as expensive as in North America?
I checked the name of the providers (A1, T-mobile, tele.ring, rtc.), but would like to know where to find them in order not to waste my time in Vienna for such stupid things as searching for them...

Hi,

Since I do not know the prices in America I can't compare. Even that EU commission forced communication companies to lower roaming fees these are still quite unpleasant. I would consider buying prepaid card and then discarding it and buying new in other country (depending on how long you will stay and how much calls will be made).

When using roaming it is usually better to use the operator which is present in all the countries. Do not know about France, but T-Mobile is operating in both Austria and Czech Republic.

For the places to buy card best way is to look up the operator's web page, they often do have a list there. For example T-Mobile Austria:
http://www.t-mobile.at/privat/service_hilfe/Suche/Shop_Finder/index.php?method=B&bundesland=W

Vodaphone is the most popular

Thanks a lot r13, you are very helpful as always!!

Check out some of the options at Telestial.com and cellularabroad.com - they have some global roaming chips.

Wow, thanks kathymof, that was re-e-aly helpful, I search the sites that you've mentioned, and that's exactly what I need! Thanks a lot!

Glad to be of help - I use this type of SIM when I am in multiple countries. It works pretty well.

Hi,

obviously already got some hints from US travellers.

Nevertheless, also consider the pragmatic European option: Pre-paid Sim cards are very cheap in Austria and easy to buy, for e.g. a Telering prepaid card (incl. an Austrian phone number which is handy if you want Austrians/Austrian companies to call you back ;-) costs as little as 19€ incl €10 credit. A minute calling time within Autria is only 7ct/min.
You get Prepaid SIM cards at any "Trafik" (newspaper/cigarette shop) all over Austria.

So I am not sure if any "global roaming card" is much cheaper. Probably you can get the same dealin France.

Just make sure your phone supports the European mobile standard (dualband/triband) - well, you probably already checked that, didn't you ?

Enjoy Vienna,

The only problem I have had with buying SIM cards in the country where I want to use them is that the activation is in a language I don't understand. Last summer the desk clerk at my hotel in Pisa got a big tip for wading through all of the stuff I could not understand and actually managing to get everything working. He was a sweetheart.

O-oh, I am afraid I'll be lost with my 0-level of German language. All Roman languages are not a problem for me (Slavic too), but German...I guess I'll have to beg my hotel staff as well. Thanks everybody for all your help!!

hi When we were in Vienna several years ago we used the International Call Centres to call Australia fpr 8 or 9 cents a minute. There was one approx 200 metres from where our accommodation, it was part of a large Internet Cafe, details on my Vienna page. They had red phone boxes within the cafe, very private and they put a timer on you.

We also used them in Italy at Bracciano for much the same cost.

When we were in Canada and New York City this time last year we had our mobile phone linked to international roaming and the cost was huge. We also purchased a $5 phone card in NYC and received over 200 minutes to a fixed phone or 39 minutes to a mobile, just ring from your hotel room, check with recetion, or use the public phone in hotel reception. Also used phone card in Canada.

Good Luck,
Mike