When traveling international, taking your home mobile is usually not the most economical route to take if you expect to make a fair amount of calls.
Most US providers charge around $1 a minute to receive calls when in Europe and much more when traveling elsewhere. Outgoing calls cost even more.
A solution to this problem is to rent a mobile from Range Roamer. The calls get routed through a computer so that the cost of making and receiving calls is dramatically reduced.
On this trip we are using a Range Roamer phone. So far the call quality on our end is good, but in the US the comments have ranged from crystal clear…..to super loud static.
But at $0.00 to receive (if the caller calls the mobile’s UK number)…..a few static calls every once in a while is fine by me. They also provide a toll free number for your phone as well so that you get charged for the calls instead of the caller.
Check them out at rangeroamer.com
October 28th, 2008 - 10:39 am
I have the opposite to say about Range Roamer. I just returned from a 30 day tour of Europe to find $1000 phone bill. They charged me $2.99 per minute and then $170 in misc. charges. The most frusterating thing is that the phone did not work the majority of the time. People from the U.S. would attempt to call or text me, but I would never receive anything. Each new city I would visit I would have to play a guessing game of which network to switch the phone over to. It was absolutely awful and I would never recommmend anyone to use this service. Phone cards may be your best bet, except when you are in Greece!
October 28th, 2008 - 11:20 am
You have got to be kidding. Range Roamer inflates charges faster than a kite flies in a hurricane. In the one month period our daugther traveled Europe we had not ONE successful call to her. ZERO, ZILCH, NADA. I would not recommend Range Roamer to ANYONE. In fact I will strongly advise you to bypass their services at all costs.
October 28th, 2008 - 3:08 pm
Kim Passanante »
Wow! sorry you had that experience. I had a fine experience using them in europe, which is what prompted the review….I never recommend anything unless I try it out myself. They did mistakenly charge my card 8 times for one renewal, but when I called them they figured out it was a computer glitch and returned the money to my card instantly…..no questions had.
But thanks for the heads up and feed back!
October 28th, 2008 - 3:13 pm
Ashleigh »
wow, just received another scathing review of Range Roamer…..things must have changed dramatically since I used them this past September. I had a fine time using them, no extra charges and fine reception….but thanks for the feedback!