Nexus One traveling through Europe..

NewNexusOne said:

I waited years to get a smart phone and when the Nexus One came out I finally said now is the time to jump into the new wave of smart phones. Ive been thrilled with my nexus one (except it wont update, however for now pinch zoom isn't so important to me) its lived up to the hype for me and I love it.

And now I find myself with an amazing opportunity to travel through Europe for the next couple months then spend a prolonged period of time in Spain.

The Nexus One is the exact type of phone I NEED whilst traveling, google maps, gps, the ability to stay connected/upload pictures on the fly.

So how do I go about setting up my phone for travel through Europe, does Europe have one big carrier or am I going to find it difficult for finding compatibility through the different countries (one carrier for uk, one for France..etc) if anyone can shed some light on this subject or point me in the right direction of what I need to do to setup my phone with service (phone AND data service through Europe)

PLEASE HELP
LEAVING VERY SOON!

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Don't know about all the carriers but you should have a look at Vodafone. They are probably the biggest European carrier & I am pretty sure they own at least some of the mainland Europe carriers. Look up their website & if you are able to get an account of some sort with them, you may be able to get their international roaming options (though check to make sure this may not be expensive).

Just spotted this on their website - not sure what the deal is like but at least it proves the above...."Our International SIM lets you call abroad from just 5p a minute"

Make sure you get the mobile internet sorted out too. I don't know what options Vodafone have for international roaming on mobile internet. If you want the best out of your phone you don't want to have to worry about apps jumping on the net when you don't expect it. There are plenty of options out there for mobile carriers so just check for best coverage and cheapest all inclusive packages.
I do think Vodafone will be the best option though.

cross border 3G/data/voice/sms deals are a nightmare in Europe. this is one of the areas Euro telcos totally jack you. it's robbery. i have no merci for the telcos that will be going down hard once highspeed/voip offering comes from a disruptive 3rd party.. ie Virgin, Google or who knows else.

let us know what you end up getting. i'm guessing it will be communicating through local wifi hubs at the hostels, hotels, cafes.. and coffeeshops.

outoffocus said:

cross border 3G/data/voice/sms deals are a nightmare in Europe. this is one of the areas Euro telcos totally jack you. it's robbery. i have no merci for the telcos that will be going down hard once highspeed/voip offering comes from a disruptive 3rd party.. ie Virgin, Google or who knows else.

let us know what you end up getting. i'm guessing it will be communicating through local wifi hubs at the hostels, hotels, cafes.. and coffeeshops.

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Agree, unless you have an open wallet, it will be expensive. Only other option is for multiple PAYG Sims which would be a nightmare (if they are available).

Nokia with their downloadable maps with GPS may be a better option for Europe.

You're better of going with the prepaid sim cards which won't be cheap I'm afraid. Prepaid internet rates vary from network to network but I agree with the above posters and look into Vodafone since they have some of the best network coverage across most European countries from my own personal experience. You probably won't be able to get a contact for the short time you'll be spending in Europe since all the networks require you to be a resident of the country you're in.

Unfortunately I am not near my work laptop right now but I did find a good site which details prepaid internet rates for many European countries and the special rates they offer but I'm sure you can Google for that info. I'll post again when I find the link.

One other alternative is to look into sim rentals for the countries you're going to visit. They can be more convenient than prepaid sim cards since you can get them with internet flat rates but they can (and more than likely will) be more expensive. If you're on business you should speak to you boss about this option to see if you can put the charges on the company.

EDIT: As promised, here's the link I found: http://prepaid-wireless-internet-access.wetpaint.com/ Hope you find it useful.

I would also advise to go with prepaid sim cards - depending on the country you visit I would buy a prepaid SIM card for that country. Ask about data rates and MAKE SURE you don't leave the N1 data connection open all the time.

Amazingly, Google Nexus One has reached the Philippines.

This phone is now all over the place! People are loving it the world over!

circuslife said:

Amazingly, Google Nexus One has reached the Philippines.

This phone is now all over the place! People are loving it the world over!

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Interesting of sorts but just slightly off topic......nice try anyway

I went to America last year with my iPhone 3G and purchased a PAYG SIM card from 4400.com (or .co.uk) They might have a european SIM card that you can purchase, activate and top-up now so it will be ready for your trip.
I know when I was in America it roamed over AT&T and T-Mobile depending on which state I was in but the downside to the SIM I purchased was that it did NOT support data on any network.
Had I realised just how useless google maps/gps is without data I would have opted for the data version which was slightly more expensive.