Getting a European phone number

[SecondAttempt]

I'll be in Europe is just over a week for about 3 weeks. My US Verizon cell phone will work just fine for getting calls to my US number. And if I want to call numbers local to where I am visiting I can call from my US phone and the calls will be routed through google voice at minimal cost. This has always worked well for me in the past because I had no need to receive local calls.

But this time I will be visiting and doing things with about half a dozen different friends so it would be nice if they did not have to call my US number but could call a local number instead.

Does anyone know a good way to get a European telephone number relatively cheaply? I've thought of a couple of options:

- buy a burner phone when I get there. I've done that in the past about 10 years ago. Cost was about $40 for a month of service plus the cheap phone.
- Use an online service. I discovered one called "Callhippo" this evening. Cost is $10/month for the number and $0.03/minute for incoming or outgoing calls.

Has anyone heard of or used Callhippo? Do you know of similar services that I should look into?

It's not clear to me with Callhippo if is an app or how it works. If I would still need a separate phone then the burner route would be better. I've got more homework to do on this.

Any other suggestions?

I don't mind spending a little money for this but certainly not over $100 and about $60 is probably closer to my limit. The options I found all fit this budget.

 

[HarveyS]

Where will you be in Europe? Not all carriers work in all countries.
Be sure your solution will cover all your destinations.
I use WhatsApp- as do many people and businesses. Easy calling and messaging to each other on WiFi or a cellular data plan. You can use your US number.
I use UBIGI for my cellular data plan on an eSim.
Most of my intra-Europe calls are on WhatsApp. Calls with family on FaceTime.
With my set up I can receive calls from US (or anywhere) on my Google voice number. I do not have a US cellular carrier.

 

[Lagniappe]

Why not use WhatsApp? At least in my experience in Portugal and Spain, everyone uses Whatsapp for calls and messages. It's tied to your US number, but uses data, whether your phone plans or whatever wifi you can access.

 

[audreyh1]

Texting and occasional FaceTime works for us when hooking up with Europe family.

The way the iPhone does it with texting another iPhone it doesn't matter if it's a US number. It's going through Apple Messages which uses your iCloud account. But I have free texting anywhere international regardless.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Why not use WhatsApp? At least in my experience in Portugal and Spain, everyone uses Whatsapp for calls and messages. It's tied to your US number, but uses data, whether your phone plans or whatever wifi you can access.

When I worked at NATO, everyone used WhatsApp. That's probably the easiest and cheapest way. Alternatively, just pick up a pre-paid SIM card at an Aldi or Carrefour after you get to Europe.

 

[athena53]

When I worked at NATO, everyone used WhatsApp. That's probably the easiest and cheapest way. Alternatively, just pick up a pre-paid SIM card at an Aldi or Carrefour after you get to Europe.

Agreed on the SIM card. I do that wherever I am. One caveat: not all of them offer voice, but you can use the data for WhatsApp. I've had mixed results by country; I bought one in London that supposedly worked all over the EU but needed to buy separate ones for Croatia (EU) and Albania and Montenegro (non-EU). When I entered Croatia I got a message in Croatian that MAY have allowed me to use it in Croatia but just bought a new card since I couldn't figure it out. In total I spent about $50 on all cards combined for 3+ weeks of travel. Well worth it.

OTOH, one I bought in London a few years ago transitioned seamlessly to Paris.

Just find a safe place to keep your original SIM card! I panicked on my last trip because I was switching it out on the plane while the guy in the next seat was in the lav. Apparently it blew onto his seat (the card is smaller than my fingernail) and he sat on it. I was SO happy to find it when we landed!

 

[Trooper]

Just find a safe place to keep your original SIM card! I panicked on my last trip because I was switching it out on the plane while the guy in the next seat was in the lav. Apparently it blew onto his seat (the card is smaller than my fingernail) and he sat on it. I was SO happy to find it when we landed!

Great tip! I'll be using a SIM card for the first time for a trip to Egypt in October. Will I be able to text (SMS, not WhatsApp) with one?

 

[sailor]

Depending where you are travelling, you might be able to use eSIM (no need for physical SIM).
If you have a newer phone you might be even able to have multiple accounts active at the same time, so keep your US number and just add an European one - for example iPhone 14 can have 8 eSIMs active at the same time.

 

[itsme2]

Great tip! I'll be using a SIM card for the first time for a trip to Egypt in October. Will I be able to text (SMS, not WhatsApp) with one?

SMS has size limitation as you cannot send high-quality picture or small video. Use Whatsapp instead.

My phone can hold two SIM cards. I often bought a local SIM card when I was abroad. So, I can still keep my current phone# active. That is another option.

 

[tulak]

eSIM is the way to go if your phone supports it. I have two numbers and one is an eSIM, converted years after dealing with a physical SIM card (that was a pain).

You can get data only eSIMs. I don’t see the benefit of a different number for a short trip. I know US Mobile offered good deals on eSIMs for different countries, but I haven’t heard anything about them recently, so not sure if they’re still good or competitive.

Everyone I’ve ever had to deal with while traveling uses Whatsapp. The only downside to Whatsapp is it’s owned by Meta.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

When I worked at NATO, everyone used WhatsApp. That's probably the easiest and cheapest way. Alternatively, just pick up a pre-paid SIM card at an Aldi or Carrefour after you get to Europe.

Agreed. You can buy a Pay as you go sim at any grocery store for cheap or even at the airport shops but expect to pay more. I've used Three Mobile a couple of times but EE is also good.
I keep in touch with my family through Facebook but now WhatsApp is what everyone's using so my sister had me download it.

 

[brett]

Last year in Portugal we bought a month of service from Vodafone. 9.99euros. They did inserted the sim for, double checked the new phone number.

 

[Freedom56]

In 2012 bought an unlocked GSM phone (HTC One) and then bought a SIM card (SALT Mobile )with a pay as you go phone plan. After 11 years, it still works well. I changed the battery once. Local calls and texts cost just pennies. I bought 50 Euros credit in 2018 and as of our last trip a few weeks ago we still have a balance of 27.40. We minimize roaming charges on our US phones this way.

 

[Drake3287]

As a Verizon customer and yearly European visitor, I simply purchase Verizons one month International plan which includes unlimited data including phone calls and texts. It's a flat $100. for a month of service. Not cheap but it's super convenient to still have your US phone number unlike getting a new SIM card.

Also, if you're worried about your friends having to call a US phone number, the costs for these calls now is super cheap unlike years ago with landline phones. I think my last call while in Italy was 25 cents.

 

[Sunset]

^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm not sure a person can assume their friends in Italy will pay 25 cents to phone an American phone number.

For example: T-mobile charges $5 to phone Australia, or Austria from the USA , or you can pay an extra $15/mo to be able to phone 70 countries cheaply.
Same could apply to folks in Italy, trying to phone a USA number.

Any business, like a restaurant may not call you back about a reservation as it's a long distance call.

 

[audreyh1]

^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm not sure a person can assume their friends in Italy will pay 25 cents to phone an American phone number.

For example: T-mobile charges $5 to phone Australia, or Austria from the USA , or you can pay an extra $15/mo to be able to phone 70 countries cheaply.
Same could apply to folks in Italy, trying to phone a USA number.

Any business, like a restaurant may not call you back about a reservation as it's a long distance call.

Use their website or online service for reservations. That’s how things are done these days. I just found that situations in which I had to call or leave a callback number were almost nonexistent.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Use their website or online service for reservations. That’s how things are done these days. I just found that situations in which I had to call or leave a callback number were almost nonexistent.

Yeah, I am not concerned with businesses. My issue is communicating with friends.

ETA: I had written a longer message that somehow got clipped, probably by me fat fingering and deleting as I posted. Looks like we will use Whatsapp or facebook messenger. Sweden has made it difficult for a foreigner to register a number in Sweden. One of the people I will be communicating with is in her mid 90s. I was hoping not to have to use a new app. Fortunately she already uses FB messenger! Thanks for all the helpful responses though.

 

[SecondAttempt]

As a Verizon customer and yearly European visitor, I simply purchase Verizons one month International plan which includes unlimited data including phone calls and texts. It's a flat $100. for a month of service. Not cheap but it's super convenient to still have your US phone number unlike getting a new SIM card.

Also, if you're worried about your friends having to call a US phone number, the costs for these calls now is super cheap unlike years ago with landline phones. I think my last call while in Italy was 25 cents.

I am also with Verizon. I have a different version of their international plan. I pay $10 per day when I actually use my phone, which is usually every day. I get 5 free days per month as part of my plan. I expect to use the phone 18 days this trip spanning 2 different months. So with any luck on how they do their accounting it will cost me 18-5-5 = 8 days -> $80. But they'll probably figure out a way to get a few more days out of me!

ETA: Apparently they changed things, but not necessarily in a bad way. They now do a travel bank system where you get 1 free day per month that collect into a bank and expire after 1 year. My bank has 11 days accumulated and another will accumulate on 23 June so I think I will only have to pay for 18-12-1 = 5 -> $50. The extra -1 is because I will actually use the free day in July. Once again, won't be surprised if they stiff me for an extra day or two but still reasonable in my opinion.

 

[pdxgal]

The only downside to Whatsapp is it’s owned by Meta.

+1. Another downside is Whatsapp isn't good for dealing with businesses. For example, if you make a reservation with a hotel or restaurant or something where the business may need to contact you. A large tourist-oriented business may not have issues calling or texting a US phone number, but smaller ones may.
I just returned from two months in France, Italy and Iceland and bought a SIM card upon arrival in Paris at a Relay magazine/sundries shop at CDG. The French carrier Bouygues has a good deal for tourists, 30gb of data, about $25 worth of international calling, and unlimited call/text in Europe, for 40 euros. I put my US SIM card into a cheap backup phone so I could still get text messages for two-factor authentication, etc (my main phone didn't support eSIM).
Another reason I was glad to have a French phone number is that my luggage didn't make the connection, and the tracking service at CDG wouldn't accept a US number for purposes of sending me updates (classic French bureaucracy!). When my luggage was delivered - via the French postal service - I was alerted to the pick up address via text to my French number.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Anecdotally funny related story...

About 20 years ago I went to Russia for business. I was an executive direct report to our CEO at the time. I looked at how expensive calls back to the US were, $8.00/min IIRC and decided I could live without a phone for the few days I would be in Russia.

I told my boss I would miss our weekly executive meeting because of the high cost and it would be in the middle of the night for me. He said absolutely not! So I rented a cell phone that would work in Russia (not terribly expensive) and called into his meeting as directed. It was scheduled for 2 hours but regularly went over, this time about 3 hours and 15 minutes.

I dutifully turned in my expense reports and got called into his office a few days later...

"What the hell did you spend $1500 on phone calls for? Phone sex with your wife every night?"

"No sir, your meeting"

He was speechless and I never heard another word about it.

 

[HarveyS]

+1. Another downside is Whatsapp isn't good for dealing with businesses.

Over the last 15 months (in UK, IRL, Switz., NL, France, Portugal) that has not been my experience. WhatsAPP is nearly ubiquitous with businesses of all sizes.

I just returned from two months in France, Italy and Iceland and bought a SIM card upon arrival in Paris at a Relay magazine/sundries shop at CDG. The French carrier Bouygues has a good deal for tourists, 30gb of data, about $25 worth of international calling, and unlimited call/text in Europe, for 40 euros. I put my US SIM card into a cheap backup phone so I could still get text messages for two-factor authentication, etc (my main phone didn't support eSIM).
Another reason I was glad to have a French phone number is that my luggage didn't make the connection, and the tracking service at CDG wouldn't accept a US number for purposes of sending me updates (classic French bureaucracy!). When my luggage was delivered - via the French postal service - I was alerted to the pick up address via text to my French number.

I wonder if the airlines in Iceland or Italy would have accepted a French phone number?

 

[explanade]

eSIM is the way to go if your phone supports it. I have two numbers and one is an eSIM, converted years after dealing with a physical SIM card (that was a pain).

You can get data only eSIMs. I don’t see the benefit of a different number for a short trip. I know US Mobile offered good deals on eSIMs for different countries, but I haven’t heard anything about them recently, so not sure if they’re still good or competitive.

Everyone I’ve ever had to deal with while traveling uses Whatsapp. The only downside to Whatsapp is it’s owned by Meta.

eSIM is really easy and tempting but I have not yet found an eSIM offering which is competitive with just putting in a prepaid SIM card.

I don't know if you need an unlocked device to be able to use eSIM with access to foreign networks but you do need an unlocked phone to use local SIM cards.


I've checked eSIM every time before I go overseas. They're typically something like $10-20 for 1 GB or maybe $30 for 5-10 GB at best.

Right now I'm in France and I paid €23 for 110 GB of data to use from Free. I think that includes voice but I'm using it in my iPad so it's strictly for data.

I've used about 30 GB so far in about a week and a half.

The package includes roaming in other European countries (though something like 15-20 GB of data in other countries) as well as the US>


eSIM is much easier and immediate. You could presumably buy one before you leave and hit the ground running as soon as you land.

For a local SIM, I had to research the offers -- they usually increase the value of their offerings for the summer -- then locate the stores.

Some countries require your passport to activate. That is one thing I wonder about eSIMs, whether they're circumventing laws in some countries which require activation using passports for foreigners.


It does take more time to go to the store, wait, maybe have language issues, then getting a SIM activated.

But if you don't want to deal with data limits, it could be worth to shop/research what might be available in a given country.

 

[athena53]

e
Some countries require your passport to activate. That is one thing I wonder about eSIMs, whether they're circumventing laws in some countries which require activation using passports for foreigners.

I suppose they could requite it when you activate it on the phone. The Ecuadorian SIM card I got last month was a real PITA. Bought at the grocery store, inserted it and connected to hotel Wi-Fi, had to jump through all sorts of hoops with a Spanish menu including scanning my passport and entering a ton of details, got disconnected at one point... but then I couldn't get data. I realized that I'd paid only $2 for it and there must be some way to top it up. Couldn't figure out how to do it on-line so I went back to the store. $10 later I was up and running for the rest of my trip. I have an iPhone 8 so it's not configured for e-SIM cards.

I loved SecondAttempt's story- I also remember crazy-high international telecommunications costs. In 1997 I was at a conference in Bermuda. I had a CompuServe account and it had no local dial-up number so I had to call a US number. I got on-line, hit Send/Receive and disconnected, then called the hotel operator and asked what that call cost. It was $7.50. I made sure to do all my reading and composition off-line and minimize the number of connections.

 

[explanade]

I loved SecondAttempt's story- I also remember crazy-high international telecommunications costs. In 1997 I was at a conference in Bermuda. I had a CompuServe account and it had no local dial-up number so I had to call a US number. I got on-line, hit Send/Receive and disconnected, then called the hotel operator and asked what that call cost. It was $7.50. I made sure to do all my reading and composition off-line and minimize the number of connections.

My story is back in 2005 or 2006 visiting Rome, first time in Italy.

I stayed at the Intercontinental on top of the Spanish Steps. But they didn't have wifi or maybe they did but they charged a prohibitive price.

Whatever the case, I bought a 1 week pass at an Easyinternet cyber cafe. Remember those?

I lugged a pretty heavy laptop from the hotel to the cyber cafe in chilly October weather.

But I actually did a stock transaction that week that more than paid for the trip.

My first time in Venice, also in the 2000s, stayed at a vacation apt. which didn't have Internet. But I recall reading that people were tapping into Wifi from neighbors.

Back then nobody locked out their Wifi and from one corner of the apartment, I could get a signal from a restaurant below.

This was before the smart phones as we know them now were common.

Now it's unthinkable to travel without Internet access.
I

 

[audreyh1]

Also, a hotel is usually happy to handle dinner reservations etc. for you.