Short term mobile rentals

Pink Bunny

I will be traveling to Ireland soon and am looking into renting a mobile phone for 7-10 days. I've found two Internet sites where places in the US that will rent out a phone for this use, but the cost per minute for even local calls within Ireland is quite high.
Does anyone know of a place in Ireland that offers that service? Or even if I can borrow a phone are there pre-paid plans avalablefor short term use?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Guy:Incognito

how much do the sites charge to rent the phones?

Pink Bunny

Weekly Rental Charge $14.95 (which isn't bad) plus Airtime Rate (all incoming and in-country outgoing calls) $1.79/min
Airtime Minimum 3 min/day (which could really add up if I'm put on hold etc...)
Which I guess isn't that bad, but then there is the shipping back and forth to New York and if it doesn't reach the company by the due date it's an add, $100.00. So, if there was a company in Ireland I could return it faster and I thought the per min. charge would be less. Plus, if there was some kind of pay as you go, or pre paid plan (like a phone card) that would be great.
What do you think?

Guy:Incognito

if theres a chance you could be charged a $100 surcharge for late return u could consider just buying a pay as u go fone, they start at around €89 with meteor and you get €80 credit so the calls wont cost you anything extra.

Pink Bunny

Thank you so much!
Where can I get one of those?

Guy:Incognito

www.meteor.ie
Dont think they sell direct from the site though so you'd have to go to a shop. Meteor & carphone warehouse store around the country as well as toymaster stores , possibley smiths toys aswell. depending on where ur going, alot of medium sized town would have local phone stores that would do them aswell

raphaelS

There's many shops all over Ireland... http://www.meteor.ie/join/how.html


Raphael

lintdrummer

Ya, I agree, buying a Pay as you Go phone would be handiest. Just pop into a phone shop in Dublin(they're all over the place) and buy a phone for under €100. The credit should be enough( €0.13 per sms, nothing much for calls, think off peak are about €0.13 per minute, on peak a little dearer) to get u by but you can top up in any newsagents or supermarket for 10 or 20 Euro.

Pink Bunny

Thank you all very much!
That's just what I was looking for.

MiCr0

what phone do you have?
it may already work over here

you could just then buy a sim card

flywheel

one other thing, if your trip involves tavelling around the country - you might be wiser to go with O2 or Vodafone instead of Meteor in order to maximise your coverage...

Metor Coveage:
http://www.meteor.ie/network/index.html

O2 Coverage (required Flash 6+):
http://web.o2.ie/portal/o2shop/coverage/index.html

Vodafone Coverage:
http://www.vodafone.ie/roaming/domestic/network/index.jsp

(altough they all have coverage holes dotted about so those maps are only a guide...)

BrianG

Pink Bunny

Originally posted by MiCr0
what phone do you have?
it may already work over here

you could just then buy a sim card

I was told that phones used in the US won't work over there. Is that right? I have mine through "Verizon".


And Dubwireless I will be going from Cork to Killarney to Galway to Dublin. Do you think that's too far of an area for coverage?

(BTW, thanks to everyone for such nice and friendly help, I had no idea I would get such a response. )

BigEejit

Just tell us your make and model of phone and someone here will find out if its a tri-band phone ..and if it is you could just by a (for example) Vodafone sim for €20 and your ready to go ... the only problem is that your U.S charger will be 110Volts while we have 220 here .... but if you have a car cigarette lighter charger you'll be ok

seamus

Originally posted by Pink Bunny
And Dubwireless I will be going from Cork to Killarney to Galway to Dublin. Do you think that's too far of an area for coverage?

Yep. Meteor have by far the best deals on new phones, but for most of your journey, until you get to Dublin, coverage will be patchy at best.
You'll be better off with Vodafone or O2

Cheapest Vodafone phone: Siemens A55 - €109 http://www.vodafone.ie/phonestariffs/ourphones/phonedetails.jsp?mysterons=SA55&type=RTG&zone=phonestariffs

Cheapest o2 phone: Siemens C60 - €99
http://web.o2.ie/portal/jsp/action/viewProps.jsp?model=siemensC60

My opinion? Go for the C60 with O2. It's cheaper and it's triband - so you can use it when you go home.

sparkite

what type of phone do you have? you can pick up a transformer so that your charger will work.if your phone is not network blocked you could pick up a sim card.o2 sims come with 10 euro credit straight away, when you ring them and register they give you another 10 euro.this costs 30euro including the sim card

sparkite

if your stuck http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&postid=1336330#post1336330

Pink Bunny

My phone is through Verizon. Make: LG Model: VX3100

DukeDredd

Looks like it's only a dual band phone which means it won't work over here...

flywheel

and as it's on Verizon, one of the CDMA operators in the US it won't work with our GSM networks i'm afraid - and if a phone is purchased here it wouldn't work on Verizon when you go home

also watch out that a European Tri-Band phone is 900/1800/1900 MHz where as a US Tri-Band phone is 850/1800/1900 MHz ... so to use a European one in the US it would only work where an operator has a 1900 MHz network rolled out...

BrianG

Pink Bunny

Thanks for all the information!!!!

sparkite

Originally posted by DukeDredd
Looks like it's only a dual band phone which means it won't work over here...

most phones in ireland are dual bands 900/1800,newer phones like the 72xx range and evern newer are triband phones which are 900/1800/1900. the states use tri band phones.it should work over here as long as it isnt networked locked.if it is network locked most places will do it for 10/20 yoyos.

flywheel

hi - it's a CDMA phone - so it won't work over here...

BrianG