Hi again, ok, I have a couple of questions please re cell phones.

I will have a canadian cell phone with a canadian number when I come to Switzerland. I have three questions please.

If a person in Canada wishes to call my cell phone do they just dial the number they would if I were in Canada?

If I wish to call Canada while in Switzerland with my canadian cell phone, do I have to dial any special access codes or can I just dial like I normally would?

My husband will also have a canadian cell phone. We will both be in Switzerland at the same time but we may not be together all day and if we want to check in with each other, do we have to dial any special access codes?

I have asked Bell Canada, they are of no help. I can't get a straight answer from them.

Thank you for your help, it is most appreciated.

1. Yes. They don't care where you are when they call you. You pay for them to call you (local roaming rate)
2. +1 then areacode then - xxx-yyyy - international rates apply.
3. You'll be paying a fortune to roam and call Canada for each other. Get prepay SIM cards (if you have GSM/SIM phones) and call locally.

Wow thank you thank you, that is great info, better than Bell Canada could give me.

Thank you.

I don't know what a SIM card is, my american friends talk about it, but I don't know. I have Bell Canada and GMS phone is really new for them.

I assume the "roaming charges" will be the same to call my husband as if I were calling him in Canada?

As for calling back to Canada and having Canada call me, I need to have it as simple as possible. I have only one person who might call me, and that has to be the simplest way for them, i.e., like calling me locally, I will pay as it may not even happen and I want to pay for her to call me if she has to (92 year old mom).

Again thank you. Very helpful.

ahhhh good ole Bell Canada, always the helpful CSR. not.

Bell and Rogers, 2 friggin companies I certainly don't miss dealing with.

ha

With the added benefit that while you will pay roaming costs for the Switzerland-Canada leg of the call, your husband will be paying roaming costs for the Canada-Switzerland leg of the same call.

Why not have an extra phone dedicated to that purpose only, pick a cheap one second hand for 50 ish CHF or so. It's going to be a lot more cost-effective than you and your husband both roaming.

FYI, if both you and your husband are here in Switzerland (with canadian phones), and you try to call your husband, you'll be paying $2 (got this figure from Rogers Canada, as an example, see the attachment) per minute to call back to Canada, and then your husband will be paying another $2 per minute to receive the call in CH, total of $4/min.

Where does one get one of those used phones?

This is all great information. Bell Canada is charging $2.49 CDN of a flat rate per min including roaming and talk time. Plus tax. Everything here is plus 14% tax

It may be worthwhile for both of us to get "swiss phones" for local calls as I will have to make those as well. I will keep my canadian cell phone just for my mom then.

May I please ask how we can get the "swiss cell phone" if we are just visiting?

Buy a pay as you go phone from a local shop, e.g. Co-op mobile ( http://www.coop.ch/coopmobile/starts...fm?language=fr ) has a cheap offer for less than 40 CHF

Your phone may not even work here unless it's a tri-band. Look into that. cheers, chris

I know about the tri band, I will be buying the new Bell Motorola as it is GMS/tri band. It's the only one so far Bell has.

ok, so if I buy a prepaid cell phone, can I choose how many minutes I have on it?

it may be worthwhile for me to use that to call Canada?

I'm getting confused now. So let me ask logically.

If I buy a Swiss phone, prepaid,
Can I choose how much money I want on it?
Can I use it easily to call back to Canada and is it less expensive than $2.50 a min?

Thank you this is really helpful and appreciate everyone's time in answering and helping me.

calling internationally with a cellphone will be expensive. Find another way.

Your best bet is Pay-As-You-Go. You will need to present ID to get a phone/card but after that, you can top-up easily in many different ways.

You can choose how much you want to top it up with.

Calling Canada (on Co-op Mobile, again as an example) is 1 CHF/min. As Lob said, though, this is way too much... If you call Canada via a fixed phone you can even pay as low as 0.02 CHF/min!

Hi, Ok, what kind of ID, passport? I have a US and husband has Canadian.

What is expensive? I am prepared for $2.50 per min with my canadian one so anything less would be a bargain.

I will use my calling card when I am at the hotel but I will need to use the cell phone at least once a day to call back to Canada. For that purpose it doesn't matter which cell phone I use so the cheaper the better. I will only have the Canadian one to receive calls from one person.

I am prepared for phone charges. I've figured them into my expenses.

thank you again

When I moved here from Vancouver, I got a phone from some cell store in Zurich, with a $40 prepaid card. It's cheaper that way for my Canadian friends to call me, plus for anyone in Switzerland (ie: your husband) it's also affordable. I thought my Rogers cell would work here - and it would, but you will end up paying like $20 for a 4 minute call. I also brought my cell with me from Canada thinking I could put a SIM card in it here once I bought one - nope! Most North American phone comanies put locks on their SIMs. You can get it unlocked for about $150 CAD... but my best advice, forget about your CDN cell phone. Use it as a paperweight and get one when you get here. Also, what I did in the beginning, and still do, is people from Canada use Skype (www.skype.com) or Jajah (www.jajah.com) to call me (or vice versa) for free over the internet. I never really use my cell for long distance- we talk over the net for free and it works out great!!
Good luck to you both!

are we talking 2cents a min from a "pay phone"?

Ok, sorry more questions.

How does one pay 2cents a min from a hotel phone?

I have no clue to any of this.

thank you in advance and again my appologie for takeing your time, it is most appreciated.

English Teacher, hi, internet is not an option, my mom is 92, no internet and right now it's only a 2 week trip we won't be bringing our laptop

I know it is $2.49/min for me to call Canada from my Bell cell phone.

Anything less would be a bonus.

So far from what I understand,

My husband and I should each get prepaid Swiss phones if that is an option, to talk to each other and for me to call Canada and I can keep my Canadian cell phone just in case my mom needs to call me to make it simple for her.

[quote=Cashmere]are we talking 2cents a min from a "pay phone"?

Ok, sorry more questions.

How does one pay 2cents a min from a hotel phone?
quote]
I think what was meant is you'll pay this rate from a landline here. We have cell phones, but also a home phone (called Fix Net, I think) and with that landline I pay just a few cents a minute to Canada. So if you don't go the internet way, try getting a landline to save cash. Honestly, I know you are prepared to pay $2 a minute, but it will add up FASTER than you can imagine. I'm sure a lot of us went that route. I was putting cash on my cell all the time. You won't be able to pay 2 cents/min from a hotel either. Hmmm - if all this is wigging you out - consider that you can also buy great calling cards here. I buy mine from the corner store and $20 will get me over 500 mins to Canada.

Yes, I would say go that route. Or if you aren't into getting cells here, why don't you sms eachother from your Canadian cells instead of calling? You'll still pay CDN sms rates!