Phones: Some Practical Information

One of the things that I worried most about before getting to Ireland was The Cell Phone Problem. I didn't understand SIM cards. I didn't know what providers offered what. I did know that what I had wouldn't work oversees. I knew that Smartphones, even if you could get them to work overseas, might rack up exorbitant data costs (be wary of emails automatically pushed to your phone). I'd heard that it would probably be best just to get a cheap phone over in Ireland. Alas, the phone didn't really turn out to be a big deal. Here's what's working fine for me:

1) Acquiring the Physical Handheld Device

My dad had an ancient, cheap, indestructible-looking Nokia phone that he bought in Singapore from when he was working overseas. This got passed down to me. Take the back off and there's a spot to change out the SIM card. You can buy super cheap (10 euros is about the best price I saw) phones at the local convenience store. Tesco (mostly groceries but kind of like Fred Meyer) had the best deals at the time.

2) Get the SIM card

I went to Tesco and purchased a SIM package. They give you the card to slip in the back of your phone and your phone number. 20 cents is pre-loaded onto your card.

Pay As You Go (Top-Up)

You can choose to pay monthly or "pay as you go." I chose the "pay as you go" option. Basically, I go to the Tesco customer service desk and give them however much money I want to put on my phone as credit. They give me a voucher number, which I then punch into my phone. Voila--I can call people. Calls to the US are fairly cheap with the Tesco number: 2 cents per minute. When I use up all the credit on my phone, a voice starts yelling at me mid-call that the call will be disconnected shortly because I need to top-up soon. Then I just head to wherever I can get another voucher number full of Tesco credit, and punch in the new voucher number.

There are several phone providers to choose from in Ireland. Besides the Tesco number I am using, Meteor and O2 immediately come to mind. Meteor seems to be pretty popular among the study abroad people I know.