We highly recommend having a fully functioning phone while abroad. Relying solely on WiFi is typically not sufficient. Check with you phone service provider about international plans, or use a local SIM card. To use a local SIM card, your phone must be unlocked. If your phone is paid off, you can ask your phone service provider for the unlock code. Make sure you do this before you go abroad.

Comments from previous students regarding phones:

• Get a SIM card from 3 offered by the university.
• I recommend Three. It is 20 euros a month and you get unlimited data and free text and calls to other 3 users on the weekends. I used apps like Viber, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, and Facetime to phone home.
• I had T-mobile which works in other countries, so I did not need to get a plan but I would definitely recommend that students have some way of communicating.