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.
Here are some comments from the previous students regarding the phone:
- “Get a SIM card from 3 offered by the university.” – Yoshikawa Emily – Spring ‘17
- “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 tophone home.” – Samantha Kammerer, Fall ‘16
- “I had T-mobile which works in other countries, so I did not need to get a plan but I would definitelyrecommend that students have some way of communicating.” – Maeve Plunlett, Spring ‘16