[Idyllchat] Cell Phones

[Scott Baldwin]

Eleanor,

How lucky your grandkids are to take this trip with you!

Switzerland is probably one of the safest places in the world to 
travel.  You routinely see teenagers and even pre-teens traveling about 
on their own in Switzerland.  The trains and buses are so easy to use, 
that everyone uses them regularly.  The landlords of the apartment we 
stayed in were well educated people in their 50's and neither of them 
had ever owned a car in their life.

The travel pass you and the kids will receive is valid on all trains 
and buses,(and most boats)  so they don't need to fuss with fares or 
tickets.  Just get on the bus or train!  You don't even have to show 
your pass unless asked for it.

When you arrive in Switzerland, you will have an orientation meeting 
where the train and bus schedules will be explained.  When we were in 
Switzerland, My daughters were 13 and 15, and it became their job to 
figure out how to get where ever we were going (We used the buses and 
trains virtually every day we were there)

They very quickly figured out the schedules and easily learned to 
determine which track  the train was to leave on.  It only took them 
about two days.

Cell phones certainly do work in Switzerland, if you have the right 
type of phone.   The whole rest of the world uses a cell phone 
technology called GSM.
In the USA we use 3 different, incompatible technologies.  If you have 
Verizon or Nextel, you are out of luck.

Cingular and T- Mobile use GSM, so if yo have one of these services, 
your phone MAY work.  You would need a tri band or quad band phone from 
Cingular or T-mobile to work in Europe.  The standard two band USA 
phone will not.
If you have a tri band or quad band GSM phone, both Cingular and 
T-mobile have roaming in Europe, at about $1.50/min (In addition to 
your regular fees)

You need to contact your provider to find out if your particular phone 
will work in Europe.

If you have any other carrier in the USA  besides Cingular or T-mobile, 
you would need to rent or purchase a tri or quad band GSM phone.   Here 
is a reputable company:

http://www.mobalrental.com/?source=1001XXXXNDROWRED&p=sim&cc=

there are others as well.

For more on European Cell phone usage check this out:

http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2002/0308.htm

Have a great trip!

Scott


On Jan 1, 2007, at 12:58 PM, Eleanor Fleming wrote:

> We expect to go on our first Untour in June 2007. We will be staying 
> in Switzerland's heartland with two teenage grandchildren. We would 
> like to allow the kids some freedom to explore on their own. How safe 
> is it for a 15 year old girl and a 16 year old boy to travel to the 
> next town on the bus, etc. alone? Do cell phones work in that area?
> Eleanor Fleming
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