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Smart Phones

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Picareno
  5/14/2018 19:23 EST

Greetings all. I'm sure this isn't a new topic, but I haven't read anything about it recently.

We will be moving to Portugal by year's end with smartphones which use a US service provider for our calls, texts and data.

We can maintain our US plan until we switch to a Portuguese service, which we'd want to do asap.

Are there any folks on the forum who've been in the same situation and can tell us to what local service they switched and why? We'd also like to know whether you could make use of your phones after switching, and if so how you accomplished this.


Thanks much.

CatherineOKC
  5/14/2018 20:18 EST

I have traveled with my smart phone and bought a SIM card and my phone was fine. Depending on how much it costs or the number of calls you make, that might be enough. My sister who lives in England and I talk via WhatsApp which does not use minutes.

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realspear
  5/15/2018 02:45 EST

First, it's good that you are planning to switch to a Portuguese number quickly. All four major US carriers will shut you off if you don't use your phone in the US for two to three months. To get three months, let the carrier know you are traveling.

Second, there may be a solution for people who want to keep their US number, which is to sign up with Ting. It's only $6/month plus usage. Unfortunately, my experience with Ting here hasn't been good, there may be issues in general in Portugal for them.

Third, using your existing phone works in some cases. You need an unlocked GSM phone to be able to switch the phone to a Portuguese carrier. This means you have to be on either T-Mobile or AT&T. There are some dual system phones on Sprint and Verizon that can be used but you would know if you bought one. Then, assuming you are on T-Mo or AT&T, you have to unlock your phone. Call the carrier's support line for instructions. The phone has to be fully paid off before they will unlock.

Fourth, there are three major providers here - Vodafone, Meo, and Nos. Although some people say there are coverage differences, most of those are gone. What is important to know is that they will also be your provider for fixed internet and TV. Buying a "package" is less expensive than buying the service separately, so if you are planning on having internet in your domicile and cable TV, you should sign up for all of them at once. There is a chance that the wiring in your home doesn't support all three, so you may want to find out about that before you pick a service provider.

If you are with Verizon or Sprint, I would recommend buying an unlocked GSM phone from Amazon or B&H Photo before moving. They are less expensive in the US. You need to make sure they cover the bands in Portugal, which most do. I highly recommend OnePlus phones, they are well-made and reasonable cost for a flagship phone and they work in any country, but if you have a Samsung/LG/iPhone, it should work if it's GSM.

Also, you will probably need to have acquired your NIF (fiscal number) prior to getting a permanent mobile phone here. They did expect it when I signed up but I don't know what they do if you don't have one.

So far, service for me has been excellent, I'm with Meo but the others are fine. My only problems have been inside some older buildings, which can happen due to the type of construction used in the past.

swayee
  5/15/2018 04:46 EST

Hi - we just moved in the last few weeks and were in the same boat. We decided to go with MEO on a pre-paid plan because we don't have our permanent apartment yet. Once we get a permanent apartment in the next month or two we plan we plan to revisit the plans since we can then package TV/Internet/Mobile on one plan if we want to and most likely get a better deal.

We chose MEO based on recommendation on service across Portugal. MEO is the largest in the country with Vodafone a close second. Honestly, I had heard phone plans were cheap but I wasn't prepared for how cheap. Right now, we pay 16 euro a month for 5000 minutes or SMS, and 5GB a month of date (with tons of apps like Spotify, Instagram, WhatsApp and others that don't count towards your date).

Also, we came with iPhones. Just make sure they're unlocked before you get here so that you won't have trouble getting them moved over.

thx

realspear
  5/15/2018 09:41 EST

Not all iPhones support GSM. It needs to be checked before assuming it will work, especially if it was purchased from a carrier.

dancebert
  5/20/2018 04:00 EST

As you may know, businesses must have a Complaint Book (Livro de Reclamações). There is an unofficial online version. MEO is not highly related: https://portaldaqueixa.com/marcas/meo

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realspear
  5/20/2018 04:24 EST

Vodafone faredt worse than Meo. https://portaldaqueixa.com/marcas/vodafone

CatherineOKC
  5/21/2018 08:00 EST

Is this something like the Better Business Bureau? I would like to double check a different company if there is such a service.

Wallvestor
  7/29/2018 11:24 EST

A big element of (at least for us),
'unplugging" is keeping our cell phone number alive. And, receiving texts and calls with the number. My number has been out there for decades.

One solution I've found that may work for others, is Google Voice. Google will allow you to "port over" (transfer) you existing cell phone number to Google Voice for a mere one time fee of $10.00.

One would do this right before terminating their Stateside cell service.

voice.google.com

Djgheart
  7/31/2018 08:37 EST

We are going to keep our numbers from the States because of inexpensive senior plan - we'll use Voxer or Whatsapp to communicate without charges and have the phone use Wi-fi for most other things. I'll get a cheap Portugal telecomm account with a flip phone or cheap handset for use in ordering takeout or a meetup with friends their.

realspear
  7/31/2018 09:24 EST

Please read my post above. As I say there, ""All four major US carriers will shut you off if you don't use your phone in the US for two to three months. To get three months, let the carrier know you are traveling." You *will* lose your number unless you are traveling back to the US every couple months. There are two ways to keep your number while living in Portugal (or anywhere outside the US) for an extended period. One is Ting, which I explain above. You need to set up and use Ting in the US for a couple days, you can't activate it here without using it in the US. (They may say otherwise but it doesn't work.) The other is the Google Voice solution, which has other issues but works. Ting costs $6/month with fees for calls. Any US plan will cost more with international fees here. But keeping your US SIM card here will not work long term, and if you are with Verizon, may not work at all.

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Wallvestor
  7/31/2018 13:56 EST

My Samy Note8 will accept a Portuguese SIM card easily. But as I mentioned, keeping our US phone numbers "alive" forever, requires the number be ported over somewhere. Once ported over to say Google.voice (for a mere $20 one time fee) - done before terminating our Stateside service. Our number is available to be called or texted just as it has been for years in the US. One element that I left out, is forwarding your ported over number in google voice to Sype. I'm of the impression that once you port over your old cell phone number, your free google voice number you created is gone. Thus, you need to forward the ported over number in google voice to a Skype number. This would of course involve paying for a US Skpe number, but it's like $60 a year. So, now you have two US numbers to give out. Your old old cell number and your new Skype number. The big question in my mind is whether text messages would be forwarded to Skype from google voice. I'm using google voice now to understand it's ways, and it forwards texts to my US cell number just fine. But, whether it will forward texts to Skype, I have yet to determine. I think it will. though.

Here's a link of interest

https://www.howtogeek.com/92075/how-to-port-your-phone-number-to-google-voice/

RebKayak
  7/31/2018 14:16 EST

I have Google Fi phone service which is the same rate (and phone number) internationally! If you convert your cell service to Google Fi you can keep your number both in US and abroad. Google Fi uses WiFi and LTE so no cellular contract and only 20-40$ a month depending on use and they auto roll over your banked data time

RebKayak
  7/31/2018 14:16 EST

I have Google Fi phone service which is the same rate (and phone number) internationally! If you convert your cell service to Google Fi you can keep your number both in US and abroad. Google Fi uses WiFi and LTE so no cellular contract and only 20-40$ a month depending on use and they auto roll over your banked data time

realspear
  7/31/2018 15:42 EST

There's some things people should understand about Google Fi. First of all, it only works on a small number of phones. Second, only a few of those phones (Motorola and LG) are dual SIM, which is really useful if you are going to live in Europe as you have to carry two phones otherwise. Third, the data cost is fairly high compared to Portuguese providers once you pass your monthly allotment,

Also, a correction here, most carriers now offer wifi calling and LTE, that has nothing to do with contracts and pricing.

I worked in the mobile business for a number of years and there is no free ride. You can use any dual SIM phone with Ting and pay less if you use wifi regularly.

hodgegw
  8/1/2018 15:44 EST

If your phones are un-locked you should have no problem (except a minor annoying screen on power up from US provider). See this link as a guide for your questions:

https://www.justlanded.com/english/Portugal/Portugal-Guide/Telephone-Internet/Cellphones

I chose MEO (TMN) due to my spouse being a native of Portugal. Perhaps others out here can provide more info as to pluses and minuses of the providers?

realspear
  8/1/2018 18:02 EST

Re unlocked phones - there's more to it than simply unlocking.

First, the majority of Verizon and Sprint phones currently in use do not support SIM cards, which are required in Europe, and unlocking doesn't apply. It's worse with Sprint since their phones that do support SIM cards may have incompatible bands. Phones should say "international" if they are bought from Verizon or Sprint.

Second, unlocked phones from AT&T will not update once you leave their network. That means critical security updates will not be installed. Unlocked phones from T-Mobile may update - we have a Galaxy S7 Edge that gets T-Mobile updates via wifi despite being on Meo in Portugal.

Third, if you are going to unlock, unlock before you leave the US. It will work with your existing SIM. Some of the unlocking procedures used by the US carriers won't work outside the US. Also, your phone must be paid off to unlock.

Fourth, if you are going to buy a phone for use in Portugal, buy an unlocked phone from B&H or Amazon. If you are buying from Amazon, make sure that it is being sold directly by Amazon or the manufacturer and not by a third party. There have been people who buy carrier phones, typically from a retailer going under, and unlock them and repackage them. These can have the same problem mentioned above with updating.

Fifth, if you are buying a new phone and will be using it occasionally in the US, buy a dual SIM phone. (Note - iPhones do not support dual SIMs.) This is incredibly useful, I just spent a week in the US and bought a "vacation SIM" from T-Mobile because I had to use the phone a lot.

Some Portuguese mobile packages do support usage in the US without cost but it's limited and you can quickly run out of data if you are using nav or just browsing off wifi a lot.

Wallvestor
  8/5/2018 22:00 EST

I'm oriented towards doing the google voice port over of my cell phone number, using their Hangouts app to receive and makes calls....and getting a post paid acct. there in Portugal with a Portuguese phone number.

With that being said, of the carriers available, whom would be the best for reliable coverage, data speed and allotment, and have some degree of usage available when Stateside? Our TMobile gives us a wonderful reciprocal experience while in Portugal. So something along the lines of that would be my preference.

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