Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

SIM card for mobile phone

Country forums / Eastern Europe & the Caucasus / Romania

Hi there.
I got yet another question: Can I use Romanian SIM cards for my mobile phone, which works for Switzerland and Germany?
Mind you, I thought I could buy SIM cards everywhere in the world and simply stick it in my phone (like I did even in Africa), but it didn't work neither in Turkey nor Hungary!
So I wonder if that would be the case in Romania as well.

Has anyone tried this?

berit

Your mobile phone must be unlocked in order to use it in any country. You can buy them cheap from unofficial dealers in most European countries. If it didn't work in Turkey or Hungary, likely your phone is not completely unlocked.

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Hi there.
Well, in Turkey, they said it had something to do with different radio frequencies, or whatever. I've used that phone all over the world, even in Madagascar, so I reckon it is unlocked.
What do you mean by "You can buy them cheap from unofficial dealers in most European countries"? Buy what?

thanks
Berit

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Sorry, I meant to say you can buy unlocked phones anywhere.
Well, I don't know about radio frequencies, but its plausible. My unlocked phone I used in 20-odd countries, and still worked fine in Turkey. Maybe something to do with the phone's antenna in the country you're in? I dont know.

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Hi,

I'm glad I found this topic. I'm traveling to Romania next week. I received the unlock code from my Samsung Galaxy Note II from my carrier. I've never needed to switch sim cards or traveled with a phone, but this time, it's necessary. To confirm, I can purchase a Romanian sim card once I arrive and use it for both calls, text, and data/internet. Are there different types of sim cards, or are most of them have all 3 features available. Thank you.

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Hi BeritK ,
ya,it's possible.
You will be able to use Romanian Sim card for your phone when you visit outside country.But you have to face Roaming charges.In order to avoid your roaming,you will need to unlock your mobile phone.Using network unlock code is the best way to unlock your mobile phone.When i had to travel,i unlocked my mobile using the unlock service from Mobileunlocksolutions.com I can switched to PAYG of that country

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