Best phone for a US tourist coming here.

My sister will be visiting from the States for 3 weeks this summer. Her US provider does not provide coverage in Europe. I want to hook her up with a mobile phone for the 3 weeks that she is here. Obviously, I don't want to pay a ton of money for a phone, or for deposits, or activation fees or contracts.

Any ideas as to who has the best options for pay as you go plans, and for phones too?

I am with O2 (on a pay as you go plan) as are most of my family here. I'd prefer to stick with O2 so that calls/texts she makes to me and them will be free, but not if we get hit with big deposits or activation fees.

We will be spending a week visiting family in the UK (no idea what network they are on) so the costs of making phone calls within the UK is a factor too.

Thanks for any advice/tips offered.

Mobile phone

Could she unlock her American phone, and just get an Irish Sim card?
Or she could just buy a simple cheap phone here. You can get one for about €20 (I got an unlocked one in PowerCity recently for about €20 - it's very basic, but grand for a spare phone to lend to my kids etc)

My sister is on a budget. Her current US phone provider does not offer overseas service. What does "unlocking" her US phone entail? If she is able to do it, won't she be charged a fortune for making calls here?

If she were to buy a cheap phone here and get it unlocked, how does she then get a phone number and make her calls? Does she need to sign up with a provider...O2, Vodafone, 3, Tesco Mobile etc etc

Apologies for all the questions. I just moved back here from the US myself. I am using a loaner phone belonging to my sister in law, as my US phone does not work here. When I go back to the States in December, I'll give her the phone back. Am kinda clueless as to how this all works. I don't even know what "unlocking" even means. Terrible, I know. It's just that Americans travel overseas so infrequently as a nation, our phones and phone services are not automatically set up to be used overseas the way that Irish peoples phones are.

Unlocking the phone allows it to be used in Ireland, the phone may not need to be unlocked . All she needs then is an Irish sim card and she can top it up. A better idea would be to ask someone for an old Irish phone and buy a sim card for that. Nearly everyone has one hanging around in a drawer somewhere!

Beffers - ask around to borrow an old phone - like you have yourself- Sim card is more or less free from any mobile shop or i think you can just order one from 02.ie even
- it will have a phone number assigned to it

just buy credit then as you need it.

Simples

American phones operate on different frequencies than Europe so unlocking an american phone is unlikely to work.

That's what I was thinking. I looked into that before I came over here. I can not use my US phone in Ireland. It can not be unlocked. That's why I have to use my sister in laws spare phone when I am here.

So if someone else has a spare phone and they give it to her, she just buys a SIM card from O2 that has its own number assigned to it, she tops it up with the credit that she needs, and she is good to go? Do I have that right?

Provided it's an O2 phone or an unlocked phone. If you need to get a new phone is just €24