Can I Buy a Phone in The US and Use It In Europe?

A lot has been made about compatibility issues for devices that are bought across the pond. Really in most cases taking simple steps is going to solve most of these compatibility issues. When you ask, can I buy a phone in the US and use it in Europe? There are different things to consider. If we are talking about the device itself the answer is yes. As we mentioned though, there are a couple of steps that you would do well to follow to make sure that you can make life easier on yourself. Could you then get local coverage in the European country that you live in or visit? Again that’s a yes, but you would have to make sure that you have a clear phone. We’ll talk about what we mean by that in a sec. 

Does it make a difference if I’m just going to travel to Europe or I’m going to live there? In certain aspects yes, and in others no. Are you going to be taking just the phone or do you want to keep your local US number? If it’s just the phone you are more or less going to be ok. Particularly if you follow some of the tips and tricks that we have for you. When your intention is to keep your regular US service you’re going to want to take into account the amount of time that you’re going to be spending abroad. Also, keeping your regular US phone number active to receive calls and texts could get expensive for you. There’s a lot to talk about so let’s get going. 

• Can I Buy a Phone in The US and Use It In Europe – The Charger Issue
• Do You Want To Keep Your US Number
• Getting Local & Long Term Coverage
• Can I Buy a Phone in The US and Use It In Europe – Long Term Effects
• The Phone That You Want To Use My Also Have A Say In Things 
• Should I Just Go Out & Buy A Local Phone?

Can I Buy a Phone in The US and Use It In Europe – The Charger Issue

We talked about this topic in a recent article. When you take a phone from America to Europe or vice versa you’re going to have to deal with the electricity situation. Each place uses a different voltage, and that means different outlets. With electrical devices that you need to charge what you can do is get a voltage converter and plug your regular charger in. We typically don’t recommend this as a long term solution. Time and time again travelers have reported that their electrical devices have been “cooked up” by the local current. This is more commonly an issue when you buy the cheap converter that you can get literally on the airplane ride over to Europe.     

If you’re going to be in Europe for a couple of months it may be a good idea to just go ahead and get a local charger. You shouldn’t have a problem connecting that directly to your phone and the local electric current. We did check this with Apple. They say that their phones are fully capable of handling whatever current they are essentially exposed to. You should have problems then with phones in general. That doesn’t mean though that this applies to all devices. To be 100% honest we couldn’t really come across a particular device where this would be a problem. It wouldn’t hurt though to double check. In any case, if you’re staying in Europe for an extended period be sure to get a local charger.  

Do You Want To Keep Your US Number

Continuing along in trying to figure out the answer to your specific predicament and why you ask, “Can I buy a phone in the US and use it in Europe”. We have to ask if you want to keep your US number. Here’s the thing. Most US wireless service providers currently offer European coverage. The coverage is usually rather expensive. Overall though you are going to be able to get coverage. The thing is, your phone is going to get blocked after more than a month abroad. That’s going to be the case even if you go out and buy the most expensive coverage option once you’re abroad. With most service providers there is a limit to the amount of days that you’ll be able to get coverage abroad. 

What can you do to keep your US number? Technically you’ll be able to keep your US number if you keep paying your monthly fee. Even if the phone itself and your service is inactive. That’s the problem though you’d have to pay for a service that you’re not getting. If you’re on a post paid plan you could have no other option, but to keep paying to keep the number. If you are on a prepaid plan you could recharge your plan at a minimum rate. These elements may differ depending on the company that you’re with. The best deal may be to call your service provider and ask them what you can do to keep your number.    

Getting Local & Long Term Coverage

Can you get long term local coverage in Europe with a US phone? When it comes to a prepaid plan you’re going to be able to get that converge real easily. You just need to make sure that you have an unlocked US phone. What matters in this case is that the phone is unlocked. That’s basically way more important than where you bought the phone. Now, if you wanted to get a postpaid deal you just need to make sure that the specific company that you are looking to get enrolled with allows you to bring your phone. Certain companies in Europe aren’t as open to outside phones as others. Since there is still big business in selling their clients phones directly.  

The basis of the whole ordeal is to make sure that you have an unlocked phone. That’s what will allow you to change service providers without any type of trouble. If you have that freedom then you can essentially hop from prepaid plan to prepaid plan, and pay only for the coverage that you are using. That being said, it’s also true that certain wireless service providers offer better perks to their postpaid plan users. You’d have to weigh all that before making the decision on what type of plan you want to have. The most important thing though is to make sure that the phone is unlocked! 

Can I Buy a Phone in The US and Use It In Europe – Long Term Effects

Are there things that you should be worried about in the realm of long term effects on the phone itself? We talked about this in the charger issue paragraph. We don’t feel that using a voltage converter to charge the phone is a long term solution. Just because we’ve heard the stories and seen first hand how these converters, especially the cheap ones, can burn up. The argument there is that the charger is going to burn up and not the phone. Sure, but charger issues can lead to battery issues. If you’ve ever bought a cheap charger for your phone you know this. The device starts seeing its battery life fade. It’s a tough situation after a while. The good thing is there’s a tangible solution that you can apply. 

Other than that, there’s not much that you are going to have to worry about. We mentioned already that you can pretty much expect your American service to be all but gone by the end of the 30th day abroad. If you are going to be traveling for just a little while you can naturally avoid some of these effects. For the most part though, it would be a bigger issue if we had devices that couldn’t handle the type of current. With most laptops for example you have that large rectangular part of the charger. That should help you mitigate any type of damage that could show up. You’re fine with phones and most devices. 

The Phone That You Want To Use My Also Have A Say In Things 

Most of the aspects that we’ve talked about to try and answer the question of “Can I buy a phone in the US and use it in Europe?” come back to the fact that you can use the phone. Is there something that would essentially not allow you to use your phone in Europe? Actually there is, and it has to do with the phone model that you bring over. Let’s say that you go out and you deliberately try to find the most vintage phone on the American market. A flip phone that makes you feel like you are way back in 2005. That phone may not be compatible with a European 4G network. This is actually a real problem that a small number of people are going to have to deal with. 

Ideally you’ll be able to bring a phone that is fairly recent. A lot of countries in Europe are actually discontinuing their 3G data networks really soon. So that means that you’re going to remove the compatibility of an entire generation of phones. These devices for the most part are going to be reduced to relics that can run a limited amount of features through only a wifi connection. By that point though a lot of these devices will have apps, and browsers that won’t even work. In short, just make sure you buy a relatively recent phone. 

Should I Just Go Out & Buy A Local Phone?

The two main benefits that you would have are the fact that you’ll get a local charger with your purchase. Also, you’ll be able to check device compatibility with the service provider at the store. Having said this though, even as we are going through the worst case scenarios to try and let you know what type of device is not going to work well abroad we realize that you really have to be in an awkward spot. Are you reading this article on a flip phone? If that’s the case then you fall under that potentially 1% of people that should be worried. 

What we would understand is if someone looked through their options and realized that buying a local iPhone charger was actually more expensive than getting a local Android phone. With the way that iPhone gadgets are priced these days it wouldn’t seem odd that this would be the case. From our perspective though we’d have to say that it seems like buying a phone locally if you have a phone that you can bring over probably doesn’t make a lot of sense. If you want to look into it though, check local market places to compare prices! 

Can I Buy a Phone in The US and Use It In Europe – Conclusion 

The simple answer to the original question that we posted is yes. By this point though you know virtually all of the things that you need to keep in mind. Particularly when it comes to the gadgets that you need to bring along to make sure that the process can work. We feel like in a sense we made this whole process sound like a big deal. In the charger part though, the bottom line is you’d rather be safe than sorry. A lot of these cheap converters have essentially scammed people out of a ton of money. If you can take steps to prevent this, why wouldn’t you? 

Could you just bypass this and get a local European phone? If you want to go out and buy a completely new phone that’s on you. Especially if you have a perfectly good phone sitting in the drawer. If you’re keen on making an investment though, we would suggest that you invest in a phone charger right off the bat. We could actually make the argument that having a European charger for your phone is a must if you travel across the pond a lot.