International Sims available in stores?

[sidsub]

So I ordered a globalsim (freeglobalsim.com) about 10 days ago, and haven't received it yet. I have one more mail delivery before I leave, so if it's any later, it's going to be pretty useless to me.

So if I don't receive it in the mail today, I'm stuck... I've paid for this so I'll bug their customer service (the response to email and phone is sporadic and unreliable still). Perhaps they'll agree to express ship a replacement from the UK to one of the hotels I'll be staying at in either Germany or Italy, but I doubt it.... or I have to buy local sims in the countries I'm going to (4 different countries, although the bulk of my time I'll be in 2), or just do without.

One other option would be to buy an international sim in a store there. United Mobile sells theirs in post offices in Switzerland, and as it turns out I'll be at Geneva airport Saturday morning. The downsides to that sim for me are -- very high international dialing rates from the US to Liechtenstein mobiles; and a two-day waiting period while the post office transmits my user information to United Mobile. I'm still considering it if freeglobalsim does not either show up today, or if I don't hear back from them regarding shipping a replacement to a hotel for me.

But finally, my question, are there any other international sims available in stores in Europe? In particular, in either Switzerland or Germany?

[Bossman]

Most international sims are sold online. I am surprised it's taking this long to get it to you. Got mine pretty quickly. And their customer service has been pretty reliable the few times I have contacted them.

Hope you get it before you leave.

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by sidsub

So I ordered a globalsim (freeglobalsim.com) about 10 days ago, and haven't received it yet. I have one more mail delivery before I leave, so if it's any later, it's going to be pretty useless to me.

So if I don't receive it in the mail today, I'm stuck... I've paid for this so I'll bug their customer service (the response to email and phone is sporadic and unreliable still). Perhaps they'll agree to express ship a replacement from the UK to one of the hotels I'll be staying at in either Germany or Italy, but I doubt it.... or I have to buy local sims in the countries I'm going to (4 different countries, although the bulk of my time I'll be in 2), or just do without.

One other option would be to buy an international sim in a store there. United Mobile sells theirs in post offices in Switzerland, and as it turns out I'll be at Geneva airport Saturday morning. The downsides to that sim for me are -- very high international dialing rates from the US to Liechtenstein mobiles; and a two-day waiting period while the post office transmits my user information to United Mobile. I'm still considering it if freeglobalsim does not either show up today, or if I don't hear back from them regarding shipping a replacement to a hotel for me.

But finally, my question, are there any other international sims available in stores in Europe? In particular, in either Switzerland or Germany?

When I was in Lucerne last summer, I noticed they were selling United Mobile sim cards at some of the post offices I stopped in; this may be true throughout Switzerland; that I can't vouch for but certainly they were at the main post office in Lucerne.

[andy]

I've just ordered Sunsim (German) online, paid with UK credit card, delivered to a German address "in the next days". Mind you, it's not urgent for me, and you could end up with two gambles on delivery time.

edit - it arrived Tuesday, from order on Friday

It has cheap calls in Germany and cheap roaming. In Germany I'll use a callthrough arrangement for int'l calls. Other callback and forwarding rates would probably be cheaper than for Liechtenstein nowadays.

Or if you end up in the shops -

In Switzerland, you might go for Swisscom and use a calling card. On the easy liberty tariff, calls to Swiss landlines are only charged for the first minute. There are a couple of recent threads about German SIMs; Blauworld would be the other choice, for simpler cheap international calls, but I don't know if it's in shops

[Effendi]

Yeah, you can find Blau and Blauworld at Saturn shops throughout Germany