Best Strategy for Voice/Text/Data - 10 days between France and Germany

[Stu]

Europasim has good data roaming pAckages. Use free Google Voice account to text back to the US. Use GrooveIP to make VOIP Over 3G calls to the US.

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by Guthdog

The LIDL card is at $.09/minute and my friend in Otterbach can pick one up for us in Germany and pass it to us when he meets us in Paris.

If possible ask your friend to buy the Lidl SIM card as early as possible and to send you all the numbers printed on the plastic card through which you could already activate the SIM card from the US. If you follow the activation instructions here you'll receive a referal credit of € 5, which however may take up to 3 weeks to be accredited. That's why you should activate it as early as possible so you get the bonus before you arrive in Germany.

@Inquisitor - Mobiho looks very attractive from a cost perspective, but I don't read a word of French! Is there a data plan that can be added to the voice services?

It seems like Mobiho don't offer any data service. At least I couldn't find any related information on their website.
If you need data Ortel mobile may also be interesting. They offer calls to the US for € 0.11/min, however all calls are subject to a connection fee of € 0.15, while data is billed with € 0.25/MB: Ortel mobile - France (the French call megabytes also "mégaoctets" from which the abbreviation "Mo" is derived)

Per your earlier post, with any of the major carrier networks, I shouldn't really have to be concerned with coverage in any but the most remote locations, correct?

Yes. In France there are four wireless carriers (Orange/France Telecom, SFR, Bouygues and Free), which all provide outstanding coverage (except Free who have only launched their network this year but have a national roaming agreement with Orange and don't offer any prepaid tariffs anyway). For coverage maps see:
Orange Intense - Couverture réseau 3G
La couverture du réseau SFR en France métropolitaine
Couverture Bouygues Telecom
All prepaid products you find in France are based on one of these networks. For a list of all MVNOs including the underlying radio access network see Liste d'opérateurs de réseau mobile virtuel - Wikipédia

In Germany the situation is pretty much the same where four networks (T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus and O2) provide nationwide coverage with very few white spots which you will hardly find as long as you stay on paved roads. T-Mobile and Vodafone run more basestations and so have slightly better coverage, especially when it comes to 3G, but Otterbach and the wider Frankfurt metripolitan area are definitely covered by O2's 3G network, which Lidl makes use of.

[powerlifter]

Originally Posted by Guthdog

Much appreciated...

In reverse order:

@Powerlifter - Thank you for asking. Yes, the phone is unlocked for use on non-US GSM towers, research indicates that the radios on Sprint "World Phones" are set to ignore US GSM towers, (apparently this is hackable if you want to root the phone, I'll leave that to my 19 year old son to try on his phone that I didn't buy). You touched on a mortal fear of mine as I am already stretching a bit to make it to Europe on a pleasure trip; I fear the shine would come right off the memories if I had a $2K bill waiting for me when I got home.

@DavidtheProf - two more to add to my list to check out, thank you. When you describe a "Call Back" system, you mean that the caller in the states would dial a number, wait for some sort of tone then hang up and when the call connects, the phone rings back, correct?

@dg7feq - Fair consideration, but I am concerned about how fast time will go when mom gets on the phone with the kids, (my 11 year old son could care less that we're leaving, he's staying with grandma which promises to be a party, my 8 year old daughter is green with envy and will drag every conversation out as long as possible), especially when billed in full minute increments. The LIDL card is at $.09/minute and my friend in Otterbach can pick one up for us in Germany and pass it to us when he meets us in Paris.

@Inquisitor - Mobiho looks very attractive from a cost perspective, but I don't read a word of French! Is there a data plan that can be added to the voice services? Per your earlier post, with any of the major carrier networks, I shouldn't really have to be concerned with coverage in any but the most remote locations, correct?

Again, thanks to all of you for your input.

If your daughter likes to talk look into skype. You can get a month subscription for a couple of dollars, to the US and she can talk to grandma as much as she wants. They have an app for your phone and if you have a computer you can call on that as well. You do need to be on wifi to do this. When I am overseas or even here in the US I can see my grand kids when we talk. It is a wonderful thing to see who you are talking to.