Hi there! I have a quick question for y'all.

My sister is going to be visiting Austria from the United States. She'll be traveling to Salzburg and Vienna for most of the trip. Our family is looking for a good way to stay in touch with her while she's there, since she'll be gone for quite a while.

My mom had a few questions, and I thought I could ask them here for you folks to help out if you can.

1. Where can she purchase some sort of prepaid cell phone to use in emergencies, and what type would you recommend?
2. Will Skype be sufficient for normal conversation? I've heard it can send texts as well as send and receive phone calls.
3. How will she gain internet access while she is there? She will most likely have a netbook with her. Are there internet cafes, and is there a cover charge for using the internet there?
4. If none of these would work, what is the best way to stay in touch? Our cell phone carrier charges a fortune for international calls.

I frequently use Skype to talk to my father in Vietnam and the quality is pretty good, though we call Skype-to-Skype, not Skype-to-phone. To call phones and send texts, she'll need to add balance to her Skype account or get a subscription, to receive calls and texts from phones she'll need a subscription for the phone number (she'll naturally be wanting an American phone number to make the costs as low as possible when you call her, she will pay roughly as if she were doing a local phone call within the US).

Skype-to-Skype is free, naturally.

Prepaid cards and refills for the same can be found pretty much anywhere in Europe, though if she'll be using it for international calls or 3G internet, they can become quite pricey.

I cannot speak for Austria regarding internet cafe's and internet hotspots, but around here they often cost by the half-hour or hour, charged from whatever credit card number you supply.

I dare say that you should have an easy time locating an internet café in both Salzburg and Wien (Vienna).
Vienna List 1, Vienna List 2, Salzburg List 1, Salzburg List 2. I'm not too sure I'd trust the local Austrian wireless with my credit card information though, since I know a few rather bad stories there. I would just go with paying in hard cash, that way there's never any risk involved ;)
As for cheap and decent prepaid phones, I think an Austrian is best suited to answer the question.

Oh and tell your sister to have fun, both cities are great (unless you have to try and drive on highways near Vieanna when they are under maintenance in summer ;))

Is your sister going to stay with a family in sort of an exchange program, or in youth hostels/camping, or in a hotel? That might influence the best and easiest way of getting into contact and surfing the internet.

Thank you both so very much. I appreciate it. I believe she's staying at a school there - I'm not sure why they wouldn't have internet access on campus, I assumed that's not typical in Europe.

Thank you, Vitek - I think I'm getting a clear picture here of what she's going to need :D

When my sister did a semester in Spain, we used skype to skype calling to keep in touch. Also, from a trip to Europe I took, while I didn't visit Austria, Internet cafes were easy to find and didn't cost much to use. So they should be a good option.

If your sister's cell phone has the simlock taken off she can then just buy a starter card for any carrier in Europe. I helped my father unlock his cell from the States by calling his cell carrier explaining to them that he needs to use his phone in Europe and they then sent a number that I entered and it unblocked the phone.

As far as net cafes go, most of them might have free net access but she might have to ask for a login name/password from the cashier.

Libraries often have free net access but you may have to become a member first.

In Poland, there are merchants who sell phones without a simlock legally for quite a good price especially if you're bringing in the $$$$. I imiagine it's the same in Austria as well...

Of course is "typical" in Europe, anyway you can buy her a prepaid USB drive modem. Hightly recomended, but not for videoconference (too expensive for hight amounts of information)

It entirely depends on the size of the school, the country and even the region. If you know any of the students there, I'd say asking them directly would be you best bet. That'd be new to me. I'm about 150 km from Salzburg and most German and Austrian cafés I've been to do not offer free wireless connections.

Hi,

I hope I can help you too ;o)

"1. Where can she purchase some sort of prepaid cell phone to use in emergencies, and what type would you recommend?"

- in normal cases you get prepaid cell phones in one of the many cell-phone-shops. Also you can get them in nearly evry big store, in the internet and even discounters like hofer in austria have them.

"2. Will Skype be sufficient for normal conversation? I've heard it can send texts as well as send and receive phone calls."

- I use skype since I was in a norwegian university. Skype works great for chat and international calls (skype to skype). You can also pay some money to call directly from skype to phone.

"3. How will she gain internet access while she is there? She will most likely have a netbook with her. Are there internet cafes, and is there a cover charge for using the internet there?"

- I don't know what kind of buisness your sister will have in austria. If she is going to study there most student homes including internet. If she will live in a family, they might have internet as well. You still have the possibility of visiting internet cafes or buy a umts-stick (it is not that expensive!). You should not be concerned about her possibilities to go online. In Europe the internet-infrastructure is excellent in comparison to the U.S.

"4. If none of these would work, what is the best way to stay in touch? Our cell phone carrier charges a fortune for international calls."

- To stay in contact? Just use skype. It is the cheapest way!