2 questions to americans

[gitarrero]

hi folks,two quick questions:* my cell phone is registered with a swiss company. if I'm in the US, can I use an american service, or what would be best..? I'm asking because I'll be at the rally in nov. and I don't need any high phone bill;)* what is the cost to transfer money from a bank in the US to a banc in switzerland?it'd be great if you could help me!thanks,martin

[squidlips]

I don't know about a temporary switch from your cell company to a US one. Don't know about your cell phone plan. If you used a calling card, would your phone company charge you for the call anyway?I think it's $20 to wire money, on both the sending and receiving ends, so $40 total. But don't quote me on this.

[davewalton]

Quote:hi folks,two quick questions:* my cell phone is registered with a swiss company. if I'm in the US, can I use an american service, or what would be best..? I'm asking because I'll be at the rally in nov. and I don't need any high phone bill;)* what is the cost to transfer money from a bank in the US to a banc in switzerland?it'd be great if you could help me!thanks,martinYou're asking mostly flat-broke musicians about Swiss Bank accounts??? If you Google something like "prepaid cell phone", "pay as you go cell phone" or something similar, you'll find various plans from AT&T, Verizon, etc. They look like they might be what you need. Here's the AT&T link...http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone- ... stid=38251

[sgs4u]

Western Union is a pretty good company in America to send money from the US, out. Is that what you want to do? Get money out of USA? hehe

[gitarrero]

thank guys for the infos/inputs.Quote:Western Union is a pretty good company in America to send money from the US, out. Is that what you want to do? Get money out of USA? heheyes, to receive money from the US (labels, film maker..).I'll check western union.paypal is an easy way, but they charge 4% of the transfered sum. so it's cool for smaller sums, but not for larger ones.cheers,martin

[sgs4u]

What a great problem to have! Quote:thank guys for the infos/inputs.Quote:Western Union is a pretty good company in America to send money from the US, out. Is that what you want to do? Get money out of USA? heheyes, to receive money from the US (labels, film maker..).I'll check western union.paypal is an easy way, but they charge 4% of the transfered sum. so it's cool for smaller sums, but not for larger ones.cheers,martin

[mazz]

Martin, I don't know much about money (except how to spend it on gear!!) and how to transfer it but I was thinking about your cell phone question.In the past couple of years, the US has put in infrastructure for GSM which is the standard in Europe. So, theoretically, I could take my US company GSM phone and use it in Europe. If I have international roaming on my plan, I should be good to go. Some cell companies will allow you to buy the international roaming for a limited time, one month at a time or so. Not sure how things work where you are but it might be worth checking in to so you can bring your usual phone along.Mazz

[matto]

Martin,last time my brother was here his phone just worked, it simply saw the local network and bingo, everything was fine. I think what you would be charged in this instance depends on the plan you have with your Swiss provider (like mazz says). So actually they should be able to tell you. I mean it's not that uncommon for somebody to travel to the US, business travellers do this every day, so your provider should know.My sister was here recently (from Italy) and her phone did not work, because it was only "2 band phone" (that's what we were told). So I think it depends on both the type of phone and type of service you have.As far as bank transfers...account to account transfers (what's called "an international wire transfer" here) usually have a minor fee or even none; if I wire from my checking account for example my bank doesn't charge a fee. When I had money wired to me in the past the fee was nominal, maybe $20.Western Union has been mentioned and it is another option but they charge more. You can go to their website and fill in the particulars and it'll tell you how much.

[edteja]

Martin,Some banks have multicurrency accounts and branches in several countries. Scotia Bank, for instance used to. Typically you can then have money sent to the US branch of your account and it will be available in Switzerland. Credit Suisse used to be able to handle that sort of thing easily, transferring money between UCB (as I vaguely recall) and the branch in Lausanne. Check with the banks because the transfers are not standard, but vary with each bank.Cell phones I know nada about.

[stick]

I received some money from Poland a while back, and it was $10 to recieve on my end (Washington Mutual Bank). I don't know what the charge on the other end was. If someone wants to wire me some money I'd be happy to check on the fees for you.