We bought a phone from www.mobal.com; which we pay only when we make calls. It is already set up for Europe. $49.00ea or $99.00 for one you can use in US (cost when we bought it).

I also have T-Mobile here in the US and they just it over to use international if I wanted to, so when we go back to Europe it is already sest up. $.99 a minute.

(I meant to say T-Mobile just turned it on to use internationally if I wanted to)

Thanks for your response. We are with Verizon. Maybe I can check with them.
I would like to be able to call local numbers while in Europe, but also be able to call home to the U.S. I haven't been able to fine out much about how that works with the Sim cards though...

With both of the phones I mentioned above, we would make local calls and call home to the US and we didn't have to get a separate sim card or do anything but turn on the phones.

I have a similar question. I haven't been to Europe for 25 years, but am going to Hungary in Sept. I've been advised to buy a phone here (my cell won't work in Europe), then buy a prepaid Hungary-specific SIM card after I arrive.

That's supposed to be the cheapest way because I don't plan to make or receive calls from the U.S.

I've checked out the phones on eBay. A tip on a travel forum said to get one of the $30 ones--as long as it has 900/1800 bands, is unlocked and no-contract, it will work. But some of the phones on eBay, even though they're no-contract, list AT&T or another American firm as the carrier, and I don't know what that means, if anything, in terms of service & fees.

Can someone help?

I bought a Lebara SIM in Germany which was excellent value, especially for cheap overseas phone calls. I believe you can also roam with this so you could possibly take it to Italy. Here is a link so you can do a bit of research:

http://www.lebara-mobile.de/en/index.php

Good luck!

Lavandula

ohioscribe: Check our www.mobal.com for phone

See this thread. xyz123 covered it in detail. Bottom line, if your verizon phone has gsm 900/1800 (a handful of their blackberrys do), then see if it's unlocked. If not just get a cheap unlocked quadband phone on ebay, dell, amazon, etc. Then get a local prepaid sim at your destination.

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/cell-phone-use-in-france.cfm

I bought an unlocked quad band phone then purchased the $10 SIM from Mobal, as stated previously you only pay when you use it. When I am in a country for an extended time period I buy a local SIM as the rates are less expensive. In that case you need to inform family/friends of change in phone #. Have also had verizon activate international coverage when we have travled to a country where they have coverage.

Raply426,
Your Fodors profile doesn't say in which country you reside, so I'll take a guess that it is the U.S.?

If so, Cellular Abroad http://www.cellularabroad.com can help you with phone and/or SIM card purchase. For future trips, Skype combined with a netbook or internet cafes is an inexpensive solution. Alternatively, you could buy a cheap quad or tri-band GSM pre-paid phone from T-mobile http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx?WT.z_unav=mst_shop_phones_prepaid and get it unlocked after 90 days.

If you really want to delve into the subject, this is an excellent reference: http://www.thetravelinsider.info/2002/0308.htm


_______________________________________________
Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Thanks everyone for all the info. It looks like I have some reading to do!! Going to start checking out the links you've provided...