I was recently on a trip to the Middle East. We were in the Negev Desert, miles from any town,standing in a 3000-year old underground water cistern that we got to by climbing down some rocks and shimmying under tree branches. As we were admiring this ancient accomplishment, my brother-in-law's cell phone rang (the call from the USA was about some important family news).
We were all struck by the contrast in technology between the hand-chiseled cistern, and the mobile telephone with crystal-clear reception.
Thank you, Cingular (though we still question why that same phone's reception is so often lost within 2 blocks of their Atlanta home.)

Robespierre - with Cingular, anyway, there may be a fee - I had to activate international roaming service, which costs $5 or $6 per month, in addition to paying $.99 per minute for calls.

Interestingly, Cingular told me that they would not activate international roaming service on a plan that had been in place less than three months. I'd been considering switching (and soon will switch) from an old AT&T Wireless (now part of Cingular) plan to a more current Cingular plan. But the agent noted that I wouldn't be able to have international roaming added for three months - even though I essentially was switching plans within the same company. So I decided to wait until my summer travels were over. This came up a couple of months ago, and I know that things change rapidly in the mobile communications field - but just something to check on if you are setting up a new plan specifically to accommodate international travel.

And Elaine, I was similarly surprised to have crystal clear reception out in a fairly rural area of Russia last month - better than some areas near my home.

1 - go Shop Europe: anywhere downtown city
2 - give 35€, get phone + sim + 10€ credit
3 - use phone EVERYWHERE in Europe.

That's odd - I started my AT&T service in June, 2003 and headed for London a week later. Everything worked and I didn't have to pay extra. Do you have nationwide roaming?

I even got a perfect connection on the (Siemens S46) phone while on the ferry halfway between Harwich and Hook of Holland - and I have no idea how it worked, because we were two hours from either shore!

Travelnut offers much good advice, but a tri-band phone is not necessary, depending on where you're traveling.
A dual-band euro cell phone will work fine in almost all (if not all) of the most frequently visited European countries (Great Britian, Italy, France, Greece, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, etc.) Check mobal.com for a list of countries and what cell phone frequencies they use. My little Nokia dual-band worked fine in Greece and France.

Julie, one question you asked was about whether you needed a currency converter to recharge your phone overseas. The answer is no. Your recharger should work in Europe, you just need an adaptor for the plug type of whichever country you are visiting. Sets of these are sold cheaply; we have bought them a couple of times at the airport after forgetting them.

We have T Mobile and have found the international roaming feature is much more economical than renting phones or purchasing European sim cards when you are just using the phone for short calls.

While it does cost a dollar a minute for both outgoing and incoming calls, sending text messages costs less, and you can receive text messages for free.

The phones have always recognized the new service providers in Europe without our having to do anything, and we were pleased to have an excellent signal in Pompeii to report my husband's lost credit cards when his wallet was stolen getting on the train in Naples.

MarkM - I'm referring specifically to JulieV's inquiry about her current T-Mobile phone and account (for a phone that works in <i>both</i> locations.

Logos - a SIM bought in any European country &quot;may&quot; work &quot;anywhere&quot; - if it does, it will not be cheap, either. The good rates are only for the legacy country - also I was responding specifically to JulieV about T-Mobile for dual-use.

You don't need good rates for emergency calls, do you. Any kit bought in Germany will work without modifications anywhere in Europe. No need to have &quot;roaming activated&quot; it will work out of the box.


So what more do you need. ???????

This is 100% sure for Germany and western Europe, why worry about &quot;roaming enabled, three band phones etc. &quot; BUY IT IT WILL WORK. No need to worry about it. And it is only 35&euro;, so what????

Is it not a fact that 90% of Canadians live within 50 miles of the southern border? That sorta does make it &quot;a narrow strip&quot; from where I'm sitting.

How the heck did that get here? I was on the &quot;Anti-Americanism&quot; thread. Or thought I was.

I have no idea, but could you just tell them that mobile phones in Europe are a &quot;throw away item&quot;, sold at 35&euro; with roaming automatically activated anywhere in Europe. It is difficult to make them believe the facts ;-)

Check out www.tracfone.com and click on International Plan.