I know there are numerous posts about temporarily acquiring cell phones when visiting a country, but I'm interested in knowing if the advice applies when you're visiting multiple countries.

We'll be visiting at least three place -- France, U.K., Germany -- and would like to get cell phones that can be used anywhere. Possible?
Thanks.

Yes. You just need 1 unlocked GSM phone enabled to 900 and 1800 MHz frequencies.

When you say "anywhere" do you just mean the countries you listed, or do you mean in the US also..?

>anywhere
The world, except the USA, Canada, Mexico a few southern/central american states, Korea and Japan (that uses it's own standard and the european WCDMA standard).

After doing a lot of research on the topic, I bought a quad-band GSM phone through amazon.com (mine was $99 but there were many cheaper ones) and then bought an international SIM card from United Mobile--I think it was about $50 and included $20 of calling time. It has one phone number, all my incoming calls are free in most European countries, and outgoing calls are usually 49 US cents per minute (charged against the pre-paid sim).

I priced a lot of options and this was comparable to, if not cheaper than, either a rental or an arrangement with a a US company. And there is ONE card with ONE number throughout my trip--no need to keep swapping sim's.

It was very easy and I recommend the approach. Good luck!

Ditto what Overbeck said.

Dear Overbeck--

From what country is your phone number? Does it matter as to the cost of calls?

The same reasons cited by Overbeck are why I use my quad band phone when I travel in Eruope.

I pay more for calls since I use my home provider (Cingular) but it is convenient not to have to change phone numbers, SIM cards, etc., etc.

I got an unlocked quad band on eBay and a SIM from United Mobile for my upcoming trip - I wanted something I could continue to use from trip to trip.

www.prepaidgsm.net is a useful website for information on the different SIM options. They also have a helpful forum.

Sounds good, but what if you run out of time while you are on your trip? How do you charge more time to the SIM?

My phone # is a Liechtenstein number, which makes no difference for me but may affect others' cost to call me. The one minor inconvenience is that I have to dial the + (int'l access dialing) and country code for virtually every number I call, since I am not calling to Liechtenstein numbers.

Recharging is easy with a laptop, which I am also travelling with (have to go to some conferences too). But there's also a way to set up the acct with United Mobile so that you can recharge just by dialing in. The smallest increment is $30, but that seems to work fine.

Ditto what Dukey said!

I just bought a Mobal phone that can be used almost anywhere in the world for $99 including SIM. The call charges are about $1 something per minute. It is a UK number. There was a cheaper version - $49 that could be used in Europe but not USA. The process was very simple - the phone came with SIM as well as a pack of travel converters.

United Mobile calls are 39 euro cents per minute when calling from Europe to the U.S., incoming calls are free. You can now set up automatic recharges but I would be leary of doing that in case the phone gets stolen.

After reading on here extensively over the last several months, I researched vendors of international SIMS and bought a SmartFree card from "In Touch" (www.intouchsmartcards.com). I ordered it on Tuesday afternoon and it arrived by UPS this afternoon. They even included a print-out of the instructions on how to use it from their website, saving me the troule of printing it. They also included troubleshooting info, etc. It was $49.99 and includes 15 Euros starter time--the phone number is in Lichtenstein. Reloads are $89.95 for another 2 hours, but since all incoming calls are free everywhere I'm going, I didn't purchase a reload at this point. I also signed up at home for an extra AT&T international long distance discount which costs $1 per month and lowers the cost of calls to Lichtenstein to only $.18 per minute from home versus $1.95 per minute without it.

I recently bought a new cell phone at T-Mobile since it was time for an upgrade and, based on advice on this board, contacted them to get the unlock code. It probably helped that I have been a customer since before they were in this area--they bought out Powertel (been a customer since 1993 or so) and that I had just upgraded and extended my contract for another 2 years, but I had my unlock code and instructions for how to use it within 24 hours in email. I haven't tried it yet since I was waiting until I received the SIM to do so.

I plan to use my regular SIM to get my international blackberry service while in Europe and then put in this SIM when it is likely that I might receive calls and/or to call home. Hopefully I won't confuse myself.

Hit "post" too quickly. I also was going to mention that this company has a service called "SmartForward" which will let you have a US phone number and forward all your regular calls through it to the European number. That takes the cost burden off those who call you. However, it then costs you to receive incoming calls and probably loses you the advantage of having the international SIM in the first place since it may be close to the roaming charges that your carrier charges in many European countries. It is an option though if you need or want it.

Thanks, all, for responding.

To answer one question, we're (two of us) looking for phones that can be used throughout Europe.

We'll probably make minimal use of the phones -- for emergencies in case we get separated, in case someone from the US has to reach us, or we have to reach someone. Will look at all recommendation you guys made.
Thanks again.

We have 2 Cingular phones on one plan and text message each other when we travel and get seperated for one reason or another. ($.15 per message)

Kellye,
That recharge works out to about 75 cents per minute if I'm doing the math right.

Pretty decent phone for overseas GSM

http://www.cellhut.com/productdetail.asp?ProductID=3335
http://www.crayeon3.com/c3/pc-1268-150-.aspx