I know my cell phone won't work in Europe. <BR>My cell phone company said I would have to "rent" one to bring over with me, that would work internationally. They suggested I use Express Renters co. & gave me their number. I've priced it out and it's very expensive. <BR> <BR>Can anyone shed some light on this? Has anyone used a cell phone while in Europe (specifically Italy)? Grazie!

If you must have a cell phone in Europe, and you don't mind giving people a new number, maybe your best option would be to buy a prepaid-card cell phone. I am not sure about Italy, but you should pay around US$80 for a cell phone with maybe 50 minutes of airtime. You can purchase additional cards as you need them, and by the end of your trip you can either throw the phone away or keep it as a souvenir or for future trips. <BR> <BR>If you do that, you'd need some way to tell people that you have a new number, though... maybe by calling your cellphone in the US and leaving a new voice mail message...

If that figure is correct--$80 for less than an hour of phone time--and if you think this won't be the last time you need to travel to Europe with a mobile, get a new phone. I'm in the process of pricing tri-bands and have more or less decided on a model that costs $170 if you sign up for a year of service.

Actually, the $80 figure is for both the phone and the airtime. Prepaid cards are less than that. <BR> <BR>In Spain, at least, last year you could get a phone and 10,000 pesetas worth of calls for 12,000 pesestas or so.

Most of the European cell phone rentals that are widely promoted are hideously expensive. The first time we rented, we ran up a charge over $500 for less than one week. Since then, rates have come down. There are some reasonable cell phone deals available, but you'll have to do your homework to uncover them. For our last few trips to Switzerland, we've rented cell phones at the airport and paid about $10 a day. Airtime was priced at about 30 cents a minute. I used the cell phone exclusively for urgent incoming calls. For all outgoing calls, I used prepaid calling cards, the cheapest of which are found at www.nobelcom.com. For calls from France and Switzerland back to the US, the cost was about 10 cents a minute. If I recall correctly, the card we bought also was usable in Italy, but you'd have to check their site for the rate.

I don't mean to sound rude, but why do you need a cell phone? Unless there is something that requires your attention more than 2 or 3 times a day why not just use a phone card when you get over there? They're cheap, pre-paid and easy to get at any tobacco shop in any country.

We opted not to get a cell phone because of the expense, but wished we had when we were stuck on the side of the road in France. Fortunately, our car trouble occurred on an exit that was an easy walk to the toll booth. Some creative phrasebooking with the attendant got us a tow truck. But it would have been much easier to call our rental car's toll-free number from the car--especially if we had been much farther from a phone. If you're driving, I'd spring for the phone. <BR> <BR>

The cheapest way to go is Have your calls go to your cell phone voice mail service Or home anwsering Machine then just use pay phones the phone cards in italy are cheap and easy to use they cost about $2.50 american and you can call and check you messages for under 30 cents a minute. buy the cards at tobbaco shops break off the corner and you are ready to go stay away from hotel phones use the pay phones