Is there a service one can buy to use a cell phone for calling to multiple countries within Europe? Not concerned about calls back to the US, just within various European countries and to other countries while traveling in Europe.

What about the phone itself? Best one to buy? Thanks!

Anyone have any ideas????

We use http://www.gosim.com. We have it on automatic recharge and the money you have on it never expires like many others. It is a British company with an office in the US. They give you an Estonia number and you can use it from country to country.

Ann1,can you please tell me more about it.?.

Can we use our own wireless or we need to buy a different type of phone?

It would help to know what are the countries you are likely to spend the most time in

Thanks --Countries are likely to be England, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Slovenia & Germany.

Ann1, what type of phone is required?

I use onesim works anywhere in world. The only thing you do have to remember is you need to change networks depending on where you are.
price is reasonable as well and you need only make one call a year to keep minutes. You also should check out what they are charging to receive (free in europe) and what they charge for outgoing and tex of any card you get. https://www.onesimcard.com
RE pphone I just use a cheapie quad band I picked up on ebay for $25.00 years ago as I don't have a smart phone but take my netbook which works better for my situation

Sorry for the delay. 3 or 4 band GSM. You can pick them up at J&R in NYC or online or wherever. With Go Sims you don't have to change the network when you change countries as the above poster mentioned with onesimcard. It automatically searches.

Go Sims website will list the countries. It's at least all of Europe.

Have any of you used or heard anything about Telestial? I will be in Switz., Italy, Croatia and Slovenia and I am trying to figure out what SIM card to buy.

Thanks for the tips about Go Sims. Just thought I'd ask if anyone has info. about Telestial... thanks

Here's the deal on all this...the eu has taken a very strong and positive position on this....they have forced the European telcoms to set up reasonable roaming rates within the eu....it used to be that you almost, to keep costs reasonable, had to buy separate sim cards as you went to each new country with the inherent problem of changing your contacts etc.

Right now, most of the English sim cards are FREE assuming you're starting in England the way you listed the countries. For most of them, voice calls within the eu (inclouding Switzerland and Norway and other small European but not eu countries) charge 38p to make a call within the eu (much cheaper while within the UK) and 14p to receive calls within the eu from anywhere including from outside the eu. There are a few international cards as noted which have free reception of calls throughout the eu; generally they have +44 numbers but they're not in the eu rather they're in the Isle of Man or Jersey. These have annual fees and calls are about the same as above although you can use these to call outside the eu. E kit passport is worth a look but don't buy it through telestial which charges much more than you would have to pay on ebay for similar cards. Many of these, give you dual numbers namely both a +44 number and a +1 number where you can be reached...calls to your +44 number are free...calls to your +1 number cost 19¢ US rounded to the nearest highest minute (calls received on an eu sim card while within the eu are timed to the nearest second not the next highest minute). There are several other companies with similar prices. The eu is pushing hard to try to reduce roaming rates even further within the eu...they see eventually the eu becoming just like the USA where all calls within the eu will not be subject to roaming rates but that's still a few years off. But the intra eu rates have put a big dent in the profitability of many of the once very good deals on international sim cards.

So summing up, if you have any eu sim card, for the most part outside the country of origin but within the eu, prices will be the same, reasonably cheap.

...and texting is cheaper still.

So simple if you have something like an I-phone..you simply turn it on and use it

...i-phone with an European sim, right? You can use both T Mobile USA and AT&T in Europe if you have any unlocked gsm phone with 900 mhz and/or 1800 mhz bands but you will pay an absurdly high rate.

Iphone .... not with a US card unless you want to pay a fortune. Yes, you have to buy an EU sims card for good rates.

Previously the rates for calling the US from Europe were cheap. Then for some reason the rates went up high. Now the rates are tumbling again.

We have a Samsung Global phone with Verizon service. When we are ready to travel abroad we take out the monthly global plan for $65-70. When we enter a new country it sends a text saying welcome to Norway or Denmark for example, all automatic, easy.

I have used Telestial in the past-- they are a good source for sim cards if you need to buy one in the US for use in Europe, but there are lots of sources of SIM cards, and often it's cheaper to buy in-country.

I've used Cellular Abroad that worked okay, however I only used it in one country at the time, didn't go anywhere else.

$65 - $70 is a lot of money. The other cards much cheaper. I don't spend that in a month of being in Europe and calling home a lot.

Using verizon's rental phone as well as their $1.29/minute raised to the next highest minute to make and receive calls is silly. Oh but you want people to call your verizon cell number and be able to reach you I hear you say.

Get a local sim....then there is a firm called localphone. For $3 and 99¢/month they will give you a local number in any arewa code you want which you can then set to forward to any mobile in Europe at very low rates. Set your verizon number to call forward to the local number and the local number to your European mobile (you can set the to number on the web) and voila anybody calling your verizon number is forward transparently to your European mobile.

Most of Roshima's advice is wrong; I wonder if he's pushing his unlocking service, especially since he resurrected a very old thread to offer this wrong information.

In Europe, an international calling card is not a SIM card; it's taken to mean a card with a scratch-off PIN that you can use to make an international call from any phone, by dialing an access number, entering your PIN, and then dialing the number.

As mentioned above, if you'll be traveling only within Europe, just get a SIM card in the first country you visit. The EU has forced European telecoms to offer reasonable roaming rates, so you won't pay outrageous charges for roaming from other countries. I live in Italy, and I now pay only €0.16 per minute for calls within Europe and the US (plus a 16-cent connection charge). It's definitely not worth buying an overpriced international SIM card or buying a new SIM card in each country you visit. There are also very reasonably priced data plans available, and these also usually have reasonable roaming plans for data use within Europe.

Many providers will unlock your phone for a trip, and many modern phones are dual SIM, with one SIM automatically unlocked; or international phones, which will use a foreign SIM. The phone must be quad band (or at least tri-band), and must have GSM capability. If you don't know, ask your provider, or read your manual, or google, "is XXX phone GSM?"

If Roshima's post gets taken down, I hope the information is still useful to someone.