I'm going to be in Hungary and Croatia in mid-May, and there is a slim chance that my family may need to contact me. I was wondering about renting a cell phone for Europe. I would like any tips about researching the best deal, or how something like this works. Mainly I would just need one for incoming calls, with voice mail. <BR>I'd appreciate any help with this...many thanks.

Is anyone out there?

My friend's aunt is renting an AT&amp;T International cell phone for one month with a local US number. I don't know prices, sorry .. but at least you know it is possible.

Tmobile has international cell phone rentals. Another site is http://www.planetomni.com (good general information). You can also buy unlocked GSM phones on Ebay for pretty cheap, and get a sim card through planetomni. If you do buy a phone get a tri-mode GSM that will work in Europe (really worldwide) as well as in the US.<BR><BR>After a lot of consideration, I just upgraded my local and national cell phone plan with AT&amp;T to a new Nokia 6360i which will work all over the world, and perfectly back home. When I'm overseas, the rates go up to $1.99/minute.

I ordered a Sony Ericsson T300 from Amazon.com (for $0.01) and a service plan from T-Mobile. After the phone is activated, you call T-Mobile and ask for the WorldPlan (intern'l calls) to be added (no extra charge,no monthly min.). When I'm in Europe, friends/family can reach me by calling the same cell #, and my incoming/outgoing call rate while in Europe is $0.99.<BR>

Sorry, gave the wrong price on the overeas rates - $0.99/minute roaming charge with $0.35/minute rate for all calls in Western Europe.

this is very helpful. thanks.