So please, one more time for the feeble minded.
I now have a Samsung 900/1800 phone purchased in Europe (Australia). I have no idea how to tell if it is unlocked or locked (Samsung USA was clueless about the phone period).

Assuming it is unlocked: I can buy a Sim card from someone like Vodaphone either on line or when arriving in Portugal
OR
I can buy a Sim card from someone like Riiing and use it to make calles through Callbackworld.

Am I close?

I was in London three weeks ago and while I have British sims, I wanted to give riiing a whirl and check out Callbackworld.com as far as riiing is concerned.

So I programmed my riiing number to callbackworld. I kept getting a fast busy signal so I emailed them. Within 6 hours, they e mailed me back and told me they were re-organizing and gave me new callback numbers, with a US 213 (Los Angeles) area code. They worked on riiing flawlessly. And my billing showed 14 cents/minute which was what the tariff listed at. Also I use remote call forwarding on my landline and within the past month or two verizon now allows you to remotely call forward to foreign numbers so I set it to call forward to my riiing number and the billing came through at 11 cents/minute (10 cents basic ld cost to Liechtenstein and 1 cent surcharge) despite the fact I was in the UK.

Small sample; I have read on bulletin boards there are problems in Germany as you explained but as long as I can receive in Germany from the US it is not a problem.

Sher...

You basically have it...incidentaly to determine if a gsm phone is locked, borrow a sim card from somebody else from a different company than the phone is locked to...you can do it even if the phone doesn't have the proper frequency for the area you are in (1 900/1800 in the US for example)...if the phone is locked when you turn it on you will get a message the phone is locked and does not recognize the sim card....if nothing happens i.e. no message the phone will not be able to register on any network in the US but the first thing it checks for on being booted up is whether a sim card is present and whether the sim card is not of the company it might have been locked to.

Very close :-). Its just a question of costs. Both solutions work.

- Vodafone Portugal: Incoming calls in Portugal free. Outgoing will be rather expensive, but Vodafone Protugal is one of the no so expensive providers in Europe. (About 0.70 Euro/minute?)

- Riiing: Incoming calls in Europe free. Outgoing will be 39 Euoct/min plus 25 Euroct flagfall OR callback via callbackworld
outgoing will be 14ctUS/min.

Vodafone is valid for one year and has to be recharged afterwards to stay active. Riiing for nine months from the last outgoing call made (No recharge nessesary.)

Vodafone recharge coupons can be bought almost anywhere in Portugal. Riing can be recharged by credit card over the internet. Vodafone will be there in 2 years time, with Riiing this is not sure.

Riing should be the better alternative and coverage in Portugal is better.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I had forgotten about the borrowed Sim card, which someone had told me about.

After looking at both the Riiing and Callback sites, I see that using a mobile doesn't seem to be as inexpensive as a land line.

But the phone was given to me so there was no cost to me there. We usually use calling cards when traveling. But we will be in apartments most of our trip in manor houses which will not make it easy to call late at night in Portugal to reach the children and parents here at a good time.

I have had T-mobile now for about 5+ years because at the time they were the only service provider in my area that had an international plan. The calls are 99 cents per minunte for incoming and outgoing. But a trick around that is to text message. It is 35 cents to text message mobile to mobile in europe and something like 55 cents from Europe to US. Their website will have all the rates listed for International. I found the dropping of calls has more to do with the cell phone than the company. My original dual band phone that came with the plan would drop calls here all the time but not in Europe. I now have a motorola triband and it works great in the US and Europe. It is free to sign up (they allowed me to sign up for international as a new client). I would call the customer service/corporate number for t-mobile for all your questions. We have ALOT of t-mobile sellers in my city and each one will tell you something different when they are trying to sell you the plan (or upgrade). I do all my business directly with corporate customer service now so I don't get the run around.

If I bought a phone on ebay, can I buy the card needed here in the US? I would want my daughter who will be on a school trip to have it ready to go. They won't be able to make special concessions for her to buy a card or get the phone up and running. If I buy a phone on EBay, do I have to sign up with a carrier for a year. We already have Verizon as our main provider. Everyone here seems to be using T-mobile. It's difficult reading all the "techie" responses to figure out how to do it all from the US. susan

to Sher
The leading operator in Portugal is TMN (50% market share and the most extended coverage).
They have a pre-paid option called Passaporte (passport) for tourists and occasional user with a tariff plan that I find interesting.
Reception is always free, calls for other TMNs are .21/min, to other european countries, USA, canada, Brazil, are .34/min and for other Portuguese telephones are .46/min

Thanks lobo_mau. I think the three plans I looked at were TMN, Vodaphone and Optimus.
Vodaphone was the most familiar to me because I had heard of it here.
But you should know because you live in Portugal.
I am going to check out TMN.

One more T-Mobile customer who doesn't have any problems. No roaming charges for long-distance. No problems using in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France - 99cents in or out, as stated above. Don't make many or long calls, just for 'need'.
$29 month for 300 minutes/ unlmtd weekends, nationwide long-dist incl
$0.99 min in Europe
Phone was 'free' on Amazon due to rebates.
Can't beat that with a stick.

I have an Unlocked Nokia 3650 (900MHZ, 1800MHZ, 1900MHZ). How much is a TIM SIM cost in Italy??

Thanks to all for the invaluable user info. I hope that these responses will assist others in this changing world of wireless phone use.
I have learned a great deal, and also purchased my cell phone service as a result of reading this board and backing that with research.
My only concern still lies with the statement made by T-Mobile that the Family Plan came with "free roaming", and it was explained to me on further questioning that free roaming meant to other nets such as Cingular and
Verizon. The generous comments posted on this thread tell me otherwise, and present a warning to deal with the corporate entity of T-Mobile.
I assume that meant emailing...do I obtain the phone number for the corporate service from the web site? Is this contacting corporate?

Again, much thanks for saving a great deal of grief and expense of time.

I have mixed feelings about T-Mobile. Im German and its a brand name of Deutsche Telekom, the former monopolist. Prices for their mobile services have gone up and up in the recent years. They are trying to defend their big profits at any cost I believe leagally and no so leagally, making it very difficult for others to compete.

The US is switching to GSM, at the same time in Europe GSM is the "old" technology beeing repaced by WCDMA.

GSM Coverage in the mid-west is poor and will stay that way. GSM isnt suitable for high-speed internet, no automated locating of your position in emergencies not even time and day can be set automatically.

CDMA2000 (Verizon) and WCDMA can do all those things and more. Those features can safe lives..
Why would anybody in the US choose GSM.
In Europe GSM rules for the next few years but there will be a rapid transition to WCDMA.

What use is GSM in the US outside the big cities?

logos 999...

You're right...technology is relentlessly marching on and there is no question GSM is on the way out but then again windows xp is on the way out too yet people still buy computers with this operating system. For a long time, people would come to me with questions about what to get in a computer and I would always start out by sahying whatever system you buy will be obsolete in 6 months and cost 1/3 of the price but if you keep waiting you will never get a computer.

What we're talking about here is a travel board for today not for give years from now and mobile technology for today....people travelling to Europe for a couple of weeks, at least now, really are not terribly interested in data movement, at least unless they are business people.

For now, GSM is the way to go. Nobody is saying go out and get a phone with all sorts of whistles. If I were going to Europe today and had no mobile phone, I would probably buy a Moball 3100 for $99, toss away the sim card and go with prepaid sim cards. If I were doing a multi country trip today, I would go with riiing.

Does that mean six months from now I can guarantee this would be the best decision? No, I don't think so. Will riiing be around in six months or will multi national carriers such as T mobile and/or Vodafone begin dropping their obscene roaming charges for more realistic rates....well you see what's happening in Great Britain right now as low cost carriers such as Virgin mobile, Fresh, the new Easy service begin service with very low prices...When I was last in London a couple of weeks ago, Virgin sim packs were basically free, Orange was offereing a sim pack for £4.99 etc.

The EU is now putting a bit of a squeeze on carriers over roaming rates; if a service such as riiing begins drawing people away from the high price of roaming in Europe, what inevitably will happen?

Yes new technologies are right down the road and for home consumption, if I was into data transmission (I am not) I am very aware of the limitations of GSM but right now basically that's the best game in town for me. As I said, six months from now it is very possible I will be singing a different tune.

So I do agree with you, but that doesn't change the advice one would give for novices who simply want a mobile phone for a European trip so they can be reached 24/7.

True, xyz123. Europe is GSM, but what use is GSM in the US. You dont have adequate coverage. A dualband for Europe and CDMA2000 in the US give best coverage in both worlds. Why buy tri- and quadband GSM, when you cant use it at all i.e. in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and many more places in the US and Canada.

>When I was last in London a couple of weeks ago, Virgin sim packs were basically free, Orange was offereing a sim pack for £4.99 etc.

"Three" ist there.The third Generation WCDMA and the phones are almost free, including GPS navigation and all those gadgets. Prepay and good rates. They are simply see their profits melt away. :-)
This is the best thing that could happen to consumers.

GSM still is a good choice for Europe today, but for the US its a big step backwards instead of using up to date technology.

As an alternative to Ebay, I think the following UK link (found on guardian.co.uk recently) seems excellent for getting a low-cost gsm phone:

http://www.retrofone.com

They have like-new phones from US$28, and send to the US for US$22.

Although, if buying, best check with the company on delivery times to the US, as I gather US customs can slow things down a bit.

Here's what I did. I unlocked my Cingular phone by going on e-bay and purchasing a service that does this for $25. When I get to Italy, I am going to buy a TIM SIM card. It's cheaper over there. But this is my question: can I do that? Will I encounter a strict by-the-rules prohibition against buying an Italian SIM card if I am NOT an Italian citizen or resident? Or will I encounter the more familiar attitude (at least to me when I travel to Italy) of "What the heck? Here's your TIM SIM card?" Thanks in advance.

There is, at least to the best of my knowledge, no rule that you have to be an Italian citizen to buy a prepaid sim in Italy. You do, apparently, need some sort of number akin but not really like a social security number. Guess what, I am sitting here looking at my Italian (I think is called a Coda Fiscal) or something like that.

If you go to www.prepaidgsm.net, you will find on the page for Italian operators a complete explanation how to get your very own Italian coda fiscal by the founder of the board who is Italian. It is easy and takes about 15 seconds. Everybody can get one and then voila into the mobile phone store and out with the Italian sim (or else the proprietor of the Italian mobile store will surely know how to get one for you)....

Dear, dear XYZ123 - wow! you are a fountain of knowledge. Unfortunately, I am a true novice and need your clear and precise guidance. Here is my routine:

-travel three or four times a year to different countries (Mexico, Europe, French Polynesia, Peru, Carribbean)

-mostly need cell phone for emergency communications (ie. text messages would due)

-may want to make the odd local phone call while in foreign country or phone back to the USA. No need to use the phone in USA.

-would like to own phone usable on all trips, not rent. Would like to purchase phone in the under $200 range.

-usage cost is not the primary factor -- would like good value with ease of use. May not always be in a location to track down a local SIMS card or may have times when I would want a phone number to leave prior to making trip.

Question to you: What would be the best value phone to purchase and calling system to use?

I appreciate your guidance. Thank you in advance.