We are looking at buying an international phone. It seems to me that we can get a roaming SIM card to put in the phone that will work in about 40 countries; this would be instead of getting individual SIM cards for each country we're in. This information is from the telestial website, which someone on this board said was a good place to buy the phones. I know we could also get the phone for less money if we bought it somewhere else, but we need to make sure it's reliable, because that's how our kids will be contacting us while we're gone.

We'll be in Italy for a week at the end of Feb, and at the end of March we're going to France and Germany, so I was thinking this would be more cost-effective. Does anyone know more about this?

Thanks very much.

If you are in the US, check with your carrier to see what kind of service would be available in Europe. I use Cingular/ AT&T and after trying many options now just sign up for the discount international service for the months if travel, then unsubscribe when the trip is over. It works out to be not much more cost (if at all) than getting a second phone and is infinitely more convenient.
A problem with getting a new SIM in each country is that your phone number would change each time.

We use Verizon, and they don't have any international phones.

I'm using this:
http://www.globalsim.de/
free incoming in Europe and many places on the globe plus UK mobile phone number. Skype charges 1.7ct to reach it, but you can't be sure for how long.

If:
Maximum 2 countries
No need to know telephone number in advance
More Mobile terminated calls than originated calls
Heavy usage

Chose Individual coutry SIM

Else if:
More than 2 countries
Need to know telephone number in advance
More Mobile originated calls than terminated calls
Occasional usage

Chose Roaming SIM

Endif

I used www.ekits.com when we were on a cruise last year and we had 1 number and it worked in France, Italy, Spain, Croatia - it was great and you can keep your number and add more money. I am going to use it in Costa Rica next month.

You can buy a new unlocked Motorola v190 on ebay for less than $100, postage included, and you can buy it directly from Motorola for a little more. The v190 is a quadband gsm phone, and it will work everywhere in western Europe. If you decide to buy an international SIM, in my experience the customer support for Ekit is very good and the customer support for United Mobile is nonexistent. You might also think of buying a Mobal SIM (for $10) as a backup. Mobal's calling charges are very high, but its service is reliable and the SIM is easy to use.

I found the Motorola V190 on the Motorola site for $99.99. So then I can just order that phone and then order the SIM card from ekit?

Yes, but I think I'd call Ekit to be sure that their SIM works with the v190. If it doesn't, or if you'd like more options, a number of other international SIMs are listed at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/
Once you've got the phone and the SIM you have to put the SIM card in the phone. This is easy once you've seen it done, and possibly your Verizon dealer might help. As a last piece of advice, I'd suggest trying out the SIM here before you leave for Europe. Good luck.

"...we need to make sure it's reliable, because that's how our kids will be contacting us while we're gone."

In that case I think you need an international sim, so you can always be reached at the same number. Will they mostly be calling you, or will you be calling back to the US more yourself? If the phone is mainly for incoming calls, the globalsim.de mentioned by logos999 sounds like a good bet. There are many ways to make cheaper calls back to the US than by cellphone.

Yeah, we want this mainly so they can get in touch with us. One of our kids has had some medical problems lately (although not serious), and I think we'd all feel better knowing that we were able to keep in touch.

Normally, when we're out of the country we have relied on e-mail, but this time we really think we'd like a cell phone, especially since we have two overseas trips planned in the next couple of months.

Thanks, sjj, for those links. We're checking those out.

Thanks so much for all your suggestions!

hi there, i bought a phone off of EBAY that was supposed to be unlocked and when i got it it was not after a couple of weeks they finally returned my money. That is when i bought the phone from EKIT and I was shocked at how well it worked in all the different countries.