Going to Santiago for a week for work. Will need a phone there and my Verizon will not work. Should I rent cell here or wait and get one at the airport or through the hotel?

Why not just buy a local sim card?

US phones don't use SIMs. I do have a European (Mobal) phone, but can't unlock it.

My US phone has a SIM card.

Wow! What kind is it? Verizon will never be in sync with the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, I just received an email from www.absolutchile.com - they rent phones for airport pickup or hotel delivery for $1.90 a day, incoming calls from anywhere are free. Calls to US are $1.90 per minute, to UK $2.50 per minute. For my purposes (mostly receiving calls) this seems cheaper than buying a SIM, which would be $39 including only $11 worth of calls (plus I would have to buy a phone).

AT&T (Cingular).

That sounds like a great deal.