[dem]

Thanks very much for all of the replies. To answer some questions, my boyfriend travles to a different location in a different part of the world each time he takes a trip. There is no rhyme or reason to his plans. His last trip was to Austria, before that, the Amazon, before that, China. His next trip will be to New Zealand. So I basically need something with wide coverage.

Re payment, I would prefer a company that deals in dollars, just to keep things easy. I like an auto recharge feature, but having a manual recharge feature is ok too. (In fact, he may prefer that.)

Re phones, I recently made my first two eBay purchases and both were disasters (neither product was as advertised). In fact, this phone/SIM present is an alternative to my original idea, which has fallen through thanks to two rotten eBay sellers. So, regardless of how good the deal is, I am staying away from eBay.

The things that interest me the most are the reliability and helpfulness of the company, coverage of the SIM, and ease of use. These things are more important than price. (Although a good price is always a much welcomed bonus!)

Thanks again for your help. This is a very useful forum and I appreciate your taking the time to inform me.