[snaimon]

Phil,

Welcome aboard!

Have you read the sticky on Americans going to Europe?

Several other things for you to consider:

1. Time differences between US (CA?) and Europe - possibly 9 hours

Unless you want to keep your phone on all day AND night, WHY do they need to reach YOU at any time -- immediately? Yes, it is nice, but is it really needed?

2. Costs. I just called a friend in Germany on his cell using an MCI prepaid card. 52 cents per minute. Landline calls are less. Luckily my call did not go thru and I switched to my Onesuite card -- that was only 23 cents per minute to the cell line. Landline calls to Germany cost like 3 cents per minute on Onesuite.

Using an European or international SIM is going to increase their costs quite a bit. Are they really ready for that?

3. Would you be calling OUT much from the cell? How much? Or would it be just inbound? With most of the international cards, inbound will be free in the countries you are visiting.

__________________________

It sounds as if this is a ONCE in a great while (life-time?) trip. Not sure you should invest $50 in a phone (assuming eBay purchase), if you don't have one PLUS the purchase of one SIM and top-ups (either single-country or international). If you have a suitable phone already, then the equation is a bit different. If you plan on calling out, be sure to buy enough top-ups in advance. If you have a German T-Mobile phone and your balance is 0 and you are in Hungary, you can't just buy a top up card for that SIM in Hungary.

By the way, I am selling a second used, unlocked Nokia tri-band on eBay -- sold one last weekend that went for a total of $43 total, including shipping.

If they can deal with notifying you and your calling them back at a pre-arranged time, then you can call them back with a calling card. You can for instance, agree to call them every evening (for example) your time in Europe) perhaps before you go to bed from you hotel room. I take it you will be staying in hotels.

Now, I am not saying you should not buy an European or international SIM and phone....

Is there someone in your family, work, circle of friends who travels and could loan you a phone?

Do you have a US cell phone and who is the carrier? If you have a Cingular or T-Mobile, you could take the US phone. They should roam although you might have to request them to turn on that feature for you. Your in-laws costs will be low; yours will be quite high. I don't recommend that but that is one solution, but that is simple.

If you have a cell phone or voicemail in US, the in-laws can call that number and leave messages. When you have a chance, you can call from a landline phone with a US calling card and retrieve your voicemail. You can also call them back.

Stan