Sorry it's all a bit confusing. The first confusion you seem to have (about the size of the SIM), is a relatively recent development by Apple. As mentioned above, up until the iPad and iPhone4, every GSM device in the world had exactly the same SIM card (with few exceptions). As it is you also have to remember that you will not be able to just use another operators SIM in your existing phone unless your phone has been 'unlocked' in order to be able to do so. Also you will have to check that your phone's built in operating frequencies exist in the country you are visiting. If in doubt, just post a specific question here which states the Phone's model, current operator and the country you intend to visit.
In terms of the rest of your questions, they really are very specific to operators. There are thousands of operators in the world, and tens of thousands of prepaid tariffs. We couldn't possibly generalise about them all. This forum has been set up so that people from around the world can interact with each other and discuss developments etc. In most cases, somebody who is knowledgeable about a tariff (usually in their own country) can recommend a SIM for a newbie like yourself who might not have any idea what to get due to information overload. That is why the specific question on where you are going, and what useage you will be requiring was asked.
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Originally Posted by claude
2- I have still not understood the time management of those cards, buying more time has several options and if I grasp the literature, if you call to buy there is a charge but if you go to a retailer it is free???
3- If all the time is not used while abroad, is the credit still available on a future trip?
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I have a question as well. I have often heard people from North America referring to credit as "time" and "minutes". Is this still the case these days? Isn't this dead confusing in it's own right? How can a system of credit that is based on time compensate for changes in tariff when you go to different countries? When I first went to the USA in 1996, I ended up working in some little Hicksville and initially had to rely on a few prepaid phone cards (not SIM's) in order to keep in touch with family back in Europe. However the problem I consistently found was that these cards were always advertised on their "minutes", which signified how many long distance (national) minutes I could speak for with my credit. In most cases, I could not ever find out how many international minutes I would get on my card, until I actually tried to make a call with them. On one "100 minute card" that our employer generously gave all of his international staff as a welcome gift, I was pretty surprised that it gave us under 5 minutes of talktime to most European landlines! Some of the other staff mentioned this to our boss later on, but he could just not understand why a "100 minute" card was just not what it said on the pack? I totally understand the confusion. He had paid just under $10 for each card, which placed the price per minute at over $2/minute. Later on, we managed to find cards that gave us close to 100 minutes to Europe for our 10 bucks! (10c/min). I guess he was frustrated that he didn't get us those in the first place!
Anyhow, in the rest of the world, prepaid credit is generally referred to by its monetary value. (In Dollars, Euros, Pounds etc.). The tariffs that you will see here on prepaidgsm and any links that you will follow through will generally state various destinations as a cost per minute. (e.g. 3cents/minute to call from A to B, 15c/min to call from B to A).