[powerlifter]

Originally Posted by Guthdog

Much appreciated...

In reverse order:

@Powerlifter - Thank you for asking. Yes, the phone is unlocked for use on non-US GSM towers, research indicates that the radios on Sprint "World Phones" are set to ignore US GSM towers, (apparently this is hackable if you want to root the phone, I'll leave that to my 19 year old son to try on his phone that I didn't buy). You touched on a mortal fear of mine as I am already stretching a bit to make it to Europe on a pleasure trip; I fear the shine would come right off the memories if I had a $2K bill waiting for me when I got home.

@DavidtheProf - two more to add to my list to check out, thank you. When you describe a "Call Back" system, you mean that the caller in the states would dial a number, wait for some sort of tone then hang up and when the call connects, the phone rings back, correct?

@dg7feq - Fair consideration, but I am concerned about how fast time will go when mom gets on the phone with the kids, (my 11 year old son could care less that we're leaving, he's staying with grandma which promises to be a party, my 8 year old daughter is green with envy and will drag every conversation out as long as possible), especially when billed in full minute increments. The LIDL card is at $.09/minute and my friend in Otterbach can pick one up for us in Germany and pass it to us when he meets us in Paris.

@Inquisitor - Mobiho looks very attractive from a cost perspective, but I don't read a word of French! Is there a data plan that can be added to the voice services? Per your earlier post, with any of the major carrier networks, I shouldn't really have to be concerned with coverage in any but the most remote locations, correct?

Again, thanks to all of you for your input.

If your daughter likes to talk look into skype. You can get a month subscription for a couple of dollars, to the US and she can talk to grandma as much as she wants. They have an app for your phone and if you have a computer you can call on that as well. You do need to be on wifi to do this. When I am overseas or even here in the US I can see my grand kids when we talk. It is a wonderful thing to see who you are talking to.