Visiting Italy and France

[Landis]

Originally Posted by ahab

Yeah, the accessibility factor is one of the most important things to me. I guess I'll just wait for now and see how things are looking in a month or so.

Thanks.

Well, it's really easy to buy SIMs locally in France or Italy, all you need is a picture ID - presto! Takes about 5mins. For example, calling the US with an italian WIND prepaid is 0,5€/min, should be a lot cheaper than using your US phone. Cost for the card itself is 10€ with 5€ of credit included.
I wouldn't recommend using an italian SIM in France, costs are likely to be similar to the roaming charges from your US phone and you'll have some trouble topping up.