Info on buying cell phone coverage

kjweede, Lots of questions before an answer can be provided.
1) Will your existing service provider give coverage for Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Bosnia using your existing phone? If yes, is it a reasonable cost?
2) Is your existing phone even compatible with the phone system in Europe?
3) If yes, is it unlocked?
4) If the answer to (2) and (3) is "yes". You can buy a new pay-as-you-go SIM card when you arrive. A new SIM card implies a new phone number, in the country the SIM card comes from.
5) If you want to just use WiFi, you are reliant on finding WiFi, which could be difficult.

Thanks for the good advice. I will have to find out the answer to your questions. It is good to know what to ask.

Karen

If you determine that you'll be able to use a local SIM card for your phones, my partner and I used BH Telecom and the Slovenian Visitor SIM when we visited the Balkan region last fall. In Croatia, we paid $10/day to use our existing Verizon data plan.

We found swapping our SIM cards to be a fairly painless experience!

How do I decide that I will e able to use local SIM cards in my VZ phone? Sorry, I am 70 and not as comfortable with cell coverage as you.

How do I decide that I will e able to use local SIM cards in my VZ phone?

That is the questions I asked above.
1) What technical system does your phone use, is it "GSM"? GSM is the European system. Different countries outside Europe use different systems, and in the US different operators use different systems, some GSM, some others.
2) Is it unlocked? I.e. will it work with SIM cards from different operators, or would they be blocked?
These are questions you must ask your existing operator. If the answer to both questions is YES, then you can use a SIM card from a different operator.

If the answer is NO, then you need to buy a new phone with a SIM card ("pay-as-you-go") when you arrive.

Please note, the SIM card is like the socket you plug your phone into at home. If you plug your home phone into the phone socket in your neighbours house, it then has his number and he pays the bills. The same applies to a SIM card. A new SIM card comes with a new service provider and a new phone number which will be a phone number from whichever country you buy the card in.

Okay. Thanks"