I am going to Prague, Budapest, Slovenia, and Italy a few weeks. I have t-mobile cell phone service, but am planning on buying phone cards. Questions about phone cards:
It is usually better to buy a phone card for whatever county you are calling. I think you can get cards for the US to Germany that lets you call for about 2-3 cents euro per minute. Quite reasonable. Use the phone at the internet centers. Check with the hotel about phone costs before using as sometimes they can be quite costly. Using a mobile over here to call the states will be expensive. The international cards should work fine for country to country. You can pick these cards up in increments of 5 euros and up. Don't buy too many as I have seen people get stuck with them. Also ask when you buy it, exactly which number to use on the back. I have seen people use the wrong number and get stuck with huge bills at hotels.
International cards work within the country in which they are purchased and for making calls from that country to other countries in Europe or beyond (like to the US). However, I believe that they do not work for calls placed from a country other than the one in which they were purchased. (If I'm wrong about this, someone please correct me.) If I'm right, then the best thing to do is to buy the cheapest card you can in each country from which you'll be making calls. And buy cards that have PINs. You can use them both in pay phones and from your hotel room. That way you won't have to pay the high fees the hotel will impose for using any other type of card.
There are some cards that are supposed to work in multiple countries. I've never tried them because I've heard it's iffy whether you will actually find a phone that takes them after you're out of the first country.
I've only used the one country cards (meaning you can only call from one country to anywhere). They worked good and save a ton of money over other options. I use it up before crossing the border and buy another card in the next country.
I'm debating whether to get a cell phone only because I call for a room at my next destination mid-morning. It would be nice to make the calls as I'm traveling without planning a stop at a phone booth.
I then have to decide whether to use my phone or buy a European one. My cell phone will work in Europe. At a dollar a minute, however, the bill can add up pretty quickly.
Brad...if yours is a GSM phone and you can get it unlocked, there are lots of multi-country SIMs that you can order. I use one put out by united-mobile.com with rates from 29 cents (euro) per minute, including calls back to the states, and free incoming calls. They have a deal on now for a tri-band GSM phone and a SIM card with 5 Euro credit for 50 Euro.
