Best sim card

pecan,

To begin with, your plans to travel for six months raises a red flag. Are you aware of the provisions of the Schengen Visa, which limit tourist travel to 90 days in each 180 day period. There can be hefty fines for those exceeding their stay.

Regarding your SIM card question, if you're only interested in voice & text (and not data), one of the easiest methods would be to buy a basic phone from one of the travel phone firms such as iRoam, Cellular Abroad, Telestial, Mobal, EuroBuzz or others. Many of these use a SIM based in the U.K., have post-paid billing (calls charged to a credit card) and have consistent rates throughout most of Europe.

You could also buy a SIM & phone in the first country you visit, however that would likely be on a PAYG basis, which means topping-up when your minutes are depleted. In some cases, it's difficult to top-up phones after leaving the country of purchase. Rates would not be consistent as once you left the country of purchase, you would then be "roaming" and the rates would vary according to the agreements between the cellular network that sold the phone and the networks you'd be using as you travel around Europe.

Ken - Thanks for the info & the "heads up" on the visa. Fortunately over 1/2 the time is in Great Britain & Ireland.

pecan,

Sounds like you've done your homework on the Schengen Visa. As you're going to be in the U.K. and Ireland for awhile, using one of the travel SIM's would probably work well, as many are attached to UK networks such as O2.

Since you don't use a mobile at home, your best option would probably be to pick up a cheap phone that comes with some calling time when you arrive. When I was in Scotland, I picked up a phone for 10 pounds that had 10 pounds of calling time on it, and I never used it up during my trip. "Travel SIM" rates are much higher than a local SIM, and there is no need to purchase a phone from one of those firms, either. Any phone store can hook you up once you get there. Just make sure they show you how to add minutes if you need to. If you tell them you are visiting several countries, they can help you find a SIM that can be added to online. Roaming fees have been limited, so you will use up minutes a tiny bit faster in countries where you did not buy the card, but not a lot faster.