Cell Phone in Europe

Eugene,

Given the circumstances you mentioned, that's an interesting question.

The Verizon rep's were probably correct, although they used to have a rental program for roaming in Europe.

If you're planning on travelling in future, I'd suggest buying a quad-band, unlocked GSM Phone. A basic model would probably be better than a "smart phone" as you wouldn't have to be concerned with the exorbitant data roaming charges.

I wouldn't suggest buying separate SIM cards for France and Italy, as your phone number will change each time you change cards. As you're expecting incoming calls, that could be an issue.

The best solution given your situation would probably be one of the "Travel Phone" firms such as Call In Europe, Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Mobal or Telestial. You can either buy or rent a phone from them as well as buying a SIM for those that already have a compatible GSM phone.

Some of them have provision to forward a U.S.-based number, although I don't have any details on how that's accomplished. Check the respective web sites for the details, and be sure to review the rates carefully so that you'll have a clear idea on what your costs will be.

Good luck!

Eugene, Verizon may not be a viable option if your phone is not their global model and you don't want to switch to one or if you expect to make a lot of calls in Europe, but my Verizon phone worked well for me in Germany last month. Since I only used mine for brief, travel-related calls, it only added a few dollars to my phone bill. Since everyone I normally talk with on the phone knew I would be out of the country, I did not receive any incoming calls, but the Verizon rep (at their business center, not local — here, they don't seem to know anything about international calling — told me there would not be a charge for incoming calls, even in Europe. In any case, since I had a laptop with me, I was able to keep up with family, friends and office through Facebook and e-mail, so I did not need to need to use the phone very often or for long conversations, and my wife, who normally does a lot of calling, learned to get by with Facebook for a couple of weeks.

I would think buying is better than renting a GSM phone, but haven't researched that lately. As mentioned, eBay is a good source. Skype is good for calling if you have internet access and a laptop. For other times, incoming calls are free on local sim cards in Europe. For the cards with the best local and international outgoing rates, you'll have to do some research. You can start by going to Trip Advisor to the Spain and Italy forums. This subject comes up repeatedly on the European forums at TA, so you should be able to find some current info, or post your own question to the local experts.
I've come across one site you should look at which provides Spain sim cards before you leave the States. Check out www.spainsim.com/home.htm

I just got my SIM from Rebelfone.com - they have good rates for italy and spain - special rates too. You return the SIM when youre back in US - but its cheaper than paying 40Euros over there. Local calls are free. 50cents to USA

You can rent either a phone or a SIM card,just remember that if you rent the SIM, your phone needs certain specifications, it has to be unlocked...etc, so just check online if your phone does cover those. If you rent a phone, the SIM is already in, so you dont need to worry about anything else. There´s some companies that charge less than $2.00 per day for the rental, and you can get free incoming calls, you can check either cellphonerental.net or phonerentalusa.com.