Cell Phone Primer

Hi, Francine, Verizon is also my cell phone company, and they will loan you a global phone for free- you only pay the per- minute calling costs. Another solution is to buy or rent a global phone before you leave from a company like Mobal or Telestial. For our last trip to Europe I had a phone that would work in Europe (Motorola Droid 2 Global) but my girl friend didn't, so we bought her the cheapest phone from Telestial ($29 including $5 of airtime) ; mostly for emergencies if we got separated, and it worked just fine. You can also buy a sim card for your existing (unlocked) phone here or in Europe and use it in on your trip- call Verizon for information on how to unlock. The biggest problem in using data while in Europe is the cost. One solution you may want to investigate is from Tep Wireless. They rent a pocket Wifi device that essentially taps into the European 3G data signal and converts it to a Wifi signal, which you then connect your smartphone, iPad, laptop, etc to. Their basic plan allows 50 Mb per day. We were able to use it even in Corniglia in the Cinque Terre. They also allow phone calls using voip solutions such as Skype on the 100Mb per day plan. Here's some good information from Rick Steves:
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/cell-phone-europe.htm Good luck and have a great trip!

Francine, I sometimes feel like I have written a thesis on cell phone use. I'll probably leave it to others to point you to other websites; frankly, unless you're willing to read a lot of material, they may only add to the confusion. All you need to know about GSM and SIM cards is that they are used in most of the world outside of parts of Asia. T-Mobile and AT&T use them here. It is the standard in Europe. It gets a bit more complicated now that 3G and 4G networks are being adopted, but you can mostly ignore that for now. A SIM card (or "Subscriber Identity Module") is simply a computer chip on a card that is the phone's I.D. card. It ties the phone to a particular account and phone number. With Verizon, this function is built into the phone. The phone's serial number (or the equivalent) is used to pair the phone to the network. There is a different radio technology - how transmissions are encoded - between GSM and that used by Verizon (and Sprint), but those using the phones don't need to know about that. Interestingly, the newer 3G and 4G technologies used by the companies use the same technology (at least as I understand it), so when all phones use 3G or 4G technology and only that technology, the distinction between Verizon and AT&T may disappear. Based on what you've said, if you want a phone to use over several trips and in several companies, it sounds like you should get one of the travel phone companies' phones, companies such as Mobal, Telestial, etc. These companies are listed in other message threads here. They are likely more expensive than some of the other options, though.

(Continued . . . ) One big warning: At the moment, you still do not want to use them for DATA access. The only halfway reasonable way to do that is to buy a local prepaid SIM in Europe and use a data package. I've used one in more than one country in Europe. See For overseas DATA use, local prepaid is best solution. If you don't go with a local prepaid account, you will likely want to limit your usage to wifi. Another alternative: Switch to AT&T or T-Mobile. That way you'd get a phone that works both places and could be used over numerous trips. Using either is expensive, though. Or as the early post said, stick with Verizon and get one of their phones that works in Europe.

Let me ask this: I have a Verizon Blackberry Bold. It's a quad band phone. CDMA for North America and GSM for when I travel overseas. Could I just remove the Verizon GSM sim card and replace it with one I buy in Europe? Perhaps one with a prepaid voice and data plan from the UK?

My understanding was Verizon doesn't use a SIM card. Is that not true on some models? If there isn't a sim card in it, forget it. You will be stuck with Verizon's foreign roaming charges which will add up quickly (even faster if you have data transfers) and won't be the best deal. If there is a sim card, can you get it unlocked? I had a phone with T-mobile. Try as I might, getting it unlocked wasn't happening. They gave me codes that didn't work. When I visited two stores, no one knew how to unlock the phone. Ultimately, I think it's easiest and cheapest to just buy a low-cost phone when you arrive in Europe. It will have a sim card that's cheap to use in the country you purchase it in. Outside the country you purchased the phone in, you will be roaming (but I think you can still receive calls for free). You can balance the roaming costs with visiting a phone store or kiosk and getting a new sim card for the country you are in. Once you know where they are, it takes about fifteen seconds to change sim cards. One other option is the multi-country phone and sim offered by multiple companies. They may be overall cheaper when traveling through several countries in one trip, but per minute costs don't come close to a phone purchased and used in one European country.