mobile Sim card

steve,

If you buy a "local" SIM card in one country, you'll be able to use it in other countries. However when you leave the country where you purchased the SIM card, you will be roaming and the rates will increase.

Buying a local SIM card in each of the six countries you'll be visiting is a bit of a cumbersome solution, as your phone number will change each time you change SIM cards. You'd have to notify each of your contacts of your new number every time you changed the SIM.

Your choices are:

Roam with your home cell network, if possible with the plan you're currently on. This can be a cost effective solution if you use the phone very sparingly for voice calls, and use text most of the time.

Buy a SIM in the first country you visit (U.K.?) and then roam with this. The rates will be higher but again if you use the voice calls sparingly this might not be a problem? Be sure you're able to top-up in the subsequent countries you visit.

Buy a "travel SIM", as mentioned in the previous post. In addition to Mobal you could have a look at Cellular Abroad, CallinEurope, Telestial or others. These will provide consistent rates in a variety of countries, and most of these are post paid, which means they'll charge calls to your credit card. These SIM's usually "expire" if not used for a period of time (6-months to a year), but can be kept active by paying a fee or putting a specific amount of use on the card.

Happy travels!

The Mobal SIM card can be used in 160+ countries.
http://www.mobal.com/gsm/sim.asp

actually any SIM card, even the one you have right now, will work in the same 160+ countries. That's because a GSM SIM works anywhere, whether you buy it from Mobal or any other carrier.

The problem you face is a common one. The cheap rates (free incoming calls, cheap in-country calls) only apply in the country where the SIM is purchases. Anywhere else you pay roaming rates to call out, and pay for received calls. If you're not spending much time in any of those countries, you might be best off just using the SIM you already have.

Thanks all for your replies.We will be in those countries over 2 months spread approx.evenly. We are also 4 people who will want to call or text each other at times I am sure. I guess it needs us to look at the roaming rates of our current plan and compare to buying. The answer seems to be to keep your calls to text unless an emergency. cheers Steve

Check prepaidgsm.net which will show you rates for national carriers as well as international ones.

The international ones are generally based out of Estonia or other country. The rates are decent for multiple countries but those calling you have to call Estonia.

The national carriers are best within a country. However, if you buy a SIM from a national carrier in one country, it might be wise to use it in another even if roaming charges as they are not high and you often have enough credit on the card. Depending on how many days you spend in each country, buying an international one or a local one (or two) is a choice. Think of it like railpasses. Do you buy a multi-country one to include all your countries or ones that exclude a country where it might be best to buy separate tickets.