Using my unlocked GSM phone in Europe

Jason,

Rather than buying a SIM in Europe, you could also consider one of the "travel SIM" firms such as Roam Simple, Call In Europe, Cellular Abroad, Mobal or Telestial (or others).

While you could purchase a SIM in Europe, keep in mind that while it will provide inexpensive rates in the country of purchase, when you travel to other countries you'll be "roaming" and the rates will increase. Also, it's likely that you'd be using a pre-paid plan so you'd need to top-up when your minutes are depleted.

The SIMS provided by the above firms have consistent rates regardless of which country you're in (except for some countries in eastern Europe), and some of their plans are post-paid meaning your credit card will be billed at the end of the month (when they receive the summary of charges from the cell networks). Topping-up won't be a concern.

I would highly recommend checking your T-Mobile phone to ensure that it's a quad band model. I ran into some tourists from the U.S. last year that were mystified that their "GSM Phone" wouldn't work in Italy. I checked the phone and found out that it was a dual-band model with only the two North American frequencies.

It would also be a good idea to check the Phone Charger to ensure it's designed for "world operation".

Cheers!

What I like best about my Mobal SIM card is that my number is permanent. It doesn't change because I never have to change the SIM card between countries. And the fact that it's post-paid means I never have to worry about running out of minutes at a bad time.

I do appreciate everyone's comments. Given that I'm a planner, my preference would be to order a card and have it before I left and only need to buy one for all of Europe, realizing that it might be a little more expensive than country specific SIM cards.

That said, any final advice would be most appreciated as I need to get this taken care of soon.

Thanks much!