Cell phones in Ireland

The "new" SIM card would be purchased from an Irish carrier and would not be tied in to your AT&T account at all (you will get an Irish phone number). So it would be like having a phone with whatever carrier's SIM that you buy. We used Meteor... We spent 20 Euro. I can't remember now how much data it was for. I used it for very occasional in country calls, and texting. I think that the cards were also reloadable. Since they're pre-paid SIMS, there's no worries about going "over" on minutes or anything like that. There are multiple carriers but my friend, who is Irish, had done the research for us and found that Meteor had the best rates. BUT, that was 2 years ago, so surely things could have changed... We even used the SIM in Scotland, but of course, the usage was probably higher when we were out of Ireland...

Amy, Thanks for the assistance. The sim with prepaid time will suit our needs well.

As far as coverage goes, the general rule is that coverage is better in Europe. It is smaller than the U.S. and had cell phone penetration far earlier than here. That doesn't mean, however, that you won't hit dead zones just as in the U.S. If you roam on your AT&T account, you will likely roam on whatever carrier has the best signal because I think AT&T has a roaming agreement with each. Same goes for T-Mobile customers. If you get a local SIM card, you'll only have a connection when you are in range of that particular carrier's towers. This is one instance where sticking with your U.S. carrier actually has an advantage over getting a local SIM.

You also have to make sure that your phone is unlocked and will accept a SIM from another company. If so, you have two options, prepaid or postpaid. SIM cards like one you would buy from an Irish company are prepaid. Just like a phone card you can use in a payphone, it's purchased for a certain euro amount, and when it runs out, you have to buy more time. And each new SIM card comes with a new phone number. The postpaid type of SIM is purchased from a company like Mobal or Telestial. It works virtually everywhere and all calls are charged to your credit card as they are made. It comes with a single phone number (UK) which never expires, and since it's postpaid, you never run out of minutes. I use both (I have a GSM phone that holds two SIM cards - one local, one Mobal). I use a prepaid SIM for most calls, but I still have the permanent Mobal number as my emergency number for home - and as a backup if I run out of minutes on the other SIM.

We did get international service on my AT&T phone, but it was only for an emergency situation. We only used it when our flight was delayed in Chicago and we missed our connection. We called to cancel our first B&B. In Ireland, we stopped occasionally at internet cafes and called home for 10cents a minute, much cheaper and very easy!

My thanks to those that responded to my question.
I followed up on Nancy's comment of the necessity to unlock the phone. AT&T provide me with an unlocking code to enter after inserting the Irish sim card.

Bill, I think this is what we did... If so, looks like the cost is close to the same! This shows you all the different packages that you could pick. So at least you can pick what suits you best...
http://www.meteor.ie/pay-as-you-go/