CELL PHONE-Rent or buy Suggestions from anyone

steve, I wouldn't recommend renting a phone, as that tends to be the most expensive option. There's also the issue of returning it after the trip. I've looked at a lot of the travel phone firms, and Mobal seems to be somewhat more expensive than some of the others. If you want to buy a travel phone, you could also have a look at Roam Simple, Call In Europe, Cellular Abroad or Telestial. There are others but I can't remember them all. You could also buy a cheap quad-band unlocked GSM Phone off E-Bay and either buy a SIM from one of the travel phone firms above OR purchase a SIM when you arrive in Europe. As you'll be travelling in four countries, I'd probably use the travel SIM rather than buying one there. You can easily purchase a SIM in the U.K. but when used in the other countries you'll be "roaming" so the calls will be more expensive. The roaming costs are moderated by the E.U. to some extent, so they're not much more but I still prefer using a travel SIM. I also prefer to use a post-paid plan with calls charged to a credit card, rather than having to "top up" or worry about running out of minutes in the middle of a call. One potential disadvantage of that is that if the phone is lost or stolen, it's important to notify the carrier quickly to avoid unwanted charges. Happy travels!

Wow! Thanks, Ken,...I'll check out the ones you suggested. I just ran across Roam Simple while researching...nice to hear of the others. Thanks!

Steve, Bought a Mobal a couple of years ago and have used it several times. You can load money into the account and they will charge a card for any overages. it was a little expensive (especially when calling the US), but will work all over Europe and the UK. Jeff

steve, personally, I'd recommend buying a local SIM. The roaming rates are probably going to be less than with the travel phone firms. It is sometimes hard to tell because the travel phone firms have initial costs that have to be factored in. But don't be scared away from using a local SIM - especially one from the U.K. - just because you'll be roaming. I roamed on a T-Mobile U.K. SIM in Germany, Italy, and France this summer and the rates were better than anything other than using a phone card and payphone or wifi and Skype. For data, a local SIM is the only reasonable choice. When you are roaming in another country, T-Mobile U.K. offers what it calls "booster" packages that give you a break on the per call cost or data usage. I'm sure the other carriers do as well. Ken is correct, however, that you may run out of minutes with a prepaid phone. You have to keep up with it, but that isn't hard to do. I found it very easy to add credit by buying an electronic voucher off ebay when I ran low. I'd rather run out instead of running the risk that my credit card would be charged for minutes or data I didn't realize I was using. (And it avoids the risk of loss from a theft.)

I understand what your going thru. So far best one I found is Ekit.
http://www.ekit.com/ekit/MobileInfo/Service/ekglobal_blue Good luck! Enjoy your trip.

Ooops sorry forgot to to include this site: http://www.roamforce.com/

If you are a Verizon customer call them for their global phone program. Very easy and reasonable. Worked great all through Italy last march

If you are a Verizon customer call them for their global phone program. Very easy and reasonable. Worked great all through Italy last march