cell phones

The CHEAPEST way if you're traveling thru several countries is to bring your US 3-band phone along with a good calling card. Tell your family to call your US cell phone number and to let it ring 4 times. Make sure you don't pick up the call but to then use a public or hotel room phone and call back the person using the calling card. Turn your cell into an old fashioned pager. Make sure everybody has caller-ID enabled...

Cynthia
I went through my carrier in the US (Verizon). For $9.99 shipping they send you a phone to use in Europe. When you register the phone before you go it will have the same number as your current cell phone.You pay a certain amount (I forget how much) for incoming and outgoing calls.

Andreas, I wouldn't bring a US tri band. the rates would kill her.

Cynthia, get an unlocked one, and whe you get to Europe, get a SIM. The fees are very competitive. For example, I use a UK one, and it costs me 6 p a min to call cell to cell, even in France. Its cheap to call the US too.. I think 60p?

If you have verizon, theres a rental phone where friends can call your verizon# (local to TN) and it gets transfered to the UK # for free. All incoming calls to the UK# is free, and your family hs to dial the TN #.

You can also get cheap unlocked tri phones online. RailEurope is where I got mine for $39.

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Michelle, reread Andreas' post carefully. He isn't suggesting USING the US phone, only using it as a pager to be notified that someone at home needs to talk to them, not answering it. If the phone rings but isn't answered, there is no charge. He's then suggesting using a regular calling card to call them back. I think it's a smart plan.

Nancy, oops my old eyes didn't see all that.
The only negative to the phone card is I didn't find a public phone all that easy throughout Europe.

I think a cell is easier. The "Ring 4" method may work for Cynthia's family but if she doesn't hear the phone (or its off if she's somewhere quiet) it may be useless.

Euro cell phones are inexpensive to get, and most of the plans are econonical for overseas use.

As Sherrill posted, Verizon has the phone which keeps the US Cell#, making the call local for her family. The positive side is the calls are free for INcoming. The downside is the minutes are not cheap, if SHE calls, but not so expensive that she'll cringe using it.

Last year when traveling to Ireland I bought a phone and SIM card from www.telestial.com. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't outrageous either. I didn't make many calls, but did want to stay in touch with my children. This year I ordered a new SIM card -- one they call a Passport which works in most European countries because we will be traveling to several countries on two trips. It was $39. The per minute rates seem fairly reasonable, and incoming calls are free. You may want to check out the Telestial web site. When I was researching this last year, I found their web site to be the easiest one to understand.

The Verizon rate is $1.29 a minute, but I believe it's for both incoming and outgoing. Texting is cheaper -- .50 to send and .05 to receive. You still pay your regular monthly rate as well. I am taking it for emergency purposes only and will use Skype and e-mail more often.

Thanks for all the input. I checked with my carrier (verizon) and was told that on top of the regular charges I would be charged 3.99/day just to have the phone. I haven't heard anyone mention this extra charge, I didn't actually speak with someone who processes the global phone rentals and am hoping this wasn't correct.
Cynthia