Cellular Phones in Europe
A guide for American and Canadian visitors
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ABOVE: Punch out the tiny SIM card microchip and slide it into your "unlocked" GSM phone for calls, text messages, etc. at local rates.

How it worked

Getting set up with an internationally compatible cell phone was surprisingly easy:

When I first tried an international mobile phone on a Viking Burgundy river cruise several years ago, Cellular Abroad sent me a triple-band GSM phone by Federal Express. Unlike GSM phones from U.S. cellular networks, mine was "unlocked" for use with foreign networks via SIM cards (see photo).

Enclosed with the phone was a SIM card for France. (I could have ordered an international SIM card or another country-specific SIM card, depending on my travel plans.) The SIM card was a microchip about the size of a postage stamp, and it was embedded as a punch-out section of what resembled a credit or calling card.

I removed the battery from the back of the phone, punched the tiny SIM card from the larger card, and slid the SIM card into a holder beneath the battery compartment. Presto! I now had a French cell phone with its own number and about 17 minutes of prepaid air time.

Calling home was simple: I just dialed the international calling prefix, the country code, and my home phone number: e.g., 00 1 (212) 555-1212.

When I exhausted my prepaid air time, I could add more by purchasing a voucher or "recharge card" from a phone shop, convenience store, gas station, newsstand, etc. in France. (The recharge cards are easy to use--you just dial a three-digit number, tap in the card's code, and wait a second while the SIM card in your phone is recharged with 15 to 60 euros' worth of air time. You can also buy them just about anywhere, since--except for corporate users--most Europeans use prepaid SIM cards and vouchers instead of U.S.-style calling plans).

After my trip to France, I ordered a SIM card for Italy from Cellular Abroad and turned my phone into an Italian telefonino just by switching cards. (I saved the  French SIM card to use on my next trip to France.) This let me keep in touch with Venetian friends and my family back home during a stay in Venice. I felt distinctly Italian as I walked around the Piazza San Marco or the Campo Santa Maria Formosa with a phone glued to my ear.

Notes:

• If you're the type of person who likes to plan ahead, you can purchase recharge voucher cards before you leave home.

• SIM cards expire after a period of time that varies from country to country. Recharging the card extends its life. (In France, for example, a SIM card and its phone number will stop working eight months after the last recharge.)

• In most cases, you can't buy local SIM cards in Europe unless you're a resident. So plan ahead and order from Cellular Abroad or another vendor before your trip.

• If you're traveling to more than one country, you can buy country-specific SIM cards or an international SIM card, which works in more than 100 countries. Separate SIM cards for each country are your cheapest option when you spend most of your time in one place. But the international card makes it unnecessary to change SIM cards as you travel around Europe, and it lets you use one phone number for incoming calls throughout a multi-country trip. See my article on Cellular Abroad's "TalkAbroad" product, which allows free incoming calls in Europe and Israel (a first for international SIM cards, as far as I know).

Next page: Renting vs. buying vs. roaming

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