Cell phones?

[johnny'sgirl]

DH and I have Verizon, and I'm assuming we can't use our phones in Europe (Italy, Hungary, Romania.) We're debating renting a phone just for general purposes, but don't really know where to start. Any recommendations? TIA!! :)

[j*east]

We used ours in Italy (Cingular). We called and asked about it (you can probably check the website) and it was something like $15 a month and something per minute--affordable, but high enough that you wouldn't want to talk all day. We both took our phones so we could get each other if we split up, call hotels/restaurants to check reservations, and call home.

My impression is that most relatively new phones (ours are 2 years old) have international capabilities--you just need to call and have them activated, then call after your trip to de-activiate. For us, this was much cheaper and easier than using phone cards. You canbe activated for regions all over the world, and I imagine all of your countries would be available.

Hope that helps! have a great trip!

[firebird]

Only a few models of Verizon phones have international capabilities. However you can rent one from them and it will ring on your regular phone number. The per day charge isn't too bad and the per minute charge but it adds up to more than you think they will. We just got back last week and because my DH has his own business we had to do this. Here is the link to Verizon that gives you the info:

http://aboutus.vzw.com/internationalsvcs/globalphone/index.html

[tlew12778]

Verizon phones will not work in Europe. They are CDMA/edge. You might be able to hop onto an edge network but we really use UMTS for 3G here.

Cingular/Tmobile and AT&T will work in Europe bc they are GSM (as opposed to CDMA). We use 1800/900 mhz here and the US uses 1900/800. Most phones nowadays are tri-band (1800/900/1900) so they will work in Europe also. Although a dual-band US phone will not work in Europe.

If you can get your hands on an unlocked GSM handset, you can just buy a SIM card when you get to Europe. That way you would have a local EU number for making EU calls. Also, you would not get charged for incoming calls. You can get a prepaid SIM. They run about 10 eurocents per minute more or less.