Berlin Travel Forum

Hey -
Will be in Germany for three months. Any recommendations for international calling? My U.S. cell phone plan is a small fortune. I'll be moving through different countries and making calls in Europe and the U.S. Thanks for your help, as always! :-)

IF your phone is a GSM-system-phone AND IF that phone is tri/quad band (the European frequencies differ from those in the USA) AND IF that phone is SIM-UNLOCKED, you have several options:

Buy a pre-pay SIM card in every country you're passing through
OR
Buy a pre-pay SIM card in the first European country and use roaming.

It depends how long you're staying in a country/how many calls you'll make and where to. Personally I would opt for the first option.

I also highly recommend option 1. When I go to Germany I take my unlocked GSM phone with me and buy a SIM card when I land (usually T-Mobile). I think O2 and Vodafone are available also, but I've always had good service with T-Mobile (T-Punkt in Germany).
If you don't have an unlocked GSM phone you can can buy a basic used model on Ebay for $25-50. I recommend Motorola or LG. Be sure it operates at GSM 1800 Mhz for European use.
Here is an excellent GSM SIM Tutorial.
http://www.telestial.com/sim_tutorial.php