Cell Phones

[kcruisin]

Has anyone taken their cell phones to Italy lately? I have the new GSM phone from Cingular and they tell me it should work with no problem. They also tell me that I can still send and receive Text Messages at 10 cents a piece! Needless to say, this would be wonderful. Anyone had any success with this??

[goeurope]

Has anyone taken their cell phones to Italy lately? I have the new GSM phone from Cingular and they tell me it should work with no problem. They also tell me that I can still send and receive Text Messages at 10 cents a piece! Needless to say, this would be wonderful. Anyone had any success with this??

As long as you have a dual- or tri-band GSM phone and your provider has you set up for international roaming, it should work.

Another option, if you travel a lot, is to have a separate phone for international use. If it's an "unlocked" phone, you can use SIM cards (the little card that fits inside a GSM phone) from different networks in different countries. This can be cheaper than roaming, and the quality of service may be better. (You'll save the most money if you're mostly staying in one country--e.g., if you're taking a river cruise in France or Italy as opposed to an ocean cruise that stops in ports throughout the Mediterranean or Baltiic.)

I wrote an article on "Cellular Phones in Europe" at:
http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/articles/cellular-phones-in-europe.htm