Many people are suprised to hear that they can get a cellular phone line while abroad and it doesn't even cost very much.  This is usually the best way to save money on phone calls while you are away.

I use some abreviations in this article, they are as follows:

UK- British English   ES-Spanish   FR-French   IT-Italian   DE-German

First of all, you need a phone with two criteria:

1) It has to be unlocked

2) It should be a quad-band(world) phone.

Here is an explanation of both.

An unlocked phone is a phone that you can use with any carrier.  In the states, AT&T and T-Mobile lock the phones they sell you so that you can't use them on a competitor's network.  This is unfortuante too, because that means you can't use them while you are abroad.  To check whether you phone is unlocked, just remove the battery, and slip out the SIM card.  Put the SIM card of another company in, power up the phone and wait a minute.  If the phone is locked it will say something like "SIM LOCKED".

Most of the cheaper phones sold in the states are dual-band or tri-band.  This is fine for the good old USA, but in Europe and in other parts of the world they use different frequencies.  To be absolutely sure your phone works while you are on vacation, you need a quad-band phone.  An important thing to note is that although a tri-band phone may work while you are in a foreign country, you will suffer problems of coverage.  Most simply, the best way to make sure you have the best coverage is to buy a quad-band(AKA world phone).

Here are a couple of ways to obtain an unlocked phone:

1)If you have a phone with T-mobile, T-mobile will unlock it for you for free.  You just have to dial their customer service(611 I think) and tell them you are going abroad for a week.  First, they will be happy for you, then they will get some details from your account and the IMEI number off your phone.  The IMEI is the number on a sticker usually behind the battery compartment of your phone.  Within 2 or three days, you will receive instructions in your email on how to unlock your phone using the keypad.

2) You can also buy one on ebay.  Experts in the field have all the gadgets and know how to do this on their own, and they make a business out of it.  They get used and new phones, unlock them, and sell them online.  Just make sure that the phone you choose is an "unlocked quad-band phone"

3) Some phones are easy to unlock and only require that you know the secret keypad combination.  You can do a search online to see if you find instructions for the model of your phone.  Just do a search for the model of your phone and the word "unlock".  Every phone is a little different, but I remember that Nokia phones are one of the easiest to unlock.

Ok, so now that your phone is unlocked and a certified quad-band(world) phone, you are ready to take it overseas.  Here is what you need to pack.

1) Your phone

2) The battery for your phone

3) The charger for your phone

4) An adapter for your phone charger.

Lets take a closer look at #4.  A lot of people go out and buy transformers for their phones, mainly because salesmen convince them that they will burn their appliances by plugging them into foreign outlets.  Take a look at your phone's charger.  If it says something like "INPUT 110V-240V" then you are good to go.  You can just buy a cheap €3 adapter and plug in your phone and it will charge.  You can buy these adapters which are country specific in any airport or bigger electronics store.  You only really need an transformer for appliances that take only "INPUT 110V-120V".  Examples of these are hair dryers, cheap radios, cheap speakers, etc.

When you arrive:

Here is my suggestions for when you arrive. When your desitination country, just go the the main square(UK:high street ES:plaza DE:platz IT:piazza) and walk into any store that sells mobile phones.  The main squares usually have someone with some level of English that can help you out.  Here are some things you can say:

UK: Hello. I would like prepay SIM card for this mobile phone.

ES: Buenos Dias. Necessito una tarjeta SIM prepagada para este telefono mobil.

FR: Bonjour.  J'ai besoin d'une carte SIM prepayée s'il vous plait.

IT: Buongiorno.  Ho bisogno di una SIM prepagata per questo telefonino.

DE: Guten Tag!  Ich mochte ein SIM Karte für dieses Handy bitter.

The deals are really good for getting a new SIM card and there are usually lots of promotions for new customers.  Once I paid €10 for a new SIM card, and it had €10 worth of credit on it.

About credit.  In the States we have set monthly plans, and as soon as we use up our minutes, then we get a big bill for the overage.  In Europe, you put credit on your phone.  As you use the phone, the credit goes down until you have zero credit.  When you run out of credit, just stop by a local convenience store(UK:shop ES:almacen FR:magasin IT:tabbachino DE:Geschäft) and buy more credit.  You'll recognize a sticker on the window of the shop with the logo of your carrier.

Most cell phone shops in europe have several different providers, so its helpful to understand that different providers have different rates.  As a tourist, you are most intersted in 3 things:

1) Cost(per minute) to make a call within the country.

2) Cost(per minute) to make a call to your home country.

3) Cost(per message) to send a text message.

4) Cost(per kilobyte) to use data(should you have a smartphone/iphone and want to use data to check email, send photos)

Oh, and here's a thing to remember.  You'll never pay to receive calls on your mobile phone.  In Europe, when you receive a phone call, its the caller who pays, not the receiver.

Once you are ending your vacation, I recommend that you give away your cell phone SIM card to a local.  If you take it with you to the States, you can use up the credit that you have(roaming with a European SIM can get very expensive).  I usually send a postcard to a stranger that helped me along the way, and include the SIM card(with whatever credit is left over) for them to use.  Locals really like it.

I hope that you have found this tutorial useful and that it helps you out in your trip.  If you have any questions, or there is something I didnt cover, just contact me here and I'll do my best to answer your question.