Title: Buying the Right GSM Cellular Phone for Europe
Headings: How to Buy a Cell Phone in Europe and Avoid Roaming Charges
How to Buy a Cell Phone in Europe and Avoid Roaming Charges
Unlocked GSM Phones and SIM Cards
Buying Ahead of Time
Where to Get Them

Content: Buying Ahead of Time
It's important to remember when traveling internationally that you should take care of all your phone-related needs before you leave U.S. soil, especially if you plan to keep your same carrier and use the same service abroad. You can check your U.S. carrier to see what roaming costs will apply, but with the low cost of cell phones and international SIM cards, you might be better off just buying an unlocked cell phone like the LG Optimus L5, and you can also request that your carrier unlock your currently locked phone. The postage stamp sized SIM card is the heart and brains of the cell phone and will need to be purchased from your carrier for the country you'll be traveling to before you depart. The SIM card will determine the phone's number and allow access to the services that particular SIM card supports. Prices vary with country and services, and with a prepaid card, you'll probably receive unlimited incoming calls from anywhere in the world, some free calling time, and fairly reasonable long-distance rates (around half a Euro per minute). Where to Get Them
Not long ago you were best off purchasing your cell phone and SIM card in the United States from a dealer who specialized in selling and renting cell phones for use abroad. However, you can now typically get these from your American service provider, too. One benefit of getting the card early is that the number of your phone is embedded in the card, so you'll be able to give that number out to family and friends and activate the SIM when you get to your destination. You can easily add calling time to the original SIM so you don't have to change numbers each time you run out of call time. These days it's also not hard to just go to a country and buy a SIM card at a very reasonable price.