Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
one: Search an online shopping site for an “unlocked quad-band phone,” or buy one at a
mobile-phone shop in Europe. Either way, a basic model typically costs $40 or less.
Buying and Using SIM Cards
Once you have an unlocked phone, you'll need to buy a SIM card—a small, fingernail-
size chip that stores your phone number and other information. (A smaller variation called
“micro-SIM” or “nano-SIM” cards—used in most iPhones—are less widely available.)
SIM cards are sold at mobile-phone shops, department-store electronics counters, and
newsstands for $5-10, and usually include about that much prepaid calling credit (making
the card itself virtually free). Because SIM cards are prepaid, there's no contract and no
commitment; I routinely buy one even if I'm in a country for only a few days.
In Great Britain, buying a SIM card is as easy as buying a pack of gum (though some
European countries require you to register the SIM card with your passport as an antiter-
rorism measure).
When using a SIM card in its home country, it's free to receive calls and texts, and
it's cheap to make calls—domestic calls average 20 cents per minute. You can also use
SIM cards to call the US—sometimes very affordably (Lebara and Lycamobile, which
