I'm going to Germany and Austria later this spring and need a Euro compat pre-paid SIM card. I've seen lots of place online but no idea if they are reliable. Last thing I want is to get there with a bum SIM card. Any ideas on a low cost, but reliable place to buy?

i had good luck with ebay. you should be able to find people selling brand new, still packaged sim cards.

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At the airport in Germany or Austria.

If you're taking your US phone with you, make sure it's GSM compatible.

Timely post. I am considering a long-term stay in Europe.

I have a GSM phone, but it is a Cingular phone. I assume it is "locked".

Does it need to be unlocked to use a new (non-Cingular) SIM card?

If so, is unlocking it easy? Can I do it? Is it expensive?

Thanks!

Quote
Lux Interior
Timely post. I am considering a long-term stay in Europe.

I have a GSM phone, but it is a Cingular phone. I assume it is "locked".

Does it need to be unlocked to use a new (non-Cingular) SIM card?

If so, is unlocking it easy? Can I do it? Is it expensive?

Thanks!

My question exactly; I travel world wide often, and would also like to use my Cingular (LG) phone overseas. Hope the iPhone will be usable world wide...

Someone told me you can just get a phone overseas, about $100 and use it with Cingular and also a sim card overseas, what about it? New territory for me, phone usage, that is.

Quote
Lux Interior
Timely post. I am considering a long-term stay in Europe.

I have a GSM phone, but it is a Cingular phone. I assume it is "locked".

Does it need to be unlocked to use a new (non-Cingular) SIM card?

If so, is unlocking it easy? Can I do it? Is it expensive?

Thanks!

99.9% chance it is locked, if you bought into a phone plane with Cingular it will be locked. Yes it does need to be unlocked to use multiple SIM cards. It's easy to do if you have the hardware which I doubt you have, you should be able to get it unlocked locally for about $20 or $30. Hope that helps.

Quote
LaserKun

My question exactly; I travel world wide often, and would also like to use my Cingular (LG) phone overseas. Hope the iPhone will be usable world wide...

Someone told me you can just get a phone overseas, about $100 and use it with Cingular and also a sim card overseas, what about it? New territory for me, phone usage, that is.

iPhone will not be immediately available worldwide, the SIM card is not accessible so you are out of luck there... for now.

You can get a phone here much cheaper (exchange rate is horrible right now) on eBay, make sure it is either tri or quad band gsm and switch your SIM cards with it, just make sure that it's Cingular compatible, you don't want to end up with a useless phone picked up in Europe that isn't compatible with Cingular (most are but why chance it).