After struggling through two trips to Europe without a cell phone, it seemed like time to find out about traveling with one. In the U.S. we call them “cell phones” while in Europe, and I believe in most of the rest of the world, they are called “mobile phones” or simply “mobiles”.
We had relatives in the UK who couldn’t get ahold of us, and the same with a friend in Paris. Our cell phones from the USA wouldn’t function on any of the networks in Europe, as our cell provider, Sprint, uses the incompatible CDMA connecting technology.
Simple lack of information about how GSM phones work, and having limited time in Europe to shop around, we did without. However, I have recently purchased a used, unlocked quad-band GSM phone from Ebay, and have been spending some time learning about it.