Cell Phones and International Travel

The day has passed for many people in the US when you have to go "find a phone."  It seems like everybody who is traveling has a cell phone, in the car, in the train on the airplane.  The barrier that remains to be broken is cell phones in international travel.  When I go abroad I always bring my cell phone, naively.  It's useful in the US part of the trip, but on arrival abroad there is no service (the US uses a different wireless system than most of the world) and even if there was I'd be terrified of what that kind of call would look like on my bill.

About 200 other countries use Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).  You can buy a US-compatible handset with built-in GSM capability at a price not out of range for what you spend for a typical cell phone. Once you have the right handset, you arrange with your carrier to activate international calling capability, which you can usually do on a temporary or permanent basis.   T-Mobile's WorldClass Calling is one plan that offers this option.