You’d think that when it comes to global communications, we’d be at a point where it would be a no brainer to bring
your cell phone when you travel and have it work. Wrong. As you probably are aware, there are different standards for
most phones in Europe than the US, with the Europeans opting for GSM, while many carriers in the US on CDMA. What these
acronyms mean in beside the point. The key is that your phone probably won’t work during your weekend in Paris.
All is not lost however. Sort of. As
this NYT article explains, you can
buy cell phones that use GSM, or at least that can switch over to GSM when you are in a GSM country. The one thing
you’ll immediately notice is that it ain’t cheap. First of all, you have to buy a global phone which, not surprisingly,
are a good deal more expensive than regular cell phones. And then there are the roaming charges (ouch). With the
purchase of a global phone, for example, Verizon Wireless customers can obtain GSM roaming rates of $1.29 a minute plus
long distance charges for many countries…yes, that’s PLUS long distance charges.
It hurts, and one hopes the global cell phone folks will soon figure all this out. In the meantime, there are options,
but none are very appealing for the cost-conscious. BTW: if anyone has any more info on how to do this cheaper, please
post a comment. I think this is a topic a lot of people are interested in.