I bought mine on the internet before a trip to Paris last fall.
I noticed while there - though I did not price them - several places
where I could have purchased SIMs, prepaid or subscription. In fact, I
think I remember such a store in the airport, although if it's like most
airport vendors, you would pay handsomely for the convenience.
Anyway, I finally bought a SIM from http://intouchsmartcards.com/
and it worked fine. The service was friendly and professional, and the
SIM worked just dandy in my my unlocked (but Cingular branded) 650.
But that was last year. I'd recommend Googling "international SIM,"
or some variations of that theme, for a deal. Call Cingular to see what
their costs would be, and then decide whether you can get a better deal
for the amount you expect to use the phone.
Note: We thought for a bit of visiting England. When I was
searching, I found that Orange would have given me a better deal for a
SIM that would have worked in England and Paris. The card I bought from
InTouch was a better deal in Paris and England -- the point being you
may find it advantageous to think about where you will spend the most time.
One additional note: You may find, as I did, that the SIM you find is
not really "local." I don't remember exactly where my card was based,
but let's say it was Latvia. But, like many U.S. carriers, local is a
relative term. My card was a France card, so for calls within France, it
appeared local and ran on, I think I recall, Orange's network.
So their minute rate in France was very good -- but the same card in
England, Orange's home turf, was not quite as favorable.
On the other hand, it was still a little better than using my
Cingular card in England, and had we actually decided to visit from
France, it would have been only a day trip in a 9-day vacation.
Had we reversed the arrangement -- a vacation in London, with a day
trip to Paris -- I'd have bought a different SIM.
Either way, you need an unlocked GSM phone. But I'll wait until you ask
that question before launching into another answer. :-)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> John - where do you purchase "local" SIM cards (local in my case will
> be Mexico for now), other than looking on the Internet?
> Thanks,
> Dick Johnson
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
/"Thirty-five million deaths leave an empty place at only one family
table." /
(News commentator Eric Severied in a radio essay on the 25th
anniversary of the start of World War Two. 8/31/64)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
