Travel Technology - Dialing cell phone while roaming internationally

Okay, here's a dumb question which just goes to show you how often I leave the country: I have a Verizon Globalphone and will be going to London next week. Once I'm in London, how do I dial a local phone number?

For instance, my hotel's number is +44-20-7850 0500 (Hilton London Paddington). Do I just take out the +44? And to call back to the US, do I punch in +1-555-555-5555?

Thanks in advance!

For instance, my hotel's number is +44-20-7850 0500 (Hilton London Paddington). Do I just take out the +44?Using a GSM mobile phone, you can dial it as "+44 20 7850 0500" from anywhere in the world. Same goes for your US number (+1 555 555 5555).

So anytime I'm out of the country, I dial the full number (including the country code)? Thanks KVS!

On a GSM phone the + symbol equals the dialing code to get an international line in whatever country you might be in. I store a + in front of every number in my phone, just to not have to worry about it later. It gets ignored if you are not dialing internationally.

+ (Country Code) Number

Should work anywhere on a GSM network.

All numbers on my international GSM phone are stored with +
so it does not matter where I am, I can always dial the number
without worrying about the international access code (such as 011 or 00 etc.. )
or the number being local or not.

OK, I think I have just taken my last trip to Europe without a worldwide cellphone. We are a family of Verizon users and that would be difficult to change. So how is the Verizon global service in terms of reliability? And since I have about a dozen Motorola chargers already (home, car etc.) I would be interested in hearing comments on the Verizon Motorola Global Phone.

OK, I think I have just taken my last trip to Europe without a worldwide cellphone. We are a family of Verizon users and that would be difficult to change. So how is the Verizon global service in terms of reliability? And since I have about a dozen Motorola chargers already (home, car etc.) I would be interested in hearing comments on the Verizon Motorola Global Phone.
You ought to investigate switching to T-Mobile or Cingular. You can port your numbers. If you buy the phones on amazon.com, you actually get money back. I recently switched to T-Mobile and bought a Motorola RAZR (quad-band GSM). The upfront price was $125, but I got a $50 rebate from T-Mobile and I'll get a $150 rebate from amazon.com after three months.
If you get a new Motorola phone, regardless of the carrier, the chargers for many of the newest phones have a mini-USB connector for the phone, and you can charge them from a laptop. But they're not compatible with your old chargers.

Verizon's GSM roaming service is provided by Vodaphone, so your preformance depends on their network.

In a few countries, there's CDMA roaming so you'll be using a local carrier.

for international use, i think T-mobile is better. they have a little better rates and better coverage. best thing is figure out the countries you would
like to travel to and then compare rates.

i'd go with t-mobile and not worry about CDMA/GSM with verizon.

For information ALL numbers in the UK begin with 0 (home / mobile / freefone etc) - so your number would be 020-7850 0500. When dialling from any country to the UK you leave out the 0.

OK, I think I have just taken my last trip to Europe without a worldwide cellphone. We are a family of Verizon users and that would be difficult to change. So how is the Verizon global service in terms of reliability? And since I have about a dozen Motorola chargers already (home, car etc.) I would be interested in hearing comments on the Verizon Motorola Global Phone.

It's a joke. It's no different from a prepaid SIM card except you pay far more for the airtime (and it is postpaid). It's not even billed through Verizon, but from a separate company that charges to your credit card. So, if you forget to forward your Verizon phone to the UK phone number before you leave, you're out of luck beyond leaving that phone number on your voicemail.

As for storing numbers on your GSM phone, I agree with the above poster. Use +(international dialling string) and you'll never have trouble getting through to whomever. So, store US numbers as +1-xxx-xxxx, store UK numbers as +44xxxxxxxxxx, and so on, and you'll be fine no matter where you are in the world.

It's a joke. It's no different from a prepaid SIM card except you pay far more for the airtime (and it is postpaid).

You've said it well. I agree. Pre-paid is much better, and you wouldnt pay
for the incoming calls if you stay within the home area of the Pre-paid SIM.
(nation wide in most countries)

I've used Virgin mobile pre-paid a few times in UK before
I switched to a post-paid plan for my international phone.

My best friend had Verizon when he came over here (London) and was not able to roam using Verizon. Make sure your plan/phone allows it ahead of time.

I've had T-Mobile for about 4 years, but they want $1.00 a minute for roaming in Europe. So, what I did was take an old GSM world phone and have it unlocked. If you don't have one go to Ebay and buy an old model for cheap. Stay on Ebay and buy a SIM card for the country you're going to be in. pop the SIM into the unlocked phone and you're set. I use Orange Pay as You Go in the UK all the time and something else in Ireland. Easy to top up. The rates are pretty cheap for local calls and to the US. Much much cheaper than any call from a hotel or from your US cell phone. I usually travel with people from my office so I have a collection of UK cell phone that I just load into the luggage. I'm sure I'm not the only FTer doing this, as it isn't brain surgery. Good luck.

I've had T-Mobile for about 4 years, but they want $1.00 a minute for roaming in Europe. So, what I did was take an old GSM world phone and have it unlocked. If you don't have one go to Ebay and buy an old model for cheap. Stay on Ebay and buy a SIM card for the country you're going to be in. pop the SIM into the unlocked phone and you're set. I use Orange Pay as You
If I understand it correctly, T-Mobile's policy is that they will unlock your T-Mobile GSM phone if you've been a customer for at least three months.