Travel Technology - Phone/SIM package for extended overseas stay

My brother-in-law's father received a Fulbright grant to teach in the Netherlands. They will be over there for about 6 months. In addition to teaching, he and his wife will also spend a lot of time traveling in Europe.

They will want a cell phone while perhaps foregoing a landline* in their rented house. They are also very tech unsavvy--they don't want to deal with trying to buy a phone off ebay, then trying to find the correct charging adapters, etc. Can anyone recommend a US-based store that will provide them with a (new) cell phone with proper adapters as well as a pre-paid SIM card?

This site (http://www.cellularabroad.com/packages-holland.html) offers one for $149.

Any others?

* - On a side note, is it possible to get broadband without an established landline? (a.k.a. naked DSL)

Thanks in advance.

They will want a cell phone while perhaps foregoing a landline* in their rented house.

* - On a side note, is it possible to get broadband without an established landline? (a.k.a. naked DSL)

Thanks in advance.

If they are going to have broadband in their rented home and plan on calling home and friends stateside on regular basis, you might want to consider TMO's hotspot@home program.....get one of the two cheap $49 phones plus their router and off you go.

If you ask TMO to unlock the same phone, when they're away from rented house, can get a local sim card/account (eg vodafone or consult prepaidgsm.net for other alternatives). Or of course get a second phone, which I would strongly recommend.

If you're a real good family member, you can set up all of above for them before they leave ;)

$149 for a Dutch prepaid phone? That is insane. They'll be able to buy a prepaid phone ANYWHERE in Holland. From the bookstore to the grocerystore. A decent prepaid phone will cost around EUR30 with EUR15 call credit.

You CAN get dsl without a landline, but they'll all require a 1yr contract.

If they don't plan to do much data then most prepaid services in Holland allow mobile (3G) data for around EUR1.50 per 10Mb. That'll add up pretty quickly though.

$149 for a Dutch prepaid phone? That is insane. They'll be able to buy a prepaid phone ANYWHERE in Holland. From the bookstore to the grocerystore. A decent prepaid phone will cost around EUR30 with EUR15 call credit.

Wow. Phone and SIM card for $50. I'll let them know. Thanks!

Look at Vodafone's Passport which gives cheap roaming on other Vodafone nets.

If they get the phone and SIM before they leave the U.S., they can hit the ground yakking. Telestial (http://www.telestial.com) offers an unlocked Europe phone for $49 with a $20 airtime SIM.

For excursions into Germany, see Smobil (http://www.smobil.com). Between two subscribers, airtime is .01€ per minute.

I think my next SIM card is coming from these guys. You can set your own phone number in different countries. http://www.cubictelecom.com/

I haven't studied it thoroughly but it may be a winner.

Swimmin' M