In advance of a recent multi-nation European trip I bought a pre-paid Passport Lite SIM. The card cost only $8, but minutes are very expensive (~ $1/minute, incoming and outgoing calls, and it's even a clumsy ringback service).

I went with the prepaid SIM because of concern that losing a phone with postpaid SIM could lead to no-telling-how-much liability. Is this a valid concern? If you lose a postpaid phone, can you end up owing some incredible amount of money? Or, do the card providers have some sort of maximum amount that you can talk before they cut you off?

Edited to add: Related discussion, and horror stories, at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-charges.html