VI,

I guess the big question is where overseas do you mainly want to be using a cell and how much you are planning to use it?! With a little more info I could probably dig up some info on what your best deals are.

I am curious what phones/providers everyone here is using.

For phones: I'm using an Ericsson T39 (Triband 900/1800/1900Mhz - an awesome phone), pretty much the same features as the T68 but without the colour screen. I went with the T39 because I didn't want to wait for the T68 (this was last year), and I also don't really like the look of the T68, just personal preference!

For Service Providers:
-In Canada I use both Fido and Rogers GSM, I generally use Fido I find for me that their rates are more competitive, but I do switch to my Rogers SIM when I travel outside of Cities when Fido drops off!

-I have Both an Optus Pre & Post paid accounts for Australia. The postpaid has way better rates during the day (1/2 of what it would cost using the prepaid!), The Prepaid costs was less during evenings and weekends (1/3 of the postpaid would cost during those times)!

-I have a Cable & Wireless HKT Prepaid with roaming sim for Hong Kong the only downfall is to recharge it you need vouchers that you can only buy in HK (no credit card access). Requires a recharge of $200HKD every 6 months to keep the account active.

-I have a Genie Prepaid for the UK (I got it for free with £10 credit, off their website!)

The Fido, Optus Postpaid and Cable & Wireless HKT Prepaid all allow roaming. I generally use which ever is cheapest when I'm traveling in a country outside of the home areas of any of my accounts.

As an aside Rogers is supposed to have roaming available later this year but looking at the rates they were charging for their "worldwide service" it looks likely that most calls would be at around the $2.00USD/min mark, to steep in my opinion.

I have a chatboard for the phone its case has extra room that nicely holds my pile of SIMs!

As for the local number issue, I forward all my Canadian cell numbers & toll free to my home phone, I can remotely change the call forwarding setting on my home line, so I forward it to which ever account I am using.

With incoming call being free in most places, and long distance rates from Canada being in the $0.10/min range for most places in Europe and Asia these days I don't mind the minimal charge to receive calls (usually much cheaper then to make calls back to Canada)..

That being said, BEWARE lots of long distance providers have started charging "Surcharges" to overseas mobile numbers and doing little to inform customers -- Primus being an example, a small line on last August bill mentioning it, still no reference to overseas mobile rates on their website!

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
-Ty