Originally Posted by HeHateY

The only carriers that offer GSM phones in the USA are AT&T Wireless, Cingular (soon to take over AT&T) and T-Mobile (which is a part of Deutsche Telekom).

Having a USA phone in Europe is OK, but remember that if anyone in Europe wants to call you, they have to dial a USA number, i.e. make a trans-Atlantic phone call.

Having a European phone will give you a (local) European phone number.

P.S. Nobody outside of the USA, Canada and Israel use any thing but GSM.