Are you sure about this? I'm a new Cingular customer and have looked at the website and talked to quite a few customer service people about the per minute charges while abroad and no one has mentioned that most inbound calls from the U.S. are twice the stated per minute charge. I have seen where it is stated that retrieving voicemail while abroad is twice the per minute charge but not inbound calls.
I was hit with this fee in 2004 when I was in Tanzania. I turned my phone off most of the time, but turned it on once a day simply to see if there were voicemails. Every deposited voicemail was build at e.g. an international call to Tanzania and a conditional call forward back home. Even when the phone was off.
Call Cingular before you leave and have them turn your voicemail off.
Stu