You very likely have no idea how much you have to pay when abroad and traveling.

After you go abroad your Mobile enters the "home area" of the destination country and you have to pay an additional fee to your home carrier. For this service you have to pay an extra amount additional to your standard domestic rate. Some carriers charge up to $2 roaming fee to route the call.

Let's say your friend calls you, using her Mobile, when you are on holiday in Europe.

Who pays for what?
When you get a call from the USA to e.g. to Germany you have to pay for the roaming fee. When you make the call you additional have to pay the standard domestic rate.

Of course, the caller will be charged for the standard domestic rate for calling you.

But the roaming fee to reach you in Europe will be billed to you.

The roaming fees are always billed in increments of one minutes. So if you only talk for 30 seconds, the billing is rounded up the next full minute.
Whenever using your Mobile, you are charged for the airtime you used . This includes incoming calls and toll free calls. Calling a toll free number only eliminates the long distance fee .
In some cases, when you are calling into another carrier's network coverage area, you are charged an access fee. These fees can apply for every call to fee one time a day. These fees can be up to $9.95 for access of the network in which you are roaming.
Do not forget taxes on your cell phone bill you have to pay when you are back at home.

How to avoid roaming fees?
To avoid expensive %roaming fees% you should buy a SIM card for your Mobile in the country you are. With a SIM if someone calls you, you will not pay a dime!

What kind of Mobiles are supported?
All GSM Mobiles without SIM lock are supported. Take a Tri or Quad band phone. CDMA phones are NOT supported.

How to know if my phone is already unlocked or not?
Borrow a SIM from someone who has a different carrier carrier and see if it works in your Mobile or not. If it works, the Mobile is already unlocked. If it doesn't, the Mobile is locked.

How to purchase additional airtime?
You can buy additional airtime almost everywhere: gas station, lottery shops, shops, ATM, newsstands.

Can I also use my UMTS Mobile or UMTS laptop card?
You can activate the UMTS option to surf on the Internet. You also can use some VOIP software like Skype and call all the world for free.

Where to get a prepaid calling card?
A good decision is to buy a pre-paid Mobile card at the location you will visit. You also can find them on Ebay or Squidoo.com.

With a card for your Mobile you save tons of money when calling home while abroad. You also can use the card to make IP-telephony calls to contact your friends or your family at home and even save much more.