Need cheap Cell phone to use in Qatar and Iraq to call back to States

Anyone recommend the cheapest way to have a cell phone that works in both
Qatar and Iraq to call back to the states ?

tks.

"John Doe" <divvyplayer@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bSmog.102631$QU3.17819@bignews8.bellsouth.net...
> Anyone recommend the cheapest way to have a cell phone that works in both
> Qatar and Iraq to call back to the states ?

The first thing you need is an unlocked GSM phone with at least the 900 MHz
band and these days you might as well get an unlocked tri-band
(900/1800/1900) or quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) phone. These are not sold
in Wal-Mart so you need to look in various online places like eBay,
TigerDirect, etc. When we use the term "unlocked" we mean that the phone
will work with a SIM (Subscriber Information Module) from any carrier, not
just the one that originally sold the phone. The SIM is a small card the
size of a postage stamp that you insert into the phone to activate it on a
particular account. The phone should, of course, come with a multi-voltage
(100-240 VAC), international charger.

The next thing you will need is one or more SIM cards, that will allow the
phone to work in the countries you plan to visit. You can buy the local
carrier's prepaid SIM once you get there or (at a premium) from a company
like Telestial.com or CellularAbroad.com before you go. There are also now
prepaid cards that allow you to travel to many countries and use your phone,
although usually at a higher cost per call than the local SIMs. For
information about these prepaid SIMs go to www.prepaidgsm.net

Finally, you will want to learn about things like callback, dialthru and
VOIP services that can save you a great deal of money when traveling
particularly when using the prepaid SIMs mentioned above.

--
Donald R. Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net