2. Two Phone Schwartz

My solution is to carry two phones. Both are GSM tri-band phones (Sony Ericsson and Nokia). My local phone has T-Mobile USA service. My second phone has Vodafone UK service and a British phone number. Both phone numbers are listed on my business card. When in Europe, I use my UK phone for all outgoing phone calls. This lets me avoid roaming charges when in Britain and gives me reduced roaming charges across Europe. European customers feel more comfortable calling a comparatively local number and I don't pay roaming charges when they do.

A cell phone view of gate K12 at London's Heathrow Airport.

When I am abroad, I generally tell my close business colleagues to call my UK mobile first. But, I can still answer calls coming in to my US number. Often when answering, I ask if I can call them back from my other phone or tell them I will call back when back home.

Some of my colleagues who travel extensively from country to country within Europe take my approach one step further. They purchase pre-paid phone plans in each country they regularly visit. For a GSM phone, this is simple and versatile. Generally, prepaid service can be obtained without a local address or billing account and can be 'topped off' over the phone as prepaid minutes run low. Rather than a separate phone, they get small SIM cards that they put into any GSM phone, carrying perhaps 3 or 4 different SIMs from the different countries they are visiting. By using these SIMs for outgoing calls, they avoid even intra-European roaming charges.

My choice of a Vodafone UK account for my second number is interesting. At first, because I was often traveling in Germany, I opted for a German account for my main European number. I don't speak German. Although the phone device menus could be switched to English, the voicemail service couldn't. So I was forced to navigate through voicemail menus I did not understand. Thus the British phone service.