We have US Verizon service and their Standard Verizon phones will not work here at all. You can get a phone from them with international service and (as already mentioned) the roaming rates will be several US$ a minutes. Also the standard Verizon phones do not use a sim card, so you cannot purchase a card here to use in the phone. You will need to buy a mobile here, or bring an unlocked phone (not verizon) that uses a sim card and purchase a Hala card from QTel (usually QR200 which includes QR100 of calls and 3 months service, unless they are running a sale). However, even standard rates to the US using a QTel sim card or a land line would be a couple of QR a minute (depending on time of day). In any case, the best and cheapest way to keep in touch with the family in the US will be VoIP. As mentioned earlier, Skype, which I use is very cheap. You can get a Skype phone, but all you really need is a headset for your laptop (and maybe not even that as most laptops have built in mike and speakers). Skype to US phones (land or mobile) is only $0.021 per minute. Skype calls to another computer are free and if you have a webcam, you can make free video calls to another computer (and for keeping in touch with the family, nothing beats that).
We have US Verizon service and their Standard Verizon phones will not work here at all. You can get a phone from them with international service and (as already mentioned) the roaming rates will be several US$ a minutes. Also the standard Verizon phones do not use a sim card, so you cannot purchase a card here to use in the phone. You will need to buy a mobile here, or bring an unlocked phone (not verizon) that uses a sim card and purchase a Hala card from QTel (usually QR200 which includes QR100 of calls and 3 months service, unless they are running a sale). However, even standard rates to the US using a QTel sim card or a land line would be a couple of QR a minute (depending on time of day). In any case, the best and cheapest way to keep in touch with the family in the US will be VoIP. As mentioned earlier, Skype, which I use is very cheap. You can get a Skype phone, but all you really need is a headset for your laptop (and maybe not even that as most laptops have built in mike and speakers). Skype to US phones (land or mobile) is only $0.021 per minute. Skype calls to another computer are free and if you have a webcam, you can make free video calls to another computer (and for keeping in touch with the family, nothing beats that).