How to use your phone in other countries

An article by Jeremy Kressmann at Gadling describes how to use your cell phone in other countries.  If you are paying international roaming rates (often over $2/min) to use your cell phone in other countries you should consider getting a local SIM card in the country you are visiting. 

My normal cell phone doesn't support GSM, so I have a cheap GSM phone that I use with local SIM cards when in other countries.  I then use a VOIP call forwarding service (I currently use Vonage, but there are many other low cost providers out there) to forward my US phone number that I give to family and friends to whatever the international phone number of the SIM card that I get in the foreign country. 

This lets my family and friends call a US phone number and because of the low VOIP rates, I only pay a few cents per minute for the call to be connected to the international SIM card.  Because most international cell phones have unlimited free incoming minutes, this is a great way to save money while staying connected.