I live in Switzerland, but travel abroad frequently (I am in the US now, go to Canada next week, was in London a few weeks ago and Amsterdam the week b4 that). I use skype on my Mac when possible, but really want to use a mobile phone or similar device (WiFi, etc.) so that I can receive & make calls when away from my computer. I have two US skype #s and will be buying a Swiss one soon. My Mobile phone is great (Treo) but I get a HUGE roaming charge when it is on and I am out of Switzerland.

Can someone make a recommendation for me? What do you think the best options are for a mobile device that allows me to use Skye when I am away from my computer? Sometimes I could connect to a WiFi network, but when at airports that can get expensive ($10-$15 charge just for logging in).

Any advice is appreciated.
Grazie!

Hi Seuss as an Aussie just back from 4 weeks in Europe here was my approach.

I carried a laptop with Skype on it and a Phillips USB VOIP phone. At some airports you will find cafes (Prague Airport was one) where the wi-fi is free. Here I got my notebook out, signed in and away you go. Prague (and perhaps more so in the cold countries like Denmark, etc) there was an abundance of free wi-fi.

A colleague in the USA has a Panasonic Wi-fi phone which I looked at buying. But he mentions many places you need to enter passwords (even temporary ones) and he said he had done this once but I'm not really sure if the unit has that capability.

Since returning home I've installed IM+ for Blackberry on my Blackberry and bought a 3 Skypephone. The IM+ seems to work perfectly and with a Skype to Go local number you can dial o/s just paying the cost of dialling locally. Haven't tryed Skype to Skype. Plus here the data can be quite expensive with Vodafone.

The 3 Skypephone is very new and not old enough yet for the Skype part to work. That should come on stream tomorrow. The phone itself is quite nice. Good keyboard, well organized menu. The sound is a bit tinny and the images on the screen are not that fine pixel wise. However you can only Skype to Skype or Skype to Go with this phone. No Skype out calls.

Some memory sticks come with Skype pre-loaded. Or load it yourself. I took one of these thinking i could use this at an internet cafe as last resort.

One thing I hate when traveling is free broadband that's not free. Dublin Airport they advise wireless internet but when it comes down to it you have to sign up and pay. The quality is crap. When I strike this from now on I just pass.

Ultimately the answer for us travellers might lie in small ultraportable computers like MSI Wind 10", HP 2133 or some of the EEPC's that are light to carry. These and a USB Skype phone.

Hope this helps!