What type of phone should I use in Germany?

I am moving to Germany in a few months. Should I cancel my verizon contract? Do they offer international plans that are designed for residence and not travel? What kind of international plans can I get on European phones? I think I will end up using email and phone cards for my US correspondence, but I would like to listen to any other information/advice.

Your verizon contract will not do you any good over here in Germany. And I would recommend not to use phone cards either, because you can call the States for a few cents (about 4 Euro-Cents a minute to call USA) now from Germany. There are several possibilies (like rsolcz mentioned) to get your phone/internet connection with. I've got mine through T-Com and I have to say I'm very happy. They have a free customer service line and I pay 50 Euros for a phone and internet flatrate with 6000 kb (incl. the hardware such as router). For an Euro more a month I have a so called country-select for USA and call there for 2,5 Cents a minute. http://www.t-home.de/index.html

Well, T-Mobil is a German company. Pretty sure that your phone plan could just be converted. Ask them and find out.

Your verizon is not gonna work over here. So you better cancel it.

When it comes to land line , there is a website where you can make phone calls for free. It's http://www.peterzahlt.de I use it for calling the US. You can call for 30 mins because it's showing you commercial and stuff but when the 30 mins are over you can call again. The website is in German, but it works.

http://www.telestial.com/view_product.php?PRODUCT_ID=LSIM-DE01

you can get help there =] enjoy

Use land phones (not pay phones) and go online and find special tarif codes to enter before dialing. I used a code "010270" and I paid 0.01 Euro per minute...really cheap.

You just dial the code +001 for USA/Canada dialing + your area code and number

N.B. make sure you pick a code tariff that says they'll inform you of how much you're paying. So when you dial the code and the number in North America, an automated message will come on and tell you how much you're paying per minute. Doing this will make sure you're getting that special cheap rate.