Communications

Another thing to consider: communication in Israel. My or my wife's phone usage is extremely expensive to use outside of US. Roaming charges in Israel for Verizon or AT&T are about the same: between $1.99 and $2.49 per minute based on the type of account. I can't believe there are customers that pay that much! Any way... I found out that there are at least 3 service providers in Israel. The best way is to purchase a pre-paid sim card. The call to US using the the pre-paid card is about $.25 or about 1NIS. The cost of the card needs to be considered as well, since it costs about $25 with no minutes. These sim cards have a Israel local number and all incoming calls and text messages are free. For short period, it's probably not worth it, but the card is good for at least 1 year if there is no activity.

It is possible to buy a sim card for Israel in US, but I am not sure what happens if the card is back or not working for any reason. So, since my daugter is going to Israel few weeks before us, her assignment is to buy a sim card there (she will have local friends that will help her, I am sure), use it and bring it back. The card is good for one year without any activity. We will re-fill it and use it when we get there. After that, if someone is going to Isreal, I am willing to part with the card.