Cell Phone use out of the Country

[jimbiggs]

Hello friends,

My wife and I like to travel, but our cell phone service does not work out of the country. We are looking for suggestions on how to handle this. Right now we are looking at unlocked phones with a sim card. Does anyone use these? Which companies have the best rates per minute? What is the best way to handle this problem? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Passepartout]

It depends. We're with AT&T and have unlocked phones with dual SIM slots. Sometimes we just put on international service with AT&T. On cruises they have bundles of minutes and/or text and/or data. If on an extended trip in Europe, we have put a local SIM in one phone and used it for local stuff. In Mexico it's easy to just add the service and the phone works like at home. We both have Skype and use it when we have wi-fi. A lot depends on where you're going and how long you're staying there and how important constant 2-way communication is. We're retired and check email at least daily. That's far different than someone who's a doctor of critical patients or a stockbroker with lots of clients on tenderhooks about their money.

Jim

 

[isisdave]

This has been discussed here a lot, so search for earlier threads. It depends on where you're going and for how long.

We have T-mobile. Works in Canada and Mexico just like at home for no extra charge. In most other countries, there is free data (slower than at home but usable for everything except streaming video), free texts, and calls back home are 20 cents a minute (but get Viber/WhatsApp/Skype for free VoIP calls instead). No contract, so get it for a month if you want. You can buy a used T-mobile or unlocked GSM phone on eBay, get a new number and forward your existing phone's calls.

If you're going to one country for a while, you can take an unlocked GSM phone and buy a local SIM card. They're as low as £10 in the UK for example and come with a little credit. Local rates are reasonable and calls to the US not much more. Again, forward your main phone to the local number.

Your current provider will have a plan and a suggestion. The price may be high, but it will be easy, and everything will work the same.

There are other solutions, like renting a phone, but all much more expensive.

 

[WinniWoman]

We used this when in Scotland:

https://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phones/

Cheap basic phone; no monthly charges; you only pay for your calls if they go over $10 (ours never did). Free incoming text messages.

You get an international phone number for life.

The one we have doesn't work in Canada or the US, but the ones they have now do.

I charge ours' up every three months in case we take a trip overseas again in the future.

For us it was the simplest solution. Of course, the one we have is not a smart phone.

They also have SIM Cards. Check out the web site link above.

 

[JudyH]

I am in France now. I got a SIM card for my iPhone from Orange. 3 gb data cause I use internet a lot. 40 euros for a month. I don't think I can call US but I have another phone for that. A cheap phone from Mobal, as noted in the previous post. Works anywhere in the world except US. I leave this # with family as emergency and I use it to call US if really necessary. phone was 49$ years ago and I just pay 1.49 per minute if I need to call. I really never call home.