It’s super-handy these days that cell numbers can be so international — until that next vendor robodials you (again!) about some insurance deal, or the latest automobile extended warranty, or a credit card protection service! Seriously — receiving spam/scam calls via cell while traveling overseas is a DOUBLE hassle. Not only are you annoyed by the call itself, but in many countries, now you have to pay for the 25 cents because incoming calls cost you! So what do YOU do when you travel overseas with your smartphone? In the “old days,” I (Doug) would check with my carrier to make sure my phone was unlocked, then sign up for one of those SIM card companies… like…
www.onesimcard.com/(200 countries; free incoming calls in 160 of those; outgoing, 25 cents/min; $30 for the card; data is steep = $86 for the first gig!)
www.GIGSky.com (Data only, $10 for the card plus roughly $10/gig after that.)
www.WorldSIM.com (SIM card is free; free incoming calls; outgoing 17 cents/min.; texts 15 cents; Data is $1.15/meg
There are other vendors, like SIM Options, Orange, Three, True Move, and AIS.
These days, sometimes your carrier might have the better deal, actually. Verizon has a cool plan in which you just pay $10 per day for “all you can eat” calling and data (until you use up your normal limit, that is). Sprint’s plan is similar (except those grandfathered in with the legacy unlimited data get unlimited data for free while traveling – super-cool feature.) So maybe — Check with your carrier first.
Found a great solution? Please share it! Just click into a comment for the web version of this item. Thanks in advance for sharing! (And thanks, Allan, for asking this question recently!)
Why not use Google Fi? It works now with most phones, you can enable the service as you go overseas, and you get data in a host of countries, and you can shut off the service when you return from the states. Just keep the sim card handy to pip in your phone on your next trip. Card can be temporarily disabled for 90 days, but you can immediately disable it again till you travel again. Works great short-medium term trips.