Cell phone service traveling outside of U.S.

Anyone have any experience using their cell phone while traveling outside of the US? I have a quad band world phone already. As far as I can tell I need to get it unlocked and then buy a local sim card in the country I am traveling in. I then will be able to call the US and it will be a local call? What about people from the US calling me? I assume that will be a long distance international call for them. Any tips appreciated

it is at the "country" rate...different for each service and counrty

The best thing to do it call them

A couple of IFs

If you have 3/4 band GSM phone
If your destination country has a GSM provider
If your phone service includes the ability for international calling and roaming

You should be able to use your current SIM card and number in the country that you're visiting, though you will pay roaming charges for your incoming calls (the callers will not be inconveienced with international tolls.)

bhds said:

Anyone have any experience using their cell phone while traveling outside of the US? I have a quad band world phone already. As far as I can tell I need to get it unlocked and then buy a local sim card in the country I am traveling in. I then will be able to call the US and it will be a local call? What about people from the US calling me? I assume that will be a long distance international call for them. Any tips appreciated

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From my experience, your provider probably has deals so that you can use your phone worldwide (GSM countries, not Japan) and retain your phone number. This won't be cheap, however, as there are roaming charges in addition to the international phone calls. You can also buy country specific SIM's, but calling internationally using these will still incur extra charges. Lots of country specific SIM's allow free incoming calls, but never outgoing. I think the least expensive way to go is to buy the international calling cards - some go as low as $0.08-0.10/min. Often there are additional charges if the call is to a cell phone rather than a land line. The easiest, but not cheapest is to stick with your current provider and keep the same number.
Sam

It will depend a lot on where you intend to travel. I currently own a separate phone for travel in Asia where GSM is used. Cheaper to buy a sim in the area you will be and purchase a "load" or prepaid time. Just came back from the Philippines and SIM was under USD$4. Bulk of expense is in the prepaid time. Unless you visit each area repeatedly, the SIM will normally expire and the number recycled back into the market. For reference, I purchased a Nokia 1100 brand new for USD$50. Basic model. Darn thing even has a flashlight on it. Charger is 110-240v.

Most domestic US SIM based phones are "locked" and can only be used with SIMs issued by the specific company. From my experience, Nokias/Ericssons tend to be the easiest to "unlock" which can be done by many small shops in SE Asia. Motorolas are hit/miss, while Samsungs could not be unlocked. Of course, YMMV. These should be tri- or quad- band phones. Should run about USD$10 for the service, most shops will only assess the charge if they are sucessful and a local SIM works. Extra advantage is that these phones normally come with universal input chargers, as most of these areas use 220v.

You can stick with your existing company if they allow global roaming (I had the service with T-Mobile) and you have a "world" phone, but you will get killed on the roaming charges. Learn to use the txt function, much cheaper. Japan has a totally different system (3G, I think, or something like that).

Thanks for the input guys. A little more info. I will be traveling to asia and need to use my cell phone to call back to the states and also for people in the states to use their cell phones or land lines to call me on my cell. I will get my phone unlocked before I leave.
I did check in to my service providers international plan (cingular) but their roaming charges are pretty high considering the amount of calls I will probably be making

1) If I buy a sim in my destination country I think it will only be for local calls? I doubt that I would need to make any local calls so that may not be what I need.

2) Do I buy an international prepaid card to call back to the states?

3) For people calling from the states to my cell will an international calling card be all they need?
I did find some websites that had seperate cards for calling cell phones like changsn alluded to but they were kind of vague on the details as to what that meant.

www.howardforums.com is a good cell phone resource.

location def. is a biggie... If your in Italy you can probably find I-Den service where as Japan you can't

Call you service provider anyway.... they will then have a record you called and if there are any charges out of line, you have a more firmer foot to stand on for credits...

Does anyone know about the possible extra costs to the calling party regarding overseas cell phones?

In the US, the person making the calls does not pay any extra charges making a call to a cell phone. In many other countries, a person calling a cell phone is not only responsible for their one calling plan charges, they also have to pay extra if the call is to a mobile/cell phone.

How does that work if the caller is in the US? Do I get an extra charge on my home phone (or calling card) if I call, for example, a UK cell phone number? If I was in the UK, I am pretty sure I would...

-Bill

1) If I buy a sim in my destination country I think it will only be for local calls? I doubt that I would need to make any local calls so that may not be what I need.
Don't forget that it allows incoming calls which in Europe tend to be free....
2) Do I buy an international prepaid card to call back to the states?
Depends on how much you can save...international prepaid cards tend to be cheaper than just calling on the SIM..
3) For people calling from the states to my cell will an international calling card be all they need?
If you have the country specific SIM, then all people in the states need is the international calling card & your number
I did find some websites that had seperate cards for calling cell phones like changsn alluded to but they were kind of vague on the details as to what that meant.[/QUOTE]

Sorry for being vague, but I am not as familiar with the calling cards used in foreign countries to call back to the states. The site I used
http://www.callingcards.com/
was for calling from the states to overseas phones. It looks like it would work in reverse from what I saw, but to some degree I think these guys are deliberately vague. There are all sorts of extra charges - per week, connection charges, whatever...mostly so they can claim a low per minute charge when they actually make more ...
Wish it were simpler...
Sam

Manzerick said:

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Call you service provider anyway.... they will then have a record you called and if there are any charges out of line, you have a more firmer foot to stand on for credits...

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:huh2:Not sure what you're referring to

changsn said:

1)
Sorry for being vague, but I am not as familiar with the calling cards used in foreign countries to call back to the states. The site I used
http://www.callingcards.com/
was for calling from the states to overseas phones. It looks like it would work in reverse from what I saw, but to some degree I think these guys are deliberately vague. There are all sorts of extra charges - per week, connection charges, whatever...mostly so they can claim a low per minute charge when they actually make more ...

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I wasnt referring to you being vague
Thanks for the link. That website is the clearest and easiest to navigate I've seen so far

Who the cell phone is through.... I.E the peeps you pay every month

bhds said:

:huh2:Not sure what you're referring to

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