How-to: stay connected while traveling internationally
By Darren Murph 
posted June 9th 2010 12:02PM
posted June 9th 2010 12:02PM
Obviously, staying connected primarily consists of two things: having access to voice communication (we'll bundle SMS into this) and having access to the internet at large (WiFi, mobile broadband, WWAN, you catch our drift). We'll start with a few basics on keeping a lock on voice communications while heading overseas, and while every situation has their own nuances, we're hoping to hit the high points here that'll at least aid everyone in some way or another.
First, a factoid: America and Canada are just two of an extremely small group of nations that support CDMA. For those unaware, Sprint (and it's MVNOs Boost Mobile, Assurance Wireless, Common Cents Mobile and Virgin Mobile), Verizon Wireless, US Cellular and pretty much every other regional carrier not named AT&T, T-Mobile USA or Suncom uses CDMA. Frankly, it works great, and VZW / Sprint have the subscribers to prove it. Unfortunately for those headed far, far away from North America, there's an overwhelming chance that your CDMA phone won't even get a signal in the nation you're landing in.
When it comes to global communications, GSM / W-CDMA is the surefire winner; there's not a semi-developed nation on the planet that doesn't support GSM (or iterations of it), so if you're looking to talk on your mobile while in a foreign land, we'd highly recommend toting an AT&T or T-Mobile handset with 3G support. We say "with 3G support" because a great many nations (Japan comes to mind) have moved well beyond EDGE, and their mobile towers won't support any technology that's older than what we know as 3G. To make a long story longer, if your device has a SIM card (which looks like this), and you can get a 3G signal in America, you're good to go.
Not an AT&T or T-Mobile subscriber? Not all hope is lost... yet. Select phones on Sprint and Verizon Wireless can be used internationally, even in GSM-only nations. If you've got a "worldphone" (enterprise BlackBerry customers would know best), there's a good chance that your CDMA handset has a SIM card in there as well specifically for times when you head somewhere that requires a jaunt through immigration. We'd suggest calling your carrier and having them double check to see if your handset is suited for international usage, and if so, you can continue right along reading. If not, we'll toss you a bone in just a few paragraphs.
Let's assume that your current mobile is equipped for voice communication overseas. Great. One hurdle crossed. If you think it's absolutely imperative that you be able to make and receive calls on your exact mobile number, you're going to be paying dearly for the privilege, no matter how you slice it. International voice minutes on a cellphone are absurdly expensive, even with prepaid global minute packs from your carrier. Here's a quick breakdown of what it'll cost you to make a minute-long call in France and Canda, just to give you a general idea of how bad an idea it is to use your existing mobile number to make / receive calls outside of the country. We also threw texting and pay-per-use data rates in as well. Mind you, all of these values can shrink (oftentimes dramatically so) if you purchase a monthly global calling plan or pre-pay for global data, but it's never "cheap" to roam.
AT&T |
Sprint |
T-Mobile |
Verizon |
| 1 min. call from France |
$1.29 | $1.29 | $1.29 | $1.29 |
| 1 min. call from Canada |
$0.79 | $0.59 | $0.49 to $0.69 | $0.69 |
| 1 SMS to French carrier |
$0.50 (sent); $0.50 (received) |
$0.50 (sent); $0.05 (received) |
$0.35 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
$0.25 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
| 1 MMS to French carrier |
$1.30 (sent); $1.30 (received) |
$0.50 (sent); $0.05 (received) |
$0.35 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
$0.25 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
| 1 SMS to Canadian carrier |
$0.50 (sent); $0.50 (received) |
Same as US plan rates | $0.20 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
$0.20 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
| 1 MMS to Canadian carrier |
$1.30 (sent); $1.30 (received) |
Same as US plan rates | $0.20 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
$0.20 (sent); $0.20 (received) |
| Data price in France |
$19.97 per MB | $16.38 per MB | $15 per MB | $20.48 per MB |
| Data price in Canada |
$15.36 per MB | $2.05 per MB | $10 per MB | $2.05 per MB |
So, you're essentially hosed if you need to make voice calls from your mobile while outside of the country, right? Hold up a second, vaquero -- don't go killing that Kayak.com window just yet. Thanks to a magnificent invention by the name of Skype, there's an infinitely more affordable way to make and receive calls when you're away from home soil. If you fully expect to be making and taking a slew of calls to your mobile, we'd buy up a pool of discounted global minutes before leaving the States (or your homeland, wherever that may be), and using those only as informational minutes. Allow us to explain.
Let's say you get a call while trekking through Kenya on your standard mobile number -- the one that all 1,842 of your clients has embedded in their contact list. There's a smart way and a dumb way to handle this situation. The latter would involve you yakking away for an hour, while the former would be for you to take the call, inform him / her of your whereabouts and then tell them when you'll be able to return their call. Unless it's a dire emergency, the other caller can afford to wait an hour or two to chat, during which time you'll be finding yourself a WiFi hotspot.
At this point, we're going to assume you've equipped yourself with a smartphone capable of running Skype; the app is currently available for Android, iPhone OS, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile (this one's janky, though), so the vast majority of existing smartphone owners should be taken care of (webOS users notwithstanding). Before heading out on your journey, we'd suggest throwing a $10 or $20 (or more, if you're a heavy talker) credit onto your Skype account, which will allow you to make calls back to your homeland from $0.021 per minute (full rates are here). Notice how much cheaper that is than calling on a foreign cellular network? Oh, and just because some carriers will allow you to make a Skype call over 3G, doesn't mean you should. You don't want to pay Skype and data roaming charges for a single call, now do you?
Where this really gets useful is when you bring Google Voice into the equation. Skype users can already assign a dedicated number to their account so that their WiFi-connected smartphone will ring should someone dial in, but Google Voice enables calls to be accurately routed and voicemails left in a centralized location. Simply direct your Google Voice number to forward onto your Skype account, and your clients back home may never know you've stepped away from the office. We will say, however, that you'll want to think this over and get it sorted one way or another before leaving home.
If you've got yourself a CDMA phone that won't roam on a GSM network (hint: most won't), at least your options are narrowed to one. You'll be renting a phone once your reach your destination airport, but thankfully, most major airports in foreign lands make this surprisingly easy. Obviously, every airport is different, but most have a number of phone rental shops just before you head outside and hail a taxi. Aside from running into language barriers (though if you speak English, chances are there will be instructions there for you), the biggest pain here is communicating your temporary phone number to your loved ones back home, while simultaneously telling them that it'll cost them dearly if they need to dial up that international number. But hey, that's the price you pay for having the ability to make mobile calls on a whim while visiting somewhat far, far away from Kansas. One thing to be mindful of here, however, is that some nations do not allow for inter-carrier texting; for example, an NTT DoCoMo phone in Japan cannot text someone on SoftBank. If you and your buds are heading over someplace, it's smart to all rent mobiles / SIM cards from the same carrier. Here's an video explanation of how to rent a SIM card overseas from our good pal Nicole Scott at Netbook News.
Wrap-up
We know, that's a lot to digest, and most of it may seem like common sense to the technophile. If you're looking for the quick and dirty recommendation list for getting connected overseas, you've landed in the right section.
- Almost always, it's cheapest to simply rent a SIM card or entire cellphone from the country you're landing in. It's not hard. In most cases, you don't even have to leave the airport. It's uncommon to pay more than $200 per week for unlimited local calls, text and data.
- If you must use your own phone internationally, buy a global roaming plan before leaving, and attempt to use Skype whenever possible. Just ring your carrier and ask about global roaming packs -- they'll be happy to oblige.
- Do not ever, under any circumstance, roam with your American mobile broadband card. You'll never pay off the roaming bill. Just rent an unlimited MiFi, SIM card, or entire WWAN card for around $20 to $30 per day in most places. Proactive users can rent one ahead of time to avoid the hassle post-landing.
- Don't be shocked if your CDMA phone won't work overseas. Consider it a blessing in disguise and follow the steps above.
- Stay in a hotel, hostel, resort or tent with gratis internet access, preferably WiFi so your Skype-enabled mobile can connect easily.
- Believe it or not, an old school calling card is also a great way to phone home so long as your hotel doesn't ding you for calling out to a toll-free number.
AT&T international roaming details: click here
Sprint international roaming details: click here
T-Mobile USA international roaming details: click here
Verizon Wireless international roaming details: click here
Advice: Get ahead of the game if you are traveling. If you find yourself in another country with your phone, and you *haven't* got a prepaid anything, you might as well throw your phone in a river.
Outside of a ton of restraint, you can easily rack up a $1000 bill for a month between data and voice if you behave as even half of your normal "home" usage.
@Arch Stanton
all phone companies operating in an EU country by law have to a €50 maximum bill for roaming charges as of March 2010 (after that you get cut-off (expect emergency calls) its to stop them slapping you a giant bill.
@IMarius Hallelujah for y'all in the EU, unfortunately our consumer protection in the US means that as long as the telcos grease the congress, they can get the occasional huge payday from customers who aren't intimate with their contract terms.
Just a small correction. Skype does NOT work on any WM mobile version 6.5 or above. I know I use a HTC TP2 from Sprint (excellent phone with GSM SIM capabilities for overseas use) and wanted to use Skype over WiFi while overseas. But Ooops when I got the upgrade of firmware from 6.0 to 6.5 away went Skype's voice capabliites .......
@IRJ
buy a N900 best Skype phone there is right now
i just get a really cheap prepaid phone and put like 20 bucks on it. a lot easier
Note that Verizon CDMA phones work fine (if expensively) in China-- I got better signal everywhere along the Yangtze than I do in my office, and Shanghai and Beijing had signal in the subways before Chicago did.
I don't know about data, though-- when I was last there (in 2008) I didn't have a smartphone.
One thing you must remember: if someone calls you while you are in Europe (ATT GSM), and you do not answer, or reject the call, the time the caller spends on your voicemail leaving you a message is considered an international call and will be billed accordingly. Yes, even if the caller is calling from the US.
When ever I travel to Europe (tomorrow! Rome!) I use SMS only. I do the following:
- forward all my calls to Google Voice.
- turn off data services on my phone
I use WiFi for things like email, Social nets, maps, etc.
When a call comes in, it never rings on my phone and it goes to Google voice., Gvoice will send me an SMS and/or email. with the transcript of the call.
at $0.50 a sms, I can live with it..
@ArieArie
The last time I left the country, I called at&t and asked them to disable my voice mail so I wouldn't be billed when people left messages. It took about 20 minutes to disable and 1 minute to enable it. More training, please.
This is a pretty good article. However, it didn't mention that the first thing you'll need to do if you're bringing your own phone with you, is to be sure it's been unlocked. Most carriers will unlock your subsidized phone if you've been a good customer and your contract isn't only a week old. Without an unlocked phone, the SIM card you buy overseas will be worthless.
When I went to Russia I brought my little unlocked cell phone (not smart phone, not dumb phone, just a little ol' cell phone), got a SIM card with some prepaid minutes, and used it to keep in contact with friends in Moscow. I didn't care about internet, calling the USA, etc. I was on vacation to have fun, meet friends and see cool things. I just wanted an easy way to stay in contact locally with friends, and this worked perfectly.
The SMS received prices for AT&T are wrong. I don't know about the other carriers, but receiving SMS internationally on AT&T usually is billed the same as a domestic SMS.
@Peter F
Indeed. I was not charged for any SMS or MMS I received while in Canada and England in the past several months. Engadget is either blatantly biased or just very misinformed.
@firehazard This is correct, and also applies to T-Mobile if things have not changed. AT&T and T-Mobile have never charged you for receiving text messages while roaming internationally.
Now on the other hand, Sprint charges you $0.20 per received International SMS while in the US, which I find outrageous.
You are mistaken while referencing the Blackberry and Skype. Skype is currently only supported for the Blackberry on Verizon Wireless and does not use the wifi connection. It is not available for any other Blackberry. Fring is also not available for any Blackberry.
However, the Blackberry is still very powerful abroad. I just got from a month in Europe and had my BB with me as a wifi internet/email connection, BB maps can update via wifi and cache data allowing you use to GPS on the streets, and AT&T will readily unlock it to allow for international SIM cards.
how about telling us how to track down free WIFI signals while aboard (i.e. FON) or crack a WEP using only software on phone?
If you're on Sprint, then you should pick up one of the thousands of Blackberry Tours that are currently being abandoned/sacrificed/sledgehammered on CL and Ebay, and use it if you go overseas. It is a world phone with a sim card slot.
Just a heads up...AT&T at least will charge you for missed calls when roaming (counts as a minute) so set your phone on airplane mode unless you don't mind the insane charges (I learned this the hard way).
Also, Skype offers unlimited calling to the US and Canada for only $2.99/month and you can cancel anytime. So, subscribe right before you leave and unsubscribe when you return. Then skype call to your heart's desire without incurring any additional charges.
Lastly, if you're going to use a foreign SIM card, make sure to call your phone company and get your phone's unlock code. Just tell them you're traveling abroad and they should give it to you (though it may take them a week to email it to you, if they can't give it to you over the phone).
@singreale T-Mobile does this too. Their reasoning was that the call was routed to the foreign country and rang. If it had gone straight to voicemail and never rang (ie, couldn't find the phone on any network), I could have avoided the $2/minute call to New Zealand
I just spent 4 months in France studying abroad, and yeah, it was a bitch trying to figure out what to do.
I have a Blackberry Tour 9630, with international capability. It worked great but is INSANE expensive to use abroad. If you're only going to be gone for 1-2 weeks, it's not a terrible option (just try to keep data usage to a minimum). I paid $1.99 per megabyte of data, which can get expensive if you're using Maps, Twitter, Email, BBM, etc.
If you're going to be gone for a long period of time (longer than a couple weeks but less than a year), a cheap prepaid phone will be best. I bought a shitty Nokia candybar dumbphone for 39 euro, and just put minutes on whenever I needed them. I also had my Verizon number suspended for 90 days. The benefit of this is that you don't have to pay your VZW phone bill at all for those 90 days, so you aren't paying for something you're not using.
Longer than a year and I'd suggest opting for a contract, you'll get the best phones and best rates that way.
This won't work anymore unless you signed up before, but if you have a Gizmo5 account, you can use it to accept Google Voice calls, and with their desktop/Nokia Internet Tablet clients, you can use it to accept Google Voice calls on your computers. For mobiles, you can use SIP clients like Fring to access your Gizmo5 account as well.
So the Cliff Notes version:
Google Voice + Gimzo5 + SIP = Free incoming calls on your phone (assuming you can find free wifi)
This was supposed to make me more comfortable with international calling.
Instead, all it did was teach me that I never, ever want to leave the USA. Jesus.
Symbian had sype for quite some time.
Not sure if it was mentioned, but there is no Skype for Blackberry unless you were a closed beta tester or a Verizon customer. So right now there is no solution for BB owners outside of verizon.
"your options are narrowed to one. You'll be renting a phone" - hardly. You could buy a GSM phone on eBay and get a prepaid sim on arrival. http://prepaidgsm.net is a great resource.
If you are travelling abroad from the USA and need a country specific SIM card, I recommend www.BrightRoam.com. They are very reliable, extremely price competitive and their service is top notch. I have used them for 3 years purchasing cards for France, Italy and the UK.
Delivery is overnight or in a couple of days, your choice. Incoming calls to your local SIM card are free in most countries.
The best part: You already have a local foreign phone number before you leave the USA. You can give this number to all your friends, family and business associates. Swap your card on the plane and you're ready to go as soon as you land at your destination.
Consider adding 'fring' software before you leave. It is a great program and allows SKYPE calls on your mobile - free if you are calling SKYPE to SKYPE. Very convenient.
Looking for free WiFi HotSpots? Consider getting and installing a FON router (http://www.fon.com/en/). You will be eligible for Free WiFi access at over 1.5 million FON Spots worldwide. It is a 802.11n router that also allows Download torrents and files directly to a USB device even when your computer is shut down. Very cool.
Great article: very timely and useful information for summer travel season. Thank you.
go to iphonetrip.com to get what you need. Worked for me in Europe in combo with Fring.
Last month, I went on a trip to Utah (I live in Alberta).
I downloaded the Skype app for my Nokia E71 and put 14 bucks worth of "minutes" on it. I connected to the Wifi at whatever hotel I was staying at, and it worked reasonably well... provided the Wifi connection wasn't terrible.
A few times when I wasn't near any Wifi, I used the phone as usual. Seems Telus noticed quite quickly that I'd crossed the border and temporarily added a US roaming thingy to my plan. So, calls to Canada weren't ridiculously expensive (I want to say about $0.40/min). Not bad if you aren't too talkative.
So yeah, Skype is probably the way to go for the majority of your travel talking. When I travel to Europe or Asia, I could see myself buying a local sim card as well so I'm not completely limited to Wifi... Telus probably won't provide such a reasonable rate as they did for US roaming.
Using international data, though... I don't even want to try. Seems like the sort of thing that could cost you a LOT of money if you aren't careful enough. Not a big deal, though. Ovi maps doesn't need data. And I don't mind being limited to my laptop and Wifi for internet surfing and e-mail.
UPDATE: I just checked www.BrightRoam.com and they have country specific SIM cards for the following countries:
Australia SIM Card
China SIM Card
France SIM Card
Germany SIM Card
Greece SIM Card
Italy SIM Card
Netherlands SIM Card
UK SIM Card
USA SIM Card
Until 30 June 2010 the SIM cards are FREE with no airtime. Airtime is sold in units of $50, $100 and $200 US. All rates are shown on their site. Standard shipping to the USA and Canada: 3-5 Business days is $8, overnight $30 so plan ahead.
If you don't have an unlocked GSM cellphone brighRoam offers package deals of Nokia 1202, Motorola V3 Razr, Nokia 2730, Nokia 3120 and Blackberry 7230 refurbished phones starting at $29 US. not the latest cutting edge technology but a good value.
Alternatively now might be a good time for you to purchase an unlocked GSM Quad band WiFi phone from a reliable on line vendor.
Bon Voyage! Buon viaggio! ¡Buen viaje! Go n-éirí an bóthar leat!
@ANGUS188 The rates are horrendous. I checked Canada (going there next week) and it's $1.99 a minute. I am sure there are better choices like getting a pre-paid sim directly from a carrier in your destination country. For example, Rogers (Canada) has various rate plans that are at most 40 cents a minute
@sygyzy Thank you for the Canadian information.
My comments are based on the assumption that someone traveling is either on vacation or for business. That being the case, the vacationer/holiday maker is focused on vacation using the phone only occasionally and the business traveler will be reimbursed for phone expenses.
With this in mind, then convenience is a key. Rather than find a local tobacconist selling local SIM cards and installing it using the local language as phone prompts, it is often easier to do that at home before the traveler leaves.
Overall, it is best to travel with an unlocked GSM WiFi phone that has UMA. Then you can call anyone over VOiP at no cost. I travel with a T-Mobile branded Blackberry Curve 8230 and it works well that way. My traveling companion has a Nokia with A-GSP /OVI Maps so she and I are well equipped to find our way and call if we need help.
Thanks again for your comments.
Being able to access my bank from my phone makes traveling much easier. Using the CIBC Mobile App gives me the ability to transfer funds on my phone easy and stress free.
MTHIRTYhas just shared a widget with you on behalf of CIBC
@Techfuture19
http://www.cibcswitch.com/mobile.aspx
http://www.mthirty.com/transparency
Hate to say it, Evo fanboys are becoming even worse that apple and android fan boys!
GPS is a no go on the iphone while abroad as well. I could not for the life of me get it to work.
I should add I was in Japan.
So what do i do if I'm going to england this summer and have a palm pre plus?
@iCello First, make sure you Pre is unlocked and then buy a PrePay SIM from any of the five GSM providers. Vodafone, O2, Orange, 3 (Three) or T-Mobile. T-Mobile does a great Data SIM that you get charged £2 for each day you use it. T-Mo allow SIP calls over their data network at that rate. You can use 3Gb a month. If you don't use data on any particular day then you don't pay. Preload the SIM on their website with your Credit Card and enjoy. I found that the best way to get the card is to buy a Prepaid USB 3G dongle (about £20). The SIM then goes in your phone on the above plan.....but make sure the Pre SIMLock is gone!
some pricing on international prepaid plans along my 8 months of travel with an australian factory unlocked iphone 3gs (including the time softbank japan raped me with a $600 bill for 12 days). will update the list to include about 20 carriers.
http://brandonshigeta.com/blog/2009/10/30/pre-paid-gsm-pricing/
getting around softbank japan's ¥44,000/month data charge...
http://brandonshigeta.com/blog/2010/02/18/getting-around-softbank-japans-3g-sim-rental/
my experiences with traveling through asia with an ipad 3g...
http://brandonshigeta.com/blog/2010/04/30/traveling-with-an-ipad/
@bshigeta sorry, ¥40,000/per 30days of data usage.
@bshigeta
I've never heard of \40000 data plan... there's simply no unlimited data for non-Softbank devices on SBM. Better have a b-mobileSIM U300. Capped 300kbps, but at \3000 unlimited and it's on NTT docomo' network.
https://ec.bmobile.ne.jp/ecom/card_orderstart.jsp?id=U300
@num0
it's unlimited once you hit the ¥40,000 yen max per month, which is only like 20mbs or something. i probably ran $200 within minutes of turning the phone on and it automatically downloading all my email during the 10 hour flight. i really wish apple would include the option to just straight turn data OFF. here's the price list for sim card rentals. i wish i had found this page prior to renting as the price they quoted me was way off...
http://www.softbank-rental.jp/en/price/index.php
Unfortunately, Skype doesn't allow you to disable their voicemail, and it really makes getting google voicemail impossible when the skype voicemail always picks up too soon. I wonder if they do this on purpose to try and keep them higher in the value chain.
Glad my Provider offers me 20MB of international Data and 100 minutes of international calling for just €20 ;)
My company runs a VOIP telephone system (Voispeed's Pronto) at the head office that supports SIP phones. I use Fring on my Android phone to logon to that system and make calls from the office system. All calls to anywhere on the planet except the Indian sub-continent are the $0.01 per minute, billed to the office.
This article keeps talking about renting a SIM card when traveling abroad. If you've ever researched the rates those rental companies charge, you'll find that it's much cheaper to buy a SIM card in some countries. In Germany, I bought a Freenet SIM for €20. It started me off with €20 of credit and only charged ¢9 for outgoing calls. Incoming calls were free. I never used data there so I'm not sure what the best options are for that but I would say it's smarter to buy a SIM from a local cell phone provider or electronic store for the best rates. Stores in airports always charge a premium for their products and services.
T-Mobile UMA / Unlimited Wi-fi calling / whatever they call it these days.. It saves my butt when I was traveling to Asia for three weeks. I can still check my USA voice mails from here, call back people, all without paying for roaming or long-distance fees.
Same here and I was in Canada on the global data roaming package.
@Darren "if your device has a SIM card (which looks like this), and you can get a 3G signal in America, you're good to go"
That depends on the device. For example, the AT&T Palm Pre Plus and Telus Motorola Milestone only supports two of the US/Canada flavors of 3G, 850 & 1900 MHz, and these are recent models!
To connect to 3G abroad the device must at least support the most common flavor of 3G, 2100 MHz - the iPhone 3G/3GS and most current models of Android/BlackBerry/Windows GSM phones do...
Excellent post!! Very informative :)
XCom Global has a great international data rental service for over 130 countries. Even MiFi wireless hotspots for some.