While the big national mobile carriers like Verizon and AT&T cover most of the United States, including parts of Alaska and Hawaii, anyone venturing beyond the lower 48 (and the aforementioned parts of Alaska and Hawaii) may find themselves hit with outrageous roaming charges should they try to use their mobile phone while away on holiday. However, with a little research and planning, these charges can be significantly reduced or avoided all together!
1.) Check with your mobile provider and ask if they offer any options like buying prepaid roaming minutes or an international texting bundle.
Rates vary among carriers but it's almost always cheaper to pay for roaming charges ahead of time, especially if you know you'll be making more than one or two calls or any calls lasting over a few minutes.
2.) If you own an unlocked, quad-band GSM phone, see if local networks offer pay-as-you-go SIM cards.
Mobile SIMs can be quickly and easily switched out by anyone, so if you have a universal phone, this is a worthwhile option even on short trips. There is the initial cost of buying a local SIM card and loading credit on to it, but many networks will "give" away the card for free so long as a certain amount of credit is purchased (usually 5 to 10 units of whatever the local currency happens to be; For example, if you're in the UK, a SIM could be yours for 10 GBP). Unfortunately some countries make it very difficult or impossible for visitors on a short-term visa to purchase SIM cards. Check a travel guide or forum like the one at lonelyplanet.com.
3.) Consider buying a cheap prepaid phone with a re-loadable SIM (or a cheap CDMA phone with re-loadable credit).
If you don't own an unlocked GSM quad-band phone, consider buying a cheap, prepaid or rolling contract phone. This option is better for longer trips and ideal for something like a study abroad term. Finding a mobile hand-set retailer in the region or country to where you're traveling may take a little time and effort, but a quick internet search beforehand will almost certainly turn up the name of the retail outlets, if not their addresses and street-view photos. If used with conjunction with Rebtel and their "ring-back" service, it's possible to use your new local mobile to call back home for only the price of the minutes that you've already paid for, or that are included in your rolling contract.
4.) Exploit the wifi capabilities of your mobile device.
Do you own an iPod touch, a tablet or a smart phone with wireless capabilities? Will you have access to a wireless internet connection on your travels? Then you may be able to rig your device to send free SMS and calls over the internet. If you'll mostly be making calls or sending SMS to other US numbers, then you may want to download the textfree app from Pinger. Now available for the iPod touch, the iPad, the iPhone, Android and the Web, users can send SMS to US numbers for free no matter where they are in the world. While originally textfree could only be used to send SMS, it is now possible to make and receive calls through this app, with many calls (incoming and textfree to textfree) being completely free!
Other apps that allow users to similarly send free SMS and/or calls over a wireless connection include: Talkatone, textPlus, and TigerText.
It is also possible to use Skype on your mobile device. Any calls placed to another Skype user that is signed in to their Skype account, will be free! (All Skype calls placed to mobile numbers or landlines however, will be charged usual rates) Get the Skype mobile app for free here (iPod touch & iPhone) and here (Android).
5.) If all else fails, there's always the classic pay phone + international calling card combo.
Depending on where you're traveling, you may save money or get a card with significantly better calling rates if you buy the calling card online or ahead of time. --But then again you may not. Check out this guide to call costs at lonelyplanet.com to start comparing rates.
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