International Cell Phones – Your Available options
Your choices are astounding when it comes to international mobile phones.The busy traveler who spends his first part of the day in Europe and evening in Africa, most likely carries his own advanced smartphone. A college student who is studying in Paris could have a limited French smartphone that only works in the local country.The leisure tourist, who would choose a handset just in case of a crisis, may lease a handset and drop it into a fedex depot on his return journey.
Taking into account the wide range of International cell phone usage across the United States, its in no way surprizing that a lot of travellers feel almost ‘naked’ when traveling without a cellphone on their person.If you think you might be the kind of traveler who may text your buddies whilst at the top of the Eiffel tower, or phone home whilst on the deck of a cruise liner, then read on.We cover the benefits and drawbacks of each mobile phone option available, so that you can out the one that suits you (and your budget) best.
Using Your Own Handset With An International Roaming Plan
Most US telecommunications companies will allow you to pick a roaming plan for your smartphone, granting you the ability to make international calls.These kind of plans may be offered as a permanent setup, or just for a short period of time, e.g, a month long vacation.Each telecoms company will offer slighlty differing plans for differing costs. These will work across certain phone frequencies and particular designated countries.Usually your cell phone company will be able to supply you a coverage mapfor these plans, to illustrate the areas of good & bad phone network coverage.The per-minute call costs will vary remarkably across countries.
Some network providers will have call tarriffs for particular regions, for example Cuba, or Australasia.Other cellphone operators will allow you to pre-pick the countries that you will be going to, and adapt a plan for you. Generally speaking, the greater the number of countries, the higher the monthly rate. Although you may be able to find a fairly broad roaming phone plan from your current mobile phone supplier, you won’t be able to make calls from every single country around the world. Make sure that you check your plan will work in the countries that you are planning on going to.
To initiate a call from another country using your phone, your handset must work on the network that the country uses.If you’re planning on going to Europe, its not difficult to find a roaming plan to cover yout trip.If you are going to Africa, The West Indies, The Caribbean or South America then tariffs will vary a lot more. Additionally, your phone must support the correct frequencies for the local telecoms network. Many low cost phones will only support a single frequency, and will commonly only work back at home.
Fortunately, a lot of cell phone companies will offer a detailed coverage map and breakdown of call charges, so you can usually figure it all out before your trip.If you want someone to deal with it for you, there are dedicated international cellphone suppliers, who specalize in overseas tariffs.
If you want someone to take care of it for you, there are specialist Global Phone companies, who only deal in overseas cell phones.
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