[travel] International Phone Strategy
Jan. 17th, 2009 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mattbellHow hard can instant wireless point-to-point worldwide communication be?
Oh right, fairly hard. I know enough people who have worked in various parts of
It's hard enough that there are a whole lot of suboptimal expensive options with various limitations, and I get to play around with all the extensive sets of constraints to see what works the best for my own needs.
I'm converging on the following approach:
(1) I got the EEE PC, a cheap micro-laptop, for my computing needs. I can go to any Wi-Fi hotspot and make whatever calls are necessary via skype. The skype rates are very good. This is a good option for longer preplanned calls.
(2) The iphone has very expensive but universal international phone coverage. It's an extra $6 a month, and the rates for places like Thailand are like $2 a minute. It seems like it would be good for emergencies -- eg I'm in the middle of nowhere and need to place a call.
(3) Country-specific phonecards can be purchased to stick into local payphones, and the rates will be quite good. This takes up practically no space and
The alternative is to get a cheap unlocked GSM phone ($60 - $100) and then buy SIM cards as I go through the different countries. This gets me cheap local rates. The trouble is that individual country SIM cards appear to be $30-$40 each for only $10 of airtime. Maybe if I buy the SIM card locally it's not such a ripoff. However, given that I'm travelling through a lot of countries quickly, I think this local SIM card approach is only useful in a couple of locations. There are world SIM cards, but their rates aren't much better than the iphone's. I can't tell if it's possible to pull out the SIM card from this one and insert a country-specific one when necessary. GIven that the same company sells that phone unlocked for more, I'm guessing the answer is "no". I might still consider it because I'd rather leave my iphone at home lest it get damaged or stolen.
Update -- apparently there's a "secret" option with AT&T that lets you suspend your domestic cell service if you're traveling internationally, but most customer service representatives won't tell you about it. (You still pay $10/mo and have to have been a customer for at least 6 months)
Second update -- I've found a much cheaper unlocked GSM phone for $30. I'm going to get that + an international SIM card (with ~$1/min rates for most countries I'm visiting) + local SIM cards for Vietnam and other countries I'll be spending lots of time in. According to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
maradydd I can get much better deals on local SIM cards if I buy them in the country I'm visiting. Then I will save a lot of $ by leaving the iphone at home and dropping the service.
Learn more: http://thetravelinsider.info/2002/0308.htm
Oh right, fairly hard. I know enough people who have worked in various parts of
It's hard enough that there are a whole lot of suboptimal expensive options with various limitations, and I get to play around with all the extensive sets of constraints to see what works the best for my own needs.
I'm converging on the following approach:
(1) I got the EEE PC, a cheap micro-laptop, for my computing needs. I can go to any Wi-Fi hotspot and make whatever calls are necessary via skype. The skype rates are very good. This is a good option for longer preplanned calls.
(2) The iphone has very expensive but universal international phone coverage. It's an extra $6 a month, and the rates for places like Thailand are like $2 a minute. It seems like it would be good for emergencies -- eg I'm in the middle of nowhere and need to place a call.
(3) Country-specific phonecards can be purchased to stick into local payphones, and the rates will be quite good. This takes up practically no space and
The alternative is to get a cheap unlocked GSM phone ($60 - $100) and then buy SIM cards as I go through the different countries. This gets me cheap local rates. The trouble is that individual country SIM cards appear to be $30-$40 each for only $10 of airtime. Maybe if I buy the SIM card locally it's not such a ripoff. However, given that I'm travelling through a lot of countries quickly, I think this local SIM card approach is only useful in a couple of locations. There are world SIM cards, but their rates aren't much better than the iphone's. I can't tell if it's possible to pull out the SIM card from this one and insert a country-specific one when necessary. GIven that the same company sells that phone unlocked for more, I'm guessing the answer is "no". I might still consider it because I'd rather leave my iphone at home lest it get damaged or stolen.
Update -- apparently there's a "secret" option with AT&T that lets you suspend your domestic cell service if you're traveling internationally, but most customer service representatives won't tell you about it. (You still pay $10/mo and have to have been a customer for at least 6 months)
Second update -- I've found a much cheaper unlocked GSM phone for $30. I'm going to get that + an international SIM card (with ~$1/min rates for most countries I'm visiting) + local SIM cards for Vietnam and other countries I'll be spending lots of time in. According to
maradydd I can get much better deals on local SIM cards if I buy them in the country I'm visiting. Then I will save a lot of $ by leaving the iphone at home and dropping the service.Learn more: http://thetravelinsider.info/2002/0308.htm
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 04:52 pm (UTC)L. also heartily recommends United Mobile, who purchased R-i-i-i-ng, a Liechtenstein company that was basically running a callback system. Free inbound calls, super cheap roaming rates, and no contract. They have a travel deal going on right now where you get a GSM phone and 10 euro of talk time for 30 euros, so it's a 20-euro phone. (L. recalls the SIM costing 50 CHF for an appropriate number of minutes, without the phone-included deal.)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-18 05:01 pm (UTC)Do make sure that whatever phone you get operates on the correct GSM bands for all the countries you'll be in, though. I don't know off the top of my head whether SE Asia uses different bands from Europe, but this is pretty easy to look up.
cheap unlocked phone
Date: 2009-01-20 08:08 pm (UTC)-Steve
Re: cheap unlocked phone
Date: 2009-01-20 08:25 pm (UTC)