Your choices are overpowering when it comes to international mobile phones. The active traveler who spends his first part of the day in Europe and late afternoon in Africa, in all likelihood carries his own high tech smartphone. A college student who is studying in Paris might have a limited French smartphone that only works in his local region. The leisure tourist, who would want a cell phone in the event of of a crisis, may hire a smartphone and take it into a postal depot on the return trip.
Taking into account the expansive range of International mobile phone usage across the United States, its hardly surprising that a lot of travellers feel almost 'naked' when traveling without a cellphone in their pocket. If you think you might be the kind of character who may text your friends whilst on top of the Eiffel tower, or phone home whilst on the deck of a cruise liner, then please continue. We detail the benefits and drawbacks of each mobile phone option available, so that you can figure out which one suits you (and your budget) the most.
Using Your Own Handset With An International Roaming Plan
Most US telecoms companies will allow you to select a roaming plan for your phone, allowing you the ability to make worldwide calls. These type of plans may be offered as a permanent setup, or just for a short period of time, e. g, a month long trip. Each phone company will offer slightly differing plans for variable costs. These will work across particular phone frequencies and special designated countries. Usually your cell phone supplier will be able to supply you a coverage map for these plans, to demonstrate the areas of good and bad phone network coverage. The per-minute call costs will differ significantly across countries.
Some network suppliers will have call tariffs for specific regions, for example Ecaudor, or Asia. Other cellphone providers will enable you to pre-pick the countries that you will be going to, and tailor a plan for you. Commonly speaking, the higher the number of countries, the higher the monthly rate. Although you may be able to find a fairly comprehensive roaming phone plan from your existing mobile phone supplier, you may not be able to make calls from every single country over the world. ensure that you check your plan will work in the places that you are going to.
To make a call from another country using your phone, your mobile phone must function on the network of that country. If you're going to Europe, its no trouble to find a calling plan to cover your journey. If you are going to Africa, The West Indies, The Caribbean or South America then costs will vary a lot more. Also, your phone must support the precise frequencies for the local phone network. Many low cost phones will only support a single frequency, and will usually only function back home.
Fortunately, a lot of cell phone companies will provide a comprehensive coverage map and itemization of call rates, so you can for the most part figure it all out before your journey. If you want someone to take care of it for you, there are dedicated international cellphone companies, who only deal in overseas phone plans.
If you want someone to take care of it for you, there are specialized Europe Phone suppliers, who only deal in overseas tariffs.