international SIM cards

diane,

For visiting multiple countries, you might have a look at the "travel SIM's" offered by firms such as Call In Europe, Roam Simple, Cellular Abroad, Mobal, Telestial or others. Have a look at their websites to get some idea on what the costs will be based on your anticipated calling patterns.

I'm not a big fan of using a separate SIM for each country, as everytime you change SIM's, your phone number changes. That makes it a bit difficult for your contacts to know which number you're using at any given time.

If you're only going to be using the phone very occasionally, and already have a plan with either AT&T or T-Mobile, you might have a look at their international calling plans (which reduce the roaming charges slightly).

Good luck and happy travels!

If you're ever going to do more international travel, and you don't talk a lot, there are simpler, cheaper ways.

I just want to post my observation that the calling rates for new Mobal customers are higher than established customers get. As an example - calls to the US from France used to be $1.50/minute, now it's $1.95/minute. I'm still getting $1.50 on my account. Incoming calls are $1.50 per minute where they sued to be $1.25

Now, that's a lot more expensive per minute than the calling rates with an in-country SIM, but you have to buy the SIM and a minimum number of minutes first. With my Mobal SIM my total calling cost for my recent 2-week trip to Paris was around $10.

I'm with Peter. I've had the same Mobal phone and number for years. Use the phone in Tokyo, Buenas Aires, etc without having to go looking for self-expiring sims. Last solo trip was about three weeks -- called home every couple of days in the interest of marital politeness -- cost less than thirty bucks -- spent more than that on morning coffee.

Thanks to all of you for your responses. As a novice to cell phones I can see this is more complicated than I imagined. We will not be making a lot of calls and only having one phone # is appealing even at additional expense. Never heard of Mobal and I've been involved in web searches to find out more. As we travel out of the States quite a bit having an international phone could be the way to go. Our current cell is pay-as-you-go, so we're not locked into a contract with any company, but it is a cheap tracfone and not suitable for an international SIM.
My thanks again and hope this is useful for other travellers.....back to the research! Cheers Diane

diane,

As you're presently using a "TracPhone", you'll also need to buy a phone. You can either buy a quad-band, unlocked GSM Phone from E-Bay or purchase a phone from one of the "Travel SIM" firms I mentioned in my previous post.

Given the fact that you stated "we travel out of the States quite a bit", I would still suggest having a look at the rates for at least Roam Simple & Call In Europe. If you're using the phone on a regular basis in multiple countries, it may be the most cost effective solution. One thing to keep in mind is that some travel SIM's "expire" if not used or topped-up for a period of time (often 6 months). Some firms allow customers to retain the number indefinitely by paying an additional fee.

I've been travelling with a Cell phone for a number of years, but I still haven't found a "perfect solution". The convenience comes at a cost, and the challenge is to find the option that offers the lowest price. I try to use text as much as possible when travelling, as it's much less expensive that voice calls.

Good luck!

Diane,

I have a T-Mobile razor phone that is set up for international calling (through them). They charge about a dollar a minute.

If I have my phone unlocked (haven't done it yet but supposed to be able to get it done at any T-Mobile store), I can buy a sim card from any kiosk when I arrive in any country. The prices for calling, from within that country, are dirt cheap (a couple cents a minute) and no charge for receiving calls.

The sim card I purchase in France, however, won't be cheap in Italy (any more than using my T-Mobile account in France). If I'm traveling in more than one country, as I most often am, I can get a sim card for each country (a lot of up front costs), use my phone (higher per minute charges), buy a one-country PIN card for each country (low cost and low per minute charges - but have to use pay phones) or a PIN card that works in multiple countries (not as cheap as one country cards and a risk that it won't work as advertised).

I keep weighing the costs vs. advantages and, so far, am still using my T-mobile phone as an emergency line and buying PIN cards to make the majority of my calls.

I rarely take calls on the T-Mobile account. If I did, the charge for taking those calls while traveling would add up quickly.

If I traveled to one country almost exclusively, I would certainly get a SIM card for that country. So far that's not the case for me.

Another vote for Mobal, for ease of use and convenience of not having to purchase a SIM everywhere, not having to change SIMs when crossing borders, and never buying minutes I won't use or paying monthly service charges.