Using a Cellphone Abroad

Having cell phones when we're travelling makes coordinating, especially with the kids, tons easier. Of course, we could use our local cell phone plans abroad, and pay over $1 per minute for calls, but on trips that last for more than a few days, it's cheaper and not very difficult to get a local plan.

For our recent trip to Spain, we planned ahead, getting our phones unlocked before we left, and replacing our SIM cards with local SIM cards that we bought at a Vodaphone shop in Barcelona.

Unlocking the phones before we left home was the hard part. T-Mobile customers can have one phone unlocked per-plan per-month if they are travelling abroad (the process can take a day or to, so it's best to plan ahead). Customers of other services may have to pay a fee to have their phones unlocked, or find a third party vendor do do the work.

Rules and regulations governing local simm card purchase vary from country to country as do rates and services. In some countries, you will need a passport and are required to fill out government paperwork to get a simm card while in others only a credit card or cash is required. Typically you purchase a card with some dollar credit on it and have several different calling plan options, which the sales person will explain to you.

0 comments | Posted on November 1, 2007 | Save to del.icio.us

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