Any good pay-as-you-go plans with international roaming?
Hi all,
I work in the travel industry and I spend about 10 months of the year traveling between about 50 different countries. I'm looking at getting a new smart-phone soon, but because of my traveling situation, I don't have much internet access (I work on a ship at sea). When I do get access, it's either really slow or I can only be on for a few minutes at a time.
As such, I have no real way to do the level of research that I would usually be able to do on this, so I'm hoping some of you out there may have some experience.
I'm looking at getting a Samsung Galaxy S2, so I'm trying to find a provider that has a good plan for international roaming that either comes with the phone or that I can buy the phone separately for and just add the sim to it. I'm only ever in the US for about a month in an average year, so having a regular plan doesn't really make sense for me. The focus is on international roaming.
Any ideas or insight would be appreciated, and if you have some specific examples (ie monthly rates, roaming charges per-minute, etc), that'd be even better!
Hi Joe. If you work on a cruise ship, it is difficult to recommend a service that will give you coverage on the ship without looking at a satellite-based service, and those get expensive. Going with a tower-based service means you will have to wait until you're close to shore first before making a call.
With that in mind, you will want to check out services like Truphone. There are dozens of these global SIM card type companies out there offering more or less the same service, but Tru is a step ahead in my opinion. Really it depends on where you are going, so look up their rates.
on Ebay. Lot's of countries, no monthly except .50/month to keep number if not used.
Cheap rates. I have no connection to this company except I have their sim card.
I do work on a cruise ship, but I'm not too concerned about having it work on the ship. We have phone cards we can use on the ship, as well as a ship-SIM that only works at sea. I'm mainly looking for something I can use to take off the ship and use in ports for very basic stuff like calling for cabs, meeting up with friends away from the ship, and for emergencies. I'd also like to be able to look up maps/directions/transit schedules, etc. The TruSIM and SIMple links you've provided have both been very helpful.
I purchased a TRUSIM 20 days prior to several INTL trips, primarily to use on an unlocked Android phone for data. The card arrived after I left for my first trip (the order got messed-up and did not ship.) When I returned, I called and then received the SIM prior to a trip to London. The SIM was activated and tested in the US prior to the trip. When I arrived in London, the card could not register on any network. My standard US TMobile card worked fine as did an additional INTL SIM card that I used as a backup. The TRUSIM did NOT work. (Even after numerous calls to their customer support.
The sent a replacement SIM to my home address. When I arrived, I activated and tested the replacement SIM. I then left for a trip to Belize, Honduras and Mexico. The TRUSIM did NOT register in any of those locations. My TMobile and backup international SIM card worked fine. The TRUSIM never worked. This was attempted on several unlocked phones. I spoke to TRUPHONE and they would NOT reimburse my expenditure.
I would NOT recommend TRUSIM to any international traveler, based upon my experience.
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