Phone tips for Americans abroad

Over the past few years I've helped several friends and family members get mobile phones for use in Europe and Australia. Nowadays, there's no reason to travel without one.

Renting a phone for use abroad is obsolete. Either buy a phone before you go, or get a prepaid phone package when you arrive. It will be a lot cheaper than you think -- and much cheaper than going through your US cell phone company.

Most of the rest of the world uses the GSM standard. Japan and Korea are the main exceptions. Some GSM networks use the 900 MHz frequency band, others use 1800, which is why most non-US GSM phones are dual-band. There is GSM service in the USA, but only at 1900 MHz [UPDATE: and now also on 850 MHz]; there are multiband GSM phones that can be used in the US and abroad.

GSM phones use a little, thumbnail-sized card called a SIM. Without a SIM card, a GSM phone can only be used to call 911 or the local equivalent. The SIM card is the phone's soul, so to speak: it carries all the information about the number and network the phone will use, as well as call records, phone book entries, etc.

SIM cards may be interchanged, so if you are going to a country with GSM networks, all you have to do is bring along a dual-band (or other appropriate multiband) phone and stick in a locally-purchased prepaid SIM. Prepaid service is not big in the US, but it is everpresent elsewhere; expect to pay no more than $20 for a SIM, which will normally include calling credit of around half the purchase price. Since it costs nothing to receive calls, you may never need to top up. If you do, top-up cards are typically sold at newsstands and tobacconists, not just at mobile phone shops. Unlike in the US, prepaid service does not entail any monthly fee, and the SIM cards of some providers (Virgin, for example) never expire (others have to be used or topped up every six months or so, if you want to retain the number) [UPDATE: Virgin now appears to have changed this policy; nonetheless, my SIM was still active this October even after not having been used for nearly a year]. Call costs are quite reasonable (Virgin charges 20p/minute, UK to USA), but note that the flip side of free incoming calls is higher rates when calling other non-US mobile phones.

So, how to get your phone? Buying a phone + SIM package when you arrive can be quite cheap, but there is one significant drawback: the phone (often referred to as a "handset") will be "locked", so that it can only be used with a SIM from the same service provider. This effectively means you will only be able to use the phone in its country of purchase [UPDATE: Cheap deals on prepaid phones are increasingly being limited to those who can prove permanent residence where they are sold].

Although many independent phone shops offer unlocking services, tracking one down may not be the best use of your time abroad. Especially since one can buy a good used, unlocked dual-band phone for not much money -- eBay UK being a prime source (check out recent sales of Ericsson T28s handsets here). Older Motorola tribands have also become very inexpensive, and unused, unlocked examples are now plentiful at eBay USA (and being triband, testing them out before you go becomes that much easier).

[UPDATE: Triband and quadband GSM phones are now quite common in the US market; the Nokia 6610 and 3650 are a couple of older models now available quite cheaply on eBay and elsewhere, and are notably easy to unlock at home by entering special codes. For further information (and free unlocking assistance), look here.]

Text messaging isn't that big in the USA, but it is very popular elsewhere. Text messaging (more widely referred to as "SMS") is not only cheap -- it also works where signal strength is too weak for a decent voice connection, and saves you the hassle of leaving and retrieving voicemail. You will probably not be using SMS to reach people in the US, but it is a convenient option for them to reach you -- and especially when large time differences make voice calls awkward (just remember to turn off your phone's incoming SMS alert when you go to sleep!). There are many web-based SMS services that are more or less free (search Google); all require registration, and you'll have to make sure the network that you'll be using abroad will be supported (ICQ, for example, has a few different free SMS services here). Another alternative that works with a particularly large number of foreign networks is Clickatell's SMS program for Windows; it's a free download, first 5 messages are free, then a bit under 5 cents each. Of course, you won't have to worry about this with friends and family back home who happen to have phones that are capable of sending and receiving international text messages (note that many US carriers are better at receiving than sending).

Finally, note that prepaid calling cards are now widely available worldwide. They are most easily found wherever there are significant numbers of immigrants. Obviously, they do not permit others to call you when you are on the road, but if you are going to be spending much time calling home, their rates are significantly below what you'll pay on your mobile phone -- from the UK and Australia, for example, only a few cents per minute.

July 2005 update: Although we've gone through another few generations of phones since this was originally written, most everything else in this post still applies. For the latest info, take a look at www.prepaidgsm.net; also check out Howard Forums.

Posted by David on September 19, 2003 3:29 PM