In my experience in the cell phone industry, there are a lot of people who do not know the cheapest way to use their cell phone abroad, and things need to be done to get their phone ready to use overseas. Many people are paying high roaming charges when they travel abroad and getting surprise bills of hundreds of dollars. I personally do not like to see that happen to anyone. I will help you to find out if your phone can be used abroad, if so, what is the best way to save on your cell phone bills while traveling abroad with the phone.

Find out what phone you are using:

CDMA Phones: example, Verizon (US), Telus (Canada) - Only work in US or Canada. So do not bring them to travel unless you want to pay high roaming charges.

GSM Phones (Use sim card): At&T (Previously Cingular in US), T-mobile (US), Rogers (Canada), Fido (Canada)
- Dual band 850/1900 frequencies: for North America use only. So do not bring them abroad.
- Tri band 850/1900/1800 frequencies: for North America, Part of Asia and Europe.
- Quad band 850/1900/900/1800 frequencies: for North America, Asia, Europe etc. (except Japan and Korea)

If you travel to Japan, even quad band phone with world frequencies will not work. So if you plan to use a cell phone in Japan, expect to rent one at the airport for an expensive rate.

Save money by getting a local prepaid sim card instead of roaming

Before you leave home, do the following:

Cell Phone: Check with the manufacturer for the specifications of your cell phone and make sure the phone is a GSM network type phone and has the right frequencies of the country you are going to. If you plan to buy a cell phone on ebay for traveling purpose, remember to buy a quad band phone with all 4 frequencies around the world.  So, no matter where you travel in the future, you are covered.

Remove GSM Phone Network Lock: Since most cell phone providers in US and Canada locked their cell phone to their own network, take your phone to a cell phone expert and have it unlocked. Ebay sellers do sell remote unlock code to help unlock your cell phone as well. It is a new way to unlock your GSM cell phone so you can save a lot of time and effort to find a local cell phone shop to unlock your cell phone. Remote unlock is very safe and do not require connection to a computer or much technical knowledge. Usually you will get simple instruction to input the unlock code from the seller. But again, check what frequencies your destination country is using and avoid unlocking the wrong phone.

Sim Card: Prepaid Pay As You Go Sim cards of US, Canada, and overseas are available on ebay so you can get yourself ready with a phone, sim card of the country you are going to, and some minutes before you leave town. If you want to call back to your home town, buy a long distance calling card!

Data Usage: A lot of travelers now require internet access at their finger tip. To use internet, the best is to get a cell phone which has a Wi-Fi feature. Wi-Fi is a high speed wireless internet feature that gives you internet connection at a hot spot or some free Wi-Fi area. It is the same idea as if you have a wireless router at home and you surf the net on your laptop without connecting to the modem directly. I don’t suggest everyone to get a phone with Wi-Fi feature but if you want to go online while you are traveling, a cell phone with Wi-Fi is very handy.

Buying a cell phone in Europe/Asia:  In case you forgot to have your cell phone ready before you travel, be careful when buying a cell phone from Asia. A lot of asian cell phones only have 900/1800 (Asia/Europe) frequencies which make it no use when you bring back to North America. Please make sure you check with a few different sellers that you are buying a Quad band (850/1900/900/1800 frequencies) cell phone. Best of all, buy your cell phone on ebay before you leave as we reputable sellers do give clear descriptions of the cell phone we are selling.

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Good luck when you travel next time!



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