Seward Incorporated

For those international travelers among us, one of the biggest headaches and points of confusion that we regularly face relates to using our cell phones while abroad.  Nobody wants to pay exorbitant international roaming rates to make or receive calls from home. Additionally, the last thing we want is to make our international friends, family, or colleagues call a U.S. number when we’re located down the block.  The ideal situation is for us to purchase a local pay-per-use SIM card that we can use while we’re traveling AND to have it work in our regular every-day phone.

The major roadblock that we encounter is that U.S. cell phone carriers have a tendency to lock the phone so that it will only accept its own SIM cards.  Their logic makes sense; U.S. carriers subsidize the purchase cost of phones and make up the difference through the duration of your contract.  As a result, the last thing they want is for someone to use them for a cheap phone and then move to another carrier.

So, the big question is, “what options are there for international cell phone service?”  Assuming you have a phone that is capable of working on international networks (world phone), here are a few options for you:

• Buy the international plan through your current provider. While this option is less than ideal from almost every perspective, it generally does work. The biggest negative is that you will have a HUGE bill waiting for you when you get back.
• Purchase an unlocked phone while you’re abroad. Cell providers in most countries don’t subsidize their phones so they don’t have any need to lock them. Purchasing one of these phones will allow you to take it almost anywhere and put any local pre-paid SIM card in it without concern. The drawbacks to this method are that they are significantly more expensive since they aren’t subsidized and that you won’t have any of the applications/contacts/email that you currently have on your phone.
• Call your provider and ask them to unlock your phone for you. If you don’t have an iPhone (I’ll explain more later), give your U.S. provider a call and explain that you’re traveling internationally and would like to use local SIM cards in your device. They will, of course, try to sell you on their international rate plan but be calm and persistent in explaining your need. Assuming you meet their criteria for unlocking (often that you’ve been with the company for more than x weeks) they will generally walk you through the process on the phone.

So, for you iPhone users out there, here’s the 411.  AT&T will not unlock your iPhone for you no matter how loud you cry. Verizon and Sprint, however, will unlock your phone for use with SIM cards if you have the iPhone 4S.  If you’re locked into AT&T the only options are for you to purchase an Apple Unlocked iPhone from their online store at full price ($649-849) or to jailbreak your device and perform a SIM unlock through some additional software.  I’ve been down this jailbreak road and, let me tell you, it’s not at all worth the hassle.

Without a doubt, the best option is to have your provider unlock your current phone if it’s possible. That way you retain access to all your email, contacts, and applications. Many countries also offer pay-per-use data plans to go along with their SIM cards that let you retain all the comforts of home on your device.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Technology. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
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