Gadgets
Five Tips for Using Your Smartphone Overseas
Making Sure It Works and Avoiding Unexpected Bills
Are you planning to use your smartphone
while traveling internationally? Here are five simple ways to ensure a
straightforward experience while you’re away, and avoid nasty bill
surprises when you get home.
Make Sure Your Phone Will Work in Your Destination
First, ensure that your phone will work in your intended
destinations. Cell companies around the world use several different
technologies and frequencies, and there’s no guarantee that your phone
will work with all of them.
Check the phone’s user manual – if it supports "quad-band GSM",
it should work in much of the world. If you purchased your phone from
your cell company and you’re not certain if it will function overseas,
contact customer support.
Most cell companies also don’t enable your account for
international roaming automatically, due to the high costs that can be
incurred. Once you know that your phone is capable of working in a
particular destination, be sure to contact your cell company to enable
roaming on your account.
More information:
Check for International Roaming Packages
Using your phone overseas can be a very costly exercise. Most
cell plans don’t include any calls, texts or data when traveling
internationally, and rates can be extremely high. It’s not unusual to
hear of people returning from a one or two week vacation and receiving a
bill of thousands of dollars for their cellphone use.
To avoid this happening to you, check to see whether your cell
company has any packages designed for international use. While many such
packages are still expensive compared to using your phone at home,
they’re still much cheaper than "pay as you go" rates.
While T-Mobile has recently announced a limited free SMS and data plan
for its US customers who travel overseas, and new roaming regulations
will come into force in the European Union over the next few years,
these are still, unfortunately, rare exceptions.
Find Out If It’s Unlocked
If you’d prefer to avoid roaming charges entirely, it’s possible
to do so with an unlocked GSM smartphone. With one of these, you will
be able to remove your existing cell company’s SIM card and replace it
with one from a local company in your destination.
Depending on where in the world you’re going, the card itself
will cost a few dollars, while $5-$20 worth of credit should give you
enough calls, texts and data to last a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately, if you didn’t pay full price for your phone, it’s
unlikely to be unlocked. There are exceptions (recent iPhones purchased
from Verizon have an unlocked SIM card slot for international use, for
example), but they are few and far between.
If your phone is locked, it’s worth contacting your cell company
to see if it will unlock it for you (especially if the phone is no
longer under contract). Bear in mind, however, that the company usually
has no obligation to do so.
There are unofficial methods of unlocking certain models of
smartphone, but these are done at your own risk and should be considered
a last resort.
Turn Off Cell Data (and Use Wi-Fi Instead)
If your smartphone isn’t unlocked and you don’t have a good
international roaming package, there are still ways to avoid spending a
fortune. The most obvious is to turn off cellular data before you board
the plane to your destination, and leave it that way until you get home.
At rates of up to $20/MB, you could have spent hundreds of dollars
downloading email before you’ve even got to the baggage carousel.
Instead, limit yourself to using Wi-Fi while you’re away. Most
accommodation now includes wireless Internet – free or at a relatively
small cost – while cafes and restaurants can fill in the
gaps when you’re on the go. It’s not quite as convenient as having
cellular data at your fingertips, but it’s a whole lot cheaper.
Use Google Voice or Skype Instead of Making Calls
Finally, whether you’re using Wi-Fi or cellular data, consider
using smartphone apps like Skype or Google Voice when you need to stay
in touch with friends and family back home. Rather than paying high
international calling and text rates, these apps let you talk and send
texts for free or cheap to anybody around the world.
Using Google Voice lets you call phones and send texts in the US
or Canada at no cost, and any number outside that for a small fee. Skype
also has low per-minute rates for calls and texts, and both apps let
you call other users of the service for free no matter where they are.
With a little preparation, heading overseas with your smartphone
doesn’t have to be a difficult or expensive proposition. Have fun!
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