Overseas Traveling with a Cell Phone?

The advice I have for you is, unless you're a T-Mobile (USA) customer or your home carrier offers free International Roaming, do not subscribe to your carrier's International roaming plan. AT&T, my carrier in the states, charges me 30 US$ for 15 minutes of sending and receiving calls with a pay as you go rate of 2.50 US$/minute; 30 US$ for 200 messages, with a pay as you go rate of 0.50 US$/text message and 1.50 US$/multimedia message; and 30 US$ for 120 MB of data, with an overage charge of another 30 US$ for every 120 MB over. And those prices are in addition to what I'm already paying per month! It's simply not worth it.

With a little research and planning before the trip, making accommodations for communications can end up far simpler. In the Philippines, SMART Telecom, Globe Telecom, and Sun Cellular are three of the major mobile telecom companies available. Each of them offer various prepaid SIM services at far more affordable prices. A prepaid SIM card and two 500 PHP load cards costs 1,040 PHP; that's about 24 US$. Thanks to the prepaid offers provided by SMART, this nets me unlimited calls and texts to all three major networks in the Philippines for 14 days, and unlimited data use for 14 days. It's significantly cheaper than using AT&T's International packages.

So, how do you actually accomplish all this? All it requires is a bit of time to do research on the mobile carriers of your destination, and a compatible unlocked phone.

Find out which frequency bands your visiting country's carriers use

Cell phones are rather complicated devices. To the average person it might seem like all you need to do is insert another SIM card to have it work wherever you are. The short answer is exactly that, if and only if the phone you insert the SIM card into is compatible with the frequency bands of your traveling region.

Thankfully, the majority of smartphones with SIM cards nowadays are already international ready--that is, it's a Quad-Band GSM phone that can operate on all the bands used by mobile carriers for voice calls and text messages. It gets more complicated if you want to send and receive calls, and also have data. 3G Data frequencies vary depending on where you are, and 4G LTE is even more variable.

Use GSMArena's mobile coverage tool to find the used frequencies in the country you will be visiting. It's also a good website to use to determine if your current phone will work in another country, or if you would need a different phone. Contact the mobile carriers in the country you're visiting and ask them directly which bands they support as well; they'll usually give you the most current information they have, thus making it easier to select a phone, or a carrier, or a plan later.

Find out if your current phone is unlocked and supports your country of visit's bands

When you know which bands are used by the carriers in the country you'll be visiting, you'll want to make sure your phone is unlocked and is capable of operating in the bands you need. Your home carrier should be able to give you your phone's compatible bands, and most can unlock your phone for free or for a small fee. If they will not unlock your phone, there are a variety of websites that can issue unlock codes for your phone for a fee.

If you plan on traveling frequently, or if you want a phone that you can use practically anywhere, I suggest trying to find a phone listed as a Quad-Band GSM/Penta-Band 3G. Those kinds of phones are designed to work practically anywhere and with any GSM carrier. Your best bets would be older Nokia models in their E-series line or N-series line. The software is a bit dated, but they're durable, internationally capable, and very well made phones that will last a long time. My personal favorite is Nokia's E7-00. Though it sacrifices on the camera quality, it's suite of communications options--e-mail, SIP VoIP, video calling (with compatible phones), Skype (no video calls), Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Lync, Exchange--make it an awesome choice for communications wherever you are and whatever you are.

Choose a carrier and plan, and find out where to make the purchase

Once you know which bands each carrier supports, and once you have a phone compatible with your chosen carrier, it's time to decide which plans you want, and where to buy it. Check each carrier's website to see their offers and rates, then shoot a message towards their customer service. Ask them where you can purchase a SIM card close to where you're staying, and how you can load more balance into the card if you start getting low. That way, once you get to your country of visit, it's a simple matter of buying the SIM card, loading it with credit, and inserting the SIM card into your phone. There. Communications profit.

That's too much work! Isn't there an easier option?

For certain countries, HolidayPhone can actually mail you a SIM card from the country you're visiting. You can decide whatever services you need. After you pay them and tell them where and when you're going, expect a SIM card to arrive to you a few days before your trip. The price turns out to be nearly as expensive as using my carrier's International packages, but it is far more feature-filled, and more convenient if you have no time for research.

You can always rely on your carrier's International packages, too, but be sure you're okay with the limits they set, and the prices they want you to pay.

Otherwise, there's always us! I'd be more than happy to do the research for you, if you'd like.

What does my set-up look like?

Thankfully I keep my E7 around for whenever I travel, so I have the luxury of skipping the step of researching GSM or 3G bands; it's compatible with every frequency, though it's not 4G LTE compatible. From there, I read reviews of all the telecom companies in the Philippines and found that SMART has the best reviews out of all of them, and that their unlimited data plan is truly unlimited. I asked them through Twitter where I can buy SIM cards and credit close to my hotel's location (practically anywhere, they said, which was true), and wrote it in my notes. After which, I went there, bought the SIM and credit, and I had cell phone and data.