The summer is a great time to venture away from home and explore the world around you. As many people become more reliant on wireless technology to stay in touch, they may find it necessary to take their phones with them when they travel.
Many will come to the unfortunate realization that roaming while traveling can be quite expensive. Roaming rates in many countries can be quite high for voice and data rates often still charge by the kilobyte, making even the smallest access by your data device quite pricey.
Here are a few things to know if you take your phone with you when traveling:
Travel in Canada
If you already have a phone plan from a Canadian provider, then chances are you will not incur any roaming charges. What you will be charged is long distance for your phone calls. Here’s generally how it works: if you have a Toronto phone number on your cell phone and you are checking out the west coast in Vancouver, your outgoing calls to locations in Vancouver will be considered local calls and you will only be charged for your airtime. Calls made back to Toronto (or anywhere long distance from Vancouver) will incur your regular airtime charge as well as long distance. Receiving calls is the most costly. When you receive a call, no matter who it is that is calling you, your phone bill will show a long distance charge. This is because the incoming call is being routed through the local Toronto exchange and is then forwarded to you long distance to Vancouver. This is especially problematic if someone in Vancouver is trying to call you. They will have to pay the long distance charge from Vancouver to Toronto, and you have to pay the long distance charge from Toronto to you in Vancouver. The easiest way to avoid long distance charges in this scenario is to use tour caller ID and call the incoming number back. If it is a Toronto phone number calling you, determine how important it is to answer the call, and consider sending it to voicemail. If it is too important to miss the call, just realize you could be paying anything from $0.12 to $0.30 per minute in long distance depending on your plan.
Travel in the U.S.
Taking your phone into the U.S. is quite seamless but also more expensive than using it in Canada. Unless you have a North American calling plan that allows for travel in the U.S. You could be looking at rates anywhere from $1 or more per minute. While we currently only have a 3 or 4 main phone carriers in the whole country, our American neighbours have much more territorial providers, which means you could actually roam on a number of different providers networks while away. Try and keep local and long distance calls to a minumim, and use text messaging where you can. (Although text messaging rates are also higher when travelling out of Canada). If your trip is short term, the best advice is to be careful about using your phone and send calls to voicemail whenever possible.
Extended travel in the U.S. or International
If you will be visiting for a longer period of time, or to an international destination, consider getting a prepaid account from one of the local providers. Spending $40 or $50 on a prepaid account can be a worthwhile investment considering some roaming bills can easily reach over that even with minimal usage.
Purchasing a prepaid phone to go along with your prepaid account will vary from country to country and provider to provider, so shop around online before going to find the best package for you.
If you have a GSM phone from an existing provider, consider getting your phone unlocked. This will allow you to use a SIM card with a prepaid account in you phone, thus saving you the cost of buying a new phone. If you travel a fair bit, either unlocking your phone or purchasing a spare unlocked phone for travel will keep your costs down. You will only need to pay for the prepaid account airtime and setup. If you are looking to get your GSM phone unlocked, visit this site.
Non carrier branded unlocked phones can range in price from $75 and up depending on what features you want. There is a great selection of both new and used phones online. Do keep in mind that not all phones will work everywhere. Make sure to do your homework first, or contact a professional to help determine what the best phone is for your needs and for where you will be traveling.
If you need to know ahead of time what your number is going to be when you travel, there are a number of companies that offer a global prepaid phone service. You can get the account set up before you leave and keep one international number wherever you travel. Compared to roaming with your existing provider you can save quite a bit of money and be able to confirm with your friends and colleagues how to reach you when you travel.
A few things to remember
When you travel with a smartphone like a Blackberry or other device, make sure you can turn the data features off. Many smartphones will continue to send and receive data while roaming, and raking up your roaming data charge without you realizing it. If you are not sure, talk to an expert or consider switching to a non data phone for the duration of your trip.
Some phones are equipped with Wi-Fi which will allow you to access some services from a wireless access point. Some phones even offer a VoIP client to allow you to make phone calls in these Wi-Fi hotspots. If your phone does not support Wi-Fi but you are taking a computer, there are a number of internet phone services that will work on your computer with internet access.
Keeping in touch when you travel can be expensive, but it does not have to be. With a little homework, the advice of an expert and some pre planning, you can enjoy your trip without worrying about a big bill at the end.
