Travel Technology - Huge cell phone charges

There have been reports in FT and elsewhere of people inadvertently running up cell phone charges in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, especially when traveling internationally. I don't understand how this is possible, probably because though I have an international cell phone, I never use it for much except an occasional voice call or text message -- it's almost always turned off.

Can someone explain to us novices how it's possible to rack up such huge charges without realizing it?

Is there any way to protect yourself from this?

If you have a netbook or laptop connected to the internet via the cell phone network, does the same risk exist? Any protections?

Thanks for any enlightenment.

If your phone is set to automatically check for email, you can run up hundreds of dollars in data download charges.
The way to avoid is either to disable the automatic checking of email, or to sign up for an international data plan.

And if you leave the phone on and haven't disabled call forwarding (voicemail), every call that you don't answer will be charged for a minute of roaming... and if you have things like Google Maps, Gmail, Google Sync, etc., turned on... the list goes on.

Sometimes the rates to make calls using your phone in a different country can be as high as $13/minute or more. Have a 30 minute business call you have to take? Later you have another call that can't be missed? I have had a $2000+ phone bill from a 10 day business trip in India. Since then I have get local prepaid SIMs for every country I visit.

This same risk exists with the data cards for the various networks. Although the cards work in other countries, they all incur roaming charges which are outrageous in many cases. I had an work issue while on vacation in Mexico and was using my data card for a number of hours only to come back to a bill of a couple of thousand dollars, more than the entire vacation.

I've always checked with my carrier before any Int'l trips for an Int'l plan that will cover the countries I will be in so I don't have any surprises waiting for me when the next bill arrives.

Verizon played a nice trick on me... My US air card connected fine in Canada, and it even said "Verizon Wireless Network". Turns out I was roaming, didn't know. 892$.

HTSC

I'm glad this has never happened to me although I've been all over the world. That was the very reason why I didn't get an iPhone and I've never slipped in my 3G data card in my laptop. My phone is an HTC Touch Cruise and I have never incurred more than $2 a day despite using e-mail on my cellphone (separate from SMS, I know).

That's one of the sticky points with having a GSM phone when traveling abroad (outside of US/Canada). You'll be roaming internationally, and a call may get forwarded to your voicemail if you don't answer.

However, most likely you'll be charged twice: once from the home switch to the "visitor's" switch, and another from the visitor's switch back to the home switch to route to your vmail.

The lowest-cost solution would be to keep your phone off after you take off for your int'l flight, so your phone is not recognized as roaming. Then, upon arrival, buy a local SIM card to make your calls, and give your contacts your local temporary number. The advantage is many foreign networks do not charge for incoming calls; the obvious but minor inconvenience is having to deal with an extra phone number.

If you're offshore (cruise, working, whatever) you can incurr a profoundly nasty surprise if you use your cell phone.

Thats offshore as in ocean/sea/gulf ... as opposed to a Cayman bank account or customer service department in India. :D

If your phone is set to automatically check for email, you can run up hundreds of dollars in data download charges.
The way to avoid is either to disable the automatic checking of email, or to sign up for an international data plan.

E-mail is pretty small. My phone only downloads text until told otherwise and each e-mail is only a few K. I'd have to e-mail quite a bit to spend more than $100 or be gone for quite a while.

Don't forget kids who use cell phones as alarm clocks and get 100 texts at international rates every night.

even if you watch it, it can come out off and they bill you, but indeed one can often at least the first time, get them removed.

A friend of mine went to china a while ago, bought the international plan, for 100MB of data for X$. He cleared his data record on the iphone before leaving, and tracked it. He used to phone and racked up usage on the iphone at least of 93MB. Well, when he got back, AT&T said he had used 230MB of data and billed him like 900$ extra. He said no, I have a screen shot of the phone, with a time stamp etc. "you TOLD me to watch my usage via the phone screen and I did" They reversed the charge.

It is just another example of what I think is a price TEST. They'll put a number out there and SOME people will pay. Most people don't track it and have no idea how to argue the point.

Buyer beware.

Downloading e-mail may be small, but checking every two or three minutes at $15 a minute with a one minute minimum connection each time will add up very quickly. You need to be aware, if your phone has a data plan, that you are not doing stuff like that constantly without even knowing it.

Another way some people get hit (though they pretty much don't do this anymore) is if they are taking a cruise. They think they are roaming on the islands network for some amount of money, but instead are hitting the cruise ship antenna at $5 or $7 a minute. Most ships shut their towers off in port, but you can still hit another one passing by depending on where you are.

The way some people do it with out realizing it is they don't understand the rates they are paying when they make or receive a call. At $13 a minute, a ten minute call to check and see how everybody is costs you $130. Make a couple of those a trip, and it's through the roof.


Like anything else money related, the easiest way to get around it all is to know what the rates are before you use the phone.

Very true. Roaming rates on the cruise ships are quie high. Tmobile charge $4.99 while the remaing major US carriers charge $2.49.

Then, upon arrival, buy a local SIM card to make your calls, and give your contacts your local temporary number. The advantage is many foreign networks do not charge for incoming calls; the obvious but minor inconvenience is having to deal with an extra phone number.

You can also switch to use something like Google Voice / GrandCentral and just put in your local SIM number to ring. That way people dial the same number as usual, but will get you at your new local temp number. You can also make rules that allow only "important" calls to be put through. This is assuming you gave your contacts your Google Voice number instead of your actual cell number.

Don't forget kids who use cell phones as alarm clocks and get 100 texts at international rates every night.

Using your iPhone as an alarm clock incurs international roaming charges? Is this true?

Lydia

Using your iPhone as an alarm clock incurs international roaming charges? Is this true?

Lydia

No. But if the phone is on and a bunch of texts arrive you'd be charged for receiving those texts.

Using your iPhone as an alarm clock incurs international roaming charges? Is this true?

Lydia

If the phone is on and the SIM card is in and you receive texts you will be charged.

I just take out my SIM card when I'm in another country. My phone likes to slip from Wifi to data every so often and I don't need voice or data for any reason while anywhere but the US and Canada.

It's pretty simple - most of these overcharges that hit the media are for data service where the subscriber pays a fee based on usage, i.e. KB or MB downloaded - the rates charged for such services when roaming internationally are quite high.

It's also pretty easy to "protect yourself" -

Subscribe to an unlimited plan before you jet away. In my case we have an ATT corporate plan that provides unlimited worldwide data service, i.e. blackberry, google, wifi, WSJ, whatever for a rather reasonable fixed monthly fee.

Google voice does not allow international call forwarding though.

You can also switch to use something like Google Voice / GrandCentral and just put in your local SIM number to ring. That way people dial the same number as usual, but will get you at your new local temp number. You can also make rules that allow only "important" calls to be put through. This is assuming you gave your contacts your Google Voice number instead of your actual cell number.

The text "thing" seems to be the big issue, as you cannot control it yourself! You are able to activate the voicemail so no calls leaves the country, but not with text!

That might be the case for people originating from the US, as people from other countries don't get charged by recieving texts, even when "we" are going overseas, and that includes USA!

Don't know why, but most likely it has to do with the way your provider handels the charge of calls and text in your home country!

But as always, the reason to huge bills, is lack of information! Blame it on your provider, or blame it on your self! I cannot tell...

Your provider didn't tell you how much it cost, and you didn't care to check! A good "thumb-rule" is, look at the country you are visiting, the more "poor" the country is, the higher is the roaming charges going to be... With some exceptions of course!

When I get to a new country, my home provider sends me a free text with roaming prices for the country I am visiting! So easy and simple can it be...

Thanks for the information. It sounds like there is infinite opportunity for huge charges.

I have an international cell phone (Mobal) with a UK number that rings wherever I am. I think I'm safe because I don't have a "data plan", don't use it for email or other internet stuff, and only turn it on 15 minutes a day to check for voice or text messages, or to make calls of no more than five minutes. (If I need to make a call of any length, I do it via a public land line with a prepaid international phone card.) I occasionally leave it on for longer periods, maybe an hour or two, if I'm actually expecting a call, but I don't do anything with it but let it sit there. So is there any way I could end up with a huge bill?

(Actually I can receive brief emails as text messages on the phone at an email address Mobal assigns it, but I assume that isn't really like accessing the internet to read email.)

The text "thing" seems to be the big issue, as you cannot control it yourself! You are able to activate the voicemail so no calls leaves the country, but not with text!

I don't know about overseas carriers, but some US carriers (I know Verizon Wireless does) can put a block on incoming text messages for free if you call them.

Obviously, they cannot control outgoing texts from your handset, but it will keep you from waking up to a big surprise for the uncontrollable part.

I usually leave my phone in AIRPLANE mode when abroad, but with WIFI on. The other thing I do, if I want to receive texts, is suspend VoiceMail, don't answer calls and texts come through at a flat rate, NOT a data rate.

The killer with AT&T is the 2x per minute charge for VoiceMail alert. so, if you don't answer the phone, let it got to VM, then you get an alert that says you have a VM, and you get billed 2x the per minute rate in country.

IF I leave my VM on, the first thing I do BEFORE turning the phone OFF AIRPLANE mode, is connect to WIFI, use SKYPE or FRING to check my VM, delete all VM's that have come in after listening to them, THEN turn the phone on and you won't be charged.

But, for the most part, I just leave the phone in APM, and use WIFI to get an do everything.

Does Skype work well on a cruise ship in connecting through an internet connection while at sea?

It all depends on how much latency your connection has. The good thing, is that the iphone skype app requires VERY LITTLE bandwidth for a good connection, a solid 125kps will give good enough up and downstream bandwidth for full duplex sound quality. More is better, but I have used it over a gprs connection, and that is about the max gprs offers.

Internet WIFI on board ships is $3 a minute or more (the $3 assumes you prepay a couple hours on the first day when you get the bonus minutes).

It can be a horribly show connection, you are probably better off not trying to voip on it.

Your provider didn't tell you how much it cost, and you didn't care to check! A good "thumb-rule" is, look at the country you are visiting, the more "poor" the country is, the higher is the roaming charges going to be... With some exceptions of course!


My friend had that problem - took his iPhone from the UK to the US for a week and got hit with $2000 roaming charges. Got to watch travelling to those poor countries ;)

If you're even near a cruise ship, your phone can pick up their signal and you get charged $$$. :(

Note: all information is for at&t

While the statement is true that shouldn't be a huge issue if it is just sms.

With at&t there is no extra cost to receive text messages anywhere in the world, if you have a texting plan it just comes out of that. However, if you want to send a text message it will cost you $0.50.


Voice:
As others have mentioned phone calls range from about $1-$4/minutes. Another poster mentioned that some carriers chargers as much as $13/minute. I have never heard of that and would love to know which carrier chargers that rate. Even if you don't answer your phone you will be charger for 1 minute if the phone rings.

If you plan on making a few calls at&t has an option to get a discounted rate for about $5 a month. The discount might only be $0.25 per minute. Some countries don't even get a discounted rate so check first at: http://www.wireless.att.com/travelguide/coverage/product_rates_compare.jsp?PIDL=IRSD|IRWT

The best solution to this problem is to set your call forwarding to go straight to voicemail. You can usually do this from your phone or you can call customer service and ask them to do it. If you have at&t and already left the country you can call them for free from your phone at +1-916-843-4685.

Data:
If you have a BlackBerry you can switch to an unlimited data plan for $65 a month. This will replace your BES plan at $45 or personal plan at $30. This is an outstanding deal. It is great to be able to use google maps to find your way around and keep in touch via email. Depending on how your plan is set up you may need to subscribe to it for one year. I don't and can ad it and take it off mid month so I only pay for the days I am out of the country.

The same plan isn't sold for the iPhone. With the iPhone you'll need to buy an int'l data ad on pack. There are no unlimited plans and the charge is on top of your domestic data plan. So you need to be careful to watch your usage. You can put on or take off a global data add on at any time:
* $24.99/month: 20 MB Data Global Add-On gives you 20 MB of usage within over 90 countries
* $59.99/month: 50 MB Data Global Add-On gives you 50 MB of usage within over 90 countries
* $119.99/month: 100 MB Data Global Add-On gives you 100 MB of usage within over 90 countries
* $199.99/month: 200 MB Data Global Add-On gives you 200 MB of usage within over 90 countries


Keep in mind if you have an iPhone or wi-fi equipped BlackBerry you can use hotspots with out being charged by at&t. With the iPhone you can make calls for a few cents a minute at a hotspot using skype. Just make sure to turn off your GSM antenna to avoid crazy chargers.


General account management:
If you are really worried about being charged by mistake, you can ask at&t to turn off int'l services. Keep in mind if you do this you won't be able to call home in an emergency but should be able to call 911 or its local equivalent.



No. But if the phone is on and a bunch of texts arrive you'd be charged for receiving those texts.

I started reading into international text rates to see if what I had heard was true. Sounds like what Climbguy posted is also true for other carriers that received texts count against your normal plan if one exists or get billed at normal US rate otherwise.

Then Verizon enters the scene
http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Text_Messaging/index.html

While traveling outside the U.S., Canada, Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico the text messaging rates are:

* $0.50/address sent
* $0.05/message received

*These text messages are not applied against any monthly text messaging allowance.
All messages are charged for, but receiving alone would not amount to much of a bill. Even 100 messages received would be $5. Sending messages is another story...

Also watch out for certain locations that, whilst still your home country, pick up international coverage

In UK, I know of a couple: Far west of Anglesey (still UK) loses UK coverage and roams RoI coverage. Some areas of Kent also lose UK coverage and roam France's. So you can be on home soil, using your mobile in the normal way, and rack up big roaming charges

nickyboy

even if you watch it, it can come out off and they bill you, but indeed one can often at least the first time, get them removed.

A friend of mine went to china a while ago, bought the international plan, for 100MB of data for X$. He cleared his data record on the iphone before leaving, and tracked it. He used to phone and racked up usage on the iphone at least of 93MB. Well, when he got back, AT&T said he had used 230MB of data and billed him like 900$ extra. He said no, I have a screen shot of the phone, with a time stamp etc. "you TOLD me to watch my usage via the phone screen and I did" They reversed the charge.

It is just another example of what I think is a price TEST. They'll put a number out there and SOME people will pay. Most people don't track it and have no idea how to argue the point.

Buyer beware.

The problem here is rounding. When you do start/stop data access which is common with OTA Exchange Access everything is rounded to the next kilobyte. Everytime your friends iPhone did the polling, China charged for another access. The counter looked at the actual data consumed. The kilobyte rounding method can drive things up. Some companies will add up all the data over a 24 hour period and then round up; others will round by the transaction. If the second method is used, your bills go through the roof and it is arguably perfectly legitimate. Your friend was lucky.

The killer with AT&T is the 2x per minute charge for VoiceMail alert. so, if you don't answer the phone, let it got to VM, then you get an alert that says you have a VM, and you get billed 2x the per minute rate in country.

That's useful information. I'll have to check my provider to see if I can get caught like that.

I really think there ought to be some legal protection against these huge charges. I don't buy the "you knew the rates" argument. It seems to me this situation comes under the principle that a conscionable contract generally made with average, non-expert consumers ought to be written in language comprehensible to the average, non-expert consumer. Obviously many ordinary consumers just can't understand the implications of the rate information they're given, and it seems like some companies are taking advantage of this.

I agree. I believe the EU is putting some law in place starting next year that will make it illegal to charge for calls that roll to VM while roaming. We need something like that on the US side too.

The EU has completed new legislation that will change the game for ROAMING from EU partner to partner, I think capping any charges at .40euro cents. I am hoping that at some point countries OUTSIDE the EU and their mobile companies will create a similar ROAMING tariff structure. With the demise of such MVNO and reseller companies world wide, I have the feeling that something like this might be in the cards.

No. But if the phone is on and a bunch of texts arrive you'd be charged for receiving those texts.
Depends on the carrier and country. TMO doesn't charge for incoming text messages in countries where the carriers don't charge - France, etc. You can also block any data that would result in a fee - free option on the website.

Very true. Roaming rates on the cruise ships are quie high. Tmobile charge $4.99 while the remaing major US carriers charge $2.49.
Actually, if you check, this depends on the ship more so than the carrier. On TMO at least, the international blackberry email service includes cruise ships :)

I don't know about overseas carriers, but some US carriers (I know Verizon Wireless does) can put a block on incoming text messages for free if you call them.

Obviously, they cannot control outgoing texts from your handset, but it will keep you from waking up to a big surprise for the uncontrollable part.
TMO lets you manage this on the website. Lots of options for what is/is not to be permitted. You can actually block outgoing texts as well.

General note for TMO at least (don't think anyone else does this) you can turn the international blackberry service on and off at will, and they'll pro-rate the monthly charge. Actually, you can do this with any tmo add-on service (including hotspot), so whatever international service is available for your device you can enable when you leave the US and disable on your return. Saves lots of $$ vs. ATT international plans.

No. If you have a text mesage plan then receiving sms when roaming will come out of your plan. Until it's exhausted, than you pay to receive sms. It has nothing to do with countries where carriers don't charge. Besides the US/Canada, I am not aware of any other countries that charge for incoming sms.


As for cruise ship roaming, I do not know about the data charges. However, I am quite sure that tmobile charges $4.99 and the rest charge $2.49. And, No, it does not depend on the cruise line. The cost is the same on all cruise lines.

Depends on the carrier and country. TMO doesn't charge for incoming text messages in countries where the carriers don't charge - France, etc. You can also block any data that would result in a fee - free option on the website.


Actually, if you check, this depends on the ship more so than the carrier. On TMO at least, the international blackberry email service includes cruise ships :)


TMO lets you manage this on the website. Lots of options for what is/is not to be permitted. You can actually block outgoing texts as well.

General note for TMO at least (don't think anyone else does this) you can turn the international blackberry service on and off at will, and they'll pro-rate the monthly charge. Actually, you can do this with any tmo add-on service (including hotspot), so whatever international service is available for your device you can enable when you leave the US and disable on your return. Saves lots of $$ vs. ATT international plans.

I have a GSM phone, and had planned on just buying a payg sim card over there. Then I talked to a t Mobile rep, who said that for $5 a month I will only pay 29 cents a minute to call from the UK. Wow! Amazing! I explained several times exactly what I needed- to use my phone whilst I was in the UK. She set me up with the service, even chatted about my upcoming trip.

Thankfully, I am a fretter. I called from my IAH layover to ask if I would be charged international calling rates to call UK toUS. I knew I would be paying the 29 cent/min to use the phone, didn't want to rack up extra charges.

Turns out- if I hadn't called back I would have been scr@#wed. What the first rep did was set me up on a plan so that I could call the UK FROM the US. She didn't even add on International roaming! We got all of that fixed, then I was informed that if I had my phone turned on and a call came in, I would still be charged the usage fee- about $1/min. Texts were 35cents.

Needless to say, once I landed my sim came out, payg put in, and all was fine. But- could it have been a nightmare? Quite easily.

A lot of those reps do not know jack! Good thing you knew right away that there was no way that was correct. Heck! To use your phone within the US if you do not have a minute plan (who does not), is even more than $0.29/min.

Also watch out for certain locations that, whilst still your home country, pick up international coverage

In UK, I know of a couple: Far west of Anglesey (still UK) loses UK coverage and roams RoI coverage. Some areas of Kent also lose UK coverage and roam France's. So you can be on home soil, using your mobile in the normal way, and rack up big roaming charges

nickyboy

This also happens frequently along the Canada/US border, although it is somewhat mitigated with all the electrical interference from surveillance jamming cell signals.

This also happens frequently along the Canada/US border, although it is somewhat mitigated with all the electrical interference from surveillance jamming cell signals.

Right, however I have never had a problem calling my carrier (use to be VZW now at&t) and told them I was still in the US but near the boarder. They were happy to waive the chargers.

I also had a problem on a recent trip where my call forwarding to VM wasn't working properly. I was hit with about $35 in int'l chargers. I called at&t and they issued a credit with out any fuss.

The bigger issue is that there aren't any good plans for traveling abroad. Obviously the carriers did the math and figured charging crazy amounts earns the most money, however I think it would be great if there was a $200/mo plan or something like that for unlimited everything abroad.

If you could get unlimited international "everything", it would cost a crazy amount of $$$ or €€€ ;) , and the carriers need somewhere they to earn the revenue...

I think the EU regulations on call and text i great, since we then don't get ripped off just by calling home when on vacation, etc! I hope to see more carriers to do the same, but it will most likely not happen!

BTW most of the non-EU members (like NO, CH, IS, LI) also have implemented the new roaming-prices!

An OT story; Was in HK for 1½ Y ago, my home carrier is 3(Three) and they got the "3-like home" service, where they don't charge international roaming when on other Three network, but if your phone screws up and loose the Three network and log on some other network you will get bad %ss robbed! I called home alot, but one call did flick over to another network, and it didn't caught my attention until after the call, and the call was like 3$/min... Sure I did watch the display before I made more calls... :confused:

Three eventually decided to turn that service off (July 09)... It was a great service, for free, and imagine being in Australia and call home from your cell, as you were home, and get calls without any worries!

To force your phone onto a specific network, go to the "select network" menu, wait for a scan, and select the cheapest network!

AFAIK it is free to change the VM forward settings, also after arriving abroad! Did that last time I went to US, and set it to forward all calls unconditionally, and then no calls leaves my home country! The "code" for this is something like; **21*VM-number# and the VM-number must include + and country prefix, so it would look like **21*+18889997777#!
To check the status, it is *#21#!
To cancel it is; ##21#!
This shoud work for all GSM carriers, since it is build into the network as standard!

Some of us roam regularly and do not have the luxury of switching to different SIMS in other places as we HAVE to be on our number. I've has a month in Russia easily exceed $3-4k, there are plenty of places where the roamingfees are just absolutely ridiculous....

Depends on the carrier and country. TMO doesn't charge for incoming text messages in countries where the carriers don't charge - France, etc. You can also block any data that would result in a fee - free option on the website.


Actually, if you check, this depends on the ship more so than the carrier. On TMO at least, the international blackberry email service includes cruise ships :)


TMO lets you manage this on the website. Lots of options for what is/is not to be permitted. You can actually block outgoing texts as well.

General note for TMO at least (don't think anyone else does this) you can turn the international blackberry service on and off at will, and they'll pro-rate the monthly charge. Actually, you can do this with any tmo add-on service (including hotspot), so whatever international service is available for your device you can enable when you leave the US and disable on your return. Saves lots of $$ vs. ATT international plans.Right, but at least ATT gives you web browsing included on the now "company-only" unlimited BB worldwide plan - what do you do if you have to reply to a post or a PM when you receive EM notification of an FT thread, when using T-Mobile?

Some of us roam regularly and do not have the luxury of switching to different SIMS in other places as we HAVE to be on our number. I've has a month in Russia easily exceed $3-4k, there are plenty of places where the roamingfees are just absolutely ridiculous....

I have a 866# that is on my business card. I can have that # go to my phone anywhere in the world I am in. You can have your cell phone # forward to the 866# and your phone will ring where you are. I have had it for a year with no real problems. It worked in UAE, UK, and Afghanistan.

Right, but at least ATT gives you web browsing included on the now "company-only" unlimited BB worldwide plan - what do you do if you have to reply to a post or a PM when you receive EM notification of an FT thread, when using T-Mobile?

I wait until I have a wifi connection. I'm also pondering ways to set up a proxy of some sort using email attachments... the 4.5 software displays html in email, and that counts as unlimited email.

I wait until I have a wifi connection. I'm also pondering ways to set up a proxy of some sort using email attachments... the 4.5 software displays html in email, and that counts as unlimited email.I think I have been billed *a lot* extra for that HTML content when roaming, which is basically "pulling" site information to the e-mail page - please post if you have any clarification on this.

It would be interesting to use the proxy, if possible/allowed.

I am using (well, not really using, as I hate BIS - trying to install BES on my server soon) a Curve 8900, system states "v.4.6.1.114 (Platform 4.2.0.76)"

I am sorry, but that is just a sign of laziness or you are at a point in your carrier where you are on the upper levels of management and $3-4k is peanuts. You could forward your mobile number to a skype number then forward that to a prepaid sim you picked up. there are several similar options too that may need your needs.

Some of us roam regularly and do not have the luxury of switching to different SIMS in other places as we HAVE to be on our number. I've has a month in Russia easily exceed $3-4k, there are plenty of places where the roamingfees are just absolutely ridiculous....

Climbguy, you obviously have not spent too much time in Russia, nor have you had to deal with mission critical calls that cannot be skived off to the vaguaries of forwarding-skype-pay as you go, especially over short periods and especially in a place where a one hour phone call can set you back $600. I also love the way some people seem to think that prepaid SIMS are easily available in every/any country, as some (generally ones with ridiculous roaming rates) tend to make it impossible to get a local SIM, pay as you go or otherwise unless one is a citizen or at least a resident.

=people seem to think that prepaid SIMS are easily available in every/any country, as some (generally ones with ridiculous roaming rates) tend to make it impossible to get a local SIM, pay as you go or otherwise unless one is a citizen or at least a resident.

When have you found it difficult to get a SIM? I have found them easy to get in:

Republic of Georgia, Australia, New Zealand (post paid even with just a tourist visa), Uganda, Tunisia, Jordan, UAE, Czech Republic, Thailand, Turkey and I expect to be able to get one in China on Monday.

You can get Russian SIMs (Moscow and St Petersburg) off E-Bay from an Israeli dealer with good ratings for $20 US. You can also get them at a more inflated rate from Telestial. Russia does make it hard to buy on the ground.

1) Yes they are difficult to get on the ground in Russia if you are not a citizen or permanent resident, which was my point.

2) Desert Nomad. Really in Turkey it was that easy for you? Were you a resident? If not, did you have the original receipt for the phone that you plugged your Pay as you go SIM card into? If not, did you have your phone blocked permanently from using any Turkish network after 2-3 weeks? Or did you pay an incredibly inflated amount for a cheapy handset?

As i mentioned in my post, if you are in a situation where your time is worth a lot of $$$$ paying $600 for a one hour call may make sense. It is definitely easy to know you can take your at&t or tmo phone anywhere you want and that it will work. My only point is with a little advanced planning you can save a lot of money.

You can even go through a int'l travel cell phone company and get rates closer to $.70/minute just about anywhere and just use that for all traveling.

That said I have done IT work/managed a mobile phone contract for VVIPs where SIM swapping and any potential hiccup just wasn't an option. Maybe that is the situation/status you fall into. If it isn't there is no reason you can't use other options.

Climbguy, you obviously have not spent too much time in Russia, nor have you had to deal with mission critical calls that cannot be skived off to the vaguaries of forwarding-skype-pay as you go, especially over short periods and especially in a place where a one hour phone call can set you back $600. I also love the way some people seem to think that prepaid SIMS are easily available in every/any country, as some (generally ones with ridiculous roaming rates) tend to make it impossible to get a local SIM, pay as you go or otherwise unless one is a citizen or at least a resident.

2) Desert Nomad. Really in Turkey it was that easy for you? Were you a resident? If not, did you have the original receipt for the phone that you plugged your Pay as you go SIM card into? If not, did you have your phone blocked permanently from using any Turkish network after 2-3 weeks? Or did you pay an incredibly inflated amount for a cheapy handset?

I picked up a SIM in Turkey at the Vodaphone kiosk in the airport. I was only there for 8 days so I didn't get blocked. For longer stays I understand it is harder/riskier but for the week I was there I happily used my local SIM in Istanbul and Capadoccia without any troubles. It was quite easy.

There are caveats to everything in life. :-: