...I use the Nokia C3 (purchased at BestBuy) with a Passport Lite SIM card. If all you want it for is limited use, it's easy to both initiate and recharge minutes if required. There are cheaper options with the local service at your destination, but you can have this all set up and ready go upon arrival with this combo. Just used it in France and Italy last month, Eastern Europe in June and Hawaii and the UK in February (as well as a few continental US trips throughout the year). Again, there are cheaper options, but few as convenient IMHO.

Cheers

If you need data AND voice, purchase a pocket wi-fi from Vodafone
 

Don't know if this is exactly what you need, but here's what I did when I traveled in Australia for 2 weeks. I purchased a Vodafone pocket wi-fi when I arrived in Melbourne - AUD 80 - and it came 3 Megs of data valid for 30 days from purchase. The pocket wi-fi permits four simultaneous connections, so I connected one laptop and our two iPhones as needed. Our laptop and iPhones all have Skype so we used that to make calls. Skype laptop-to-laptop was free, and we already have a very inexpensive subscription on Skype to make calls to landlines. The bonus of using a pocket wi-fi was that I had data and phone ability. In addition to regular Internet use, I was also able to use the GPS app on my phone when we were driving in Australia.

Telestial
 

My perosnal favourite roaming provider is Telestial. It doesn't avoid roaming charges but it does work quite cheaply in most countries. Check out Telestial.com. They will ship you the sim card in Canada so you're up and running on day 1.

If you're staying in one country then get a SIM locally when you're there. That's always the cheapest, but if you're traveling between countries then look at a roaming provider like Telestial. National Geographic has another similar cell phone travel service.

You will need an unlocked quad band GSM phone because whenever you buy a phone from a wireless provider it comes locked to only the service of that provider.

What I did was on AT&T go phone in the US they're selling refurbished F160s for $14. It's a really nice phone but they only ship to US addresses. Then you can unlock it yourself for another $15 using DC unlocker.

If your phone is unlocked, get a Lebara SIM when you arrive in Sydney. They have a little booth right after you come out. All you need is your passport and $10. Calls to Canada are 2 cents a minute. Local calls a little more.

If you have a smart phone, data is dirt cheap too.

Do not get enticed by the fancy Vodafone booth. 8x the cost.

I have one from oz, NL, UK and France. Best deal going.

It is hard not to find an unlocked GSM phone on Craigslist or in the many cell phone stores in every ethnic neighbourhood in Canada.

Just make sure it is quad band or covers the Asia/Australia frequencies. Australia is 900/1800. Canada is 1900/850. The 7-11 idea is thus a great way to get a phone that is a)locked and b) on the wrong frequency.

Like others said an unlocked quadband phone and a local sim when you get to your destination is your best bet. Especially since you will be spending an extended period in one place. As for the phone Amazon, ebay, etc. You can get a new unlocked quadband for less than $100.

Factory direct or Tiger direct are two Canadian online unlocked phone retailers. You can go into the store if there is one near you. Cheaper price if you are in Toronto and can handle Asian crowd is Pacific Mall.

If you mean you will be using it both in South Pacific (where?) and Southeast Asia you'd want an "international" SIM. You don't get the best calling rates in country compared to country specific SIMs but you have one number where you can be reached. The other alternative is to get a SIM in each country. Usually starter SIM packs will give you some credit. This is a link for international cards. For other countries look here and find the individual country you're going to be needing.

For Canada, Australia & SE Asia suggest a 3G (UTMS) basic phone which works on 850 & 2,100 MHz. The Nokia C2-01 will fit your needs very well.

In each country, buy a prepaid SIM and/or calling card. In Australia Lebarra operates on the Vodafone network, which is 850/900/2,100MHZ 3G (phasing out 900 phasing in 850). The C2-01 will work for you nicely on all networks in Australia.

I was just up in canada and the paygo cards from rogers are cheap. You do have to do all the paperwork, but weekly and monthly calling/text/data options are cheap. I topped up a card for 9$, had one week 250MB data, 100 min calls, 50 texts. Monthly would have been 30$ all in.

You could just get one of these Chinese QUAD SIM phones, yes, all four are active at once, great idea, I just wonder what the radiation output is!!

http://www.tinydeal.com/4sim-cell-ph...4_678_686.html

Like most fake products, they only need you alive long enough to pay for the stuff! :D