Argonaut1000

As the title states, is there a dealer or reseller of international SIM cards in North America where we can order the cards before we travel. This way one will have their international number before travelling.

Especially interested in St Lucia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan cards

dlflyer2

A quick Yahoo or Google search for (country) prepaid Sim will yield reseller choices.
Generally expect to pay a hefty premium for the convenience of having the Sim delivered to the USA before leaving

dgross

You might be interested in Riiing Mobile. It can be used in more than 100 countries. More information can be found at www.riiing.com

There is a reseller that will sell the SIMs, but the website is in Italian

http://www.riiing.ch/DspShop.jsp?idcat=10

More information is available at www.prepaidgsm.net website. There is a forum on the prepaidgsm.net website and you can sometimes find people who will sell the Riiing Mobile SIMs.

jonu

eBay!

GadgetFreak

Ebay has some. Expansys.com (make sure you go to their US site) has some at decent prices for the UK. Be aware that some of the places selling them in advance on Ebay sell them for outrageous, incredible, outlandish (you get the idea ) premiums. It is often cheaper to roam than to buy them in advance. Your best bet is to buy them in the country when you arrive.

jyee

I went to Cuba last year and bought a SIM card off Ebay before I left. It worked great.

fduvall

Not sure about St. Lucia, but in China/HK/Taiwan when you get off the plane there will be several places to buy them in the Airport or near any hotel. At PEK last week, there was a stand set up before I went through immigration.

Fduvall

powerlifter

I take it you have an unlocked GSM phone. You will need one to use in these countries. As stated above there are several resellers, but you will pay a hefty premium for the service. I buy in the country that I am staying in. Of course I stay in most countries at least a week. If not riing or HOP Abroad may be your answer. The Hop Abroad site is in English.

k22

I picked up a couple of SIMs on eBay for just a few bucks, for a trip to UK. Orange, vodaphone and Virgin. (like to have a backup!). I decided to use the vodaphone card....no problem at all. Up and running in no time

MCB

I looked over the various SIM resellers before leaving for Europe, and the prices were ridiculous. I bought my Virgin Mobile UK SIM at a phone shop in London for cheap, and they unlocked my phone for free, too.

I can't see buying a SIM in advance unless you absolutely need to know your phone number in advance, like to print on business cards, correspondence, itineraries, agendas, etc., or anything that has to be prepared well in advance. Otherwise just buy it there and email the number to people that you want to have it.

Celestar340

What is the purpose of getting the prepaid SIM card in advance? So that you can save 15 minutes of inconvenience?

Canada has one of North America's most advanced GSM phone systems. You can get your phone to work in many countries in the world but not in Penticton! But anyway...

If you have Fido, it has a SIM card in it already. You just have to make sure that you have international roaming service. Once in any place outside Canada, you can still access your SMS and phone messages. All you need is to get the local SIM cards.

You can virtually buy these anywhere in the country of origin. They're cheaper there than getting than beforehand.

I personally have 8 SIM cards that I use whenever I travel. The main one is Fido on one phone. And the rest that I interchange as I travel on another phone. None of the other SIM cards have international access. But why would you want that anyway.

Preapaid SIM cards are readily available to anyone in places like HK, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, UK, France to name a few. One of the hardest places to get a prepaid SIM card believe it or not , is USA! How backward canthey be in the world of GSM services.

PS - you need a different phone altogether to use in Korea and Japan! Triband phones won't work there. Until the new G5 phones come in to play.

smgp2004

I understand about wanting a SIM prior to travel but it really is not worth spending large sums of money. You are better off waiting until you arrive. All over Southeast Asia it really easy to find a SIM as soon as you arrive at the airport. At Hong kong international go to the 7 eleven in the airport. All the rest of southeast asia and asia go to any 7 eleven to get a prepaid sim. You can roughly pay around 10 USD for a card to call to North amercia for more than an 1 hour or two.No reason to pay for one before you leave which typical has higher rates per minute to north america then if you buy when you arrive

SoManyMiles-SoLittleTime

For what it's worth, Verizon CDMA phones support roaming in China and Taiwan. No SIM chip required. Your Verizon phone (perhaps others?) will work there (but call Verizon first). [NOTE that this is not their dual mode CDMA/GSM phone. This works with their CDMA phones.]

Additionally, HK now supports CDMA systems. Don't know about U.S. CDMA phones working there, however.

nyc_flying_gal

I purchased my SIM ahead of time for trip to Australia because I needed to provide that phone # as contact information to several business colleagues.

In my opinion, that was the only "advantage" to buying it in advance. Otherwise, just wait till you get there - just as easy and cheaper.

alanh

For my UK trip, I bought a SIM for Virgin Mobile at the Virgin store right at Gatwick. I then called back home to tell people what my contact number was.