[bookedirl]

wonder what it costs underseas

all kidding aside.. I plan on taking a cruise next feb.. probably to the Bahamas.. and I plan on getting Verizon to unlock my phone so I can buy a prepaid sim card.. other wise my phone bill might end up being more than the cruise.

[codemaker]

Just get the phone unlocked, then buy a prepaid sim card from wherever you travel to.... and you can use any service you want...

I think the sprint tour comes unlocked.

[Sprockethead]

Does somebody know the answer to this question:

If I get my phone unlocked and buy a prepaid SIM card and go overseas and someone from the U.S. calls me, is that person charged extra or does it operate like a local call to the person calling me? That's a question I can't seem to figure out.

[Dusteater]

Does somebody know the answer to this question:

If I get my phone unlocked and buy a prepaid SIM card and go overseas and someone from the U.S. calls me, is that person charged extra or does it operate like a local call to the person calling me? That's a question I can't seem to figure out.

Your pre-paid SIM card will be from another country so, whoever calls you from the US will be charged International Long Distance.

[anon(2254645)]

Your pre-paid SIM card will be from another country so, whoever calls you from the US will be charged International Long Distance.

Will a pre-paid SIM card allow you to still use your U.S. phone number?

[paul386]

Where do you buy prepaid sim card? I am going to be traveling to the Bahamas in August for vacation and I would like to have voice, text, and data.

[Sprockethead]

Your pre-paid SIM card will be from another country so, whoever calls you from the US will be charged International Long Distance.

Cool, thank you for answering that for me.

So my follow up question is: What is the point? Why not just get a pre-paid phone and be done with it? Why pay all this money on both ends of the line? I assume that rates are better with pre-paid phones.

The ONLY benefit for all of this expense is that you get to use your own number for outgoing calls, and people who you haven't given your money to can still call you. I guess it's just not for me.

[Dusteater]

Will a pre-paid SIM card allow you to still use your U.S. phone number?

No, you will get a new SIM card with a new number from a carrier in whatever country you are going to.

[sibsie]

Same thing happened to me with my 8830 on Sprint. It seems to be a nightmare getting these world phones to actually work anywhere but USA.

I had to spend 20 mins on the phone with them from my hotel to get it activated. V unimpressed and I'm going to ask for a credit off my next bill.

[Sprockethead]

The ONLY benefit for all of this expense is that you get to use your own number for outgoing calls, and people who you haven't given your money to can still call you. I guess it's just not for me.

No, you will get a new SIM card with a new number from a carrier in whatever country you are going to.

Wow. Nevermind. What a bunch of garbage the "world phone" idea turned out to be. Of course I don't travel overseeas often, but still- it's the principle.

[postflight]

Call VZW Global Support 908-559-4899 PRIOR to going overseas. (Save the direct Global Support number, the 800# and 611 do NOT work most places outside of the US) Add global data (~$70/mo). *228 to reprogram roaming. $70US for unlimited data isn't a bad deal in most of the world! There is a global voice plan (still $$$$/min), but I have found local prepaid sim cards to be a much better deal.

Ask VZW to unlock the GSM sim. When you are calling out, swap the sim card with a local (or global) prepaid sim, then switch back to your VZW card to enjoy unlimited data and be reached at your US phone # (albeit, at the HIGH VZW roaming rates!). Remember that you can NOT answer, switch sim cards and call them back!

That's my solution. Sorry, I don't know of a cheaper solution--at least not one that works for me.

Just my 2 cents...

[Vertig0]

can you buy a sim card with minutes in X country and use it with a different phone #?

[bppilot]

It's dependent on which country you're traveling to. I just used mine with Verizon in Dubai - $2.99 a minute! They practically had to carry my cell bill to my office after that trip!

[lindros2]

The only thing worse than paying $3, $4, or $5 a minute is getting a pre-paid SIM card in the UK that lacks data... Argh.

Damn terrorism and African/Nigerian scammers using SIM cards for illegal UK 0700 numbers forwarded to UK pre-paid cards screwed everything up.

[Pre-dawn raid]

Wow. Nevermind. What a bunch of garbage the "world phone" idea turned out to be. Of course I don't travel overseeas often, but still- it's the principle.

I know right. Chalk it up to marketing hype. I think this feature only appeals to the business executives that travel extensively and their company foots the bill on any phone/data usage. Not really for us "regular folk".

[Bajanbastard]

Where do you buy prepaid sim card? I am going to be traveling to the Bahamas in August for vacation and I would like to have voice, text, and data.

I'll ask my friend on BBM for you. If its like here you can buy a pre-paid sim and get unlimited data for 5 USD a week or 15 USD a month.

[kwok]

that's expensive. i won't be using this phone over seas

[Z4]

im wondering how u get billed as roaming when u call someone with a local number that is overseas when ur here in the states.... i believe that was the example earlier... especially if u didnt know the person whos local number was out of the country.?

[anagirlca]

I had a treo when I went to Taiwan a couple of years ago. The minutes were $1.99/min. Sprint hooked me up and gave me my first 50 minutes overseas for free. Which I was really amazed with. I called to have my 8830WE unlocked last year with Sprint and was told that my phone came unlocked and all I would have to do is to send a text message to them for overseas use of the phone, but if I wanted to save money, to buy a sim card while over-seas and that would save me money instead of using their network.

[cityguyaz]

Just get the phone unlocked, then buy a prepaid sim card from wherever you travel to.... and you can use any service you want...

SWEET....didn't know that this was possible

[FF22]

I know right. Chalk it up to marketing hype. I think this feature only appeals to the business executives that travel extensively and their company foots the bill on any phone/data usage. Not really for us "regular folk".

I was fortunate enough two years ago to go to Europe twice - those became the 2nd and 3rd trips in 40 years so not that frequent. On both of those trips I saw how convenient it was for other folks who had cell phones over there. The Americans coordinating our trip used them a few times each day. I never did ask if they had local sim cards since I did not know anything about sim cards. On the second trip, we were mostly with Europeans and they used them constantly. Again, I had no concept of sim cards. What appealed to me was the ease-factor.

So when I was in the market for a new phone a year and a half ago, I asked Verizon about phones that could work in europe - just in case I went again. They only had a couple/few models. The BB8830 and some other model (windows-based). I knew I did not want windows. The price on the phone was good for the 8830, so I opted into the new world of sim cards, still not fully understanding the concept.

Flash to this past June. Another hiking trip to Europe. So I did some research, checked the Verizon Global and other options. I discussed it with my cellular-less friends and we decided to spring for using my phone. We did not expect to make many calls - just a few but expected to consult data (weather, rifugios, and check email) so data seemed more of the controlling element but no idea of how much. Verizon's unlimited data under the Global plan seemed acceptable divided 3-ways and pro-rated.

Calls at $0.99/minute in Europe and US seemed high but okay since we did not expect to make a lot of calls, and Europe sim-card calls were only about half that rate give or take some cents.
The disadvantage would be that locals (remote refugios would probably not call back my US number. Advantage US folks calling us would be calling a US number and incoming calls from the US would still be 99cents/minute. The other factor for me, was my 8830 was in an Otterbox. Trying to get to the sim card for swapping would be an ordeal and I found at home, I needed a tweezers to get to the card so it really did not seem all that easy for swapping for calls and then data.

I still have not gotten my bill (gone to a new system) so I don't really know the charges but we may have used the phone for 15 to 20 minutes - not bad and used data almost everyday quite a bit. $20 or so dollars did not seem awful for the convenience of calls.

All-in-all, a good experience. I might further explore other options but the Verizon plan seemed reasonable for my needs this past June. I will say, that in remote corners of the Dolomites and surrounding ranges, the phone would get and lose contacts, more with data but that is probably not unexpected.

[FF22]

im wondering how u get billed as roaming when u call someone with a local number that is overseas when ur here in the states.... i believe that was the example earlier... especially if u didnt know the person whos local number was out of the country.?

I THINK that there is no change for someone calling your US number even if you are in France or wherever. They are calling "locally" and it should be transparent but you would be billed per your plan since you are the one OUT-OF-COUNTRY. As I mentioned above, my calls to or from my phone when I was on the Verizon Global were $0.99/minute for me. US callers just called my US number and pay the normal airtime (use minutes).

If you change to a foreign sim card, then US callers have to call that international number.