Mobile phone advice for a year travelling

[chrisyowen]

Hi

I am planning on taking up to a year out and travelling around the world. I plan to visit Asia, Australasia, South America and North America.

I want to take an existing mobile and just buy a SIM card to go with it which will enable me to text and receive texts. I do not want to make or receive calls, only in emergencies. Ideally, keeping my existing mobile number.

What is the best way of doing this? I don’t really want a contract or a pay as you go thingy that means I have to top it up every month. Back in the day I think you could get a pay up front sort of contract. Can you still do that?

Any advice or experiences of what you did on a similar trip would be great. Along with any websites that might have what I’m looking for!

Thanks

Chris

[threadkiller]

buy a sim in the country you are in, especially if you are there a while its cheaper

[chrisyowen]

Does my phone then need to be unlocked etc? I am only in each country for a month max more like 2 weeks.

[cjanderson]

can;t you just drop to the cheapest tarriff and enable roaming with your current contact? they just take the cash each month from your bank account so no need to pre-pay?

can;t think how you would be able to keep number and use sims from each country?

sure some PAYG have top up cards that don;t expire as long as you make 1 call every x days. so could go to PAYG and do a lareg top up before you go. But perhaps you;'d want a new number - sticlk the curremt number on your phone you leave at home, with message saying IN EMERGENCY CONTACT ME ON THIS NUMBER (use new PAYG number) > as you don;t want to be paying for texts from every tom dick and harry when you turn your one on.

[scoooooot1]

i'm sure that there must be PAYG sims that don't require a monthly top-up...a contract is of little use to you - you won't be using any of the inclusive minutes anyway...if you're really going to use it minimally, then a PAYG sim from a UK company would be the easier option (for topping up any credit for starters)...

as to the phone, you're going to want one that covers all the areas of the world so i guess a quad-band one to be honest...as long as you're only going to use the one sim card, you don't need an unlocked phone but i always unlock my phones as a matter of course anyway...

[pumpkinos]

I believe vodafone are doing some holiday offer thing at the moment which gives you a cheap tarrif while abroad so might be worth speaking to them (saw an add at heathrow this week).

We've just got back from Cyprus & OH bought a sim card out there. Cost £15 & came with £3 credit. I rang my parents for 20 minutes & the call only cost 45p. Couldn't believe how cheap it was, it cost me almost as much to send a text home from my 3 phone.

[tonytol]

Just a thought - why do you want to take a phone for texting with you? you'll have to carry the charger, plus a mains converter, and find somewhere to recharge the phone. Internet cafes are widespread to keep in touch with people, and if you are in a country any length of time, you can get a payphone card if you need to contact someone. You'll need at least a tri-band to cover the globe. It could work out very expensive to keep buying sims, and texts may also be costly.

[Kryten]

I believe vodafone are doing some holiday offer thing at the moment which gives you a cheap tarrif while abroad so might be worth speaking to them (saw an add at heathrow this week).

Only for Europe though! The only way to get good roaming will be with a contract quad-band 3G phone that should let you go anywhere! Stick to either Vodafone or T-Mobile (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://valuemobiles.at/thedvdforums) as they have the best roaming agreements, and to keep the cost down I recommend T-Mobile (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://valuemobiles.at/thedvdforums) with the international option (2GBP/month) which halves the cost of calls when roaming from most countries!

I run up maybe 200GBP/month in roaming costs with BT Mobile but am looking to move to T-Mobile (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://valuemobiles.at/thedvdforums) because of their roaming fees being lowest.

[tonytol]

I run up maybe 200GBP/month in roaming costs with BT Mobile but am looking to move to T-Mobile (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://valuemobiles.at/thedvdforums) because of their roaming fees being lowest.

the charges are nowhere near as high as I expected compared with some other networks!. Useful to know next time I upgrade, although if I'm travellling around, most of the time, I wouldn't take a phone.

[GregB]

Good info this and another reason for me to switch to T-Mobile when my Orange contract is up

[Kryten]

the charges are nowhere near as high as I expected compared with some other networks!. Useful to know next time I upgrade, although if I'm travellling around, most of the time, I wouldn't take a phone.

Yeah, I know that's why I'm itching to change (probably Nokia E61 with BlackBerry services or a BlackBerry 8707 when available). Their roaming prices are really good and if I get on a business tarrif there is no extra monthly cost either for the international option :)

I have a feeling I'm going to set a personal record this month on roaming costs, I've been travelling all but 5 days this month and have made/recieved several hours of calls whilst in the US and Israel!

[Mr Twister]

Why dont you just set up a Hotmail account and check it daily / every few days.

[splobber]

Or just pick a few eBayed phones up cheap when you are in Nigeria or Indonesia.

[Kryten]

Why dont you just set up a Hotmail account and check it daily / every few days.

This would be my suggestion for most people, but remember there are still some people out there who don't use e-mail. Also not always possible to get to an internet point.

Phones are good for emergencies too!