Cheap Phone Plans for Travel in the U.S. and Parts of Europe

Roaming charges extorted by cell phone North American carriers are outrageous - just about the most expensive in the world. Recently, I had experience with a service which reduces cell phone roaming costs to a pittance.  

When I travel, I look for the following features:

• unlimited calls from the U.S. to Canada (unlimited in number and time spent)
• no charge to receive calls from Canada 
• unlimited calling (number/time) within the U.S.
• unlimited texting
• voice mail service

For e-mail, I find it sufficient to use WiFi hotspots which are readily available in hotels and public spaces and for this purpose I carry either an iPad or an Ipod.  For voice communication, I use a basic, low-cost phone in the smallest size possible.  The rationale:

• cheap and no great loss if stolen or misplaced
• minimal weight and easily carried 
• inconspicuous 
• battery life is longer than more fully featured phones. 

In the following commentary, I outline my experience in the U.S. and Europe. 

Calls to/from Canada and within the U.S. 

If you use your domestic plan from Canada (e.g. Rogers), you are likely to encounter outrageously expensive roaming charges when out-of-country.  The trick is to avoid roaming charges and line costs for incoming calls. 

When in the United States, I have found that Roam Mobility is the best plan for communications in the U.S. and Canada.  

http://www.roammobility.com/

Daily rates vary from as low as $2.00 per day for unlimited voice and SMS roaming (30 day contract) to $2.95 (one day contract).   This means unlimited calling within the U.S. and to Canada. There are no charges to receive calls made to your U.S. number (assigned by Roam) from Canada, so if Canadian-based callers have a long-distance plan, costs will be minimal. 

Notes: 

• You have to purchase a Roam Mobility SIM card for $19.95 and enable the account on line.  
• You can inset the card into an unlocked phone or purchase a Breeze phone from Roam for $49.95 (comes with SIM card and includes postage). 
• The plan can be topped up if you need more days.
• The SIM card expires if not used for 365 days.
• The SIM card works only for your outgoing calls made within the U.S. or within close range to the border in some instances if made from Canada if an American tower can be reached. 
• Coverage is not as good as Verizon and in some states such as West Virginia and remote parts of western states, the coverage ranges from spotty to non-existent.  (This is also the case with most American carriers.)

Calls To/From Canada and Europe

If you have a Canadian-based cell phone plan, roaming charges will result in astoundingly high bills if you spend much time on the phone while in Europe.  Why pay them when you can use a much cheaper option and spend the savings on some nice wine? 

For the purpose of this article, I will not address European plans which provide multi-country service.  For an overview of this approach, visit the following web sites.

http://www.telestial.com/

http://www.onesimcard.com/international-roaming-list/#Free-incoming-calls

I've used Telestial in the past and the service is just fine.  The phones are quite functional.  The OneSimCard site has a section which enables you to compare the fees charged by domestic carriers with the international SIM card offered by OSC (go to the Rates and Coverage tab). 

In general, greater savings are to be found with country-specific plans.  It is cheaper to purchase a SIM card from the country you visit.  I follow this approach for a variety of reasons:

• unlocked GSM phones with a frequency of 900 or 1800 (required for Europe) are cheap (under $40 - sometimes under $20) and purchased easily on-line or through phone company offices in Europe
• ditto for SIM cards (sometimes almost free)
• you can buy as much time as you want and top up the plan very easily if you need more time
• calls and text messages originated within the country are cheap

For my purposes, the real savings were realized by using the following features of the country-specific plans:

• There is no charge for incoming calls from Canada (and other countries), meaning that communication with the "mother country" is very cheap, especially if the originator has a cheap long-distance plan.  For example, while I was in Spain for a month, our costs were under $40 even though I chatted with family every day, sometimes for extended periods of time. The only limitation was that the calls had to originate from outside Spain. 
• With some European plans, calling or sending text messages to other phones with SIM cards from the same service provider can be very cheap.  This is ideal for family groups who wish to stay in touch with one another while traveling.  

The previous remarks apply only to phones using SMS and voice communication.  (I much prefer to use the simple approach as opposed to hauling expensive Android or iPhones around ... paper maps are just fine for navigation.)  Note: check in advance to see if the European country of interest features no charge plans for receiving out-of-country calls.  

If you insist on taking more sophisticated phones overseas, the following article provides a useful starting point for reducing costs:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/mobile-phone/3270437/taking-iphone-abroad-avoid-data-roaming-charges/

Change is constant in the cellular communications industry, so it pays to do your homework before you travel.