Your Cellphone + Traveling = Big Bucks
September 19th, 2008 Posted in General, MSNBC - Tripso columns, Travel industry
In Traveler’s Tool Kit: Mexico and Central America, my co-author and I basically told people to leave their cell phone at home when they travel or just turn it off when on foreign soil. A couple people we showed the draft too were puzzled. How do you keep in touch if you don’t have your phone? We realized then that for people in their mid-20’s especially, going even a half hour without being tethered to their mobile is unfathomable.
The problem is, what works here often doesn’t work there. When it does work, you will pay dearly for that chat with mom. As in anywhere from $1 to $3.50 a minute—maybe five bucks a minute in Russia or China. Plus you’ll pay for every kilobyte of e-mail data unless you have added an international Blackberry plan. Then you’ll pay more for text messages and surfing outside a WiFi hotspot. A couple calls and a quick e-mail later, you’ve spent more than the cost of a night’s stay in a hotel. The AT&T execs say, “We got another one!” and rub their hands in glee. “Put out more of those ads about how our new phones work in 200 countries—this is a goldmine!”
My Tripso column this week gives some horror stories on the bills people faced when returning from a one-week vacation. Then it lays out some alternative solutions. Here’s the story: 6 alternatives to predatory cell phone bills. (If you like the MSNBC format better, here’s Traveling with your cell phone? Beware)
I’m off to Iceland next week where my Sprint phone won’t even work. I’m renting one from Travelcell and will pay 49 cents a minute for incoming calls. (Would be free in Continental Europe). If I were going on vacation I wouldn’t bother, but it’s a writing trip and I’ve got things in the works that require being reachable.
I found the perfect illustration above after I had already written the headline. It’s from a $3,000 iPhone bill story at the Gearlog blog.
8 Responses to “Your Cellphone + Traveling = Big Bucks”
By Nathan Shipley on Sep 19, 2008
(I’m on an year-long RTW trip and am trying to spend more time in less locations. Was in Peru and am currently in Colombia.)
I’ve honestly found a cell phone to be invaluable just for meeting up with locals and friends I’ve met here in South America. I’ve ended up doing things with locals I wouldn’t have done if they couldn’t have easily gotten in touch with me. I’m just using a cheap phone I bought here. Perhaps if I was just on a short vacation, I wouldn’t worry about it, but I’m glad I’ve got it.
Additionally, it has hardly made a dent in the budget. The phones themselves are cheap and the pay-as-you-go plan from Movistar doesn’t get me in to any sort of contract. No fees for incoming calls or texts. When I get to my next country, I just buy a new SIM card for cheap. If I want to call home, I just use Skype which is silly cheap.
I guess my point is that in my experience, at least, it hasn’t been expensive to have a cell phone and it’s totally worth it to coordinate meet-ups.
By Austin on Sep 19, 2008
I agree 100% with Nathan about getting a SIM card in the country you’re visiting. We’ve done that a bunch of times when we go to Italy, just take along a cheap world phone and you’re set. We wrote a few weeks ago about this same subject, in case anyone is looking for more tips on traveling with their cell phone: http://www.travellious.com/how_to_keep_in_touch_while_abroad
By Jenny on Sep 19, 2008
If you guys actually go and and read the article this is linked to you will see he covers all that in detail! “Alternatives”—get it?
By Nathan Shipley on Sep 19, 2008
Oops. That’s what I get for posting without reading the article! Thanks, Jenny.
By Mario S. on Sep 20, 2008
Yeah, I think the point of the article is that using your OWN cellphone from home is what’s going to kill you. Getting a local one and paying local charges is alot cheaper, even if you’re only there a week or two and need to buy a phone. You can always donate it to a local charity when you leave. Unlike the U.S. phones, it normally won’t be tied to a specific evil company like Verizon. I paid $18 for a basic brand new phone in Honduras.
By tim on Sep 20, 2008
Thanks Nathan, Austin, and Mario for relating your own experiences. And yes, I did go over the SIM card option in the article. It’s your home cellphone’s carrier that will really sock it to you with the bills. And anyone who uses a Blackberry abroad had better have an unlimited international plan or a very forgiving HR department at work…
By Darrin on Sep 26, 2008
“even if you just cross the border into Canada…” Sad, isn’t it? I can call Quebec City for about the same cost as Los Angeles on a US landline, but when I brought my cell to Canada, all that chummy telephony dried up. I got screwed by Verizon’s roaming charges when I used my Verizon cellphone there (not somewhere in the boonies getting chased by a wapiti, but right in Quebec City!).
One more vote for verizon’s evilness. I think I’ll skype it next time.
By Julio on Oct 3, 2008
Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. have absolutely nothing in common when it comes to your cell phone except that you’ll get screwed in all three places when you cross the border. Why wasn’t THAT in NAFTA?