Freedom(from roaming charges): GO-SIM prepaid international card

If you’re traveling internationally across multiple countries, be very prepared for some serious sticker shock when you get home and open your mobile phone bill. It’s not just the high rates for the actual calls — there are roaming charges, data charges and even charges to receive calls. They come from your carrier, plus the carriers you are using on-the-ground. And once you’ve made the calls, there’s not debate. You’re on the hook for all the costs, whether you think they’re extortion or not. My bills are regularly three to five times higher for months when I travel.

One alternative to this post-travel stress is GO-SIM, a prepaid international SIM card that you swap into your mobile phone and that works in 175 countries and claims to cost up to 85% less than your own “roaming” mobile phone. GO-SIM provides you an international number (based in Estonia) and uses a callback system (you dial the number you want; the system rings your phone back in seconds to connect). The beauty of the card is its simplicity of billing. No roaming charges. No hidden fees or surcharges. And best of all, it’s prepaid so you know exactly what you’re spending. GO-SIM offers SMS capability,  provides free incoming calls in seventy-five countries and data roaming in eighty countries — 3G in some.

Now, it’s not all perfect. When I did a review of calling costs for calls from the U.S. to Singapore, the price per minute wasn’t that inexpensive — US$3  per minute. But I am sure it’s less expensive than using my Singapore-based mobile phone to call Singapore from the U.S. — the roaming charge that SingTel charges for this call is 3 Singapore dollars (or about US$2) and that doesn’t include the call charge by the local US carrier, taxes, surcharges, etc.

Before you run out to by a GO-SIM, check out your wireless carrier’s international roaming offers. In Asia, carriers are more advanced than in North America in terms of options. Singtel (my carrier) offers a callback service similar to GO-SIM, and it’s far cheaper than calling direct — or even the GO-SIM (a US-to-Singapore call using Singtel’s GlobalDial121 costs a total of US$1.50/minute).  There are also special deals where carriers have special agreements with other countries on lower-than-typical rates. So do a bit of research on what your mobile phone provider offers.

But if you’re going to do a multi-country trip, this could be a cost-saving option. For UK- and US-based travelers, GO-SIM can link up your normal mobile number to the GO-SIM card, so (for an additional fee) calls made to your regular number come in on the GO-SIM phone.

Mobile phone rates are coming under pressure lately; there is discussion in Asia of several providers eliminating roaming fess across multiple countries. Until these changes happen, though, make sure to do your homework about the costs and fees charged when traveling. and take a look at GO-SIM if the prices are too exorbitant!

Multiple packages with various prepaid value available at BestBuy in the U.S. and at Thomas Cook foreign exchange bureau at Heathrow. Also available on-line at www.gosim.com

~ by efdixon on January 9, 2009.