If your traveling abroad and your current wireless phone will not work, you’re not alone. A hefty 50% of USA cellular telephones will not work overseas due to varying wireless standards used here in the USA. Many phones here in the USA, working with carriers such as Verizon, Sprint/Nextel and a few others have adopted wireless technologies such as TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) that are unique to this country and do not have the required technology or necessary frequency to be used with overseas wireless operators. Now, if your US wireless carrier is T-Mobile or Cingular which works on the G.S.M. (Global Standard for Mobiles) technology and you have a tri-band or quad-band phone then it should work in many overseas locations. Usually, you must be a customer for more than 6 months and have an additional credit check done before the international roaming provision can be activated on your account. The reason for this policy is that call costs while overseas usually range between $1.29-$4.99/minute and most cellular customers talk 30% more while traveling on business. Also, with a GSM Blackberry or another handheld data unit you can surf the web and send and receive emails for between $20.00-$30.00 per megabyte. Do the math, these carriers can get stung for thousands if the average person chats and surfs away as if they were burning from their pool of minutes or unlimited domestic data plans which is why personal credit becomes more important to your carrier.

There are several other cost effective ways for keeping in touch while traveling the globe. The simplest and most cost effective way to roam across the globe is by renting an international cellular telephone or Blackberry from providers who specialize in temporary international phone service. International phones usually rent from $25.00-$50.00 per week and commonly have rates lower than even the USA GSM carriers roaming rates including free incoming calls in many countries. Also, you can buy a world phone for between $60.00-$300.00 that can accept a prepaid international S. I. M. (Subscriber Identity Module) card that can be used in single country destination only. These prepaid SIM cards work well if you are traveling to a country where English is the primary language, otherwise all of your voicemail and other prompts to recharge the SIM with your credit card will be in the destination countries language and it is more than a little overwhelming. There are also more and more WVOIP (Wireless Voice Over IP) offerings for the person travelling with a laptop or Symbian phone that has a Skype or similiar account. WVOIP is in it’s developmental infancy so although you can make and receive calls for pennies from major world cities the service quality and coverage will be poor at best. Whatever option you choose it is always prudent to read the fine print for taxes, activation fees, network access fees, set up fees, etc… A shrewd traveler should be able to save big and have great coverage with a little research and web shopping prior to their departure date.

Happy travels.

As you may know, all of our satellite telephone rentals are offered with FREE incoming calls to the renter anywhere on the globe. Although these calls are free to the end user, the person dialing the phone number will incur international long distance charges from $3.00-$19.00 per minute to access an Iridium phone. This is because the Iridium system phones carry their own country code and city code unique to their product and USA long distance carriers are free to charge whatever they like to have you directly dial their satellite phones.

Global Cellular Rental currently offers a less expensive method of direct dialing our satellite phones without the long distance “sticker shock” on your home or office phone bill. By providing a local US phone number, our customers can be reached at the discounted rate of $1.99/minute fixed rate per minute. This feature can be added to any of our Iridium phone rentals at no additional charge. Many of our competitors fail to inform the customer of the potential $19.00 minute phone calls and therefore the customer could end up with a home or office phone bill into the thousands. Global Cellular Rental wants your rental experience to be a safe and enjoyable one and everything we do is a means to this end. Please contact us with any questions at 800.931.9773.

This is a common question that we get here in our offices, so let me explain. Firstly, who is your USA wireless carrier? If your USA wireless carrier is Verizon Wireless then your phone will work in approximately 19 different countries and you will find that almost none of them will be in Europe or in an area that you are traveling too. If your USA carrier is Sprint/Nextel then your phone will not work anywhere outside of North America. Both Verizon and Sprint/Nextel work on technology known as CDMA which is great for high speed data but unfortunately only a handful of other countries utilize this technology in conjunction with them, which makes seamless international roaming an impossibility. If your USA carrier is T-Mobile or Cingular and you have the appropriate Tri-Mode or Quad-Mode GSM phone AND you have the stringent credit required by your carrier to open your phone for unlimited worldwide use then yes, you can use it globally. If your carrier is not listed here then chances are that they just resell for the big three and the same rules apply.
Now, even though your USA GSM phone will work in many countries you will be paying retail roaming rates up to and including $5.00/minute for ALL of your incoming and outgoing calls to and from anywhere, even for a local calls. By now many of you understand my stance on this international roaming dilemma and my business model. You should rent a phone for your trips across the globe! Not only do we guarantee or service and our massive coverage but, we also guarantee that we will save you substantial money on all of your calls.

Global Cellular Rental is pleased to announce the addition of a CallBack S.I.M. card for the budget conscious traveler. Although the CallBack S.I.M. card itself is rather complex and sophisticated, the method of placing and receiving calls is rather simple. By utilizing US switches and routers the cost per minute is dramatically reduced over using this equipment in your destination country. Not only are incoming calls FREE in over 50 countries, the outgoing call rates are a fraction of other international operators. To receive calls while using CallBack someone would just dial your phone number directly, very simple. To place a call to anywhere in the world you just dial the number, the phone disconnects the call and the service rings you back to complete the call. All you need to do is answer the phone and your outgoing call is completed. Our CallBack S.I.M. cards are the most cost effective international roaming solution available today. With global coverage and state of the art quad band handsets, these systems are set to revolutionize the way we communicate across the globe.

With the North American adoption of the international GSM wireless standard, most of the world has become become a smaller place. US wireless carriers such as T-Mobile and Cingular currently offer international roaming services with a select few of their quad-mode and tri-mode handsets. These carriers take advantage of reciprocal roaming agreements throughout the globe and enable the GSM customer to take their current phone number around the world. Although the service is quite convenient, it comes at a very high cost of up to $5.00 per minute in some countries. Also, these roaming agreements may only be in place with the smaller international operators leaving you with very little and spotty coverage at your international destination. So what is the solution? By renting a cellular telephone you can take advantage of having a local phone number at your destination that works with only the largest and most comprehensive overseas carriers. In many international locations your incoming calls will be free and your outgoing calls are usually 80% less than using your current cell phone. Also, it is usually possible to forward your US cell phone number to this overseas number and have your rented phone act as if it never left it’s home area. It is truly amazing. For your next trip to the UK or even Uganda it is always prudent to look into renting an international cellular telephone from someone who knows global coverage and roaming agreements.

Satellite telephones have been around for over 15 years and I am always amazed at how few people even know about the service. Modern, hand held satellite telephones have not only come down in price they have also come down in size and complexity. Today’s phones are the size of a typical cordless phone that you would have in your home and weigh approximately 14 oz. Satellite telephones work on a conglomeration of (LEOS) or Low Earth Orbiting Satellites which provide voice and data coverage absolutely anywhere on the planet including both poles. If you have open sky then you can make a phone call! It is truly a revolutionary product for those who must stay in touch while outside the boundaries of typical cellular services. Recent studies have indicated that 98% of the worlds surface and 80% of the North American land mass have no comprehensive wireless phone services available to the average wireless telephone. Satellite telephones are available for purchase from around $750.00-$1,500 depending upon the coverage that you need. Iridium is a truly global satellite telephone and it’s competitors (Globalstar and Thuraya) simply blanket specific regions with their satellites. For those of us who travel beyond our wireless network on a less frequent basis the satellite phone rental has become a necessity. From the most rugged wilderness to the deepest of oceans you can count on Iridium satellite telephones to provide crystal clear call quality and never ending coverage. And, when all else fails due to a natural or national disaster, Iridium satellite telephones will continue to keep you in touch, regardless of the local cellular and land line infrastructure. This particular feature makes it a must have for any emergency preparedness kit or disaster recovery plan.