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. (more…)
Join Our Mailing List &
Save 5% On Your First Order!
Archive for January, 2007
International Roaming Options
Saturday, January 27th, 2007Free Iridum incoming calls are not so “free”.
Monday, January 15th, 2007As 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. (more…)
Will my cellular phone work outside the USA?
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007This 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. (more…)
Cellular Phone Rentals utilizing CallBack
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007Global 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.
The high costs of international wireless communications.
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007With 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.
