When shopping on rates alone, we kindly ask that you compare the proverbial “apples to apples”. Global Cellular Rental has no activation fees, no SIM card to purchase, no roaming charges, no usage minimums, no V.A.T. and never any hidden fees. We proudly work with the largest wireless carriers on the globe to provide excellent coverage and spectacular call quality. All of our rentals include every international charging adapter you may need as well as detailed dialing and usage instructions. We may not be the cheapest, but we are by far the best value on the web.

Cheryl

Put our global roaming expertise to the test today! Our superior international roaming agreements and cost effective rate structure with NO taxes, NO activation fees, NO usage minimums and ZERO hidden fees are simply unbeatable.

We are eager to serve you so call today!

Cheryl

1. Will my current cellular telephone work overseas?

Well, that depends on a few things. Is your current USA wireless service on the GSM standard or do you use a TDMA or CDMA handset with Verizon or Sprint? If you currently have a Verizon or Sprint handset and you want to roam internationally a cellular telephone rental will be needed. TDMA and CDMA have frequencies and technologies that are unique to the United States only and this particular technology will seldom work overseas. Now, if your current USA service provider is T-Mobile or Cingular AND you have a Tri-Mode or Quad Band telephone then your phone might work if the following requirements are met. You must have the phone approved for international roaming services by your wireless carrier (usually an additional credit check). Also, you must make sure that your USA carrier has a reciprocal roaming agreement in your exact international destination. Finally, it is important to check your carriers rates for international roaming which usually range from $1.49/minute to $5.99/minute for ALL minutes incoming and outgoing. In the end you will find that an international phone rental from www.GlobalCellularRental.com will be far cheaper than using your own phone, always.

2. How will I charge my phone overseas since their plugs are so different from ours?

All of our cell phone rental kits contain every international adapter and converter needed to roam from country to country. If you are taking your own phone it would be prudent to buy some adapters for charging which are rated A, B, C, D and E depending upon your destination. Visit www.VoltageValet.com for a listing of what adapters work and where.

3. Can I use my current cellular phone number?

Yes, of course. With an international cellular rental from www.GlobalCellularRental.com you will have the option of getting a local US or Toll free number where your US number can be seamlessly forwarded to.

4. Is there voice mail and text messaging internationally?

Yes. All of the same wireless services you have here in the USA are available around the globe but, be careful. Checking your voice mail is a $5.00/minute proposition whilst in Albania and many other countries with T-Mobile.

5. What if my current cell phone does not work after I arrive in my international destination.

This is usually pretty bad sign and an indication that you should have rented a cellular telephone and received guaranteed coverage. If you were told by your carrier that your phone would work and it does not you must call there international support number. These numbers vary from whatever country you are currently in so it is best to note down all 15 support numbers from your carrier before you travel. With Global Cellular Rental you just call 800.931.9773 24/7 and we can troubleshoot you anywhere in the world.

6. Where can I get detailed coverage maps for every location on the planet?

Believe it or not you can visit www.gsmworld.com and get coverage maps for just about any international destination.

7. How do I dial locally and back to the states?

Read my earlier blog!

8. What is the easiest and cost effective way to keep in touch?

Well, you can say that I may be a bit biased on this one however, read on. By forwarding your current cellular telephone to one of our cell phone rentals we can provide you seamless global coverage with your number and our handset at rates 80% less than you can buy it or rent it anywhere else. Guaranteed!

9. Can I just buy an unlocked GSM phone and a pre-paid international card?

Oh boy, good luck with that. You will have NO technical support, no voice mail you can understand, no international adapters, no call details and limited coverage at best. In todays travel climate, now is not the time be stranded somewhere overseas with no phone service because you thought you were saving yourself a few bucks.

10. Ok, you have convinced me to rent. How do I do it?

Visit us at www.GlobalCellularRental.com to book your reservation online or call us at 800.931.9773 and we can answer any questions you have about cellular telephone rentals.

If you notice that your particular area has no wireless coverage then we can provide you with a hand held satellite telephone rental that can be used anywhere on the globe. Whatever communications option you choose just make sure that you DO choose. Do not travel overseas without at least a cellular phone for emergency use. It’s just smart!

Best,

David

If you live in the USA and have made international calls at one point then you understand the process. To dial any number outside of North America (international) you must dial the numbers 011 before the country code, city code and seven digit phone number. For example, if I was to dial the United Kingdom from a USA mobile phone or land line phone I would dial 011(international access number),44(UK country code), 171 (city code for London) and 555-1212 (the local phone number that I want to reach in the UK. Now, from any other location outside of the USA you do not use 011 to prefix the call. If you wanted to direct dial the same number above while calling from let’s say, Germany, the pattern would be as follows. 00( two zeros lets the mobile know that you are going to be placing an international call), 44 (country code), 1710(we now add a zero after the city code as required in Europe) and the seven digit phone number of 555-1212.

This certainly tends to be a bit confusing if you have not dialed from overseas before. All of the mobile telephones offered by Global Cellular Rental offer the ability to enter in the “+” sign before the country code. This is a generic method of preparing your phone for an international call from any country on the planet. On Motorola phones you press and hold the zero key until the plus appears and then start with the country code of let’s say 44 for the UK. With Nokia phones the “+” sign is accessed by pressing the “*” key two times. It is important for you to know that the country code for the USA is 1. That is correct, if you are direct dialing our offices from anywhere in the world you would dial 00 or + and then 18607672933. Our are code is 860 and our phone number is 767-2933. Rest assured, Global Cellular Rental provides detailed and comprehensive dialing instructions for making and receiving calls to and from anywhere on the planet. It all may seem a bit complicated but after your first call it becomes second nature.

Safe Travels,

David

If you have been scouring the web for the cheapest form of voice calling from across the globe there is no doubt you have run into the pre-paid offerings of our competitors. These companies offer pre-paid SIM cards that you put into their rented phones and can be used in a few countries with some savings. Let me be the first to warn you that this method of global communications is severely flawed.

1. Many prepaid cards will work only in your destination country. This means that if you go from Italy to Greece your phone will not work at all since it is setup only for single country use.

2. Many pre-paid cards have their voicemail and instruction prompts in the destination countries language. So unless you are fluent in Greek, Italian, French and German you had better look elsewhere.

3. Most of these prepaid SIM cards have numbers from odd countries such as Lichtenstein or Iceland. This means people calling you would need to dial these far fetched destinations to reach you on your rented cellular. You had better check with your long distance company because the direct dial rates to the countries can be as high as $8.00/minute.

4. Since these cards are pre-paid you will have to “pre-pay” for all of your usage, usually in large bundles of minutes. Now, if these minutes run out or expire you had better hope that the rental companies offices are opened so that you can give them your credit card again and reload your phones SIM card. If you have no airtime left or cannot reach the rental company then you are really up a creek.

Global Cellular Rental helps you avoid all of this by offering pre-paid rates with the major convenience of post paying for your bill. Yes, you can take our phones to almost any destination in the world and it will never turn off due to airtime expiration or exceeded usage limits. You are free to talk to whomever, from wherever and as much as you would like to. All of our phones have English voice prompts and work seamlessly in hundreds of countries. Check out our website at www.GlobalCellularRental.com and compare the safety, security and value of our postpaid services. We will NEVER leave you stranded.

David

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.

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.

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.