Communications - International Considerations

It used to be, you travelled abroad, you told your family and friends when you were leaving, when you were coming back - and in between they were lucky if they got a postcard. A few years later, after telephone long distance billing cards were invented, you might have called - if it was really important. But these days, given our "need" for instant accessibility, by cell phone, text messaging, or mobile e-mail, we get nervous (and so do our family and friends) if we travel somewhere where we are not instantly reachable, or where we cannot instantly communicate. And that "need" can get very expensive!

Disclaimer: I will be mentioning company names below; I do not have any financial interest in any of them, nor do I care if you choose to use any of the services mentioned! My cell-phone and mobile data provider happens to be Rogers, my home data provider is Bell Sympatico - so I'm working both sides of the (Canadian) street.

As we are going to Germany, the costs below are for that country, but the comparisons work for most of the world, except recently the rest of the world has gotten relatively more expensive as Rogers, responding to competition, has lowered some of their prices for European roaming. But not nearly enough!

By the way; amouts below are in Canadian dollars.

If you are a Rogers customer (and Bell is probably the same), using your cell phone and/or Blackberry in Germany looks like this:

Voice Calls
Local calls within Germany: $1/minute
Calls back to Canada or USA: $2/minute
Calls to other international destinations: $3.50/minute
Incoming calls from anywhere: $2/minute

Data
Sending a text (SMS) message: 60 cents
Any other data: 3 cents/kilobyte, in 20 kilobyte increment (so, just to turn on your Blackberry will cost you 60 cents, and, because Blackberrys continually communicate with the mother ship, to see if e-mail is waiting, or whatever, you will discover that after a week or so, you have run up a bill of $50 or so (per week), without actually having done anything - and, your mileage will vary!)


Thus, the last ime I went to Germany, I looked for alternatives!

What I found was a Canadian company, roam+simple, based in Toronto. (And, as I said above, I have no interest whatever in this company, but have found them to deliver on their promises, and when there are problems, to respond quickly.)


roam+simple delivers cellphone and text services just about anywhere in the world; with small up-front charges, and usage charges billed directly to your credit card. Interestingly, roam+simple uses one of the same German cellphone companies that Rogers uses as their primary carrier in Gemany, and my experience is that as one moves around Germany, all of the other Rogers partners come into play.


Voice Calls (through roam+simple)
Incoming calls (from anywhere): no charge - German carrier are forbidden from charging for calls beyond the control of the receiving party
Calls to within Germany: 49 cents/minute
Calls to Canada and USA: 79 cents/minute
International calls (other than Canada & US): $1.99/minute

Data (through roam+simple)
Receiving a text mesage: no charge
Sending a text (SMS) message: 39 cents
Other data (Internet, etc): 30 cents/10 kilobytes


As you can see from the numbers above, given that Rogers and Roam+Simple use the same German carriers, there is a a serious discrepancy in prices in every category - some of the charges, like charging for incoming voice calls, might be described as gouging - given that in Germany itself cariers are not allowed to charge for incoming calls.


So, how do you get with roam+simple?

Google them - but here are some of the considerations :

You will need an "unlocked" GSM phone, ie. one that you own but are no longer using because you have upgraded to a new one, or, you can buy such from roam+simple, either reconditoned, or new. If you have GSM phone you are no longer using, Google "unlock + your phone manufacturer + model number" , and you will likely find a website that will offer you instructions on how to unlock your phone, in return for a fee of about $10.

Once you have such a phone, however you get it, Google roam+simple and select a SIM card for whatever country you want to travel to - you will need to give them a credit card number to which they will charge the purchase of the SIM card ($19 or so) and subsequent charges - the SIM card charge is good for one year, using it in the country you are going to will get charged at their published rates directly to your credit card with e-mail bills, and if you return the SIM card within one year, you get something like $10 back, otherwise, you will be charged for another year, except they will ask you to agree to that first.

That is my advice on staying in touch abroad, at a lower cost than just using your cell-phone or Blackberry!

But of course, your milage may vary!