How to Use Your Cellphone Overseas Without Getting Ripped Off

October 4, 2007 By Matthew Paulson

When you’re overseas making phone-calls back home, you’re essentially walking through a mine field. If you use the phone in your hotel room, you will likely come back with a bill for hundreds of dollars. If you use your regular cell phone, chances are you will be shocked when your next bill comes. In order to make cheaper phone calls back home, many people have begun using VoIP services such as Skype and pre-paid international calling cards, but those methods can get rather inconvenient. Fortunately there’s a service that works with your existing cell-phone which will allow you to make international calls for a fraction of what you would pay if you used your existing phone service.

There’s a service called MaxRoam.com which will provide you a new SIM chip to make use of with your existing cell-phone. You’ll be able to get rates which are about 1/15th of what you would pay with your traditional cell-phone. The amount you will pay per minute depends on what country you are traveling to and where you are calling back to, but compared to what you would pay otherwise, the rates are very reasonable.

The SIM chip that MaxRoam currently sells will work just fine on AT&T or T-Mobile phones, but does not work with models sold by Verizon or Sprint. If you are a T-Mobile customer, you’ll need to call them within the first 90 days of your contract for them to get your phone unlocked. AT&T requires that you complete your initial contract before they will unlock your phone. There are some services which will unlock a phone for you online if AT&T or T-Mobile won’t do it for you.

If your phone provider doesn’t work with the MaxRoam SIM chip, you can likely find a model that will work just fine on eBay for around $50.00. Just search for an unlocked phone on eBay that’s one of the models that MAXRoam supports and you’ll be good to go. This way you won’t have to mess with your existing phone.

Initially the SIM Chip will cost €29.99 or around $65 USD. After that, you’ll be able to load your account and then use the credit that you have to make international calls. Currently you can call the US from the United Kingdom for €.33 a minute or from Australia for just €0.21 a minute. Their website has a complete list of their prices from country to country.

The service is based in the United Kingdom, so if you’re going to be ordering one of these chips in the United States, be sure to order it a month before you go to ensure it arrives on time.

Posted in phone service