global roaming - how long stays active
 

hi - i'm a newbie at this so i apologize if this is a newbie question. i'm taking a year and traveling around the world. i'm going to take an unlocked phone with me and probably swap in some local sim cards depending on how long i'm in one place. but, partially to placate the parents, i'm also going to take along one or two global sims (primarily for use in case of emergency and/or for finding the first place to stay in a country). i think i'm getting a phone over amazon which means that it comes free with a mobal sim card (which will be my emergency one - since reviews make it sound like the more reliable, although more expensive option). and i was thinking about maybe picking up a global roaming sim card as my first call in country/cheaper back-up option.

so - question time - does anyone know how long the global roaming card stays active? do you have to top it off or use it within a certain amount of time to not lose your credit and/or make the card inactive?

thanks!

Mobal is by far the most reliable and probably works in more countries than any other global SIM. While it is relatively expensive, it's probably cheaper to use it for emergencies and until you can find a local, country-specific SIM than to get more global SIMs. Apart from the added cost of global SIMs, look at the threads in this forum that discuss all the problems people have experienced with the likes of United Mobile, Yackie, etc. You will not only have to pay up-front for each SIM but also for airtime for each SIM, then have to keep them active and recharged. With Mobal you pay only if/when you use the SIM and it's charged directly to a credit card. That's much more convenient. Also it will be much easier for your family and friends to reach you because they'll only need to know the single Mobal phone number.

I don't know if you have Att as your U.S. carrier.

Mobal rates are much more expensive than what ATT and T-Mobile charge. Check their calling rates back to the US against ATT. Not even close. Especially in some places like Turkey, Egypt, Israel, etc. Mobal was OK a few years ago, but ATT and T-Mobile have dropped rates substantially. If you have a Verizon phone they will lend you a world phone and have similar rates as ATT. As an example:

Mobal is $1.50 vs. ATT 99 cents from Italy
Mobal is $2.95 vs. ATT $1.99 cents from Turkey
Mobal is $1.95 vs. ATT 99 cents from Spain
Mobal is $7,95 vs. ATT $3.99 cents from Russia
Mobal is $3.95 vs. ATT 1.99 cents from Israel
Mobal is $3.95 vs. ATT $1.99 cents from Argentina

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/in...al-roaming.jsp ATT rates

International SIM Card Mobal Rates

But if you get the SIM for free with the phone, I suppose it's fine as a backup.

Also, check the Telestial web site. They have some nice special deals on Ekit's Passport Sim's and phones.

Where are you heading to first? If it's somewhere in Europe (e.g. UK) you'll probably be better off than rip-off Mobal by picking up a local prepaid SIM, using it there and even going on to roam with that. Local SIM's will be stable in terms of reliability as well, and will have plenty of roaming agreements drawn up.

Mobal uses the 02 network which is the gold standard in roaming, but you will be paying with "gold." If your first stop on your trip is the UK, I'd get a Vodafone SIM. You'll get free incoming throughout Western Europe this summer and all calls to the UK from a Voda affiliate will be local calls. (Your phone will default to Vodafone's European network). I'd get a cheap US calling card with European dial-in numbers and use it. You'll probably be able to keep your SIM swapping to a minimum.

Excellent advice! Or even if it isn't your first stop I'd try to get one of these anyhow.

Doesn't Mobal offer you a UK number in any case? I recall that with Mobal only UK is free incoming, and it even gets quite steep for incoming elswhere in Europe. This is not the same of any European SIM who are bound by EU caps.

hey - thanks for all the replies. i'm starting my trip in ecuador, then on to central america, southeast asia, and ending up around the mediteranean (greece,turkey, and europe), so it doesn't really make sense to start with vodafone.

i have verizon and while they will get me an international phone, it will have an internal sim which means that i can't swap in a local sim card so would have to carry two phones. also, to get their international plan, i have to keep a domestic plan which will cost me at least $20/month (which is a decent amount when you're not even going to be in the US). Instead, i'm going to switch my verizon plan to prepaid, which works out much cheaper since i'm going to be out of the country for much of the year.

the mobal really is just going to be in case of emergencies (makes my parents happier since i'm female traveling alone and kitesurfing so there is potential for injuries). i think i'll either swap in local sims or not use my cell much for normal calling. i was thinking about whether it made sense to get a Global Roaming (aka celtrek or something similar) sim card as well for more frequent use than the mobal since the mobal is so expensive per minute. But, that depends on how long the Global Roaming sim card stays active - if I have to top it off every 30 days to keep it active, its too expensive and not worth it. If i only have to top it off every year to keep it active, then its not a bad second back-up.

Did you think about skype? If you are have a computer or go to an internet cafe you can talk to the parents for very little money. You can get a subscription, and get something like 10,000 minutes a month. Or you can pay as you go your choice. If your parents download skype to their computer the call is free if you call their computer. You can call your home number or a cell phone again the options are endless. If I am in a country for a week or more I get a local sim card. If you use an international sim no one will want to call you as they have to pay for the call as well as you. You will meet friends, and you will want to be able to contact them. Look at skype as they have a lot of ways to stay in touch. Just something to think about.

In fact it seems that in some countries there are several or even all the local networks available on Passport now.

sorry - i should have clarified. i'm definitely going to do skype as my primary means of talking with family and friends back home. free is a very appealing price :)

the cell phone will be used for 1) emergencies (i.e. i'm on a beach in ecuador and got lofted kiteboarding and slammed into a tree so am figuring out where/how to get somewhere to fix a broken bone) and 2) occasionally for setting up a hostel/hotel reservation when i first get into a country.

Mobal is still your best bet even though it's more expensive. If you have an emergency cost won't be the issue. Reliability and convenience will. None of the global SIMs are as reliable and convenient as Mobal.

Depending on how much you will use the phone "occasionally" the added expense of another global SIM may or may not offset the higher airtime of Mobal.

What is so special about O2's roaming agreements that makes it the 'gold standard' when compared to other operators' roaming agreements? What about Vodafone or other multi-nationals like Orange or just large operators like China Mobile, AT&T, and Rogers Wireless?

Last I checked 02 had more roaming agreements than just about anybody. First, they roam in all the countries the US has embargoed other than North Korea (Iran, Cuba, Syria (which has some US roaming partners). It will work with more airplane networks, and ferry network. An 02 SIM will work in a Thuraya sat phone which ATT will not.

That said, ATT has roaming agreements in 215 countries and that ain't shabby. Of the non-contract SIMs you can get, Mobal is the only one of the few that truly behaves like a contract phone. It works in countries where you can't trigger a callback and you don't have to pay for a contract burning minutes in a country you are not in to get this roaming. I looked at Orange's list and it didn't look as extensive. The number of countries looked shorter and I noticed that it didn't roam in some African countries or the Bahamas. I didn't do an exhaustive look:

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Sat...ame=PersonalIR

To the extent you want to take issue with my punning about gold, give me some literary license.

Does O2's SIM behave that differently if it's pre-paid vs post-paid?

Yes, but Mobal follows the contract roaming. They reserve money against your credit card like a hotel does that guarantees payment of several hundred dollars and they let you use the Mobal SIM everywhere. A prepaid 02 SIM is much more limited. Mobal is targeting the business traveller who just "expenses it."

The part about them reserving money against your credit card makes little sense as I've used Mobal with a pre-paid credit card plenty of times before.

Also, is there any reason the Mobal rates are so much higher than standard O2 UK rates? 80 US cents per SMS is very high & so is 14 cents per 10 kilobyte (14 $/MB). Do they charge this much just because they can (like all data & SMS roaming charges are) or is something else at play here?