[flipper9]

It seems that the info on this forum seems to be pretty outdated with regards to International GSM Cards. This is understandable since the companies involved seem to be unstable, frequently change carriers, or go out of business. I wanted to start a thread to list the current BEST card values that are out there.

Note: I don't work for nor am I affiliated with any of these companies in any way. Feel free to add additional cards to the list, or make comments about their service, stability, etc.

Definition of BEST: low cost, not necessarily the lowest cost, but a balance between stability and cost. For example, many people list these "great" cards, but when you look at the rates they are high and not much better and frequently worse than your post-paid international roaming from your home carrier.

Global Roaming (Formerly Celtrek)
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Description: Typical call-back dial-out service with Belgium Mobile Number.
The Good: low rates in many countries compared to many cards, seem to understand that not everything is free and charge reasonable rates for incoming calls. They don't soak you for calls within the USA. Supports data connections. Appears to be the lowest cost provider at the moment.
The Bad: no apparent support for phone numbers in your home country. Data charges are expensive. Seems to be a restart of a company that was failing, or had troubles with their providers. You run the risk of losing your money in your account, like with all International GSM providers.

MAXroam
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Description: Typical call-back dial-out service with Belgium Cell Number.
The Good: lower rates in many countries compared to many cards, though not the lowest. Supports data connections. You can get a local number in your country that rings your phone for USD$1.50/month.
The Bad: Data charges are expensive. You run the risk of losing your money in your account, like with all International GSM providers.


Skype
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Description: this service is useful with an Online Number (aka Skype-In) that you have in your own country or another country where people can call you. You then forward the call to the phone number of your International SIM card.
The Good: makes it convenient to allow people to call a local number to reach you, and this generally means that you can receive phone calls at a lower rate than calling out. Useful if you also carry a laptop, PDA, or Skype phone with you while you travel...then you can use Skype directly to make phone calls if you have wireless internet access at your destination...therefore bypassing GSM calling altogether.
The Bad: Skype might be going away due to software rights issues. Costs $ a year to maintain the number.


Many of the other International GSM Cards out there provide similar call-back dial-out service, but their costs are well over USD$1.00/min in many cases. They might be useful if you are traveling to certain destinations where incoming calls are FREE, and you can get a call-back service or Skype to forward your number to it. Feel free to comment, add, dispute, or list other providers.