Best practice international GSM setup

[rfranzq]

Originally Posted by ckh

Do you all agree?
Is this the best setup ever? I'm very curious...

You did not mention the type of phone you have.
Will your phones work in Japan?
Onesimcard does not seem to have much traction in this forum. I do not know why. The Estonian number? [But you solve that with the US numbers.]

I would suggest at least one other brand SIM card, maybe two. There is bound to be some places Onesimcard should work but will not [might not be their fault either]. Also, a simple quadband phone as a spare & you can put one of your extra SIM
cards in that.
Your trip is not inexpensive and the extra SIMs and phones can be a kind of insurance to highten the possibility of communication in general and emergency communication if you needed. If money were no object, a satellite phone might be in order---but they are illegal in some countries.

Do report back on what you take and also your experience after the trip. Welcome to beta testing!

[After looking at the other responses, Piranha and Truphone would be good second choices for additional SIMs.]

ps No matter how hard you plan this aspect of your trip there will be shortcomings. That is why I suggest the extra SIMs.

Did you add this paragraph?

Originally Posted by ckh

There is only one wish left. I would like to also connect a extra SIM with an US number where I can receive SMS messages for free. Do you therefore have some suggestions for me? This extra provider can then directly also be our backup provider for voice.

Truphone has free incoming SMS in the US for US number. I do not know if that works "overseas", but I think it might.