April 21, 2004 -- Cell phones can make foreign trips a lot more manageable and provide reassurance. If you're meeting friends or business contacts abroad, a phone can be an essential tool for making contact, and if you have important things going on at home (such as children or elderly parents), a phone can give you peace of mind in knowing that you're always reachable.
One of the largest US-based international phone rental agencies, Roadpost (www.roadpost.com) recently lowered their rates. They're worth looking at, and might be right for you, but they aren't necessarily a slam dunk.
RoadPost's rental plans are targeted at travelers who are going overseas for more than a week or two, but who don't want to have to bother with buying a local phone and a prepaid cellular chip (and are willing to pay a little extra not to bother.)
Before you rent, check to see if your current phone can go overseas. Many phones on the Cingular, AT&T and T-Mobile networks can travel around the world, and Verizon and Sprint phones can go to a few countries (though notably not Europe.) Per-minute rates are usually around the same as with a rental -- $1 to $1.50/minute -- you can keep your "regular" number, and you don't have to pay a rental fee.
If your US-based phone won't travel, though, RoadPost's new rates start at $79/month, plus $39 for each additional month, $20 for delivery and $1.79/minute calls. That's for the UK, France, Switzerland and Italy -- the per-minute rates start at $2.49 elsewhere. If you buy pre-paid packages of minutes, your per-minute rates go down -- buy 250 minutes, and you're down to $1.19 (or $1.79). We'd suggest getting at least a 100-minute pack for a two-to-four-week trip. Calling rates are the same to anywhere in the world.
Here's the bonus, though: if you're traveling to the UK, France, Switzerland or Italy, you get unlimited free incoming calls while you're in that country. That's downright terrific, and if you expect to receive a lot of calls, can make renting cheaper than bringing over your own phone (as with US phones, you pay for incoming calls.)
RoadPost's $79 minimum can be hard to swallow for shorter trips, though. Competitor Travelcell (www.travelcell.com) starts its rentals at a much less stressful $29.99/week, and their per-minute rates are almost always lower: 99¢/minute for incoming calls in most of Europe, free incoming calls in the UK, $1.69/minute outgoing calls in most of Europe and rates as low as 69¢/minute for UK calls.
Of course, if you're staying for a month, RoadPost may be cheaper (a month's rental with Travelcell starts at $124). And if you're willing to deal with a little hassle, the cheapest way to get cell phone service abroad is to just buy a cheap local phone and a prepaid calling plan at a phone shop. Those will cost you $100 or so to start, but you'll get calling rates as low as 20¢ per minute for local calls, under a dollar a minute for calls to the US, and free incoming calls.
How do you go about staying in touch when traveling abroad? Join the discussion in our Message Boards today.