When you travel you want to stay in touch with your family and friends back home, but traveling is expensive enough. You do not want to add massive international roaming charges to your budget. This article will show you a way to reduce your international phone bill: International cell phone rental. You will discover the minimum costs involved, the benefits and whether it is better to rent or to buy a international wireless phone.    

What are the benefits of international cellular phone rental?

In general using your cell phone abroad is a costly exercise. Depending on your destination your service provider can charge $2 -$3 a minute for calling the US. They will even charge you for receiving phone calls. It goes without saying that you want to tell your family that you arrived safely and keep them posted on all your activities abroad. But an inflated cell phone bill is an unpleasant holiday souvenir. Renting an international mobile phone could solve this problem for you. You can get one starting at $29.95 for the first week including $5 of calling credit. Additional days cost $1.75/day.

Here are some of the benefits:

Save up to 75% on cell phone calls worldwide Receive free calls in 54 countries Receive free text messages (SMS) Coverage in more than 160 countries Top up your calling credit anywhere, anytime directly from your phone or on the internet You will receive the wireless phone you selected, an extra battery, a wall charger, international power adapter, a belt holster, a leather pouch for your phone and accessories, and a user guide.

How do you get a phone and what do you do with it after your trip?

When you are planning your trip you need to inform the international mobile phone provider of your departure and return dates and they will ship the phone to you including your initial $5 credit. Once you receive your phone just switch it on and activate your account on the company website. You can top up your credit while you are abroad directly from your phone. After you return you can send your phone back from the post office using the return packaging and pre-printed US postal service label provided to you by the company. It could not be easier!

Rent or buy a international cell phone?

You might wonder if you would be better off buying a world mobile phone rather than renting one. This primarily depends on the duration and frequency of your foreign travel. If you travel once a year for 15 days or less it is cheaper to rent a phone. If you travel more often and/or longer you will save money by buying your own international cellular phone.

I hope this article was helpful to you. If you want to find out which phones are available, you can click on the link in my bio.

The international prepaid phone card has come to the rescue of thousands of international travellers and immigrants who have taken advantage of the extremely low and cheap rates to stay in touch with family and friends.

Once upon a time, picking up the phone to dial overseas was almost a social event; it just wasn’t done on a regular basis given the exhorbitant costs facing consumers. Well, it seems consumers are having the last laugh over traditional calling methods.

Reuniting with Loved Ones Over The Phone

For immigrants, the international prepaid phone card allows new migrants to phone relatives for cents in the dollar. People who have lived in their adopted countries for 30 to 40 years have been able to contact friends and relatives they haven’t spoken to for a similar length of time.

The downside is the amount of options available to people. Options are usually a good thing but in the world of phone cards, it has created a lot of confusion. The phone card industry has received bad publicity over the years with “fly-by-nighters” and scam artists causing problems and while it’s cleaned up it’s act, there are still some well worn guidelines you can follow to ensure you find the right company and card best suited to your needs.

Phone Card Checklist

Here’s my shortlist of international prepaid phone card checks when I’m shopping for a card.

1. How long has the company been in business? You can check online and if the they’ve been plying their craft for any reasonable amount of time then they get a plus in my books.

2. Can the company be contacted? This is vital. Recently, I required a copy of my phone card records for immigration purposes. I rang my company and following a request, the information was provided to me within a week. The big factor here was I was able to call them.

3. Customer service was touched on in the previous point. It was excellent. Being able to talk to a real live person when you require assistance makes such a big difference.

4. Can the card be topped up over the phone? Being able to dial a central number when you haven’t got internet access is another plus factor for me.

5. Check for hidden fees… these can eat away your payments in no time. Avoid them.

This is a shortlist of things to look out for but in the end, the first three points are the most important in my book for shopping for an international prepaid phone card. When you find a phone card company you like and it works well for you, stick with it and resist the urge to change to a cheaper rate. Sometimes, cheaper is definately not better!

Phone cards continue to grow with the lifestyles of the international calling consumer. Fast, cheap international calls are now possible with a multitude of conveniences and services that calling card companies have added on to increase the value of the calling card to the international calling consumer. Prepaid phone cards are no longer limited to convenience stores, and phone cards purchased over the Internet can be prepaid for convenience. Phone numbers and pin numbers for calling cards can be emailed instead of being scratched off, and speed dial shortcuts can be assigned to reduce the need for extravagant numeric entry that is typical of many store-bought phone cards.

Fast, cheap international calls can start with a calling card that is a prepaid phone card. If you do not make international calls on a regular basis, purchasing a prepaid phone card for cheap international calls is a fast way to get a card within your budget constraints. To find the cheapest rates for international calls, look beyond the rate charged per minute. Many cards charge a connection fee, which may not amount to much if you are using your prepaid phone card for only one or two international calls. However, if you frequently use calling cards to call overseas, connection charges can quickly devour the minutes on your phone card.

Frequent international callers will also want to look into the phone card’s rollover minute policy if they choose a monthly calling card plan. Many phone card companies will offer the convenience of rollover minutes with the convenience of an automatic refill of minutes if your phone card runs out of minutes at any time. Consumers that make frequent international calls should also look into their personal value-benefit of speed-dial options with certain phone cards, pin-less dialing and online calling history reports. Infrequent international callers may prefer a cheaper rate to these same features.

Phone cards are also available for international calls over various communication systems. Although phone cards were originally created for the classic (and soon archaic) land-line phone, phone cards are now frequently used with cell phones, and can also be used for VOIP, PDA, PC to Phone, WiFi, Web Calls, Texting, and Conference Calls.

Whether you are purchasing a prepaid or monthly phone card, or a phone card for domestic calls or cheap international calls, you should always thoroughly review every detail of the calling card. Fees for phone cards, both domestic and international, may include not only the minutes and connection fees, but may also include taxes, additional charges for placing payphone calls with the phone card, “maintenance” fees, and rounding fees. Many phone cards round up to one minute, yet others round up to four or even five minutes. If you frequently make your calls from hotels or airports, try and compare your phone call charges with any extra charges that may be incurred from your calling place. It’s often cheaper to use a prepaid phone card in a hotel than it is to pay the hotels fees – especially for international calls.

Phone cards will continue to grow in their sophistication. Mobile phone card ordering with the touch of a button is on the horizon. For now, fast, cheap international calls can be made with or without calling card conveniences. Phone card services can be tailored to your individual needs. Taking the time to search the Internet for a combination of the cheapest phone card rate and the most convenient calling card services for your personal needs can give you long-term savings with long-term satisfaction – or at least help you find the best phone card for a fast, cheap international call to the country of your choice.