Sprint PCS International Roaming

Sprint Sprint PCS is one of the two large US cellular providers who offer international roaming on calling plans. The other is Cingular, by the way. In addition, National Geographic has recently entered the GSM phone business. The problem is that there service will be exclusive of your regular plan. With Sprint or Cingular, you just unlock your day to day cell phone and use it when you travel overseas.

In order to use your phone abroad, you need to be sure you have a phone that is compatible with the GSM network. Don’t be too scared, there are TONS of phones that are compatible and many are very affordable. I have the RAZR, and while it is a crappy phone overall, it worked like a charm in Australia a few months ago. As I mentioned before, as an alternative you can rent a phone from BootsnAll. This page will also give you information on buying a SIM card for your destination of choice. If you plan on traveling outside the country frequently it would be worth buying one of the pricey phones. If you’re taking infrequent trips, rental may be the way to go.

GSM Phones Available for Purchase: Motorola V3 RAZR, Motorola V555, Sierra 775 Wireless GPRS

GSM Phones Available for Lease: Nokia 3120, Motorola V3 RAZR

To tell you the truth, Cingular has a MUCH more extensive list of world phones for sale.

The GSM network is the most widely used network in the world. There are, however, areas that operate on dual-band, digital dual-band, digital quad-band, and dual-band/ tri-mode. Check the specific country to be sure the phone you purchase covers your needs. If you plan to travel frequently to different countries, a GSM phone is definitely your best bet.

Areas serviced include:

Africa: Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Dem. Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Asia: Azerbaijan, Bangladesah, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Saipan, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan,
Thailand, Turkey, Uzebekistan, Vietnam
Caribbean: Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, French West Indies, Grenada, Grenadines, Jamaica, Nevis, Puerto Rico, Saba, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Marrten, St. Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, US Virgin Islands
Central and South America: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela
Europe: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,
Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom
Middle East: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
North America: Canada, Mexico
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Guam, New Zealand

You should be able to text as well, at a fraction of the cost of a phone call. Of course services like Skype are also an option for keeping in touch if you have reliable internet access. Happy travels.