Traveling and the Travel SIM Card
We all want to stay in touch when we travel. Using a mobile phone has made it more convenient than ever. Now you can just insert a travel SIM card into your cell phone and start chatting away. But what’s it going to charge you? How much is that call going to be? Sure you put a travel SIM card in your new unlocked mobile GSM phone but how much are you really going to be paying per minute. These questions and many more arise whenever we use a SIM card in another country.
I have traveled around a lot and used many different SIM cards, the one I liked the most is the company that I currently work for. No, I didn’t start to work for the company because I thought that they had an awesome SIM card for traveling. One think that I do caution is that you do your research on travel SIM cards before you travel. The last thing you want to do is to show up in a country with your new mobile phone only to find out that it won’t work on their network or it’s illegal to use an unlocked GSM phone in that country.
Europe has many laws about what you can and cannot do with an unlocked GSM phone. So make sure to look at your countries rules and regulations before you attempt to pop in a travel SIM card and start calling your buddies back at home.
So here it is the standard mobile phone network in Europe and most of the world is GSM. GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communications. Europeans invented this standard and now much of the world has adapted to it. Many U.S. companies use this systems, most notably is T-Mobile and AT&T. Some companies don’t use the GSM system but instead use a system called CDMA. The CDMA system is not compatible with GSM so don’t try and use a GSM in your CDMA mobile phone when traveling. Travel SIM cards can be used with most unlocked GSM phones in Europe period. Now we need to do some research. The below countries last I checked are on the GSM network, therefore you should be able to use travel SIM cards in these countries. But again, this information may have changed so if your not completely confident keep doing your homework.
Countries on the GSM network and you may be able to use a travel SIM card
(this information changes and may have changed)
Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Myanmar Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Macau Colombia Comoros Congo Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Democratic People's Republic of Korea South Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar La Reunion Romania Russia Republic of Rwanda Saint Pierre & Miquelon Samoa San Marino St Kitts & Nevis St Lucia St Vincent & The Grenadines São Tomé & Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan, China Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad & Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks & Caicos Islands Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom, Guam Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Don’t see your destination on the list? Search for GSM countries and find the latest information. |
Aug 26, 2010 
