Cell Phones
 

I have researched other questions on this forum about cell phones and get so confused I could weep. Our cell phones in the US are through Verizon; we thought we could rent one from them for our trip but their limit is 30 days and our trip is 38 days. My husband has int he past "activated" his Blackberry only to find it doesn't always work. Then, since it doesn't work, he doesn't have a way to contact their customer service number.

Verizon referred us to another provider for a cell phone rental but that seemed unwieldy and expensive.

We've considered buying a cheap one there, but we will be in Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand.

We're staying in fairly standard hotels (i.e Sheratons, Novotel in NZ) with some independent hotels along the way. I also don't want to be awakened @ 3am with a wrong number (we get wrong numbers all the time) and I don't really want to, for example, have a phone ringing when I'm trying to snorkle on the Great Barrier Reef!

Should we just take a chance and make sure our close family has all our itinerary details with contact info? What about the difficulties we sometimes encounter using our credit cards (even though we are very conscientious about notifying them in advance!)? If they want to reach us to verify charges, that could be problematic. Should we just advise family we'll make every effort to check email once a day?? Would certainly appreciate advice.

Back in the day (of course we never took a five week trip back then), we had no cell phones, no Internet, just an itinerary with hotel contact info and post cards!

Just buy a cheap pre-paid phone when you get to Australia. You can top up credit if & when required. Lots for sale in the airport, supermarkets. You will need ID.

Then get a NZ chip when you go there.

>>Back in the day (of course we never took a five week trip back then), we had no cell phones, no Internet, just an itinerary with hotel contact info and post cards!<<

What do you mean back in the day? We still travel like that. We don't give out hotel contacts to anyone.

We travel all the time without a mobile phone, but then again we have no friends and our family are not demanding on regular contact.

Is there anything likely to happen that will require you cancelling your trip, eg a sick relative? If not, then why do you need daily contact?

If something does require your attention, that will be sent by email, do you plan to drop everything and return or can someone else deal with. Basically, how important is it to be in contact?

I think many people get so tied up in constant contact with people that they forget that part of holidays is getting away from all those daily worries, interruptions and enjoying where they are and who they are with.

How long is since you and your husband were together with no interruptions, no cares and just able to spend time with the person you chose to spend the rest of your life with? That is the reason you got married?

So in essence, what is truly important to you and your husband? When you know that then you can act.

People will cope without you.

We have never told the bank we are travelling and have never had any problem. But then again, we travel four times a year interstate or internationally, so it is not unexpected that we will spend in places other than home.

So if contact is important - what are the options?
1 A phone in each country - cheapish but wasteful, what do you do with it at the end, left over credit etc.
2 A SIM card at each place.
3 Phone from your hotel.
4 Phone from a payphone.
5 People phone you at your hotel between certain pre arranged times.
6 Email/facebook etc - there are plenty of free wi fi spots, so your blackberry/iPad/android, will be fine. This is what we do. We send an email every week or so, maybe. If anything comes up you can then ring if you really need to actually speak in person.

As I don't have a mobile, I can't offer specifics. I only bought a tablet at Christmas for eReading and a bit of internet access and used it in England, with no worries.

Enjoy your holiday - that is the key. Anything else is and should be small fry.

PS why is your mobile on at 3am anyway?

>>Back in the day (of course we never took a five week trip back then), we had no cell phones, no Internet, just an itinerary with hotel contact info and post cards!<<

We still do this, minus the post cards, and we travel for up to six weeks at a time. We're probably the last people on earth without cell phones anyway. We still use maps too.

Yes, I know that makes us sound ancient.

Whatever you work out, I hope you have a wonderful trip. AUS and NZ are fantastic places to visit.

Thank you for the advice! I am inclined to go with the "we'll check email when we can". Certainly, if something comes up, there's not much we can do from AUS/NZ. I think the concern is more about a credit card company freezing our card because of "unusual activity."

Since your primary concern is ensuring your credit card isn't frozen, have a second credit card as back up, and make sure your PIN is the right format for the countries you are travelling (Australia requires a 4 digit.) Make sure you have the international access # to sort out any difficulties, including loss or theft of card. then, as others have suggested use email as available to keep in touch.

You may not want to deal with issues back home when travelling, but there may be situations in which those keeping an eye on things for you would like your input so it is a courtesy to have a way they can contact you.

What PeterSale said makes so much sense.

We've been through all this as well - trying to sort out phones to use overseas is frustrating and we've had lots of issues with banks and credit cards over the years. On our last trip overseas we had 4 phones and couldn't use any of them, for different reasons. I think the days before everyone expected to be in constant contact, and before I wanted to be able to access Google maps and Trip Advisor etc while away, were easier.

Regarding the bank and credit card thing - absolutely take a back up card, two back up cards if possible. We had 3 cards from 3 different banks once while in America and couldn't use any of them, which turned out to either the store's fault or the banks but not ours. They worked fine later in the trip. We had to resort to.....cash! So another tip, carry some cash for emergency use.

Also, take the bank's contact phone numbers with you, kept separate from your cards. If something goes wrong you can ring if necessary and try and get it sorted out.

Kay

Consider Skype for phone calls. Just load the app to your laptop or tablet, create an account and put $20 credit on it.
You can call home cheaply when it suits you.

As for the credit cards, take more than one, let the bank know you'll be away, use ATMs that are in a bank during business hours where possible. At least you have a chance of retrieving an eaten card that way.

Good luck.

I agree with sartoric that Skype is a good way of making calls when on the road (providing you have internet access). Calls to the US from New Zealand are only 2 cents a minute, which is really useful if you get stuck on hold.

I also agree that it might useful to buy a cheap unlocked phone. Phones in New Zealand are unlocked. Phones in the US are generally locked. An unlocked phone would be useful for future travels, as you'd just need to buy a local SIM cards for the country you are traveling in. The rates would not be as cheap as Skype, but at least you'd have a phone for emergencies (though in remoter areas you might not have network coverage).

One thing to consider: I have a very cheap, basic, older mobile model (Ericsson) that I bought more than two years ago in NZ (it was cheap because it was being phased out)and I recently encountered a problem with a service provider in San Francisco; they told me they had no SIM cards for my older model, but directed me to another service provider across the street that did. I'm not technically savvy, but I am assuming that this SIM card incompatibility with my older mobile might present problems for me in the future when trying to use it abroad. Another reason to go with making calls on Skype.

I would buy a cheap unlocked quad band phone and buy SIMs in each country. A quad band phone will take you round the globe and be usable in the US. Australia Post in Australia has a very good range of phones and SIMs, and is in almost every suburb. If you are going to rural or regional areas Telstra (the major service provider) has best coverage but is the most expensive. Lebara would be one of the cheapest for calls abroad.

Lavandula

I was in Australia for 9 weeks in 2012-2013. I just bought a cheap prepaid phone and put minutes on it. I left Australia with plenty of minutes left, but it did avoid the hassle of changing phone numbers there all the time when I went from home exchange to home exchange.

Please note that Vodaphone has lousy coverage if you are going anywhere but major cities.