Where to get a International SIM card?
 

Anyone know where i can get a international SIM card.

I live in toronto, canada - traveling to Italy and Germany in July - i heard there are sim cards that i can just pop in to my phone and save a bunch on international roaming..

But i dont really know where to start

Any suggestions?

Start with this:

1) Is your phone quad-band? (look it up online)
2) Is your phone unlocked (if it's "locked" to a certain provider, like Rogers, you can't just pop in another sim card)
3) If the answer to both of those is "yes", then you can get a card from telestial.com and others.

Or if your answers to 1) and 2) are yes, you can just buy a SIM card in either Italy or Germany. BTW there is lots of information on this topic on the European forums.

Actually, wouldn't she have to buy a sim card in Italy AND Germany? (can she get one there that works cross-borders?)

i have a iPhone i dont think its unlocked so maybe i need to grab a unlocked phone - i was looking at these two website

http://www.brightroam.com & http://www.onesimcard.com/

the first one is post paid and the second one is pre-paid

any one know which is better generally?

I doubt i gonna use my phone too much when im there

sf--I think Vodafone Passport allows roaming in many countries.

Again OP the best place for answers will be the European forum where this has been discussed numerous times.

If you're not going to use your phone much, just a couple of calls home maybe, it's probably easiest to just enable international call roaming on your regular phone. Each call will be expensive, but the total won't be. If you want to use the phone for local calls too, like to restaurants for reservations, that kind of thing, and to make more than a few calls home, you'll want to go the local-sim-card route.

Any SIM purchased in Europe will work in all EU countries, but you'll probably pay more per minute for using it outside the country where you buy it. Roaming-within-EU charges are capped at a pretty reasonable rate, approx .35/minute if I remember correctly.

The reason to get a local SIM is so you can make many local calls. If you don't plan on doing that, then don't worry about getting a local SIM. All iPhones in the US and Canada are locked, so you could just buy a cheap phone in either Italy or Germany for about $30 to $40. But it sounds lik you just feel it might be a thing to do. In which case it's probably a waste. It will not make calls back home any cheaper.

<<<It will not make calls back home any cheaper.>>>

Except that incoming calls will most likely be free, which they won't be on her "home" phone.

i got a backup unlocked phone from my brother to use - nothing fancy pretty simple quadband phone from nokia

okay so i did some research on www.brightroam.com they have a promotion going till the end of july that offers a free sim card. (but i still have to pay for shipping) with the online code "FREESIM11"

its post paid so i only pay for what i use - seems to have reasonable rates - but a free sim is nice to have - its says i can order 5 max for free so maybe i'll just order a few extra incase (might as well)

It says their German sim card gets free incoming text and calls - if thats true it would be huge for me on my trip

any one have any info on brightroam.com before i order???

If you want to use your mobile phone abroad, but don't fancy the roaming charges, then an effective way to make savings is by buying a local pre-paid Sim-card, or a pre-paid Global Sim-card.

Use Global Sim-card: Global Sim-cards allow you to roam across a number of different countries, on different networks, with a single Sim-card.

International Sim-cards:The other option is to buy a foreign Sim-card that's local to whatever country you are traveling to, either online or once you're inside the country.

Check Mobile phone compatibility:

Using an Unlocked Phone: Getting Your US Phone Unlocked: Most mobile phones sold in the US are electronically locked to work exclusively with the carrier that sells them.Unlock them or

Buying a Phone in Europe: At your destination, shop around at the ubiquitous corner phone marts or at mobile-phone counters in big department stores.

The international SIM card is very useful in a foreign tour. It saves money and you always stay in contact with your family always. After coming back to the country your call gets redirected to your local number.