Using a smart phone to make and receive calls can be fun and satisfying. It simply solves many problems for most people; communication is an essential aspect of our daily lives. This is relevant in both business and personal endeavors. Making local calls is straightforward, but using your phone while in another country is different.
If you are thinking about spending your holiday abroad, then you probably, need your mobile phone for things like checking emails, making phone calls and surfing the Internet. You simply need to stay connected to do things like checking your social media status and respond to messages. Staying connected abroad is quite different from using your SIM card for local communications; so do not assume that you are not going to pay extra for your calls and internet browsing, because the rates can be very high, depending on your service provider and roaming plan.
It is simply tempting to turn on the roaming feature to upload images while on vacation, or to quickly update your status on social media. Keep in mind that these activities can take quite a lot of your money. There are also background activities that occur on our smartphones when we connect to the Internet. Things like applications and system updates.
Receiving phone calls can also cost you money, even if you do not answer the calls, they go to voicemail in some cases and you have to pay for receiving the message. A new law has been passed in the EU to ban roaming charges but outside of the EU they still apply.
What you need to do when you take your mobile phone abroad
There are three things you need to do when you take your mobile phone abroad; in order to save some money on roaming charges. The first thing is to make sure you use Wi-Fi when possible. This is easy because most public places have Wi-Fi. Local cafes and hotels would generally have Wi-Fi, which is free in most cases. Therefore, instead of turning on your mobile data connection all the time, you can save some money by using Wi-Fi. You can download large files while connected to a Wi-Fi network. The second thing you should do in order to save some money while roaming is to turn off roaming on your smartphone, until it becomes necessary.
In most smartphones, you find this under cellular settings, and when you switch it off, your phone knows it is abroad and would not use background services. You can still make and receive calls, but cannot connect to the internet using mobile data.
The final thing is to call your mobile phone carrier before you travel, ask them about packages and plans for international roaming. It is never a good idea to travel without talking to your service provider about roaming plans.
You can get global roaming charges information on one single platform online. These websites usually put together information about the major networks. HandsetExpert provides a global map of roaming charges, which is also interactive. You get to see where you can use your phone in the world and the services that are available.
