International GSM Phone Rentals

If you are not a frequent traveler, you may consider renting a GSM phone, compatible with the frequencies of the countries that you are visiting. If you think that you can just bring your own GSM phone and expect it to work in which-ever country that you are visiting, think again. The cellular system in US works on a varied patchwork of platforms and frequencies, unlike the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), which is the standard used in most part of the rest of the world. In order to make sure, if your phone will work in other countries, call your mobile service provider to determine if the specifications of your phone are compatible with the frequencies used in the countries that you are visiting. If you find that you have a tri-bad or better still a quad band, you may be rest assured that your phone will work where-ever you are going. The only exception is with the tri-band. The tri-band phones have operating frequencies of 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz. This phone will work all around the world, including North America, with the exception where the service providers support only 850MHz.

GSM Phone Rental Rates
GSM Phone		Weekly Rates			Additional Weeks*
		1-week	2-week	3-week
1	Motorola V180	$34.95	$49.95	$59.95	$10.00
1	Motorola RAZR V3	$49.95	$69.95	$84.95	$15.00

Please view our GSM Phone Rentals page for more important information.

However, it is most likely that your GSM phone will not work overseas. Even if you have a GSM phone, it is likely that the version that you have is different from the one used overseas. Most cellular providers will rent you a phone, compatible to the frequencies used overseas. You will need to look around for the best deal in renting, that is available in the market today. Find more information on renting cell phones with a quad or tri-band.

Now that you have a phone, the next is the SIM card. SIM Cards are available for all major countries in the world, and for global roaming as well. These SIM cards are prepaid, where you do not need to enter into any contract with the service provider. This prepaid SIM card will save you atleast 80% of your communication cost. All the out-going calls are charged at local rates, with free incoming calls. These cards are available with airtime credits included and are available in different denominations. The price of such a card includes the set up fee for the SIM card, which is a fixed amount, and includes the basic price of the airtime credit along-with. You have the option in buying more airtime credits along-with the card. As you use up your credit limit, you may use re-charge vouchers of varied amounts to top up your airtime credits. These credits are available in terms of the value that you have put in and not as unit of calls or time. With such a prepaid country specific SIM card, you have a lower expense for your international calls, as you do not pay for any roaming charges.

To sum up the prepaid country specific and global roaming SIM cards, you generally get: