Using your cell phone abroad.

For Many of you who have travelled internationally, you have probably at some point experienced receiving and exorbitant  bill from your carrier once you got back in the United States.

In the recent years carriers such as AT&T and Verizon have introduced global data as well as calling plans while you are visiting another country.  Both Carriers have data plans ranging from $25-$100 giving you anywhere from 100-2048 MB per slab and they bill you in increments of those charges in the event you were to go over.

Such plans are usually good and affordable if you are using data to check emails and some light browsing but expect to go way over if your teenager ends up streaming movies or playing interactive games on their smart phone. Also don’t expect real cheap rates for calling.  For example, Verizon charges you $1.29 per minute to make or receive calls while roaming in London England, however if you added on the calling plan they offer, it usually only brings it down to $0.79-$0.99 cents per min.

T-Mobile actually has a $50 plan that offers unlimited talk, text and web(only 1 GB at 4G speeds then they throttle you down to 3 g speeds).  With this service the best thing is that they offer you unlimited data while travelling internationally to the countries listed on their website(almost the entire globe).  While data roaming speeds are only at 2 G,  you are able to receive emails and light browsing with that. Phone calls while roaming are also a flat rate of 0.20 cents,

For those seasoned and savvy travellers, you always have the option of purchasing a local SIM card in the country you visit in many countries.