Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[wakingdream]

Once in awhile I like to check out the NY Times. While perusing through the Travel section ( ofcourse!) I came across an article about a new global cellphone.

"...there’s no monthly fee and no commitment for any of this. It works like a prepaid phone, where you put some money in your account and use it up as you talk."

"That’s the Cubic’s big trick at work: It carries your call over the Internet. Therefore, placing a call just sets off Cubic’s own system to call you back, avoiding the big carriers’ expensive cellular networks.
This, too, takes getting used to, and it also adds about 25 seconds of waiting to every call. It helps if you keep chanting: “90 percent savings, 90 percent savings.”

"A Cellphone Without Borders"

Take a look. What do you think? I wouldn't use it as a main phone but the idea sounds good to me....

[Jessica_CDN]

Sounds cool! I'd definitely consider travelling with it....

[stevejames]

Hehe.... I saw the word "cellphone" in the post title and was all ready to come in guns blazing and delete spam

[wakingdream]

I accidently deleted Rich's post! Sorry! He wrote "a lot of phones come with wifi access now so you could load skype on it and just use that instead."

[rbisset]

tut tut tut

I forgive you

[wakingdream]

Sorry! I somehow accidentally added to your reply with mine! Then I deleted it! Nice one.

I do like the idea of the phone being prepaid and not having to pay monthly fees.

[ScottWoz]

Right with yer Suze, it's a splendid idea and would prolly be more reliable than the wireless setup. Something I could see myself using one day..

[jakesmith1972]

Hi All,

I am traveling to Australia in a very short period of time, and I need to stay a bit in communication with the home front (and not just with the blog). I want to take my cell phone and I know that it has to be GSM.

What can I do? I have heard of Internatioanl SIM cards- does anybody have exp. with these and any recommendations?

Many thanks in advance.

[sianeth]

I bought an Aussie sim card from ebay for £3 with $20 pre-paid credit, found a code online to unblock my phone, and put the sim in when I got there... sorted.

[zxt]

Looks very promising but theres nothing new to it actually...I mean like when it says "Sure, you could always rent a phone or use a phone card when you travel — but then nobody knows how to reach you."

You can always subscribe to voip providers and people could reach you on one permanent number. You could port your previous number to the voip company of your choice. I am using Onesuite.com and its actually a phone card and voip in one that I can use around the world for receiving (tho I screen it first) and making calls.

Another thing is I really don't want to be called when I travel because I want to enjoy the only precious time I got before going back to work. What I do was just check the voice mail online and see which message needs attention.

Aside from notebooks or computers, voip can be use now in some Nokia phone and some XDA's. Watch out for the Google phone though...I think its better than Apple's Iphone (which doesnt really appeal to me that much).

[wakingdream]

Interesting. I've heard of voip but have never been really sure what it is.

Another thing is I really don't want to be called when I travel because I want to enjoy the only precious time I got before going back to work.

I would definitely NOT want to receive phone calls while traveling. I totally agree.

[jakesmith1972]

That is very interesting indeed and thanks for the advice. My only issue with VOIP is that I have to have a handset that is actually able to deal with it. That is why I was thinking of the Internatioanl SIM card, no real complications.

I agree with all posting that being bothered on holiday is not a good thing, but in this day and age we need to be reachable.. Well some of us do. Anyway, since I don't want to lug a laptop with me, nor do I want to purchase a new phone, I suppose I will try one of these SIM card deals.

Will let folks know how it works- frankly I suspect it should be fine.

[wahoo99]

I used a SIM from OneSIMCard when overseas. Oddly, no one called the Estonian number I like that you can use these as a modem in a pinch, too.