Today I ask for advice for my friend, who is an advertising and marketing entrepreneur from Northwest Florida. Comment here or let me know on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook.
Copy of his request:
Suzanne...Hey, I know you are an avid traveler. I'm going to Spain and Morocco on biz/pleasure in a few weeks. I'm going to buy a new phone - I have a flip phone now.
Do you have any suggestions for a phone or program that will work well there and not be charged a Gizillon $$. What do you use when traveling abroad? I expect to use email more than calling. Any other insight would be appreciated.
Thanks...I hope all's well?
Dave
.... So, thanks in advance for your help. I hope in return it assists you or a service you know of that you like to get new business.
Update with two of the best answers, thanks to LCX and the Truphone user.
1. A telecommunications developer and entrepeneur from Australia ...
"I travel to Spain, and this is how I do it.
- Got a Prepaid SIM card from Orange Spain, no problems with passport to get a prepaid sim card.
- Diverted my Austrian Cell Phone to my Office number (at no cost at all)
- The office number was then routed through my VoIP Server to the Spanish phone, no Roaming costs.
- In case I wanted to call somewhere, I called my server through a Spanish number, Serve hung up and called me back.
You can keep the costs under 0,20 Euro/Min for Active calling and much lower for receiving calls.
He says if anyone needs help on this to contact him at office at lcx.at."
2. From a Truphone user:
"Truphone has TWO different offerings:
- Truphone VoIP (moble apps on smartphones that do SIP VoIP over WiFi and/or 3G data)
- Truphone Local Anywhere - a multi-IMSI SIM which morphs as you travel between different countries in order that you are always 'local'
The two can work together. Probably good to get a cheap GSM travelphone.
Something like a Nokia 1661.
They can be bought, for example here in UK, for GBP 0.90 complete with headset and charger. They even have an FM radio and a built-in flashlight!
http://quidco.e2save.com/mobile-phone/payg/nokia/Nokia-1661-Black.html?tariffcode=EVERYTMOPAYG&PHPSESSID=0up0knq90dbtroi289blqnrks5 - price has gone up this week, I see.
They now cost GBP 4.95 (cash). They come with no network lock - so you can drop in any SIM."
- Got a Prepaid SIM card from Orange Spain, no problems with passport to get a prepaid sim card.
- Diverted my Austrian Cell Phone to my Office number (at no cost at all)
- The office number was then routed through my VoIP Server to the Spanish phone, no Roaming costs.
- In case I wanted to call somewhere, I called my server through a Spanish number, Serve hung up and called me back.
You can keep the costs under 0,20 Euro/Min for Active calling and much lower for receiving calls.
That last comment came from Cristin Livadaru of http://www.lcx.at, not me Suzanne. For some reason, he was not able to get it added, so I added it for him. I have another answer also, another good one.