How to Avoid Expensive Phone Charges When You Travel Abroad

If you’re travelling to a foreign country and still want to use your smart phone to communicate with friends and family members, you’re going to need to make some additional arrangements. Otherwise, you could end up spending a fortune.

Simply put, the cost for cell phone family plans when used in the United States doesn’t usually apply when you travel overseas. There are almost certainly additional fees involved and they can be hefty.

Here’s how to avoid expensive phone charges when you travel abroad.

Get an International Plan

Start by looking at the easy option. Does your carrier have an international plan?

If so, it might make sense to get it instead of your typical plan, even if you do it for just a month or so. That’s because the cost of the international plan could be less than the cost of individual phone calls you’ll make without the plan.

Check for the cost of the Sprint upgrade fee (or the fee for whatever carrier you’re using) to see if you’ll save money by upgrading to an international plan.

Dump Roaming

You might have your smart phone set on roaming by default. That means your phone will use any cell towers in the area. When you’re in the United States, that’s no big deal because it doesn’t cost you anything.

It’s a different story when you go overseas. You’ll get hit with charges from international cell towers the second your phone starts to roam.

You’ll have to check with the documentation for your phone to learn how to turn roaming off. If you can’t figure it out on your own, be sure to touch base with technical support. You don’t want to go into a foreign country with roaming on.

Swap Your SIM Card

One of the easiest ways to avoid high carrier fees when you’re travelling to a foreign country is to swap out your SIM card. The downside is that not all smart phones have SIM cards and if you do, then you’ll have a new phone number on your phone until you put the old SIM card back in. That means people who are calling you at the old number won’t be able to reach you.

Use Facebook Messenger

If you’re a fan of text messaging, you should know that you don’t have to text people “the old-fashioned way.” In other words, you don’t have to use your smart phone’s text messaging feature to send text messages back and forth. You can use a messaging app like Facebook messenger.

Try Google Voice

If you put your phone on “Airplane Mode with WiFi where available,” you’ll find that Google Voice is an excellent alternative to standard smart phone communications. Instead of using your carrier to transmit your voice, you’re letting Google do it with an app.

You’ll need access to a reliable WiFi to make this option work, though. In some countries, that’s not always easy.

Travelling overseas is expensive enough without the addition of costly smart phone carrier charges. Fortunately, you can beat those charges if you prepare in advance.