<p>We have Alltel and when i talked with them they only had one phone capable for other countries and it was a Blackberry World. I would have to pay more monthly for the blackberry service.</p>
<p>What is the best way to go? Buy a phone card to use when you visit another country. What kind of costs for a phone that would work there?</p>
<p>Suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I’m sure there are others with more experience, however Skype works well for me while I’m out of the US. Cellphones I’m not sure about.</p>
<p>S has been sailing professionally for 3 yrs now. While at KP and sailing, had a phonecard from iscard.com which worked in almost every one of the 20+ countries he visited. (I just used it myself in the UK with no problem at all.) He now has an international cell phone he bought in Singapore, just gets a new sim card in every country he goes. The card is purchase with a certain number of minutes and is assigned a phone number, so there is a different one for each country. He gave it to my D last summer when she traveled to Europe and it worked well for her too (he was in the US while she was away). I’ve heard that AT&T has internat’l phones but Verizon doesn’t, you’ll have to check it out.</p>
<p>T-Mobile and ATT have GSM phones that work in most countries. If you get an unlocked quad band GSM phone you can buy pre-paid sim cards in most countries that make calling the US quite cheap from a cell phone.</p>
<p>Big difference from a phone that works “at sea” as your thread states, and a phone that works in port while on a sea voyage.</p>
<p>I would think only satellite phones work “at sea” as there are no cellular/GSM/PCS towers on the ocean. ;)</p>
<p>I have an Iridium phone that I take to sea with me. Phone is expensive, and voice is about a $1 a minute, but texts are 25 cents, nice way to keep in touch- although with email now on most ships it is different. No communications was hard at times, but I think it is important for a cadet to realize how “far out” they are when at sea. When I got on my first cadet ship I wasn’t able to call home to say where I was going- two weeks later at the first port I called home and my dad asked where I was- It was quite a feeling to realize that I could have told him any port in the world and he would have believed me- I told him where I was it was tomorrow- he said he was watching a baseball game, and if it is tomorrow where I am, who won? I was in Guam…</p>
<p>I would not worry about a cell phone but rather go with a calling card. It does not make much sense to buy a sim card when most of the time you are in port for such as short period of time. In some ports like Japan, they have a service that brings phones on the ship and you can get a phone and 20 minutes of calling for about $10. You return the phone before you depart. Try looking at Pingo.com for a calling card.</p>
<p>It mostly depends on what ship and to which countries your Mid will be sailing. Verizon does have a world phone, which works in 99% of the countries and is not a PDA which requires the costly data fee. My son bought a sim card in each port and it worked great. the trick is you have to get the phone unlocked. His current phone may be capable of being unlocked and a different sim card inserted.</p>
<p>Calling cards work for some countries, but what my son found was that many countries do not even have pay phones readily available since everyone has pretty much gone to cell technology.</p>
<p>Luigi, I don’t believe Steve was referring to making calls while on board ship. Us KP parents refer to our kids being “at sea” during their sea term :)</p>