Traveling outside the USA: how do I make my smartphone work
April 9, 2018 7:40 AM
At the end of the week I will be traveling internationally to Taiwan. This is my first time owning an unlocked smartphone (a Moto E4) and I am trying to figure out how to keep in contact back home. My current carrier is a PAYGO plan with Mint and my impression is that it would be cost-prohibitive to continue using SMS and calling people. But I would like to be able to check my voicemail. I need an International Phone Use For Dummies. Please help?
I have done overseas travel before, but never with a phone that could actually be used internationally. So I am a bit lost while doing research because I'm having trouble finding the very basics.
Functions I would like:
I have done overseas travel before, but never with a phone that could actually be used internationally. So I am a bit lost while doing research because I'm having trouble finding the very basics.
Functions I would like:
- Receive and access voicemails from any calls made by US-based numbers to my US-based number. I might be getting callbacks from job applications.
- Use GPS and mapping apps.
- Do these things as cheaply as possible.
- Send and receive texts to people in the US.
- Make calls to people within the US.
- Browse the internet and get my email.
- Make calls from within Taiwan to Taiwan-based numbers.
- Text/call my traveling companions within Taiwan
- If I'm using WhatsApp, that's still going to leave me on the hook for cell data unless I just use it over internet, right?
- Do I need an international SIM card to check my voicemail? Does that allow me to use SMS and call to the USA? Or is that only for allowing me to use the phone within the country I'm traveling to?
- Is this what Vodafone is for? Or is that just for within the country itself?
- If I want SMS and/or voicemail, does that mean paying the international rates? And do I need to sign up for that separate, or am I automatically charged if I send or receive any SMS?
- I have Google Voice but have never been able to get it to forward my voicemail at my non-Google Voice number to my (US-based) Google Voice number. If I got this working would this be a way to get voicemail without paying extra?
- Am I missing anything in the questions above?
Do you know the method to get voicemails from your current phone account without using your current phone? As in, is there a phone number you can call from any phone and a series of buttons that you push (#, *, your pin) to retrieve your messages? If so, I would use that method to get your voicemail messages. If you can get them online, I would go that route. Any SIM card you buy should allow you to make international phone calls. To issue is how much they charge for them.
cell data unless I just use it over internet
Cell data is the internet. When you use the internet on your phone, you can use cellular data or wifi. Wifi should not eat up your cellular data plan allowance.
This page has general info on Taiwan SIM cards. The good news: "Taiwan is still one of the few countries that offer "real" unlimited internet. Rates are amongst the lowest in the world and networks are fast and efficient, although slower speeds may be noticed at peak times." That info may be out of date.
posted by soelo at 8:34 AM on April 9, 2018
cell data unless I just use it over internet
Cell data is the internet. When you use the internet on your phone, you can use cellular data or wifi. Wifi should not eat up your cellular data plan allowance.
This page has general info on Taiwan SIM cards. The good news: "Taiwan is still one of the few countries that offer "real" unlimited internet. Rates are amongst the lowest in the world and networks are fast and efficient, although slower speeds may be noticed at peak times." That info may be out of date.
posted by soelo at 8:34 AM on April 9, 2018
Opening caveat - I have traveled in many countries and used many phone solutions particular to that country and situation. But Taiwan is not one I've been in.
Generally, what I would expect to do in this situation is buy a SIM card to put in the phone, and then, or as part of the same transaction, buy some sort of pre-paid card, ie a scratch-off card that gives me a code I punch into the phone while it is connected to the local phone network via my new SIM, and then presto I have minutes. Or alternatively I have some amount of time (24 hours, a week, a month), during which I have unlimited calls. Maybe texts. Often data too, though setting up data often also requires playing with your APN settings, and instructions for that may or may not be easy to come by. Usually worth the effort though.
If I'm using WhatsApp, that's still going to leave me on the hook for cell data unless I just use it over internet, right?
Yes, but it is in my experience a smaller data usage compared to the minutes you'd use on calls or SMSs probably. Sometimes when I've traveled I haven't even bothered buying a local SIM, because having WhatsApp for calls and texts back home while on my hotel's wifi was sufficient for my needs.
Do I need an international SIM card to check my voicemail? Does that allow me to use SMS and call to the USA? Or is that only for allowing me to use the phone within the country I'm traveling to?
You should be able to check your voicemail from ANY phone, even right now. Check your carrier's website or call them - there should be a way for you to call your own number then hit a button (pound or asterisk often) or series of buttons when your outgoing message is playing that will shunt you into the menu that asks for whatever passcode you have set up on your VM (ie the menu you go straight to if you call your own number from your own phone, which is effectively the same thing as calling your voicemail). If you get an international or local SIM, that should allow you to make calls and send texts, but it will not be associated with your current number, so anyone you want to communicate with will need that new number (usually when I travel, that's the very next thing I do after getting a local SIM, is email whomever in the US needs that number - email because international SMS are ALWAYS a crapshoot).
Is this what Vodafone is for? Or is that just for within the country itself?
I will remain silent on this one, I've never used Vodafone specifcially.
If I want SMS and/or voicemail, does that mean paying the international rates? And do I need to sign up for that separate, or am I automatically charged if I send or receive any SMS?
This is all very carrier-specific, but my general expectation when I'm traveling is that my local number will not have voicemail, it will have SMS, and international calls and SMSs, if they work (see above re:crapshoot) will be priced somewhat differently than local ones. Again, they will all be associated with the local phone number that SIM card has; they will have no connection to my US number. If I want to check my US voicemail, I'd do it as I described above, the same way I'd do if eg my cell phone were dead but I needed to check those voicemails from my desk phone while still in the US.
I have Google Voice but have never been able to get it to forward my voicemail at my non-Google Voice number to my (US-based) Google Voice number. If I got this working would this be a way to get voicemail without paying extra?
Like WhatsApp, yes if you are accessing it via wifi (one way to be sure is to turn off your cell data in the android menu while connected to wifi - otherwise your phone maybe pick one or the other in a way that is not obvious).
Am I missing anything in the questions above?
Just that the US makes this process harder and less intuitive than practically everywhere else in the world, so (assuming your home bunker is somewhere in the US) you probably have much less to worry about than you think you do.
Wait there IS one thing! When you leave the US, if you already know that receiving SMSs on your US number will charge you while traveling internationally, take out that US SIM before you reach your destination or any third-country layover. Otherwise as soon as you turn on that phone, you might get those SMSs and get charged - you won't have any control over whether your SIM decides it recognizes the local network or not, so the only way to be sure is to not give it the chance.
posted by solotoro at 8:48 AM on April 9, 2018
Generally, what I would expect to do in this situation is buy a SIM card to put in the phone, and then, or as part of the same transaction, buy some sort of pre-paid card, ie a scratch-off card that gives me a code I punch into the phone while it is connected to the local phone network via my new SIM, and then presto I have minutes. Or alternatively I have some amount of time (24 hours, a week, a month), during which I have unlimited calls. Maybe texts. Often data too, though setting up data often also requires playing with your APN settings, and instructions for that may or may not be easy to come by. Usually worth the effort though.
If I'm using WhatsApp, that's still going to leave me on the hook for cell data unless I just use it over internet, right?
Yes, but it is in my experience a smaller data usage compared to the minutes you'd use on calls or SMSs probably. Sometimes when I've traveled I haven't even bothered buying a local SIM, because having WhatsApp for calls and texts back home while on my hotel's wifi was sufficient for my needs.
Do I need an international SIM card to check my voicemail? Does that allow me to use SMS and call to the USA? Or is that only for allowing me to use the phone within the country I'm traveling to?
You should be able to check your voicemail from ANY phone, even right now. Check your carrier's website or call them - there should be a way for you to call your own number then hit a button (pound or asterisk often) or series of buttons when your outgoing message is playing that will shunt you into the menu that asks for whatever passcode you have set up on your VM (ie the menu you go straight to if you call your own number from your own phone, which is effectively the same thing as calling your voicemail). If you get an international or local SIM, that should allow you to make calls and send texts, but it will not be associated with your current number, so anyone you want to communicate with will need that new number (usually when I travel, that's the very next thing I do after getting a local SIM, is email whomever in the US needs that number - email because international SMS are ALWAYS a crapshoot).
Is this what Vodafone is for? Or is that just for within the country itself?
I will remain silent on this one, I've never used Vodafone specifcially.
If I want SMS and/or voicemail, does that mean paying the international rates? And do I need to sign up for that separate, or am I automatically charged if I send or receive any SMS?
This is all very carrier-specific, but my general expectation when I'm traveling is that my local number will not have voicemail, it will have SMS, and international calls and SMSs, if they work (see above re:crapshoot) will be priced somewhat differently than local ones. Again, they will all be associated with the local phone number that SIM card has; they will have no connection to my US number. If I want to check my US voicemail, I'd do it as I described above, the same way I'd do if eg my cell phone were dead but I needed to check those voicemails from my desk phone while still in the US.
I have Google Voice but have never been able to get it to forward my voicemail at my non-Google Voice number to my (US-based) Google Voice number. If I got this working would this be a way to get voicemail without paying extra?
Like WhatsApp, yes if you are accessing it via wifi (one way to be sure is to turn off your cell data in the android menu while connected to wifi - otherwise your phone maybe pick one or the other in a way that is not obvious).
Am I missing anything in the questions above?
Just that the US makes this process harder and less intuitive than practically everywhere else in the world, so (assuming your home bunker is somewhere in the US) you probably have much less to worry about than you think you do.
Wait there IS one thing! When you leave the US, if you already know that receiving SMSs on your US number will charge you while traveling internationally, take out that US SIM before you reach your destination or any third-country layover. Otherwise as soon as you turn on that phone, you might get those SMSs and get charged - you won't have any control over whether your SIM decides it recognizes the local network or not, so the only way to be sure is to not give it the chance.
posted by solotoro at 8:48 AM on April 9, 2018
Before you leave, forward your home phone number to a Google Voice number. By a local SIM in Tiawan. When you get texts, or calls to your home number you can manage them trough your Gmail and Google voice online.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:01 AM on April 9, 2018
posted by humboldt32 at 10:01 AM on April 9, 2018
i travelled with dumb phones in the past and it always worked out cheaper to buy a local pay-as-you-go SIM. But i don't know about web browsing. Does your phone take 2 sims? I didn't have to stay in touch with many people and my folk just write letters (even to foreign youth hostels - you'd be surprised, you do get them). But if who you're contacting will put up with different phone numbers, i'd just buy a cheap local one from a shop
posted by maiamaia at 10:27 AM on April 9, 2018
posted by maiamaia at 10:27 AM on April 9, 2018
Your existing provider may have international travel plans/add-ons. It'll be more expensive then picking up a SIM in Taiwan but it might actually not be ruinously so.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:51 AM on April 9, 2018
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:51 AM on April 9, 2018
Start with calling your provider and asking them what options they have. I just got back from a 3-week overseas trip and AT&T charged me $10/day to use my existing plan overseas (my company reimburses me for this so I wasn't really worried about the cost). People in the states would just dial/text my normal number and it would come straight to my phone. Worth a shot (and I didn't have to worry about swapping SIM cards, not that that's a big deal).
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:37 PM on April 9, 2018
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 2:37 PM on April 9, 2018
If the rest of your companions will have US numbers, you might want to stick with your current Mint Plan, as the rates are not that bad. If you think you will be calling lots of Taiwanese numbers, you could pick up another SIM especially for those.
Mint's page with all of their international rates says:
Once you’ve added money to your International Roaming balance, you’ll pay just $0.05 to send an SMS text message from outside of the US, just $0.25 cents per minute to make and receive calls while roaming internationally, and $0.20 per MB of data. (Receiving SMS text messages is free while roaming internationally.) Unused International Roaming balances carry over from month to month and never expire!
posted by soelo at 3:26 PM on April 9, 2018
Mint's page with all of their international rates says:
Once you’ve added money to your International Roaming balance, you’ll pay just $0.05 to send an SMS text message from outside of the US, just $0.25 cents per minute to make and receive calls while roaming internationally, and $0.20 per MB of data. (Receiving SMS text messages is free while roaming internationally.) Unused International Roaming balances carry over from month to month and never expire!
posted by soelo at 3:26 PM on April 9, 2018
If you're like me and will easily use 2GB or more, you'll definitely want a local SIM, but if the rates posted are correct and you'll mostly be doing WhatsApp and a few phone calls it will probably work out cheaper to just use your Mint SIM. Those are quite reasonable rates compared to what many others charge.
On most Android phones you can get your VM access number from the dialer settings. Open the phone app, tap the three dot menu (or hit the menu button if your phone has one), tap settings, calls, call forwarding. Your carrier's VM access number should show up for busy, no answer, and unreachable. If you call that number it should ask for your mailbox number. Dial your 10 digit phone number and it will probably ask for your PIN. If it plays your greeting, hit * to trigger the PIN prompt. Almost every telco VM system works the same way.
posted by wierdo at 4:30 PM on April 9, 2018
On most Android phones you can get your VM access number from the dialer settings. Open the phone app, tap the three dot menu (or hit the menu button if your phone has one), tap settings, calls, call forwarding. Your carrier's VM access number should show up for busy, no answer, and unreachable. If you call that number it should ask for your mailbox number. Dial your 10 digit phone number and it will probably ask for your PIN. If it plays your greeting, hit * to trigger the PIN prompt. Almost every telco VM system works the same way.
posted by wierdo at 4:30 PM on April 9, 2018
- Ready access to Wifi ensured I could use maps and stuff. I was still able to use GPS without Wifi, though not route finding. Dunno how that worked, but OK!
- I notified everyone I could to use WhatsApp instead of SMS since I would mostly have access to Wifi. This only sort of worked.
- I set up my voicemail to tell people to email me instead of call. Also only sort of worked. Thankfully I did not miss any important voicemails.
- I never did figure out how to get voicemail for my regular phone number sent to my Google Voice voicemail. The latter only seemed to work for my Google Voice number.
- I could call people through WhatsApp, for those that had it.
posted by Anonymous at 5:26 AM on June 4, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
You can have it installed at the booth, because they have to change some settings. It is not very expensive and even cheaper in town. But not all shops can explain exactly what settings they're changing, so I'm glad I spent some extra dollars there. (around $25 US dollars for 2GB to be used in a month.
One of my travel partners who wanted to keep his number, changed his sim card at home into an older model phone, just to be reachable for calls and voicemail and used his regular phone to have the Taiwan sim card.
posted by ouke at 8:10 AM on April 9, 2018