Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cingular use this quasi-universal system; in Canada, Microcell and some Rogers
customers are GSM, and all Europeans and most Australians use GSM. If your
cellphone is on a GSM system, and you have a world-capable multiband phone,
such as many Sony Ericsson, Motorola, or Samsung models, you can make and
receive calls across civilized areas around much of the globe. Just call your wireless
operator and ask for “international roaming” to be activated on your account. Unfor-
tunately, per-minute charges can be high—usually $1 to $1.50 in Western Europe.
For many,
renting
a phone is a good idea. (Even world phone owners will have to
rent new phones if they're traveling to non-GSM regions, such as Japan or Korea.)
While you can rent a phone from any number of overseas sites, including kiosks at
airports and at car-rental agencies, I suggest renting the phone before you leave
home. North Americans can rent one before leaving home from
InTouch USA
(
&
800/872-7626;
www.intouchglobal.com) or
RoadPost
(
&
888/290-1606
or
905/272-5665; www.roadpost.com). InTouch will also, for free, advise you on
whether your existing phone will work overseas; simply call
&
703/222-7161
between 9am and 4pm EST, or go to www.intouchglobal.com/travel.htm.
Buying a phone
can be economically attractive, as many nations have cheap
prepaid phone systems. Once you arrive at your destination, stop by a local cell-
phone shop and get the cheapest package; you'll probably pay less than $100 for a
phone and a starter calling card. Local calls may be as low as 10¢ per minute, and
in many countries incoming calls are free.
Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)
If you have web access while traveling, consider a broadband-based telephone ser-
vice (in technical terms,
Voice-over Internet Protocol,
or
VoIP
) such as Skype
(www.skype.com) or Vonage (www.vonage.com), which allow you to make free inter-
national calls from your laptop or in a cybercafe. Neither service requires the people
you're calling to also have that service (though there are fees if they do not). Check
the websites for details.
Internet & E-mail
WITH YOUR OWN COMPUTER
More and more hotels, cafes, and retailers
are signing on as Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) “hotspots.” Mac owners have their own
networking technology: Apple AirPort.
Boingo
(www.boingo.com) and
Wayport
(www.wayport.com) have set up networks in airports and high-class hotel lobbies.
iPass providers (see below) also give you access to a few hundred wireless hotel
lobby setups. To locate other hotspots that provide
free wireless networks
in cities
around the world, go to www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/WirelessCommunities.
For dial-up access, most business-class hotels throughout the world offer data-
ports for laptop modems, and a few thousand hotels in the U.S. and Europe now
offer free high-speed Internet access. In addition, major Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) have
local access numbers
around the world, allowing you to go online by
placing a local call. The
iPass
network also has dial-up numbers around the world.
You'll have to sign up with an iPass provider, who will then tell you how to set up
your computer for your destination(s). For a list of iPass providers, go to www.ipass.
com and click on “Individuals Buy Now.” One solid provider is
i2roam
(
&
866/811-
6209
or 920/235-0475; www.i2roam.com).
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