Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Phones, Sim Cards, and Traveling Internationally

I knew I would loose my phone number when I replace the SIM card in my phone when I start my RTW trip. Basically, I'll need to buy or rent a new SIM card in just about every country I visit; the exception is Europe where I can get a European SIM card.

I didn't realize how US phone rates compare to other countries. I pay about $94/month to Verizon for unlimited domestic calls, reasonable number of international calls, unlimited text, and 2GB of data. In Korea it will cost $140 just for domestic calling, texting, minimal data, and  no international calls for just 19 days!

In talking to Apple today, I discovered the good news about SIM cards is they do not contain any important (to me:) information like calendar, contacts, apps, etc. As the name implies (subscriber identity module), they only identify where the phone can be used (e.g., on what frequency). At least this is what Apple told me; I'll find out for sure on October 2nd with my first SIM card replacement:)  If I loose the calendar, contacts, apps, etc. on my phone that I've been using to plan my trip  over the past couple months, it will not be good:)


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