You probably already know what a SIM card is. The card is the small memory chip that fits into your phone and contains all of your personal info, phone numbers, texts, pictures, and a whole lot more. However, you might not be aware of what international SIM cards are, and if you aren’t then you could be spending a lot more in roaming charges than you need to spend. An international SIM card allows you to make calls from all around the world without having to worry about roaming charges that you can’t afford to pay.

Perhaps you think that you don’t need to use your phone when you travel. After all, you are on vacation and you don’t want to worry about all of the daily problems that await you back home. Well, the truth is you never know when you might need to use your cell phone while on vacation. Any number of things could happen. You could get lost while you are out sightseeing, you could have to contact people back home in case of an emergency, or you might need to change your travel plans at the last minute. If you have one of the international SIM cards then you will be able to use your phone without worry.

Of course, for the card to work, you will need to have an unlocked phone and one that is part of the GSM network. Some areas, such as North America, don’t have these unlocked phones in high supply. You don’t have to worry though, you can find a provider online that can supply you with the travel phone you need as well as international SIM cards that will help to keep those roaming charges under control. This should give you more peace of mind whenever and wherever you decide to travel.

You can find these world phones and SIM cards at great prices, and you can find providers that don’t require contracts or monthly fees. This is a huge boon and makes them easier and more convenient to use.

Now that you know what an international SIM card is, then you should make sure that you have one of these travel phones packed in your suitcase. They are one of the things that you truly don’t want to leave home without having. Before you travel, get one of those international SIM cards for your phone. You won’t regret it.

Pat Dinunno can help you drastically reduce your current expenses by eliminating roaming fees associated with business and personal travel. Through Roam4Less you will be able to find world phones, travel phones and international SIM Cards that allow you to have quality mobile phone service in over 200 countries without incurring insanely high roaming fees.

International SIM Cards FAQ:

Question: International SIM cards?
Anyone have any experience with these. I want to unlock a Blackberry Tour and use it in the Middle East and Europe.

Answer: Normally it depends on which country are you going & which band of GSM that country/Network use. In most of the country your unlock blackberry will work just buy sim in that country & save roaming charges.

Question: Will my locked 3G Iphone work in Vietnam with one of the local SIM cards?
I am going to VN next week and want to use a local GSM service (ex: Viettel) because it will be much cheaper than ATT international rates. Will my phone work with their SIM cards or will I have to unlock it first? If it needs to be unlocked, should I do it here in the USA or can they unlock it over in VN?

Answer: It will not work until it has been unlocked. It’s really a toss up whether you should do it in Vietnam or not. Being a foreigner with a really cool phone means you are most certainly going to be overcharged. If you can get it unlocked at home for less than $25, do it. Another thing you have to worry about is the substitution of knock off parts in your Iphone. Unless you know who you are dealing with, you could be ripped off.

Question: Should I buy a prepaid international phone or a prepaid international sim card?
I will be spending a semester in Australia! I already have a cell phone that can be unlocked.

Answer: Unlock your phone then buy a local sim.

Question: Cell phone and internet use in China?
We plan on going to China and wanted to use an international Sim card in my I phone and use WiFI when ever possible. I have heard that China has strict use on the internet and use of wifi. Has anyone encountered problems of this sort?

Answer: You’ll need to make sure that your current phone is an unlocked quad-band phone. And it would be best to buy your SIM Card in China. Wifi is not very common at all. Wired internet service is generally available in many (but not all) hotels throughout China, especially those who cater to western tourists. As you go outside tourist areas, though, you will find it more difficult to find in-room internet service. However, internet cafes (bars) are on almost every block. Internet censorship laws do exist in China for a variety of reasons. Gmail has been blocked a couple of times, but neither time was for extended periods of time. Foreign social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogspot) are all blocked. Searches for sensitive materials on political or religious items will result in blocked sites as well.

Question: Please help me find a good SIM card plan for The Netherlands?
I am from the US and will be living in The Netherlands for five months. I have an original iPhone that I would like to buy an international SIM card for. I don’t NEED a data plan, but would prefer it. The most important thing is to be able to call/text within The Netherlands. I don’t need to call back to the US.

Answer: You can buy vodafone, lycamobile, lebara etc. I’m using lycamobile since its cheap. I think you can buy for 10 euro a new line. Then for every top-up it gives double credit.

Question: What can you do with an unlocked cell phone?
While traveling, can you just buy a SIM card to make local calls or can you make cheap international calls too?

Answer: Most likely you can. I just unlocked my 3g and it works with any sim card. If they unlock your Iphone at at&t to go out of the country I’m sure an international sim will work.

Question: International SIM cards?
I am traveling constantly to countries like Abu Dhabi, london, Pakistan, U.S.A, Tawian, and Bangokok. I need a sim that can work everywhere and will give me extremely cheap rates. At 90 cents a minute is the cheapest I can find. Even that’s too expensive! My phone is unlocked and a tri-band!

Answer: The cheapest way is to buy prepaid sim card at the country you visit. You can also find cheap rate prepaid phone cards/international calling cards at those country.

Question: My cell phone doesn’t have an international SIM card, but if I use an international calling card to call a cellphone in another country will it show up on my cell phone bill? I’m calling on my cell phone from the U.S to a cell phone in the U.K.

Answer: You should read the fine print on calling cards because they may all be different but as far as I know, usually the answer is yes and no. The bill that will appear on your phone is only the amount of minutes that you have used, not international minutes but domestic minutes if the calling card’s number is an 800 number or local. My uncle uses calling cards all the time on my cell and all I get charged for is the minutes he used but not the 50 cents a minutes international rate. Just make sure you read the fine print.

Many of us want a lot of freedom in the way we use our mobile service. We do not want to get tied to a single service provider. The reason is that you then become dependent on the service provider and have to put up with inconsistent service, increase in rates and many other things that you cannot control beyond a point and this can be very irritating for you.

Buying a sim free iPhone or an unlock sim card phone is the best solution that you can avail of as through this you can get liberated from being tied to a service provider. This phone can be used on the network that you prefer giving you a lot of flexibility. The other reason in going for such phones is the fact that in trying to unlock it using conventional software, you may end up damaging the phone and render it useless. The sim free iPhone ensures that there is no chance of the software crashing.

In a manner of speaking, it is not a sim free iPhone but just a clever use of another card that behaves like a sim but can be removed at any time and used as per convenience.

There are other advantages as under:

a) This will keep the phone unlocked even when the software is updated from time to time.

b) You can use this phone anywhere globally and connect to any network.

c) The unlock facility is a very convenient one as it is similar to the sim card and is positioned such that the sim connectors and the usual sim card do not get affected and cannot affect this card. It is simply a trick to deceive the phone to believe that you are making use of a card to use the phone on a particular network exclusively.

d) As mentioned above, you are at liberty to remove the card and use it whenever you like, giving you the flexibility to make use of your phone at any place and at any time without being bound to a particular network.

e) You can fit any sim card along with the unlock sim card as it is compatible with every card and the fitting is also not inconvenient.

There are thus many advantages in this system and you can opt for this as opposed to unlocking your phone each time through the cumbersome software method. This system really gives you the flexibility and freedom that you always wanted and also keep your iPhone safe from any damage with the original warranty still valid.

Any updates that the company launches is also easily updated without any problems and you do not miss out on any of the regular services.

Sim free iPhone and free iPhones are available only at Simplyfreeiphone.co.uk

Sim Free iPhone FAQ:

Question: Will a 100% factory sim free iphone lock up if jailbroken and the firmware updated through itunes?
Or will it just update to the new iphone version and remove the jailbreak? Thinking about buying an 100% SIM free iphone and need to know the answer to this.

Answer: Not sure what would happen but I can point you to a forum where you will get an answer: forums.macrumors.com. This is a very good website with lots of info & discussions on rumours which isn’t allowed on Apples own boards!

Question: Tell me the website for downloading sim for free iphone software?

Answer: Aimersoft products are good and it’s has free shockwave versions … You can freely download and install on your computer the result video will be added a watermark after the installation without any cost or obligation. If you want to remove the watermark, please buy a Full version. The Full version will remove all the limitations and entitle you free technical support. This Aimersoft product also have many softwares related to iphone software such as Aimersoft Video Converter for BlackBerry, Aimersoft Video to DVD Converter, Aimersoft Video Splitter

Question: I have been thinking about getting a iphone and unlocking it using iphone-sim-free aplication to use t-mobile.
The problem is the new ipod touch is coming out and it will have internet on it for free. I have a very cheap plan with t-mobile. If I use the iphone with my t-mobile sim card will I get charged for using internet and youtube?

Answer: The only thing that doesn’t work on the unlocked iPhones is the visual voice mail.

Any of the other features would cost if you were using the cellular network and not wifi. If you were using the wifi it would be free just like the touch. When it switch over to the cellular part if you didn’t have any kind of data plan with t-mobile it would be charged out on a per-use basis.

Question: Where can I buy a brand new (sim free) iphone and for how much?
I’m trying to get this for a friend who lives in Turkey where they are almost impossible to get and extremely expensive.

Answer: I would try looking at ecost.com, geeks.com or tigerdirect.com. You can find unlocked phones with no contract. Just slide your SIM card in and go. You can also try places like Digital Deals, Ebay, Best Bid Auctions.

Question: Can you use a sim free iphone on vodafone? Where can you get one?

Answer: As you said its sim free so you can stick any sim card in you want. But you won’t get the same services as you get on Iphone as am guessing you have a doggy phone (the phone has been illegally unlocked in uk as iphone is only available from one uk provider). You only get what you pay for ..so just be aware a lot of the functions will not work.

Question: Where is the cheapest place to order a Iphone (sim free)?
Anyone know a good website. Not going to pay over 350.

Answer: For a real one, not a clone, eBay is the best.

Question: If I buy a SIM free iPhone off ebay, and I have AT&T, can I just stick the SIM in?

Answer: If your buying an iPhone that doesn’t have a sim you will need to purchase a new sim card and activate the phone thru iTunes. You will still need to agree to a new 2 year contract and choose a data plan. Your current sim will not work with the phone, it needs a new sim and to be activated thru iTunes.

Question: Iphone unlock failed? I used Iphone Sim-free and it said that the unlock was successful.
However it is saying that I have “no service” when I know that my sim is working on my other phone.

Answer: If you’re on a brand new iPhone then you are most likely running the new bootloader which cannot be hacked at this time. It is being worked on, but you will have to wait. Check the back of your phone and if the 4th and 5th digits of the serial number are great than 44 then you are stuck with using the phone as an expensive iPod Touch until a proper hack has been released. You will hear people talking about TurboSim or StealthSim, but neither of these two methods are legitimate hacks since they only fool the phone into believing you are running on an AT&T sim. If you would prefer to try one of them you can, but paying an additional $100 for one is pointless since you will also have to do some cutting up of your sim.

There are such features in selected mobile, where you can use two SIM cards instead of one. All you need to do is to buy a cover accommodating two SIM cards. This gives you the advantage of holding pay-as-you-go and a pre-paid SIM cards, for example. This may be useful for your office and personal use. In normal circumstances, you can remove your SIM card from your present handset and carry with you and choose to use it with the line of GSM phones available. If you misplace your SIM card, you will be required to inform your service provider immediately to that effect, and follow the instructions given. You may be liable to pay charges for issuance of a duplicate SIM card.

When you buy a GSM phone, it comes in an unlocked state and it can work with any SIM card from any service provider, provided you are using it for GSM bands. It is a matter of slipping-in that SIM card in your phone, activating it and start using it. But, when you enter into a service contract with a service provider, which stipulates that you should be with this particular service for a definite period of time, a mobile handset is usually offered free with the SIM card, where the handset is given to you in a locked state. This would mean that the phone will not work with any other SIM card than the one given to you. You will need to stay with your service provider till the end of the term and after that the service provider may help you to unlock your phone. There are ofcourse ways to unlock a locked handset, which becomes a violation of the contract that you have signed with your service provider. A locked phone features a SIM lock in reality. In such a handset, you will not be able to use any other SIM card other than the one which has come along with your handset. That is the reason why it is sometimes termed as a SIM locked phone.

Any SIM card may be used with an unlocked GSM phone. For a pre-paid SIM card, you do not need to enter into any contracts and more-over there would not be any bills to pay at the end of the month. For instance, if you are traveling abroad and wish to visit a few countries in your trip, you can buy an International SIM card, for the benefit of saving up-to 80% of your cost in calls. This card will give you the facility of free incoming calls, no matter where it generates from, and outgoing calls at local rates. When you make calls to your home, you do not pay the roaming charges, as you would do if you had carried your regular mobile with you. But in this instance, you have to make sure that you have a quad band GSM mobile phone, in order that you may use the handset effectively when you are abroad. If not, you will need to rent one unlocked quad band GSM phone. To know more about the matter, visit http://www.planetomni.com/RENT_INFO.shtml For SIM cards visit http://www.planetomni.com/FAQ_sim.shtml

Since unlocking a locked phone under contract is not taken to be legal, it is always preferable to buy an unlocked phone from the market and you will have the choice to get your SIM card from the service provider who gives you the best deal. Also, this avoids your expenses that you would incur in getting locked phone and trying to have it unlocked from such vendors offering to do the job for you. There is a pitfall here too in buying an unlocked handset. You should be able to distinguish between a carrier unlocked phone and a factory unlocked one. The main draw-backs of carrier locked phones are -

? Use of pirated software to unlock a locked phone.

? In such phones, you may observe that even if you try to connect with a correct IP address, to your provider’s WAP or GPRS services, the phone may not allow the setting, may not comply with your request or automatically will try to connect to another service provider.

Therefore, it is always a good choice to buy factory unlocked mobile handsets from known vendors. For more details visit http://www.planetomni.com/

When you buy a prepaid SIM card for your unlocked GSM phone, there are a few things that you should remember:

Barring some of the countries, unlocking a locked phone, when under the contract terms, is seen to be a breach of contract. But in countries like Poland, the law says that the service providers are not allowed to word their contracts with the customers, which forbids them to remove the SIM locks in their handsets.

For more details on how to use SIM cards in an unlocked mobile phone, visit www.planetomni.com

Cell phone use overseas. In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You’ll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 or the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984

Sim Card FAQ:

Question: Does a cell phone have to have a sim card in order to work?
I want the boost mobile Motorola I465 Clutch phone. It doesn’t come with a sim card. Do I have to have a sim card in order for the phone to work? I can’t find any info about it on the web.

Answer: Boost is not a GSM network and Boost phones do not have sim cards.

Question: Will a different SIM card change a cell phone to a different carrier?
I have a Motorola Tracfone. Will a SIM card from a different carrier ‘unlock’ this phone and allow it to attach to a new servicer?

Answer: NO, it will not unlock the phone, but if the phone is already unlocked that will work.

Question: About to bring Iphone in to get new sim card. Should I the hide jailbrake?
My sim card went bad got to get a replacement sim card.

Answer: You don’t even need to take the phone in. Just walk into the store get the sim card and walk out. Oh yeah, don’t forget to pay for it, unless they’re giving it to you.

Question: Can I switch my sim card from at&t to an iphone without extra charges?
I have an unlimited data and texting plan on at&t network on my LG xenon. I want to buy a used iphone from ebay, but I was wondering if I could just put my sim card into it and still have the same plan without any extra charges?

Answer: You would have to change your plan to an IPhone data plan which is $30. Be careful when buying “IPhone’s” on ebay. There have been several customers come in and say that they bought an “IPhone” and they send them a fake.

Question: Can I buy a unlocked sprint phone and put in a t-mobile sim card?
I would like to buy my daughter a phone for her birthday. She would like to have the samsung exclaim but I would like to keep her under our family plan. She has mentioned buying an unlocked phone. Is it possible for us to purchase a unlocked Samsung Exclaim and put in a t-mobile sim card?

Answer: No. Sprint phones cannot be unlocked. Only GSM phones can be unlocked and Sprint is not a GSM network. You will have to get a T-Mobile phone or an unlocked GSM phone.

Question: Where are pictures stored in cell phone or the sim card?
I have a Motorola V300 cell phone. I am going to change my SIM card and phone number. I have some pictures in my phone. I don’t know where they are stored, in SIM card or phone memory. If I cahnge my SIM card do I loose my pics or will they still stay in the phone?

Answer: Pictures are stored in the phone. The sim card stores contacts and your phone number. If you want to save those pics, buy a memory card or send them to your email address.

Question: How do you unlock a sim card?
I have an O2 sim card that is on a contract, and my phone just broke. I have an orange phone and I was told I can put my O2 sim in that till I get a new phone, but I have to unlock it first. Anyone know the easiest way to do that?

Answer: Sim cards are not unlockable but it can be cancelled through informing your service provider or government telecommunication company. Its the phone that you unlock. You can use any sim card on that unlocked phone including your original 02 sim. Unlocking your phone doesn’t mean that you have to unlock your sim too to use it with the same phone.

Question: What do you do if a sim card is rejected?
Do you need to buy a new sim card? Because I have a Samsung Propel and I thought the PUK code was some kind of security code and I pressed it and it kept asking for a code but than my sim card got rejected.

Answer: You’ll have to see your phone provider and get them to provide a new sim card for you. If you’ve entered in the PUK wrong three times it burns the simcard; as its a security feature. Your carrier may or may not charge you for a new simcard.