Using a local SIM card
Scenario – fifty-something newly independent lady from Perth, heading off on an extended vacation to Europe and North America – catching up with long lost friends along the way.
My Smartphone is unlocked – I can use any SIM I like. So I buy a local SIM card because they always give you a great deal on mobile data.
In my experience, the local data always seems to work better than roaming data – even on the same network (experts know that roaming data is always restricted in some way – the data has to travel back to the home network before heading off onto the Internet. That’s so that the home network stays in control)
I can’t remember the last time I arrived at an airport and could not find a kiosk that sold SIM cards.
I need lots of mobile data for lots of reasons, here’s a few of them:
- I get email on my phone – and I don’t print out my hotel reservation anymore (saves on ink, better for the planet)
- I use Uber to find a taxi
- I use Maps to see where I am going
- I upload pictures of my breakfast to Facebook. Every morning.
- I check train and bus times using transport apps.
- I use my Smartphone to share data with my iPad, and the kids iPads, and my husband’s laptop – whenever we can’t find Wi-Fi (like, on a bus, and in the park).
One downside to using a local SIM card is that international calls are still expensive. As I have loads of mobile data, I use World Phone to call home to check on my elderly Dad, who still lives at home by himself, the silly bugger.
I like to use World Phone to call ahead to my old friends in New York, who I am so excited about seeing again next week. We have been talking non-stop for weeks about our reunion.
The nice thing about World Phone is its thoughtfulness – for example, it was so easy to share my local number with friends – it even wrote the message and inserted the new number for me.
And when I am making calls, I can choose which number to display. For example, when calling friends back home they see my home mobile number – so they know it’s me calling and not some annoying overseas sales call.
And before I leave London, when I call a restaurant in New York, they won’t take a booking unless I can give them a local number. No problem! I have an NY number all set up.
The other problem with travelling overseas for me, is letting people back home know where I am. Especially the nice couple who are looking after my daft Labrador. I wonder what trouble he has got himself into this time? Good job I set-up a number back home using World Phone. They were so relieved when I did that, although it did take a bit of explaining to make them realise that calling a local number wouldn’t cost them anything, it would reach me in London, and next week when I am in New York. We tested it before I left and it worked fine. So simple. Even Dad can manage to call that number.
And just in case, it was a bit tricky, but just before we took off I diverted my mobile number to my home World Phone number. I do get a few calls that I’d rather ignore. So I do. If the number is not in my contacts, or I don’t recognise it, or I do recognise it and I don’t want to answer it, I can just leave it.
So that’s World Phone for me. Low-cost international calls and easily reachable by friends and family at home, and everywhere else on my travel plans..
Oh yes, one more thing. Dad’s hearing is not what it used to be. But for some reason, I don’t need to repeat myself so often when I call him on World Phone. Perhaps that has something to do with the crystal clear audio?