Should I get an international SIM card? The stats.

international sim card roaming charges

You’ve no doubt heard of the international SIM card, sometimes called a global SIM. If you’re not someone who communicates with techy words, then the term might even seem a little strange or complicated. But international SIM cards are easy to use and they’re not the headache many people assume them to be. They won’t interrupt your current phone contract or damage your phone.

international sim card roaming charges

But should you get one?

Is an international SIM card really the best option?

Many local carriers have international roaming plans. Do you really need a whole new SIM card and prepaid data if you’re just popping in and out for a weekend? Perhaps you’re going to a country where roaming charges don’t apply.

Let’s break these down one by one.

Roaming on your local carriers: 8 in 10 people are unprepared

It’s true that all major telecommunications companies have international options. Some companies, like Sprint, even include basic global roaming on most data plans (though the fine print reveals some luxuries like 3G service and sending photos are not included). When questioned, roughly sixty percent of people were completely unaware of the costs of roaming abroad. Even more worrying were the remaining forty percent who claimed to know the costs of using their phones internationally. Eighty percent of them lowballed their estimates by hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars.

The bottom line is that roaming with your local carrier is almost never feasible. It’s tempting to travel with your phone as it is, especially if you’re going on a very short trip. But it doesn’t take much time at all to rack up huge roaming bills. Even if you think you’re keeping close track of your data use and making the best of free wifi, you can still easily come home to bill shock. All those apps you keep tucked away in various folders? Many of them connect automatically, consuming data. And each time you receive a text message or a voicemail you’re also passively consuming data. Many people return home to roaming fees and honestly don’t know where they came from. The charges are usually delayed in showing up on your bill, furthering the confusion.

And remember that for all the costs you might accrue roaming on your local carrier, you’re still likely to get an inferior service compared to an international SIM card. Most global roaming plans have very low data speeds and have small, unreliable areas of coverage.

The myth of free international roaming

Some areas of the world pretend to waive international roaming fees. Some U.S. carriers claim their clients don’t roam in Canada. And most notably, the European Union attempted to eliminate roaming charges between member nations several years ago. These kinds of policies tend to give people a false sense of security as they think they are safe from all roaming charges. But the truth is that there are still many instances where pricey fees come into play.
Yet E.U. citizens still manage to rack up roaming bills during their travels. Some of them quite high. So how are people still paying roaming charges when the E.U. effectively banned them? Loopholes. Many carriers skate around the rule with their fine print. Time spent at sea on cruise ships and the like is exempt from the “Roam Like Home” legislation. Unlimited plans may also not be affected abroad, leaving people who thought they had unlimited international data with a very small data limit before fees set in.

There’s also confusion about which countries are truly members of the E.U. While it seems like this would be obvious to anyone living in Europe, don’t forget that Britain recently voted to leave the European Union. And since the process has been a slow, step-by-step sort of venture, that leaves many British citizens unaware that their protection from E.U. roaming fees could change on a dime.

How bad are international roaming fees, really?

Since domestic roaming is usually free or very cheap, many people have no concept of the costs behind international data consumption. Do you remember placing long distance phone calls from foreign hotel rooms? It’s a similar level of obscene expense. It’s not impossible to rack up thousands of dollars in just a few hours.

Don’t Be A Statistic

It’s not impossible to avoid international roaming fees without a global SIM card, but it is arduous and risky. Ultimately it’s safer to go the route that guarantees you won’t be hit with hidden fees. International SIM cards from BNESIM offer you coverage in 170 different countries and since all your data is prepaid, you’ll always know exactly how much you’re spending.

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