International Cell Phone Rental

There are many products and terms that claim to be an international cell phone. You may sometimes see them labelled as…
World Phone
Roaming Phone
World SIM
European Cell Phone
but what exactly are these things and how do they change what you’re charged when you go abroad?Essentially an International Cell Phone consists of:
a mobile handset that will work in the vast majority of countries around the world
a roaming SIM card that offers reasonable call rates from most countries of the world
So how does this differ from the cell and SIM card you have now? Firstly, you will almost certainly have a SIM card that is intended to work in a single country e.g. TMobile in the US, O2 in the UK, Orange in France, Vodafone in Spain. This is sometimes called “Domestic Airtime”.These sorts of SIMs and tariffs will give you the cheapest calls in your local country. However, if you take that SIM card abroad (called roaming) – for instance to Italy – then calls in that country and calls back home become very, very expensive. In fact, some SIM cards are even barred from roaming so that they won’t work at all outside their home country.A roaming SIM is intended to work in “roaming” capacity. It will work anywhere and whilst the calls won’t be as cheap as a Domestic Airtime, they will be much cheaper than taking a domestic airtime roaming. Also, it’s a single SIM which means you don’t have to take several with you and swap them as you cross borders.The handset is important too because there are differing protocols across the world including GSM, WCDMA and CDMA. An international product will provide you with a handset that will work in the vast majority of countries. You may find your own phone will not.So now we know what an international cell phone is – why would we want to rent one? Why not just buy one? Well, there are several benefits from renting a cell phone.
You will typically only be roaming for a few weeks or months of the year – renting allows you to pay only for what you need.
If you buy a handset then the model can quickly become old and out of date. Renting gives you access to more modern handsets
If you lose or damage the cell phone then it is often covered on the renter’s insurance if you take this option. Meaning you don’t lose your own cell phone with all the details on.
You get access to the best rates each year as mobile calls continue to fall.
When your rent (or buy) an international cellphone you will get a different mobile number. The “nationality” of that number will depend on what network is providing the roaming SIM. So, for instance, if the solution is using an O2 World or Vodafone World SIM then you will get UK number starting with +44. However, most companies that provider will allow you to forward your own number at a nominal cost so that people can continue to call you on your proper number.