Post: #1

So many times in my travels I meet people who are entirely wifi dependent. While I'm not one to support shoving your face in a phone 24/7, there are many reasons I find it worth it to always have cell service when traveling.

Uses:

1. Day Game
As per Vinny's recent day game thread - /thread-62302.html - a trending alternate to phone # closing is Instagram closing. While you can screenshot and add later, it's much easier when the profile actually pops up. Even if you go the WhatsApp route, you can get a message in while you are still fresh on her mind, not 8 hours later when she might be confused as to who you are.

2. Nighttime Adventures
When you are home, think of the times a girl has hit you up on tinder/facebook/whatsapp for a late night booty call or wanting to meet up. If you are without service, the chances of this happening is Zero point Zero. On the flip side, you also can not send those late night inquiries without walking around, trying to find internet, and hoping the wifi is actually working, then waiting where you have the wifi connection for said girl to reply. If you are anything like me, I'll go out and give it til 1 or 2, then hit up a sure thing if I don't have anything going at that point. You'd be surprised how many times I've had friends or other people staying at hostels who get home to their wifi and see that they missed out on a girl because they didn't have internet.

3. General Time Saving
When you first arrive in a city, the last thing you want to do is be wandering around like an idiot wasting time looking for your hotel/hostel. Also, for your friends who do have cell service, you will be the annoying person who they can't connect with to find out where you are or how long it will be before you meet up with the group. If you are taking public transportation in a foreign city, you'll be able to look up the buses/subways you need to take and not try to figure out the map.

Options:

There are two options for plans, we'll call them the Budget Option and the Convenience Option. This is kind of meant for USA/ Canadian citizens, as I don't know the situation with other cell providers. Before I started doing sim cards, I would rack up ridiculous bills of $150-200 roaming charges for stupid shit like maps and basically no data ($7/mb).

1. Convenience
Depending on the length of your travel, many cell plans offer a $10/day plan. Assuming you are only going for a week or two, this isn't a bad option. But $300/month is not realistic long term. The best plan I've seen in either the USA or Canada is T-Mobile: unlimited international data + texting in 140 countries for $95/month. If you decide to get a plan for a long term trip, you can also pause your plan at home until you return so you aren't paying for 2 plans.

2. Budget
This option is for those of you traveling on a strict budget. Depending on where you go, you will be able to buy sim cards for a pretty reasonable price. For 2GB of data + calling and texts in Eastern Europe, it may be as little as $4-$6. Western Europe, 1GB will be around $15. South America averaged about $14-18 for 2GB. If you turn off the non-essential apps and leave on the important ones (whatsapp, email, facebook, Viber, Tinder, etc), this should last you the month or worst case you re-up if you run out.

Let's make it essentially free:
This will set you back around $200-300 for a year of travelling. For some people, that will seem cheap, but for the people who think it's expensive, I'll give you the motivation. Establish an Uber account at home and make note of your referral code. The reason I say at home, is the referral amount will be higher. My account (canada) allows for a $20CAD free ride for the referrer and referee. Every time you get a new number, you can re-register to uber. So if you travel a year, visit 20 countries, 20 sim cards, that's 40 free rides of up to $20 each (assuming there is Uber in the country). You also get to use Uber whenever you want, saving you from getting ripped off my scummy cab drivers... or, in my case in Colombia, saving you a GoPro that you forgot in the Uber, because you know sure as hell the regular cabs would have pawned that off in a minute.

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So, if you enjoy fucking women, saving money, and saving time, get a SIM card.

One last note regarding WhatsApp:
As long as you register your phone to WhatsApp before you leave, you can keep your regular number for WhatsApp even while switching SIMs. It will ask you if you want to keep the number the same, just click yes. This is important because girls can continue to text you even when your number is constantly changing.

Post: #2

I've been abroad for about 2 weeks, and my first few days I didn't have a SIM card. I ended up losing out on a couple numbers I got, wandering around getting lost, not being able to check what good venues were close in neighborhoods I'm visiting - just all around inconvenience.

Could have saved myself some grief if I just paid for the thing at first, and plus I lost my original sim card too after I exchanged it.

This trip was the last time I'm not getting a SIM card right away, wii-fii only is dumb, if you're going abroad dish out a few bucks, it's easily worth the service and overall time you'll save.

Post: #3

This is common sense fellas. As soon as you land.. Go get a damn prepaid sim card with data so you can handle business while you are in country. Last thing you want to do is be losing leads cause you don't have a local phone number.

Ive been in Germany forever but I keep an American SIM card with me and right before the plane lands in the US I swap SIMS and load up the card. $40 or $50 dollars and im already online before I even get home.

Post: #4

t-mobile has a global data/free roaming internet plan that works well in over 80% of countries. Never a need to switch out sim cards...

Post: #5

(04-18-2017 08:20 PM)SuperMaleVitality Wrote:  t-mobile has a global data/free roaming internet plan that works well in over 80% of countries. Never a need to switch out sim cards...

Incorrect. There are definitely benefits to having a local number.

Post: #6

When I'm on a flagging mission, step one after landing in-country is absolutely, without exception, getting a local SIM with a good data/text plan.

It creates a far lower barrier for girls to call/text you if you're doing it in a local number. No way she's going to want to pay international carriage fees in order to text you what time she's free tomorrow night.

Post: #7

(04-18-2017 09:26 PM)HighSpeed_LowDrag Wrote:  When I'm on a flagging mission, step one after landing in-country is absolutely, without exception, getting a local SIM with a good data/text plan.

It creates a far lower barrier for girls to call/text you if you're doing it in a local number. No way she's going to want to pay international carriage fees in order to text you what time she's free tomorrow night.

I found the local number didn't make too much of a difference when I was in South America the last few months and Eastern Europe last fall. AlthoUgh I had one, I left my whatsapp with my +1 number. Since most the girls use whatsapp for messenging and it's free, they didn't care that I wasn't using my local number.


@supermalevitality- if you read the post I mentioned that plan haha

@suits- what do you find are the biggest advantages of using a local number aside from cost? I switched to T-Mobile for the rest of the trip for business purposes, but curious what you found advantageous.

Post: #8

(04-18-2017 09:35 PM)DigitalNomad Wrote:  @suits- what do you find are the biggest advantages of using a local number aside from cost? I switched to T-Mobile for the rest of the trip for business purposes, but curious what you found advantageous.

Same reason I'll often aim at getting an airBNB instead of a hotel. While some girls are up for a fling, a lot of girls don't want to sleep with a guy who is just temporarily in the country. It makes them feel used if they sleep with a guy when there is literally no chance of a "relationship."

If you set yourself up with a local number, it's easier to run "international businessman guy" and at least seem to be a regular visitor who routinely stays for weeks at a time.

I want the girls to be able to call/text me on a local number. Calling or texting a number from another country is often an unfair expense for them, if we are in any third world country and even in first world countries, many girls don't want to pay the extra fees.

Sure, you could communicate exclusively on Instagram or WeChat, but then you're to crimping your style by limiting yourself in this way.

And what if a girl doesn't use a messaging application that you are familiar with?

Post: #9

Anybody know if you can keep your viber number the same way you can keep your whatsapp?

Post: #10

Completely agree with DigitalNomad. It is a MUST.

Just to add a small update. Within the last month, I got the
T-Mobile plan (in the US) and it was only $70 per month.

Also food for thought. I brought along an old phone. That phone
I use for my foreign SIM and number. Keeping my #1 phone for
my main phone, US phone for family + friends, etc.

Post: #11

(04-18-2017 10:06 PM)Chetthebaker Wrote:  Anybody know if you can keep your viber number the same way you can keep your whatsapp?

Chet,

I know you can use ANY number for your Viber. My laptop Viber
is still using an old Polish number I had. My messages come through
on the laptop AND my current cell Viber (same message, to different numbers)

That is probably not your exact answer. I don't use Whatsapp that much.

Post: #12

(04-18-2017 10:20 PM)The Breeze Wrote:  Completely agree with DigitalNomad. It is a MUST.

Just to add a small update. Within the last month, I got the
T-Mobile plan (in the US) and it was only $70 per month.

Also food for thought. I brought along an old phone. That phone
I use for my foreign SIM and number. Keeping my #1 phone for
my main phone, US phone for family + friends, etc.

You are correct, it's $70 (or two lines for $100), but that only includes Canada and Mexico. It's $30 extra for the full international plan, with a $5 discount for autopay.

@suits- cool, good insight. I definitely struggle between the balance of girls who want to hook up because they know you will be gone soon, or ruining a chance because she's looking for something more long term. Local number definitely makes sense with the long term girls. Regarding cost, I haven't really met any girls who don't have and prefer whatsapp or Viber, depending on the location.

Post: #13

DigitalNomad check your PM

Post: #14

Good point @suits. I've been pipelining for a trip to the phils and have had a few leads that don't use messaging apps.

I do have an older iPhone that I could bring along and put the local sim in that. Seems easier, although i don't know anything about how you deal with two phones and importing contacts. Also slightly apprehensive about leaving my main phone in a hotel all the time..

Post: #15

100% get a local SIM card for wherever you're traveling to.

I have a prepaid Vodafone (Italy) SIM card; been using it for years. I've even cut it down from "Micro" to "Nano" size. As long as you charge €10 a year on your account, you can keep the number forever.

I swap out SIMs on the airplane over (and back) to Europe and have service (at least telephone and SMS) as soon as I land. I then hit the first Vodafone shop I see and pay €10-€25 for a plan with data (pending in how long I'm on vacation) and am good to go.

International roaming for US mobile users (outside of Canada and Mexico) is a ripoff, especially if you're the one paying the bill.

Post: #16

As vitality said before, isn't that why people just get t mobile?

Post: #17

For Europeans data roaming within the EU is now adequately cheap(ish) - and supposed to be getting cheaper I believe - that I haven't bothered getting a local sim card for my last few vacations. Around €0.20 / MB if I remember correctly, which is fine for me if I'm just using my phone for maps, mail, basic web surfing and anything else that isn't video or very image heavy, for up to a week or two.

But outside the EU I definitely pick up a local sim with 1+ GB 3G or 4G data before I'm out of the airport (although I might as well not have bothered in Shanghai - half the web was blocked, mail didn't work, maps didn't work, the Google Play store on Android didn't work, couldn't even get them to work with a VPN, and anything else not in Chinese took between two minutes and half a day to load).

Post: #18

(04-19-2017 08:17 PM)MikeS Wrote:  For Europeans data roaming within the EU is now adequately cheap(ish) - and supposed to be getting cheaper I believe - that I haven't bothered getting a local sim card for my last few vacations. Around €0.20 / MB if I remember correctly, which is fine for me if I'm just using my phone for maps, mail, basic web surfing and anything else that isn't video or very image heavy, for up to a week or two.

But outside the EU I definitely pick up a local sim with 1+ GB 3G or 4G data before I'm out of the airport (although I might as well not have bothered in Shanghai - half the web was blocked, mail didn't work, maps didn't work, the Google Play store on Android didn't work, couldn't even get them to work with a VPN, and anything else not in Chinese took between two minutes and half a day to load).

was just reading about data roaming within EU with euro sim card - there are no roaming charges within this context as of mid june 2017. google 'no data roaming in eu' and click something that says digital single market.

Post: #19

Not sure on EU but after 2 days on my T-Mobile card I can't complain. Great speed in both Israel and England.

Post: #20

(04-19-2017 12:55 AM)DigitalNomad Wrote:  Regarding cost, I haven't really met any girls who don't have and prefer whatsapp or Viber, depending on the location.

That has also been my experience. Not just women, but people in general. I have free data and texting worldwide, but in many nations people still pay for texts so they all use Whatsapp or a similar app that costs nothing for texts. I found this true in both Eastern Europe and Central America.

I like the idea of traveling with a second cheaper smart phone and keeping business and personal separate, but in my experience (and depending on the country) you will probably still need to download Whatsapp or a similar app if you want to avoid missing opportunities.

Post: #21

Is it possible to order a pre-paid T-mobile SIM that is already activated in advance of a visit back to the US?

I'm planning to visit family in the US around Thanksgiving for a couple of weeks, and I realized I don't have a T-mobile plan anymore (ported my number to Google Voice).

Post: #22

From my travelling experience it seems like only Americans have problems with the concept of using their phone in another country, many of them can't seem to grasp that you just buy a sim card in the country when you arrive - very basic schoolboy stuff.

Post: #23

Interesting loophole. My Facebook etc worked on T-Mobile in china while roaming on china mobile with their intl plan.

Post: #24

(05-16-2017 11:03 PM)CleanSlate Wrote:  Is it possible to order a pre-paid T-mobile SIM that is already activated in advance of a visit back to the US?

I'm planning to visit family in the US around Thanksgiving for a couple of weeks, and I realized I don't have a T-mobile plan anymore (ported my number to Google Voice).

You can activate a T-mobile SIM online, so I think it should be possible to do it while you're out of the U.S. As far as I remember I didn't have the sim in my phone at the time of activation, it wasn't required to complete it, so you could be anywhere really.

With the online activation you will need to input the activation code that the card comes with, the serial of the SIM, the IMEI of a phone, and fund the account.

Post: #25

(05-17-2017 02:12 AM)Henny Wrote:  From my travelling experience it seems like only Americans have problems with the concept of using their phone in another country, many of them can't seem to grasp that you just buy a sim card in the country when you arrive - very basic schoolboy stuff.

Well, Henny, it's not about "grasping" a "schoolboy" concept- the reason this is not a normal idea for most Americans is that until very recently (and still even now) it is not common for an American to have an unlocked cell phone. Most peoples phones are SIM locked to the carrier, if they put in another SIM it simply won't work.

In the United States we are blessed with a credit rating - A cell phone company will give you the phone for "free" or at a low price in return for agreeing to a 2 year service contract, and the phone is SIM locked. They are willing to do this because know that we won't immediately run off to sell it in Chisinau or Minsk for profit, as it will hurt our credit rating, and because the cost of the phone is built in to the service cost.

More and more people are getting their phones unlocked after their contract in order to switch carriers domestically, as well as for travel, and more people now buying unlocked phones and getting no-contract service plans (I do this) - but it is still not common in general.

And, up until about 5 years ago, a large percentage of the phones did not even have a SIM slot, because here we have the CDMA system as well as GSM, so it would not even be possible to switch service overseas.

Another thing to consider is that our country is larger than the whole of Europe, so Americans in their travels are crossing borders far less frequently, and our cell phone calls are all "local" calls across 6 time zones and 7,000 Km. There is simply far less need for most Americans to ever need to change SIM cards when going on vacation, from the tundra and snow capped mountains, to tropical beaches.