Some people want to get away from it all when they are on vacation, and are happy for a chance to be unavailable on their mobile phones, and not to have to worry about checking emails or social networks constantly. Of course, most people these days aren’t like that, and if you take us away from our cells and internet access for more than a few hours, we go crazy. If even the plane journey to your destination is a bit longer than you would like to have to go without being able to check your Facebook messages, tweet about your trip or post pictures of the airline food to Instagram, then the idea of a whole vacation without your cell phone is unthinkable. However, those roaming costs can be pretty prohibitive, especially when you are charged even just for receiving a call!
What a lot of travellers don’t realise is actually an option, is to rent a cell phone at your travel destination. This isn’t the best option for everybody, but if you are very concerned about the potential cost of things like data roaming, it can be a good way to make sure you are always connected without any scary surprises when your bill arrives.
How Does it Work?
Renting a cell phone for your vacation is pretty much the same as hiring a car when you are abroad. You can either do it at your destination, or book it in advance. Organising to rent a cell phone for travel in advance is often the better solution, because your mobile will arrive before you leave so you won’t be without a phone for any part of your trip, and you can leave your expensive devices at home where they won’t get lost or stolen (meaning you don’t have to insure them – rented cell phones come with insurance of their own). You can rent the level of phone you want, which means you can get the exact service you need even if you want full data capabilities and a model you are used to like a Samsung Galaxy or an iPhone. If you are more concerned about keeping costs down you can get basic models of phone just for calling and texting for very low daily rates (less than a dollar a day). You can also get mobile internet devices for your laptop on various data usage plans, charged at a daily rate.
What Kind of Prices Can You Expect to Pay?
International cell phone rental does vary a lot in cost depending on what you need, as well as on what country you are going to. If you want an all singing, all dancing smartphone with unlimited data, SMS and calls (and no charges for incoming calls), www.travelcell.com offer rates as low as $6.50 a day in some countries, and if you want a more basic package with a simpler device you can sometimes be looking at as little as 69 cents per day.
Next time you are planning a vacation, it is well worth bearing in mind that the option to rent a cell phone is there, and can save you plenty of hassle and money!