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Cell phone for Australia – Calling Home From Down Under

Posted May 21st, 2011 in Australia and tagged , by Dan
If you’re thinking about traveling to Australia cell phones and cell phone coverage will probably be of concern to you. You may be surprised to know that even though when one first things of Australia they think of wide open spaces inhabited primarily by kangaroos that they get surprisingly good cell phone covered.

No, the kangaroos don’t have all have a cell phone in Australia. But, Australia as a whole gets great cell phone coverage. This is because they use GSM cell phone technology. So, keep in mind that it is not compatible with CDMA phones that are popular in America. Essentially GSM and CDMA are just two different technologies used by cell phone devices. GSM is superior to those who are going to be traveling abroad or need phone coverage in a wide variety of areas. In fact, GSM coverage is compatible in 190 different countries.When shopping for a new cell phone for Australia it is important to consider whether or not your phone will work when you travel. This consideration is especially important if you travel abroad once a year or more. In fact, some phones are compatible with different SIM cards. SIM cards essentially identify the phone to a specific network. So, with some models you could simply buy an Australian SIM card in order to utilize your phone overseas. Keep in mind that with the card you will need a service with the SIM card. Since the SIM card acts as the brain of the phone it will give you a completely different number as well.

Go Skippy!

As far as the pricing goes with a standard cell phone for Australia SIM cards you can expect to pay less than 20 cents a minute for call backs to the United States. You can expect to pay around 35 cents a minute for calls within Australia. You can also get plans wherein any incoming calls are free. These are especially useful for anyone that does a fair amount of traveling. Just make sure that your friends and loved ones back home understand the differences in time zones so they’re not calling and waking you up in the middle of the night.

There are a lot of recourses available for those that travel. Though it is much more cost effective to buy a SIM or a phone that is compatible in the network you’ll be covered by abroad, there are alternatives. One alternative is to rent a mobile device. This is good for those that don’t want to spend a lot of money. But, keep in mind that the best thing to do would be to purchase your own device. If you don’t have the money to spend up front this can be a viable alternative. In many cases you can get a phone rental from your current cell phone provider that is applicable to the network you will be under. If your current cell phone service provider does not provide this option for you it is possible to rent one through a variety of different air ports as well. Another advantage to rentals is that sometimes you can shop around and get one that has a lower talk rate. This means even if you have to pay for the phone that you’ll pay less in the long run by paying less per minute to talk. This is especially useful if you have to make a large number of outgoing calls. Best of all there is definitely no contract, credit check, on monthly charges for any rentals for a cell phone in Australia.

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