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International
Mobile Phone Rental
Before renting a cell phone internationally, you'll need to
decide if you will rent a phone in the United States or rent
it when you get to your destination country. In addition, you
should decide whether you want to rent it online, which offers
great prices or rent it at the airport, where you pay extra
for the convenience.
Steps:
1. Check with your existing cellular company, before you rent
a phone, because your existing US cell phone may work
overseas. While most US cell phones do not work abroad, some
phones on the GSM standard do.
2. Plan on putting down a security deposit with your credit
card, and figure on possibly paying delivery and pick-up
charges from $20 to $50. Some companies provide a postage-paid
envelope for you to mail the phone back to them. Other
companies will request that you pick up and drop off your
phone at the airport.
3. Compare rates from different companies, because there may
be special calling plans that will save money for incoming
phone calls from the United States. Just make sure you compare
identical services so you'll know which company has the best
deal.
4. Figure on spending anywhere from $30 to $50 per week or $7
to $8 per day on phone rentals overseas. If you'll be staying
a month or more, your charges will vary from $50 to $150 for
each month.
5. Ask your travel agent, your destination hotel concierge in
advance, your company travel office, or your contacts in the
foreign country. These people will be able to direct you to
legitimate cell phone rental companies.
6. Consider renting your phone at international airports,
because they have kiosks for renting cell phones. These will
be more expensive than renting one locally; however, you may
prefer the convenience of picking it up and dropping it off at
the airport.
7. Check with different international car rental agencies. You
may get a free phone rental or a price that is discounted from
retail. Find out all charges associated with your “free” phone
in advance.
Tips:
Ask for a mobile phone when renting overseas, because people
in other countries do not call them cell phones. If you ask
for a cell phone, they may not understand what you mean.
Consider buying an internationally compatible cell phone if
you will be traveling overseas often. You will wind up saving
considerable money by doing this as compared to renting a
phone overseas.
Warnings:
Prices and services for renting vary widely. Compare them
carefully before making a final decision, and watch out for
“free” phones that have expensive “service” charges.
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