International Cell Phone Services

International Cell Phone Services
By Roberto Sedycias

First of all, the country where you live is very important when it comes to international cell phone (telephone cellular) services. Most of the countries have one standard in cellular communications known as Global System for Mobile Communications or GSM.

So let’s get back to our options for international cell phone (telephone cellular) service. It is important to understand that the key issues to having effective international cell phone service is that you must have a phone that will handle the frequencies plus a service that is compatible within the country you are communicating from. If you have a phone set that handles GSM service, then your phone will be compatible in at least 212 countries worldwide, as far as hardware is concerned.

The GSM frequencies operate worldwide typically at 900 MHz but more and more the cell phones (telephone cellular) are operating at 1800 MHz. There are some GSM phone services in the United States and Canada but they work at 1900 and 850 MHz and therefore are incompatible with the rest of the world.

If you get one of the tri-band phones you can get a SIM card that can be used in multiple countries. These SIM cards are somewhat like pre-paid phone service. You put the card in your GSM-capable phone and have international roaming coverage from wherever the card is valid.

When choosing an international cell phone SIM card for your GSM phone, there are things you should consider when making a decision on which SIM card to buy. You can also change the greeting on the voice mailbox of your regular home cell phone service telling your callers your new access number while you are out of the country.While you are using SIM cards that will be exchanged or replaced, make sure that you save everything (phone numbers, memos, notes, etc.) into your cell phone (telephone cellular) handset and not the SIM card.