Travel Abroad and Phone Home

If you’re traveling abroad, you might not be able to use your cellular phone. Several companies are now catering to consumers who want to be able to use cell phones whether they are in Boston, Belize, Brazil or Botswana.

Companies such as TravelCell offer cellular and satellite phone rentals worldwide. However, renting a cell phone isn’t always cheap. For example, in Australia the TravelCell weekly rate is $29.99, but there are also steep cell charges: $1.49 per minute for incoming calls and $3.29 per minute for outgoing calls and voicemail retrieval.

Through WorldCell you can buy or rent satellite phones. Sample airtime rates are $4.99 per minute from India to the United States and $2.29 per minute from France to the United States.

Of course, if you rent a phone, consider insuring it in case you lose, break it, or it’s stolen.