How does using a phone internationally work?

Well if you travel overseas to another country (i.e. France), then if you have a Verizon Wireless Global headset (one that is CDMA and GSM), you can call with this phone and will be charged $1.29/min. Countries in the Mid-East, Asia, and other parts of the world are billed at $2.49/min. The convenience of having a CDMA/GSM phone (all-in-one phone) is that people can call you on the same number that you use in the US. Also, all calls are billed to your master Verizon Wireless bill.

On a side note, text messaging while roaming internationally is $0.50 per message sent and $0.05 per message received.

Global Phone Service

GSM Phone Rental Rates:

As for renting phones, Verizon allows you to either rent a GSM phone, International Blackberry with Email and Internet access abroad, or Satellite phone. According to Verizon, GSM phones that are available for rent are the Nokia 6100, Nokia 6021, Motorola SLVR L7, or Samsung X820. The rental rate is $3.99 per day with most calls being charged at $1.29/min ($0.99/minute in the UK while incoming calls are free). Verizon also allows you to purchase a SIM card that takes advantage of their rates if you already have an unlocked worldwide GSM phone for $10. You can even purchase GSM phones through them for different prices.

Pricing and rates (GSM): International Cell Phone Rental or Purchase - Verizon Wireless Global Rental Program

Satellite Phone Rental Rates:

As for Satellite phones, the rental rates are as follows: $11.50 per day, $75.00 per week, or $295.00 per month. The rates are $2.35 per minute to landlines or cell phones, $1.35 per minute to Iridium satellite phones, and $12.50 per minute to other satellite phones. Text and email messages are $0.65 per outgoing message.

Satellite Phone Rental and Rates: Satellite Phone Rental or Purchase - Verizon Wireless Global Rental Program

International Blackberry Rental Rates:

Voice calls are $1.29 per minute in the top 72 travel destinations. In the UK, you can send and receive email messages for free. All other data usage is $0.29/10kb per session. In all other countries, data usage, including email, is $0.29/10kb per session* (data usage is billed in 10kb increments).

International Blackberry Rates: International BlackBerry Rental or Purchase - Verizon Wireless Global Rental Program

 

Well one thing you can do is buy a unlocked international phone (preferably quad-band or higher) and buy a SIM card and use the phone internationally. There are sites out there such as PrePaidGSM.net that explain more in depth about prepaid SIM cards. Also, it depends on how much international traveling you will do. If you go once or twice every few years, then I would probably think that it would be more economical to rent a phone depending on how long you will be gone. I hope this clears up some confusion. Hopefully some more people that have added GSM knowledge will chime in with their opinions.

 

The best option for you will depend upon your circumstances. If you are going abroad for a week or less and/or don't plan on using your phone much then just use your Verizon handset with their roaming rates if you are able to i.e. if the handset supports GSM. If your handset doesn't support GSM then you can rent one.

If you are going away for more than a week and/or plan to use your phone a fair bit then you would probably be better off buying a cheap GSM handset and using a local SIM from the country you are visiting.

For example, if you were coming to the UK you could buy a Motorola F3 and £10 of airtime for less than £20. It's a simple matter of topping up as you need to after the initial £10 runs out. The advantage of this method is that you would not be charged to receive calls or texts and there are PAYG options that offer cheap international calls so you could call back to America relatively cheaply.

If you are going to Japan then you will need a WCDMA handset, which will work on either DoCoMo's or Softbank's networks. I should point out though that you will need a SIM card from a network that has a roaming agreement with one of those networks e.g. Vodafone, etc.

 

If you have a WCDMA handset that uses the 2100 MHz band (the one used in Europe) then you can use it in Japan if your network has a roaming agreement with a Japanese network. If you are ever in Europe you could buy a cheap 3G PAYG handset with a European SIM card from a network that has such a roaming agreement and use it in Japan. Just be careful that the SIM card doesn't have an expiry data, as in you have to top it up every so often for it to remain active.

 

Most European WCDMA handsets have a front facing camera for video calling so that is an easy way to tell. You can always ask the assistant in the shop or look up the specifications of a handset on the internet, which is advisable for handsets in North America since video calling isn't widely available there yet and North American WCDMA handsets may not all have forward facing cameras.