When you travel abroad with your mobile phone, you will nearly always be hit with roaming charges by your carrier in your home country. These are often very high and depending on your carrier they will mount up very quickly and before you know it your bill is 10 times more than it usually is.

To avoid expensive international roaming charges you have a couple of options:

1 - Upgrade your package. Most carriers will offer an “international package” which you can add to your existing plan. This will generally be a monthly charge and then cheaper calls and texts when you are abroad. Of course, this will still be expensive but if you are a business traveler or really need to keep your current number and be accessible, this can be an option.

2 - Get a local sim card. If you have a GSM phone, then you can purchase a “pay-as-you-go” sim card in the country you will be visiting which will give you a local number, cheaper calls and usually free incoming calls (depending on the country). This option is good if you will be staying in one country when you are abroad.

3 - Get a global sim card. If you plan to be traveling around a few countries, then a global prepaid sim card could be your best option. Generally the rates will not be as cheap as the local sim card option but it offers the flexibility for you to use the card in a number of countries.

Article originally from: http://www.icallabroad.com/news/
Image originally from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeandmarla/4243745888/