The Truth About Roaming Solutions

It’s a no-brainer that our phones are our lifelines. So when it comes to traveling, anxiety starts to set in: Do I have to leave my phone turned off? But what if I miss an email? Will I be charged megabucks if I turn it on just to peek at messages?

We’ve been there. This is why we developed the Global SIM Sticker: to help save you money when you use your phone abroad. But how exactly do we stack up against other roaming solutions? Find out below. 

International SIM cards

While they sound like our Global SIM Sticker, they’re much different. International SIM cards are pre-paid SIM cards travelers can use in a variety of countries with an unlocked phone. Like our Global SIM Sticker, they eliminate the need to carry around a bag of local SIM cards to use in different countries.

However, with international SIM cards, travelers will get a new number to provide to family, friends or colleagues back home. With the KnowRoaming Global SIM Sticker, since it attaches to your own SIM card, you can to enable our call forwarding service, ReachMe, to receive all incoming calls while abroad.

The rates offered through international SIM cards are better than a carrier package but are still quite high and not as cheap as KnowRoaming. Overall, they don’t offer anything better than KnowRoaming. If you don’t believe us, take Forbes’ word for it. 

Wi-Fi

Free Wi-Fi sounds welcoming, and it certainly is—it invites cybercriminals to access all of your personal information, including any passwords, banking information, business information, all within a few seconds of being connected. No thanks.

“Many people are lulled into a false sense of security by the convenience, and security software on your computer will not stop them,” warns Reza Curtmola, an associate professor of computer science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. You can read more about the dangers of free Wi-Fi here.

Another issue is that free Wi-Fi limits travelers to hotels or coffee shops. This doesn’t help when you have to make an emergency call or use Google Maps to get you out of a pickle. When that time comes, you don’t want to return home to a shocking phone bill. 

Carrier packages

Travelers can seek comfort in their carriers if that is all they are familiar with. But if you’re reading this, then you know there are other more cost-effective means to stay connected.

Every carrier has its own roaming add-on packages. The prices of these packages vary by carrier and the country you are traveling to. Directly compare your carrier’s rates to ours by clicking the “See how much you save” button on our website. (Available for customers in Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, and South Africa.)

The benefit to purchasing a carrier package would be no shocking roaming bill and keeping the same phone number where friends and family can reach you. KnowRoaming offers both these features, and in most cases, at a much lower price.

Local SIM cards

Local SIM cards are prepaid SIM cards that connect your unlocked phone to the local carrier in the designated country. If you’re an avid traveler, you more than likely know what it’s like to travel with a bag full of local SIMs—It can be a hassle.

Sure, they are cheaper some of the time, but the frustrations include keeping all the SIM cards organized, and remembering which phone number to provide people with. The local number attached to the SIM card is beneficial if you are in contact with other locals, but if you’re making calls to friends and family back home, they will be stuck footing a long distance bill.

Depending on where you are traveling, local SIM cards can also be difficult to find. Some countries have them as soon as you step into the airport while other countries (including Turkey, South Korea, and South Africa) are hesitant to sell to tourists—or will not sell them at all. If you’ve managed to locate a local SIM the next hurdle is deciphering the instructions that are not in English.