Cell Phones, Are They Truly Worth Taking With You?

     Have you ever traveled abroad to a relaxing beach resort in the Caribbean or hiked a snow covered peak in The Andes and had the absolute trip of a life time, that is until you arrived home and saw the cell phone bill?  For many, this can be an absolute nightmare, especially when their bill was thousands of dollars!  The worst part is that these unfortunate individuals did not even make a call from their cell phones.  Believe it or not, this situation occurs all of the time, and regretfully, you may not be able to maneuver out of these charges.  Why on earth does this outrageous billing occur?

     Nowadays, the hip thing is to own the newest, power fullest, and slickest cell phone on the market.  These smart phones can do almost anything imaginable, from show you the latest episode of "Dancing With The Stars" to let you save the world in the newest edition of "Call of Duty". They can verbally remind you of a dentist appointment, or unlock your car from miles away.  They can even translate a foreign language for you.  They do it all, and can make our lives great.  However, when you travel abroad, a few unexpected things happen.  First of all, most U.S. cell phone carriers like T-Mobile and Verizon, usually do not pick up a signal when you are on the other side of the world. Thus, rendering these vital instruments useless.  Other times you can pick up a signal from a capable cell phone company, and will be charged a very high rate to use their signal.  This will typically occur without your knowledge.  The worst thing that happens to smart phone users is that, when you are abroad, your cell phone will relentlessly search for an Internet signal to run all of those cool apps we all love.  This incessant searching will cause your bill to be humongous.

   So how can you avoid these unwanted expenditures.  The best course of action is to contact your cell phone company and notify them that you are traveling abroad.  This way they can enable your roaming capability and thus eliminating the your cell phone's constant need to be connected to the Internet.  This alone can save the average consumer a ton on that next phone bill.  Also, avoid even turning it on, unless you need to call someone in an emergency.  This way your phone will not be able to charge you for using any unauthorized networks for anything.  So what should you do if you need to be connected when abroad?  You can always use the phone at your hotel or purchase a phone card at a local tobacco shop.  This will save you some money or you could set up a temporary international phone contract with your cell phone provider.  If you do this, get the details in writing, cell phone companies have a tendency of setting you up in bad contracts that you will be stuck with.

     Above all, you should ask yourself before you leave on that next trip to Puket or for "The Emerald Isle", do you truly need to be connected to "the real world" or should you relax and enjoy this amazing experience?