It’s a connected world.
National carriers may have a few advantages over their international counterparts — such as their own wireless spectrum and wireless towers — but there’s one area where global carriers have a big (and growing) advantage — worldwide connectivity at a lower cost.
There are a huge and growing number of carriers in this space, and we’re looking to cover all of them here on TruTower. Because they’re unique. Many users have even opted to replace their national carriers with international carriers such as Toggle Mobile or Maxroam, because these carriers have cost-saving bundle plans that make it affordable to switch. Best of all, when they’re ready to go on that vacation, they can just go, and don’t have to worry about paying for more than they use. No more “bill shock,” no more worry, and no more going through those annoying number changes. It’s the same no matter where in the world you are.
The features and plans offered by international roaming services vary greatly
Some global carriers offer data-only SIM cards, such as Doodad, and many people might be quick to dismiss it because they can’t text or call via the carrier plan. What they may not realize, though, is that these data-only SIMs can possibly save even more than those who offer the full package. For instance, if you use a data-only carrier like Doodad in conjunction with VoIP and/or messaging applications — which we also cover in depth here on TruTower — you’ve still got your calling, messaging, and data all in one place.
There are even global carriers that combine the usefulness of a global SIM with the flexibility of a VoIP application. Truphone and OneSimCard come to mind. The combination of these two services is unique, allowing customers to utilize the same account, same phone number, and same company, without having to add an additional user name or service to the mix. Overall, this can make the services seem more seamless than many others on the market.
Many of these carriers also offer multi-IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) support. In a nutshell, this means you can have multiple phone numbers in a single SIM card. For instance, a UK number as well as a US number. This is useful for a variety of reasons in multiple situations. Say you move to the UK and want to have a local number, yet you also have family back in the US. No problem. Get a multi-IMSI SIM that will allow you to have both numbers working together to make your life easier. As an added bonus many of these multi-IMSI global carrier SIMs also include incoming calls free of charge. What could be better than that?
Unfortunately, many customers fail to realize that these global carriers exist, and make the mistake of utilizing their national SIM cards for international trips instead. Often, this results in the aforementioned case of what’s known as “bill shock” and the customer soon receives a bill from their national carrier for $10,000 USD or some other wildly insane number that matches or exceeds the price of the trip itself. Yeah, it does happen. Just ask popular band One Direction.
So the next time you decide to go on that vacation, rather than simply leave your phone and lose contact or take your phone with you and end up pulling your hair out over a phone bill (aren’t vacations supposed to relieve stress, not cause it?), it would be advantageous to look into getting one of these global SIM cards instead. And, hey, why search all over the place to find them, when you can simply point your browser or favorite social network to TruTower and we can do all the leg work for you, including keep you up to date on the latest news and promotions?
That’s what we’re here for: keeping you connected to the connected world.