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This is not Mexico related but I cannot  figure where to post my question so I am hoping that you will be patient and help me.

My wife and I have begun to travel a great deal especially to Europe and Latin America. I cannot figure out how to obtain a telephone that will work world wide. Do I need to have a special plan, change sim cards  in every country and buy a phone that is unlocked from the factory?

I have done extensive research on this and cannot get the answers I need. Do you have any recommendations as to brand or type of  phone and do I need a special plan ?

We currently have the Telcel cheapy phone which works well in Mexico but is worthless outside the country.

Thanks for any help ypu can provide !

 

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Here's a pretty detailed explanation:

http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/smartphones-for-travel/

Long story short, if you are talking about cell phones you want a quad-band GSM smartphone that's unlocked (if you signed a contract it is probably locked, if you bought outright it's almost certainly unlocked).  Then you buy (and keep) a different SIM card for each country, pay-as-you-go ideally unless you want a bunch of contracts and bills.  Note that Europe is different and you may be able to have one SIM for all or most of Europe.  They have all kinds of agreements for mobile phone roaming, and you will get a text message when you have crossed a border explaining the details.  In North/Central/South America and Africa/Asia, the roaming agreement is generally that they agree to charge you an arm and a leg.  I recall a lady in South Africa on holiday downloading something via roaming data and being charged around $2,000.  Pay-as-you-go would have prevented that, as it would just quit when you have expended your credits.

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Buy an unlocked quad band smart phone. I use a Telcel Amigo SIM when I am in Mexico, Canada or the US.

I have a OneSim Plus SIM chip that I have used when travelling in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa; works great.

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11 hours ago, Joyfull said:

Would an unlocked iPhone 6 Plus work in Europe if I got a pay as you go SIM card? Can it be used for data? Anyone know?

Yes a GSM iphone 6 plus will work in Europe with data. Note it must be a GSM phone that works with Telcel or AT&T Mexico.

See link to packages you can buy from Telcel for data in Europe. http://roamingextranjero.telcel.com/paquetes.html

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GSM is GSM, right?  Had no problem with getting TelMex chips for either of our GSM phones, one an IPhone4 the other a generic flip phone.

Looking to get an Iphone6s for my spouse, as long as it is factory unlocked and GSM it should work, no?  If there is some other specification could you tell me what it is?  Thanks.

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If you don't need the portability of a cell phone just take your VOIP phone adapter with you with a small phone with you. Yes you have to plug it into the modem where you are but it works well and my NetTalk phone costs 29.99 dollars a year. Magic jack would work also as someone said.  Yes by all means if you need a cell phone do the CIM card thang but for us the VOIP  (internet ) phone works great. I have had Net Talk for seven years and it works great.  This solution does not work with WIFi as it needs a physical connection to the modem which not all places allow.Some countries don't allow VOIP phones and will block the packets or slow them down over the Internet but it doesn't happen often anymore.

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32 minutes ago, Mainecoons said:

GSM is GSM, right?  Had no problem with getting TelMex chips for either of our GSM phones, one an IPhone4 the other a generic flip phone.

Looking to get an Iphone6s for my spouse, as long as it is factory unlocked and GSM it should work, no?  If there is some other specification could you tell me what it is?  Thanks.

A GSM, factory unlocked Iphone 6 will work just about everywhere (except Japan and maybe South Korea) with a SIM chip that works in that country. Other than color and screen size, the only other selection is capacity; 32gb or 128gb and that depends on how many pictures, songs, or movies you want to store on the phone.

Note that Telcel SIMs (even the Amigo) have data and voice packages for many countries. For overseas I change the SIM chip to a "OneSim Plus" SIM which is much less expensive for data and calls.

When travelling to Europe or Asia you can buy in most airports SIMs for that country (or a group of countries) that are preloaded with a certain amount of data or minutes for calling. The "OneSIM Plus" is usually less expensive.

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