This was a serious struggle. There are just so many options. This list will be more specific to China but I imagine that much of the information applies to other countries as well.
- GSM and CDMA: This is a solid place to start. Check and see what type of signal technology is used in the country you are going to. China (at least near the coasts) has strong GSM coverage. Here is a map of China's GSM coverage. The USA seems to be a bit of a mix of CDMA networks like Verizon and GSM networks like AT&T. What this means is that unless you have a GSM phone or if you have a phone that can be GSM unlocked, like the Motorola Droid 2 Global, your phone won't work in China.
- International Plans: If you happen to be the proud owner of a GSM unlocked phone then there is the possibility that you can use your own phone in China and other GSM dominated countries. However, they're quite pricey and not something I would be willing to pay as a college student. If you are willing to pay for an international plan it might just be your simplest solution. Verizon's Data Plan is $20.48/MB $0.02/KB and $1.99 for Standard CDMA and GSM Roaming. That is specifically for China. To look up Verizon's rates for any country click here and for AT&T's international rates click here. (For those who use other cellular providers here they are in a list along with the technology they use, either GSM, CDMA or other.)
- Using Skype Mobile: It was an idea that I toyed with considerably. It seems like it would be the cheapest and easiest. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Cheapest for sure and actually fairly doable. First it is important to know that if you hadn't already downloaded Skype Mobile you would want to do it in the US or your country of origin before going to China because they have blocked it from being downloaded. I first thought that I could maybe use it on my own Motorola Droid. It would require that I block all texts and phone calls to prevent wracking up a huge phone bill. Doing this means the phones only connection is through wifi. The biggest problem I found is that it meant I would only be able to make or receive calls while I had a wifi connection. Sadly 'free' wifi does not cover the whole city of Shanghai or Beijing. I think this option is possible but the process of figuring out how to pay for City Wide wifi in either city would be a difficult one. It also means that if you can't figure it out till you're in country and if it didn't work out... well... it would mean you're without a phone. (As a side note this could also be done using an iPod Touch, which I also considered. While there were benefits—ability to charge it on my computer, not having to worry about incoming calls and texts—I ran into the same problem of a lack of free wifi.)
- Renting a phone: This is the most obvious and is ultimately what I decided to do in the end. I was loathe to choose this option from the get-go because it seemed there had to be a better solution or some sort of work around. There are many companies that provide rental phones. I ended up using Piccell Wireless. You're provided with a virtual number that your friends and family from your home country can call for free as well as a regular number that you can use for domestic calls in your chosen country. Incoming calls are $0.49/min and $0.39/minute for Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Spanish and UK packages. Text messaging rates are equally reasonable ($0.04/ national text and $0.40/ international text.) but probably vary based on country. They also carry a variety of phones prices ranging from $49 for a Motorola RAZR V3 to $365 for an HTC H6262 Hero.
