Using Aussie mobile phone in Hawaii

Hi

What is the cheapest way to use a mobile phone to make phone calls back to Australia from Hawaii someone told us to change sim cards and get a prepaid phone card??

Using Aussie mobile phone in Hawaii

Won%26#39;t it be international expensive either way (using your sim card ort a new one)?

I haven%26#39;t heard of this

Using Aussie mobile phone in Hawaii

I think the best tip for any international traveler is if you have a laptop - find a local wifi/broadband spot and use VOIP - Skype or GoogleTalk or many other services which allow for Softphone type interface.

You can roam via your carrier with a SIMM but not really worth it IMO%26gt;

I didn%26#39;t finish my post. The next cheapest option would be to buy a disposable pay as you go phone in the US (TracePhone, Net10, etc) and have the other person use the cheapest service available to initiate the call to that phone.

Roaming internationally is not worth it as you usually will pay $2 p/minute just to receive a call whereas pay as you will probably run 10 cent per minute - depending on cost of the phone.

Are you sure your phone will even work here? Some non-US phones don%26#39;t.

Somewhere on here or the BI board in the last few months, someone said the cheapest was to go to ABC and purchase a prepaid calling card. They founds it very economical to use the card. I do know they were travelling internationally. This may be your best bet. Can you use your mobile phone with a prepaid card? I would call my carrier and ask. What have you got to lose?

HI Froggy4

We have Global roaming on our phones when we travel, a free service, we are with Telstra just takes a phone call for them to activate it, but we only use it for sms back to Australia as its cheap, we dont make calls with it unless its an emergency as very expensive. Also turn off your messagebank because every message you retreive from overseas is charged as an international call.

To make local calls in the country you are in, we take a spare mobile phone and buy a local sim card, to call hotels, guides, taxis etc. Just make sure the phone you take isnt locked and can take the sim card. We have done this in South America and Asia and find a cheaper way to communicate after being caught out with large phone bills when we got home!!!

Chez

Good question froggy4. If you decide to use roaming, remember to contact your service provider about a week in advance to set it up.

On our recent trip to Hawaii our teenage daughter arranged for international roaming on her mobile, as someone else stated it is cheapest to use sms and yes you are charged at international cost to receive sms from home.

The cost over two weeks amounted to just over $30 AUS not too bad for an 18 year old girl.

Also as stated a fellow Aussie traveller mentioned in her post that you can buy Phone cards from ABC Stores to phone home to landlines, sounded like quite a good deal, I think Chocofriend from Melbourne posted this in her trip report.

Hope this helps.