Worldwide SIM card for international teachers?

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TeacherGal
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat May 14, 2016 8:51 am

Worldwide SIM card for international teachers?

Post by TeacherGal »

Has anyone found a good company from which to purchase a SIM card that can be used anywhere in the world and inexpensively so a new one doesn't have to be bought every time one relocates or goes home for a visit?
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

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Post by PsyGuy »

I never really found one, well kind of. In the US theres a program called "lifeline" that supplies free mobile service to those on various social welfare programs. They give you a super cheap burner phone and a SIM that gets you a pile of minutes and texts and somewhere around one Gb of data all for free. You can take that SIM and put it into any SIM unlocked phone you own. You have to re certify every year. Different providers provide different benefits and some of them provide international calling and text as part of the plans.
Aside from that any provider that you use is going to be too costly or have poor service depending where you go/where you are. If I had to choose one though; GoogleFi offers the most international friendly with their cost near the bottom of what you would typically pay. USD$20/month gets you unlimited texts and 20¢/min talk unless you place the call over WiFi in which case the call is free. Data is also available at USD$10/Gb which you pay for only what you actually use (If you use 150Mb its USD$1.50/mth). Google Fi use to only work with Google phones but this has expanded and there is a beta that works with some limitations for newer iPhones. The cost gets lower the more lines you open (down to USD$16/mth/line for 5 lines), still thats several hundred USD a year.

I dont think you really want a global SIM anyway; 1) You still are going to need and want a local number for where you are so that other people dont have to dial international to contact you. 2) Youre going to need a local number for things like banking and for super apps (such as Wechat and LINE) to take advantage of the finance tools. What you really maybe want is a virtual number. Either Skype or Google Voice/Hangouts. Both have apps that take advantage of data or Wifi that you can do voice, video calls and messaging.
For Skype you would want to get a subscription so that all your calls in a given region are part of that subscription (costs a few USD a month). You would then also purchase a phone number (about $30/year with a subscription). So the whole setup ends up costing you about USD$60/year. Google offers two apps available on mobile devices, tablets or on the web. Google Voice is the app that works sort of like your voice mail or answering machine. Google Hangout is more like the headset. Together you can do voice, video and messaging. The big benefit of this somewhat clunkier setup is that its free. As part of the program you can get a free telephone number (in the US) and others just call and text you as thy normally would. One nice benefit is that Google will transcribe (not very well) your received voice mail and send them to you as emails along with the caller ID. You then give out the Google/Skype number for business and friends/family.
shadowjack
Posts: 2138
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am

Re: Worldwide SIM card for international teachers?

Post by shadowjack »

TeacherGal - when I go back to the US I use Cricket - 50 or 60 bucks for UNLIMITED data and phone - and it is an AT&T company so coverage is great.

In Europe I use Orange France, which roams all over the EU with no charges. I have the holiday SIM - 40 Euro gets you 40GB of data for a month. If you top it up once every six months, you keep the number alive (10 Euros will do it). So my French number never changes.

Never change your Whatsapp number and it doesn't matter which SIM you use, your friends will always be able to contact you. Made the mistake once of changing it to new SIM - never again. LOL

For other countries, I just buy a SIM at the airport after researching from this site: https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.co ... _with_data
TeacherGal
Posts: 128
Joined: Sat May 14, 2016 8:51 am

Re: Worldwide SIM card for international teachers?

Post by TeacherGal »

Excellent information, Shadowjack. Thanks very much.
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