International plans 101 When you travel abroad, you will usually be connecting to the cell towers of third-party providers other than your own cell phone company.

Simply start using your phone while abroad and your included global coverage will kick in. Traveling to Canada or Mexico: Texting and data at basic speeds are free on all plans.

Traveling abroad can bring many charges and fees from your phone carrier, Kurt "The CyberGuy" Knutsson shows you some international plans and SIM card options.

But depending on your phone plan and how long you’ll be travelling for, it could still be cheaper than an e-SIM. To give you an idea, we compared the cost of roaming in Europe for one week below.

Using a mobile phone while traveling internationally can be like grocery shopping at 7-11. Sure, you can do it–but you’ll end up paying a lot for a less-than-optimal experience. Here are some ...

Be sure to have the phone unlocked before leaving.Once you have your GSM phone, using it overseas is fairly straightforward.You can either use the SIM card that came with the phone (though you ...

Michael O'Rourke, CEO of global security consultancy Advanced Operational Concepts, spends months at a time abroad with his teams, and they buy local SIM cards for their phones to stay in contact.

“If you take your cell phone abroad, you may be charged roaming fees of up to $4 to $5 per minute,” says Sascha Segan, columnist for PC Magazine and Frommers.com, a travel site that gives ...

So ensure any phone that you purchase is, at minimum, a dual-band handset supporting the GSM 900/1800 standard. As a rule of thumb, steer clear of phones from the US and Canada.

They're called burner phones because you can "burn" them, i.e., trash them after use, and the phone cannot be traced back to you, which makes them appealing to criminals.