Talk’s not cheap when you take phone abroad

Ever stand in line for a pay phone in Paris, try to figure out how to use a public phone in Tokyo or search for a working phone in Tangiers?

Then you know how valuable a cellphone can be when traveling outside the country.

Rentals are available in many places, but nothing is more convenient than taking along your own phone. Luckily, an increasing number of mobile phones sold in this country can access foreign networks.

But be forewarned.

The charges to use your own cellphone in far-flung lands can quietly mount faster than the tab at a hotel room mini-bar.

“I’ve had people call me with four-figure bills from their phone company,” said David Rowell, head of the Travel Insider website at www.thetravelinsider.info. “They think, ‘I’ve got minutes,’ because they have unlimited minutes at home, and they are using their regular phone number. It doesn’t work that way.”

Confusion over travel and cellphones is understandable given the widely different technologies and policies of the major providers. And it doesn’t help that when it comes to international service, their Web pages are sometimes as easy to comprehend as prescription drug inserts.

But you do have options when traveling with a cellphone abroad. And some can save you a considerable amount of money.

A lot depends on which type of cell network your home provider is using. Unlike most places in the world, the U.S. has two: global system for mobile communications and code division multiple access.

If you’re an AT&T; or T-Mobile cellular customer, you’re on GSM. If you use Sprint or Verizon, you’re on CDMA.

CDMA phones work in about 25 countries, mostly in the Western Hemisphere.

Much more worldly is GSM: More than 200 countries use this type of cell network.

You’d think that would be good news for AT&T; and T-Mobile subscribers. And it is, as long as they don’t cross an ocean.

In North America and much of South America, GSM phones from U.S. providers work just fine. But the GSM networks in most of the rest of the world operate on different frequency bands.

In much of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, our standard GSM phones won’t work.

Luckily, an increasing number of GSM phones sold in the U.S. come with both domestic and foreign frequency bands. If fact, if you got your phone in the last year or so, it might already have this dual access.

Of the 85 cellphone models currently available to AT&T; subscribers, 69 include foreign frequency band access.

T-Mobile offers a total of 36 models, 16 of which have foreign access.

Both CDMA providers, Sprint and Verizon, have jumped on the bandwagon by offering a handful of hybrid CDMA-GSM phones.

To check whether your phone will work in the country you’re headed for, try looking it up on your mobile provider’s website. If you can’t find its international service information (some providers hide it remarkably well) or make sense of it if you do, call customer service.

But there are some countries in which there is no compatible service. Chief among those is Japan, for which you can rent or buy a phone either in that country or through travel phone websites. One of the best known is San Diego-based Telestial at www.telestial.com.

Armed with your international GSM or hybrid phone, you then have two basic choices.

The first is to just toss it in your bag and use it as if you were in the U.S. You even use your regular phone number. This is probably fine if you’ll be on the phone for only a few short calls. That’s because the rates are high -- usually $1 to $5 a minute.

And the charges apply to both outgoing and incoming calls. If your phone rings when you’re in Moscow and it’s your next-door neighbor calling, it will cost you $4.99 a minute to chat.

For Indonesia, the rate is $3.99 and in Italy $2.99.

Those rates apply no matter where in the world the call is going to or originating from, even if it’s just across a crowded restaurant.

That’ll cut down on phone gossip.

Some providers offer monthly international roaming packages to reduce rates, but they usually apply only to select countries.

The second choice is to go native with your phone by having it operate as if you were living in the destination country. This is accomplished by buying a subscriber identity model card -- which looks like a smaller version of a memory card for a digital camera -- that slips into the back of a GSM or hybrid phone.

The advantage is that rates plummet. At Telestial, a SIM card for Italy costs $39, which includes about $7 worth of calls. The rate for using the card is about 35 cents a minute to anywhere in Europe and about 60 cents a minute to the U.S. Incoming calls are free.

More call time can be added by visiting a local cellphone store or many convenience shops. You can usually buy a SIM card cheaper in its home country, but Rowell suggests getting it before your trip to make sure it works properly.

If you’re traveling to more than one country, multi-country SIM cards are available. For example, Telestial sells a card good in 90 countries for $49, with $10 of time included. Call rates start at 49 cents a minute.

The disadvantage of installing a foreign SIM card is that you won’t be using your home phone number. You will, however, know the number assigned to the card, so you can give it to people who might want to reach you.

And there is one big catch. Your GSM phone will have to be in an electronically “unlocked” state to accept a SIM card other than the one it came with.

That’s little trouble if you are a Sprint or T-Mobile subscriber. Sprint sells its hybrid phones already unlocked. And T-Mobile will provide unlock codes for its phones 90 days after purchase.

But AT&T; will unlock a phone only after a customer’s usage contract expires. A spokesman said the company would otherwise consider requests on a case-by-case basis.

And Verizon offers no unlocking services for its hybrid phones.

There are ways around this. Rowell’s Travel Insider site offers an unlocking service, costing $5 or $25 (the higher fee is for handsets that are sent to him for unlocking).

Or you can throw in the towel and buy an unlocked GSM phone for traveling. Telestial sells them for about $50 and they are available on EBay.

So, doesn’t this all sound easy? After weighing the options and arranging for foreign cell service, you might need to add a week to your vacation.

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david.colker@latimes.com