Cell COVERAGE Worldwide at a decent price??

[cruisehope]

My wife are planning to set sail this summer on a 5-6 year circumnavigation and have a few questions related to communications: We will have IridiumGo with Predictwind service for passages and emergencies. What do we do for cell coverage as we pass from country to country? Th thing I am looking most forward to when we leave the US is cutting all ties to ATT!! Their $10/day international plan is easy but not economical. I have heard about GoogleFi but not sure about how economic it is. Do most people just buy Sim cards when they arrive? Any ideas are appreciated.

[goboatingnow]

It depends but in general broad coverage SIMs are often very limited for the cost. The best deals will tend to be national SIMS or in or EU roaming SIMS if you are resident in the EU .

[Dockhead]

Buy local wherever you go. This will always be better and cheaper, sometimes 10x or even 20x cheaper, than any kind of global plan. The only advantage of global plans is eliminating the need for finding and acquiring new SIM cards. The only way that could be beneficial is if you are only staying a couple of days in one country.


Note also that some local SIM cards work in more than one country. ALL European SIM cards work like at home all over the EU, within fair use limits. I was able to buy a local SIM card in Singapore which worked in Malaysia and Indonesia.

[Brian.D]

I concur with the others on getting local SIM cards, if your phone will support GSM. If you have a CDMA phone then you might be out of luck. In that case, go to EBay and get a CARRIER UNLOCKED GSM phone. If you are stuck on AT&T now, I would still suggest that you get a carrier unlocked, or international (same thing just different wording) GSM phone. Any phone I purchase now or in the future will be carrier unlocked.

Now, do your homework. Some countries may not allow foreigners (non-residents) to purchase SIM cards. Korea for one does not allow this, unless one purchases it in an airport, and that might be illegal now. So make sure you understand the laws regarding the use of SIM cards within the borders of whatever country you visit. Most are fine with roaming. Some are not.

JMHO

[clamshack]

There is a lot of information here: https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom..._SIM_with_data.

You might try calling this guy https://thewirelesshaven.com/. I'm looking into the same thing as you and may get this https://thewirelesshaven.com/shop/ro...router-bundle/.

[PippaB]

We used GoogleFi in more than 30 countries, it is the only plan I know of that approaches “worldwide”. Still doesn’t have great coverage in the South Pacific, and in most cases local data is cheaper.

We kept Fi because it gave us a single phone number everywhere, and it was active as soon as we got within cell range of a coast. Then we’d generally buy a local SIM for data and doing local business.

Data prices vary, in Fiji truly high-speed data was less than US$0.50/GB, while in South Africa we never found a cheap local data plan and used Fi data (and restricted our total usage while in SA). Most phones now have WiFi calling, with GoogleFi, in places where we didn’t have Fi service we’d use a local data SIM, turn on a hotspot, and still have the Fi phone number. You could probably do the same now with just about any carrier that supports WiFi calling.

There are online services that can provide you the constant phone number for less, but having actual cell service automatically in most places was worth the $20/month ($40/month now to get international data) to us.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by PippaB

. . .We kept Fi because it gave us a single phone number everywhere, and it was active as soon as we got within cell range of a coast. Then we’d generally buy a local SIM for data and doing local business..

For anyone who needs to be reachable by phone everywhere (I think this is less and less of a thing these days), a Skype-in number neatly solves the problem for 2 dollars a month or whatever, and you can have several of them in different countries if you want. I am now able to receive SMS text messages on my Skype-in number, which is huge -- I can now do two-factor authorization with most places.


But I don't really give out my Skype-in number and don't use it that much. People call me on my normal Finnish telephone, which I keep switched on and roaming; I answer and call them back on WhatsApp -- one minute at roaming prices doesn't break the bank. But not that many people call by telephone -- most calls now over WhatsApp and altogether fewer calls when there are messenger platforms, SMS, and email. If you have a data connection, you less and less care about anything else.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by cruisehope

My wife are planning to set sail this summer on a 5-6 year circumnavigation and have a few questions related to communications: We will have IridiumGo with Predictwind service for passages and emergencies.

HF is much maligned but has certain advantages offshore. You might want to consider at least a basic installation (without Pactor).

What do we do for cell coverage as we pass from country to country? Th thing I am looking most forward to when we leave the US is cutting all ties to ATT!! Their $10/day international plan is easy but not economical. I have heard about GoogleFi but not sure about how economic it is.

I use Google Fi, easy, reasonably priced. The advantage for travel is that you have a usable solution right away when you arrive. You can get a local SIM when and where it makes sense, depending on how long you're going to stay in a particular country.


One thing to be aware of is that Google Fi requires you to return to the USA periodically and use the USA cellular network. I can't remember the exact rules but believe it's once a year. If you anticipate flying back occasionally, just bring your phone. Or use a couple of Fi SIM cards and send one back with a trusted friend or family member who comes to visit you.

[PippaB]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

For anyone who needs to be reachable by phone everywhere (I think this is less and less of a thing these days), a Skype-in number neatly solves the problem for 2 dollars a month or whatever, and you can have several of them in different countries if you want. I am now able to receive SMS text messages on my Skype-in number, which is huge -- I can now do two-factor authorization with most places....

Agreed, and I think I even said that However, we found value in having actual cell service immediately, not having to get a local SIM if we were only around for a short time, and actually used Fi when sailing coastal but not stopping. It becomes a value proposition for each user. I could do without cell service entirely, the admiral not so much. Being able to simply turn on the phone in nearly every country and receive calls from family at the number she's always had/used provided enough value to us that we went that way, YMMV.

Originally Posted by PippaB

...There are online services that can provide you the constant phone number for less, but having actual cell service automatically in most places was worth the $20/month ($40/month now to get international data) to us.

[goboatingnow]

Google Fi does have this to say

“The Services are offered only to residents of the United States. The Services must be primarily used in the United States (territories not included) and are not intended for extended international use. Further, the Services are designed for use predominantly within our network. If your usage outside our network is excessive, abnormally high, or cause us to incur too much cost, we may, at our option and sole discretion, suspend your Google Fi account, terminate your service, or limit your use of roaming.”

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by cruisehope

My wife and I are planning to set sail this summer on a 5-6 year circumnavigation and have a few questions related to communications: We will have IridiumGo with Predictwind service for passages and emergencies. What do we do for cell coverage as we pass from country to country? The thing I am looking most forward to when we leave the US is cutting all ties to ATT!! Their $10/day international plan is easy but not economical. I have heard about GoogleFi but not sure about how economic it is. Do most people just buy Sim cards when they arrive? Any ideas are appreciated.

It's a big big world out there and there's no simple answer. It is country dependent. Local SIMs are a solution, but not to all issues. Of course different SIMS means a different phone number. So using the likes of WhatsApp, Skype and the like sort of overcomes that issue. Perhaps pick a 2 SIM phone?

Depends on your needs, do you want to make phone calls back home and/or receive calls from overseas?

But more strategically you're describing a 5-6 circumnavigation? I don't think IridiumGo and Predictwind will, say in 5 years, be anything like their present form. I've no crystal ball to know what they will be, but all services will evolve and improve. When I think back 5 years, wow, we're in a totally different world. Even the thought of being able to communicate with the outside world whilst on an ocean passage other than SSB was pretty out there. Sure we had a Sat phone back then, but the hassle of trying to get a signal could take hours, and then when you get the charge, ouch!

But recently I had cause to use a Garmin InReach and wow! OK so typing texts are very old brick cell phone style, but it is a fantastic and relatively cheap service. I didn't find that the weather forecast, on passage, emphasis on passage, was much help. It was a forecast at 6 hourly intervals for the next couple of days, updated 6 hourly. Very brief too typically something like:
0600 SW 25 knots westerley swell, rough
1200 S 20 knots westerley swell, easing
1800 SE 20 knots, calm
2400 SE 15 knots southerley swell, calm

And on a passage you're moving so slowly anyway, relative to the weather systems, there's no avoiding the weather. Would it have warned us of a cyclone or even a storm? Don't know. Did the Garmin forecast actually take account of our position? Don't know. Was it accurate? Seemed to be more or less. What it definitely didn't do was forecast the weather in the position we expected to be in after 6, 12, 18, 24 hours.

What I still prefer, for an ocean passage, is having someone, with a few clues, back on land (with access to all the different models and forecasting services) that will give me advice via HF radio on a regular sched. They can then give direction to gain better advantage from weather systems and possibly help me steer out of any developing storms.

But all that aside, cell phones. Will we still have them in a few years? I mean we call them phones, but a smart phone is nothing like my trusty old Nokia Blue of 1995, heck we didn't even have texting then.

Oh and welcome to CF Cruise Hope and partner, and I look forward to your progress posts (or Vlogg or whatever) as you circumnavigate our huge wet world. Bon voyage!

Thanks too for raising GoogleFi. I'd never heard of it before, and so I have to find out what that is. OK thanks for waiting. I googled it and it turns out there's one important criteria, you have to have a US phone number, so effectively be or have recently been a US resident. I'm in Kiwiland and so I expect it will be here sometime in the near future. So as I opened my post, telecommunications continues to evolve and improve at an increasingly fast rate.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by grantmc

It's a big big world out there and there's no simple answer. It is country dependent. Local SIMs are a solution, but not to all issues. Of course different SIMS means a different phone number. So using the likes of WhatsApp, Skype and the like sort of overcomes that issue. Perhaps pick a 2 SIM phone?. . .

What use is a one SIM phone? I haven't had one since the 90's.


I keep my main home SIM card in Slot 1, and whatever local one in Slot 2. And Robert is my uncle.

[jamhass]

One question:

Is your primary concern voice or data? If voice, consider a satphone?

OK, as phrased, 2 questions ...

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

What use is a one SIM phone? I haven't had one since the 90's.


I keep my main home SIM card in Slot 1, and whatever local one in Slot 2. And Robert is my uncle.

As an iPhone user , these are all single sim phones.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

As an iPhone user , these are all single sim phones.

Yet another reason to avoid i-stuff. Bah.



I don't know what I'd do without a dual SIM phone. Carrying two phones and keeping them charged is a PITA, and what else can you do if you need to have your main phone on, whilst using different local SIMs as you cruise or travel?



But wait a minute -- don't you have the possibility with an i-thing to use virtual SIM cards? Won't they let you have more than one of those?