An unlocked GSM cell phone with a local Prepaid SIM card or an International SIM card with global coverage, offers a superior option for travelers who are considering roaming with their existing cell phone service or contemplating an international cell phone rental service. Learn More

Outside of the United States and a handful of countries, international cell phone carriers operate on a unified standard called GSM (Global Services for Mobile). This is why a cell phone for London will also work in Paris, Johannesburg, Beijing and Sydney. This GSM standard requires a GSM mobile phone and a SIM card. The SIM card is a small chip that allows your phone to connect with a local wireless carrier in the country you are visiting. To learn more about GSM and other international cell phone standards, we suggest you read the first few articles in the Getting Started section.

If you want an international cell phones service, you will need a phone that is GSM compatible and SIM-unlocked. An often described global phone, travel mobile, travel phone or world phone is merely a GSM cell phone that operates on the 900, 1800 and 1900 frequencies. If the world phone is unlocked it will work with any prepaid SIM card in Europe (also see Italy Cell Phone Promo, UK Cell Phone Promo, Spain Cell Phone Promo and France Cell Phone Promo), Africa, Asia (also see the Explorer Roaming card for Japan cell phone service), Australia (Australia cell phone promo) and New Zealand. To check out our range of phones, click on this link: International Cell Phones.

After you purchase your international cell phone, or if you already own a world phone, you will need a SIM card for service. A SIM card is a postage stamp sized chip (the brain of the phone) that snaps into the back of your phone. The SIM card enables your phone to find and connect to a network, and then make calls. Changing SIM cards is a very easy procedure and varies depending on your phone. All the International SIM cards we offer are prepaid. Prepaid SIM cards may be purchased for a specific country, you then get a local phone number and benefit from local rates that nearly every time include free incoming calls! To view the selection of local SIM cards, click on Prepaid SIM Cards.

If you are planning to travel around the world, or visit multiple countries on your next trip, and want a single US or Global number, then we recommend purchasing an International SIM card. We offer four different International SIM card services that each offer coverage in over 180 countries and an US and Global number. For more information on this option, click on International SIM cards.

For more exotic locations outside traditional cellular coverage you can rent or purchase an Iridium Satellite phone. These true world phones work everywhere, including the oceans and both poles though surprisingly not in the Poland, Hungary, Northern Sri Lanka and South Korea (Don't ask). We have great 1,2 and 3 month rental rates and discounts are available for student and faculty travelers. For Satellite phone info you click on …yup, you guessed it… Satellite Phones.

A travel journal, also called travel blog or travelogue, is a record made by a traveler of their trip. Generally in dairy form, a travel journal contains descriptions of the traveler's experiences, and can be written during the course of the journey (and more often that not completed once the traveler has returned home). Telestial's Travel Journal or blog makes this easy, by automatically creating an entry each day with images of the location visited, weather experienced on that day at that location, a map of that location and a description of that location. The traveler can customize their Journal as much or as little as they wish, whilst they are traveling or when they return home! View Demo

If you don't wish to buy a new phone, but wish to have the convenience of making calls whilst you travel around the world, then renting an international cell phone is for you. Our international cell phone rental service allows you to make use of data services of phones that are too expensive to buy for a short trip, but are affordable if you are just renting. We also offer Japanese cell phone rentals for that occasional business trip to Japan. All our rentals include a free World SIM card, yours to keep.

A data plan enables you to surf the internet, IM with your friends, read your email and send MMS if your phone supports these features. All our International Cell Phone and Global SIM card packages come with a prepaid data plan with roaming data coverage in over 150 countries. We also offer 3G data coverage in over 90 countries which has substantially faster download speeds than GPRS data. You can also purchase our global data plan with a wireless modem to use with your PC whilst on the road (when a WIFI connection is not available).