Help! My cell phone doesn’t work

No sooner had the first wheel of my plane touched down in Vienna than I reflexively reached for the cell phone.

The tri-band GSM handset was set to work in Austria, so as the aircraft rolled to a stop, I confidently keyed in my voice-mail number. Nine hours without a phone can seem like an eternity. “I’m sorry, but your call cannot be completed,” a female voice said in German. “Please check with your service provider.”

Something had gone terribly wrong – my portable didn’t work.

In a recent Parade magazine profile, I confessed that when I turn off my mobile gadgets, “I almost feel naked.” Imagine what having no wireless service did to me. Can you say, “completely exposed”?

Fortunately, you don’t have to endure painful communication withdrawals when your cell phone stops working overseas. Consider these options:

Switch to a landline. That’s what I did, and it worked better than I expected. Phone rates between Europe and the U.S. are often lower than they are going the other way. With the weak Euro, my per-minute charge was seven cents using a private long-distance service. A decade ago, I couldn’t hope to call the States for less than $1 a minute. Important: Don’t depend on these rates, since many countries still haven’t deregulated their long-distance services. If you’re in a country where the government still has a monopoly on its phones, consider the next choice.

Use a phone card or callback service. OK, so you’re still not wireless, but the object of this exercise is to save you money and get you connected again. Phone cards, which offer a fixed rate that’s prepaid, are a popular option overseas. I like them because you know you can monitor your long-distance costs; it’s impossible to overspend. Callback services are particularly inventive solutions, because you initiate a call to an overseas phone and then use that connection to make a phone call, bypassing the government monopoly. Some of the most popular callback services include Kallback, CallBack4U, and Global Dial Tone.

Rent a cell phone. If your primary concern is going wireless and you don’t want to try to activate a SIM card (that’s a Subscriber Identity Module, which controls authentication, ciphering, and personalization preferences on GSM units) then go for a rental. Many hotels offer them, and although you’ll pay more than the landline, you probably won’t break the bank. For example, the properties owned by Elegant Hotels Group, a Caribbean hotel chain that includes the Colony Club Hotel in Barbados, offers Nokia phones with international and local access through a pre-paid calling card. But it isn’t cheap, either: In a “pay as you go” system, the phones come with calling cards in denominations of approximately $30 and $50. Typical rates for international calls range from $1.36 to $1.56 per minute.

I’m skipping a couple of other choices, such as the satellite phone (too expensive) or buying a SIM card (too techie), but suffice it to say that these aren’t your only options. Only the best.

One final note. If you end up in the same kind of predicament I did, in which your carrier assured you that your phone would work overseas, but it didn’t, then maybe it’s time for a new cellular provider. When I arrived in Vienna, it was too early to call the phone company to get help. I was on my own. Any wireless provider that leaves you hanging like that – stark naked and exposed – without a way to communicate, ought to get a piece of your mind, if not lose your business.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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