How to Prevent Roaming Charges
If you travel outside of your cell phone provider’s coverage area and use your cell phone, the price of the phone call will be very expensive. Roaming charges incur once you are outside of your coverage area or out of the country. Usually, your phone notifies you if you are in roaming mode. It is best to prevent roaming charges as much as you can.
- Obtain a nationwide plan from your cell phone provider if you travel frequently. One phone call out of your service area will cost you as much money as the extra money you would pay for the nationwide plan.
- Find out your cell phone provider’s network coverage area. Your cell phone provider should have a map that indicates the areas in your network. You still need to be careful and watch the indicators on your phone, as these maps are not exact.
- Change your phone settings to warn you if you are outside of your coverage area when making a phone call. Refer to your phone’s user manual for instructions on how to do this.
- Change your phone settings to ask you for confirmation before you download messages while traveling. This will stop you from getting text messages while on a roaming network. You can usually find this setting in the Message Settings on your phone.
- Purchase an international SIM card when you travel out of the country. In some countries, if you are using an international SIM card you can receive phone calls for free. If they aren’t free, they will be at a much better rate.
- Update the preferred roaming list (PRL) on your phone. You should update the PRL on your phone every three months, as this gives you the most updated information regarding the roaming indicator on the cell phone