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National Geographic Talk Abroad Travel phone now available

Categories: Announcements, Devices,
By: , IntoMobile
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 4:38 AM

National Geographic Talk Abroad Travel phoneInteresting for all you folks that travel around and don’t want to bother with roaming fees, National Geographic along with Cellular Abroad announced the availability of Talk Abroad Travel phone, allowing affordable calls from over 100 countries, with no contracts to sign and free incoming calls in most international markets. The twist is that the phone number stays the same, no matter where you are.

The phone costs $199 and comes with 30 minutes of free outgoing talk time, or could be rented for $49 a week. Already got a GSM phone – you can get a SIM card for $79, which also includes 30 minutes of free outgoing talk time. Additional minutes can be purchased sans any contract, and start from $0.90 per outgoing minute in the most frequently traveled countries. There’s also a a dedicated toll-free number for customer support.

That’s it – the true world phone is here. On the other hand you may want to go for a bit smarter solution with BlackBerry 8830 from Sprint or Verizon in USA, or Telus or Bell in Canada. Unfortunately, you can’t skip the roaming fuzz with RIM’s devices…

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About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • Hannah

    We went to Jamaica and rented the National Geographic TalkAbroad phone. Good price and everything. They described their service as being able to receive all text messages and phone calls from the United States for free. We got to Jamaica and I ran out of talk time (the $29 pre-loaded simcard) because they were charging us 1.95/min per incoming call. Before we left for Jamaica and signed up for the service, we got confirmation from their website and two different employees that incoming calls would be free and they charged us for them. You’re better off paying $1.95/min. for your cell phone you use in the US because at least that company is not lying to you. I would never have paid for this service if it had been honestly advertised as charging for incoming calls as they do.

  • Jonathon

    I used the service as well in Jamaica and, contrary to your post, did receive free incoming calls in Jamaica. This was during the winter of 2009 – maybe rates changed in the meantime. Outgoing on the other hand was $1.95, which is less expensive than my T-Mobile carrier but still expensive but I just made sure people called me back whenever possible.