Here is a link I am using to find an apartment in Ukraine...

[cc3]

ML,

I'm with you and I understand what you're saying. I played the phone merry go round for a while unlocking, buying a card etc and just quit with it. I rather like not having one in Russia. The thing is, I don't have an interest in using my phone. The iPhone 3 would take another sim, the 4 wouldn't and now the 5 will. My wife has two Nokias from damn near the communist days. When I go out and need one I grab it.

My T-Mobile phone is my lifeline connection, while residing in UA, with my kids and grandkids back in the US. They can call, text or email me, no matter where I am (transiting another European country, walking in the park in Lviv, on the high speed train to Kyiv, etc) at any time, for minimal cost, on their T-Mobile phones. As a resident of Ukraine, I understand that I am in a much different position to most (occasional visitors) here on the forum. I own a cheap burner UA phone, but not wanting to carry two phones, I hardly ever have it on my person. What I use my smart phone mostly for, besides a reliable comm link with American relatives, is to track my daily walks through the beautiful city of Lviv.

[Faux Pas]

My T-Mobile phone is my lifeline connection, while residing in UA, with my kids and grandkids back in the US. They can call, text or email me, no matter where I am (transiting another European country, walking in the park in Lviv, on the high speed train to Kyiv, etc) at any time, for minimal cost, on their T-Mobile phones. As a resident of Ukraine, I understand that I am in a much different position to most (occasional visitors) here on the forum. I own a cheap burner UA phone, but not wanting to carry two phones, I hardly ever have it on my person. What I use my smart phone mostly for, besides a reliable comm link with American relatives, is to track my daily walks through the beautiful city of Lviv.

If I were in your situation I too most certainly would have something more reliable than I do. I'd pay for the global plan. I'm in-country 10-12 days, 2 weeks max every other year or so. Email works fine for me but, if there is a cheaper, better alternative I always interested in listening.

[ML]

I never said that it was inferior - it's just that Europe and New Zealand don't use it, so your CDMA phone is useless in those areas.

Here are the words from one of your prior posts in this thread.  What does the work 'upgrade' usually mean with respect to phones?

" . . . it's only Americans still using CDMA networks who will have to upgrade."

[Anotherkiwi]

Here are the words from one of your prior posts in this thread.  What does the work 'upgrade' usually mean with respect to phones?

" . . . it's only Americans still using CDMA networks who will have to upgrade."

While I appreciate what you're trying to say here, you really should have posted the relevant part of the quote in full:

...it's far simpler to get a phone that's compatible with European standards (GSM/UMTS/LTE) and simply buy a SIM card when you arrive. Most people outside the USA will already have the right type of phone - it's only Americans still using CDMA networks who will have to upgrade.

Maybe I should have written "fork out for a new phone."  "Upgrade" in that sense is upgrading your total telecommunications experience so that you can reap the full benefits available in an area where your own phone won't work.  Of course it's not compulsory, as Faux Pas has described, but I was able to buy a perfectly good GSM phone for about $20 in Moscow.  I gave it to my mother when I returned to New Zealand, and it still works perfectly well with a New Zealand SIM card.

[Matt45]

For what it's worth, all Verizon iPhones after the model 4 have both GSM and CDMA capability. Verizon offers two different international plans.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-travel/

I'm not familiar enough with the other options to know if Verizon's pricing is competitive.

[ML]

For what it's worth, all Verizon iPhones after the model 4 have both GSM and CDMA capability. Verizon offers two different international plans.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/landingpages/international-travel/

I'm not familiar enough with the other options to know if Verizon's pricing is competitive.

No 'International Plan' from USA carrier can compete with just buying a SIM chip in the country you will be visiting. 

Exceptions:  (1) You will only be in the single country for a couple of days or (2) you will be in 5 or so countries during the trip.

[Anotherkiwi]

No 'International Plan' from USA any carrier can compete with just buying a SIM chip in the country you will be visiting. 

Exceptions:  (1) You will only be in the single country for a couple of days or (2) you will be in 5 or so countries during the trip.

Agree.  However, for New Zealand and Australia, all the carriers in both countries include the other in their standard plans at cheap rates.  On my own plan, calls to Australia are included in my free minute allowance, and calls from Australia back home (if I just roam there using my NZ SIM card) cost only 10 cents per minute.

Do US carriers have the same sort of deal for Canada and/or Mexico or anywhere else in Central America or the Caribbean?