Not all the cell phones can be used oversea. If you are planning to travel abroad, make you have a wireless phone that works in the destinations you are traveling to. In that case, you need a quad band phone from you current carrier.

Are quad band phones more expensive than regular phones? Not at all. The device itself pretty much cost the same as dual band and tri-band counterparts. The expense part comes from service. If your phone is capable of roaming oversea, you first need to sign up for the right plan before you can use it. Most of the carriers have your phone roaming disabled unless you have an International plan. That way you are protected from accidental use such as receiving text messages or emails on the phones while you are not aware of the roaming. It can be very expensive without the right plan to go with the phone.

Once you sign up for the plan, do you have to stick with it? No, you can basically sign up the service just to enable International roaming before you go on you trip. Unless you are a frequent traveler, you stop the international plan after you complete the trip, that way you don’t need to pay extra for service you no longer use. If you need to go abroad again, simply call up the carrier and have them arrange the right plan for you.