Calling Around Down Under - More on GSM Phones and SIM Cards

The never ending saga of international cell phone calls, circa 2008

A friend of ours is out of here, here being the U.S., to New Zealand and Australia for six months and we just dropped off a gift for her upcoming travel: an unlocked GSM phone we bought in Australia with a practically full SIM card in it. We bought it after, while in Oz, misplacing our own precious, unlocked, U.S. GSM cell phone (which magically turned up the minute we purchased the new one, natch), and though we could charge the Aussie phone with an international electrical adaptor-on-adaptor ("yeah, ummm, plug the Oz side into the phone and, ummm, plug the US side of the adaptor into the US wall, and scratch head while rubbing stomach..."), we couldn't make calls on it: we couldn't get easy access to SIM cards here in our neck of the United States. Man, the U.S. cell phone scene is so wierd... which is why I love Skype and my own itty bitty carrier, Union Cellular, which, remarkably, sells unlocked GSM phones.

So, yeah, enough ranting -- the truly important thing here is the Australian plug part of this story, in that our favorite electrical adaptor has an Australian plug side that we also let our friend know she can't live without -- as can'tyou if you're headed thataway. Check it out:

• Learn more: International Plug Adapter

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