Don't be a data dummy when you travel overseas

Talk is cheap. Unless you travel internationally.

Then your wireless phone bill can be expensive — very expensive. At least that's the conclusion of a new survey by communications company Telestial. It found that 82% of international travelers worry about the cost of data when they're overseas.

And with good reason. Oddly, only half say they've bought a SIM card for their phones, which might help them save money. Instead, they power down their devices or use them less, fearful of a huge phone bill, according to Dan Rasmus, the principal analyst at Serious Insights, which conducted the study.

"Americans," he adds, "just don't get international data."

The days of hitting travelers with huge mobile phone bills may be coming to an end. T-Mobile stopped charging for data roaming on some of its plans back in 2013. Last year, the European Parliament voted to end data-roaming charges within Europe by this December. And Google just introduced a wireless service called Project Fi, with no roaming charges in more than 120 countries.

But are travelers ready? Perhaps, but they face a few obstacles, including their own wireless carriers, general confusion about technology and a fast-changing industry.

Consider what happened to Sery Kim before she left for a recent trip to Paris. She contacted Sprint, her wireless carrier, to make sure she had the right plan. She took every precaution to make sure she wasn't being assessed any additional fees, using texting and making calls only when absolutely necessary and switching to a Wi-Fi hotspot at her hotel.

"Still, I incurred hundreds of dollars in fees," says Kim, an attorney and writer based in Washington.

The trip taught her a lesson about the inevitability of roaming fees. Now when she travels overseas, she turns off her phone and uses a disposable handset for calls and data. Problem solved.

Data-roaming solutions can confound even the smartest traveler. Customers don't understand how their carrier defines data, according to the Serious Insights research. Regular phone calls and texts are charged in the way travelers expect, but certain picture messages or even emoticons are considered data. How about a voice call using a voice-over IP app? That's data, too.

And even when travelers think they've got it all figured out by buying a SIM card, they're sometimes foiled. That's what happened to Matthew Hurst, a social media strategist based in New York. He bought a data card on a recent visit to Austria, only to discover that it had to be registered to a debit card issued by an Austrian bank. So much for that.

"The wireless carrier had failed to mention it," he says. "We ended up dipping into some of the international roaming data we purchased in advance through our home carrier — but it goes to show the pitfalls of waiting to buy prepaid cards when you arrive at your destination."

And even if you have the right plan, do you have the right technology? Maybe not.

Wireless technology moves at a lightning pace — enough to make this consumer advocate's head spin. There are too many options, including your own carrier's data plan, cards offered by companies like Telestial, and any number of other solutions. If you're a heavy user, for example, you can consider an all-you-can-eat data package offered by the likes of KnowRoaming. For Hurst, that would have come to $7.99 a day in Austria, with no native debit card required.

Of course, a company like Apple or Microsoft could come along and disrupt the entire business, offering customers "free" connectivity when they're abroad. And it could all happen between the time I finish writing this sentence and the time it's published. Don't you just love technology?

How to do data when you're abroad

• Use your phone as a last resort. Most current wireless phone companies offer international roaming plans, but they tend to be expensive and hard to understand. For now, you're almost always better off finding your data elsewhere, including a prepaid SIM card or waiting for a reliable Wi-Fi signal.

• Find the right app. A wireless phone and data plan might be unnecessary if you can find an app that lets you communicate without one. In many metropolitan areas, you can find a network of fast Wi-Fi hotspots. Readers recommend apps like Kakao, WhatsApp or Skype to talk without a data plan.

• Get the right intel. A little research can connect you with the right card or network. For example, Boingo has a fast network of hotspots at airports and elsewhere. You can find out where there's coverage before you depart. You can also download an iPhone app called Local SIM which displays a map indicating the nearest store where you can connect to a local network carrier and buy a local SIM card. It also allows you to choose the best voice and data plan.

Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate and editor at large for National Geographic Traveler. Contact him at chris@elliott.org or visit elliott.org.