Even though one of my favorite things about travelling is not having to answer my constantly ringing cell Phone, the reality is, having a cell phone is awesome when I need to tap into TripAdvisor or make a call back home to see what's going on.  Sure beats trying to find an internet cafe or getting jacked to the tune of $10 a minute on a hotel phone.

On my latest group trips, I have always found people scrambling to buy sim cards so they could use their cell phones and keep the price down.  On one of my last Contiki trips to Cambodia, my friend Matt spent so much time at the airport kiosk trying to get a sim card that the rest of the group's bus almost left without him!

For those of you reading this who are from the USA, there's a way to skip all of this hassle if you didn't already know.  T-Mobile.  I promise, I'm not getting paid to write this, but T-Mobile has been amazing for international travel for years now.  As far back as 2009 I was using the Wi-Fi calling feature on my T-Mobile Blackberry.  Even back then, as long as you were near a wifi connection, you could connect your phone, and make and receive calls to and from the USA as though you were still back home.  Cost?  ZERO. 

Since then, I've always connected my cell phone to wifi networks throughout the world, making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving text messages no matter where I was and never once have received a long distance or ridiculous roaming charge from T-Mobile.  And for some reason, this far out technology was only on T-Mobile phones.

And if that was not good enough for you, about a year ago T-Mobile introduced free calling to and from the USA to Canada and Mexico.  In addition to that?  Free international web and text.  If you think there's a catch, there isn't!  On my latest trips through Bali, Jakarta, Thailand and India, I used my phone liberally, especially the text and web side of things.  Cost?  ZERO.

It looks like AT&T if barely entering the game this month by allowing ONE of its phones to do the wifi calling from anywhere.  To that I say, too little to late. Congratulations to AT&T on offering what T-Mobile has been offering since 2009 (if not earlier).  AT&T don't waste your advertising dollars promoting something which is far inferior to what your competitor is offering.  You remind me of General Motors telling us in 2005 that your cars are decent quality now, comparable to Honda.  Please.