iPhones and roaming data charges

Need advice

I have a smartphone but I don't like it. It's an Android phone (Huawei - Chinese I think) but it's slow as shit. I don't really connect to the internet on my mobile, at the moment, because I figure I can wait until I get home to do that, so I don't have a data plan. Sometimes I use it for Skyping from home but, like I say, it takes an age to load. When I get home it connects to my home network but then I'm using the PC, so I don't care. Not into Twitter or Instagram. Facebook is OK but I'm not desperate and can easily live without it. Don't ever play games on the phone as I figure it can wait till I get home and I'll play on the PC.

I have an iPad and it's pretty useful for watching Netflix in the bath and reading the Kindle but, again, that's about it.

Offer of iPhone 5 for about $250 in stores here.

So is it worth getting? On an associated note what do people do when they travel? Do you guys/gals buy a sim card in the new country for the duration? Roaming data charges seem fucking expensive (at least they are when based in the Middle East).

I use t-mobile, they have unlimited text and vestigial data service worldwide for free. Voice is a relatively reasonable rate, usually. If I was going somewhere for a long time, I'd get a sim, but when I go to Europe for just a couple weeks or something I just pay 30 bucks to T-mobile to get a batch of data.

I find T-mobile very reasonable about all of this, it's part of the reason I switched even with their shittier network than what I had before in the USA.

I'll take the first round of incoming fire on this one -- consider a Windows phone instead, which you can buy for about $40. Mine's a Nokia that's damn near indestructible. If you don't care about apps it's a super cheap choice.

I use mine as a phone (imagine that) and for occasionally browsing the web, and it's fast and super-easy for both. I text a bit too but that works about the same on all of them. I don't have a data plan either, just use it on WiFi.

T-Mobile for me as well. Best coverage for the Baltimore/DC area.

Haven't traveled recently, so I can't answer that part of it.

Take a look at Google Fi. You can get a Nexus 5x for $200 for the next week or two, it's a really solid phone. Their plan is really cheap if you're a light data user, and their data is usable in something like 120 countries with no extra charge. fi.google.com/about/rates/

I've been on it for two weeks now, and it's solid. It does calls over wifi if it's available, and refunds you for data that you don't use in a month. I think my bill should be around $25 a month.

^wow, that looks really cool!

I think maybe I wasn't clear. I don't live in US so phones locked to companies are no use for me.

Here, no phones are tied to companies, all are totally unlocked but $250 is still a lot of money.

Hmm. I'm not sure if Google Fi is available for signup outside the US, but the phone isn't tied to it. It's just a straight GSM Nexus phone, so you should be able to take it to any other GSM carrier.