Outside the US cell phone, sim cards?

my daughter will be doing an over seas semester called semester at sea. Basically she will be in 11 counties in 4 months, including China and India.



I would like her to have a cell phone - without paying $5.00 a min.



I heard you can change out the sim cards.



How does this work?

Where can you buy a sim card for that country?

Etc.Outside the US cell phone, sim cards?
The phone in question would have to be unlocked for this to work.

You'd have to buy the SIM from the carrier in the country itself.Outside the US cell phone, sim cards?
When you go abroad, you'd need to sign up for the network that provides cell phones over there (for example, in the states we have t-mobile, ATT, cingular). They will provide you with your new sim. The problem with sim cards is that if your phone is branded to a certain network (again like t-mobile, ATT) you can not put another sim card that isn't a part of that network into that phone. You need to either buy an open line phone, or have your current phone %26quot;unlocked%26quot;. Getting the phone unlocked can be tricky, that's the kind of question you'd have to ask that one friend that everyone has that has connections, or is a technology freak. You will not be able to unlock your phone through your current service provider. You may also be interested in having her buy prepaid minutes abroad. There are providers such as Smart Mobile and Globe Mobile that do not charge for incoming calls and texts, only charge for outgoing. They too, will provide you with a sim.