Using a smartphone over seas can be annoying at best, and at worst, well… this. The Wall Street Journal has some tips to keep you relatively stress free while you’re jet-setting.

Here’s our favorite tip from the article:

4. Don’t ignore SIM cards.

You can get the savings of a SIM card and keep your own number. Once you get a prepaid SIM card before your trip, find out the new phone number. Then program your original phone to forward all calls to the new number, allowing you to get all of your normal calls. One downside is that the method eats into both your domestic calling plan and minutes on your SIM card. SIM cards will work with nearly any GSM phone.

This is also a time when something like a Google Voice number comes in extra handy.

The WSJ also points out that traveling between countries can have a huge effect on your rates– and you may not even have noticed you crossed a border. The example they give: Finland is $1.39 a minute on AT&T, while Russia is a whopping $4.99.

Dodging Big Smartphone Rates Abroad [WSJ]

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