[drake3]

Hi All,

Going on vacation to New Zealand and Australia. I have a Verizon Tour through work, but not going to let VZW screw us by the $2/min and $20/mb fees for international roaming. I don't have an international plan since I don't travel outside the US much.

We are not going to be talking a lot and I don't need any data. My last two blackberries, an 8830 and 8700G are just sitting around unlocked and I planned to get either GoSim or Telestial SIMs for them so my wife and I can both have a phone during the trip. Again, just for voice and SMS use.

These international SIMs use foreign numbers, Estonia for GoSim and Isle of Man for Telestial, for their phone numbers. To make it easier I thought about forwarding my US Google Voice number to the phone numbers to make it easier for our family and friends to call if they needed us. It seems to be cheaper to do this than to pay the extra charge the companies tack on if you use their US access numbers.

Is this a good way do this and does anyone have feedback on either of these companies or recommend another one I should look at?

I am not keen on purchasing a local sim since I would like to set it up before we leave and be done with the phone stuff before vacation starts. Also bypassing any hassle of purchasing a local prepaid SIM.

Thanks in advance!

[x14]

This method has worked well for me in the past using Skype.

Would be interested to hear if you can add a non-US phone number for forwarding in Google Voice.

[Trimix]

Well according to their website, GV can't forward to an international number. However if you find out that it works, let us know! Curious about that myself.

Choosing an international number : Choosing your Number - Google Voice Help

[drake3]

I did read on and found that detail on the Google Voice website after I posted, bummer. You would think they would allow you to forward your number onto a non-domestic number with the ability to initiate an international call from the GV interface?

Well, I will try it anyway after I get my Telestial SIMs next week. The Telestial SIMs come with a US number, but there is a .19$ charge per minute to use it. I suppose they do have to pay to forward the call over to the Isle of Man mobile exchange.

Oh, and if anyone is in the same boat and looking at Go-Sim - they say that Best Buy is their partner and their SIMs are available at Best Buy retail stores. They actually mean their SIMs are available in European Best Buy stores. I called Best Buy US customer service and they had no idea what I was talking about, but were very helpful in trying to figure it out.

GoSim was a pretty good deal except shipping from London is too much.