Published by Gbaf News
Posted on September 28, 2016
4 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
A recent survey commissioned by WorldSIM has revealed that 31% of travellers still don’t use their phone when they travel abroad. 40% use their existing provider and 15% of people use an international SIM card to stay connected.
The survey found that more than half (56%) of people who used their regular SIM card when they travel said that they paid a lot more, too much or excessive amounts while roaming with the extra cost being between £80 / $120 – £150/$225 per trip.
Using the internet and sending text messages accounted for more than half of the preferred ways to stay in contact while travelling internationally, with only 3% of travellers making local calls.
It’s clear from the survey that alternative ways of staying connected are becoming increasingly popular with just over 54% of people surveyed had heard of or used a travel sim card.83% of people had heard of a WiFi router and 66% of people being aware of portable Wi-Fi.
The most popular gadget beside a phone to take abroad comes at no surprise; a camera 68% or tablet 62.9% but what did come as a surprise was the amount of people travelling with smartwatches at 7.8%.
Arif Reza, WorldSIM CEO shared “Although the days of travellers receiving bills in excess of £15,000 are nearly behind us, travellers roaming with their existing providers SIM card are still being overcharged. By purchasing an international sim card, a traveller can simply add on a bundle for £30 or less that would give them 1GB of data.Buying an international data bundle is the best way of keeping costs under control. Customers wishing to keep their existing SIM provider whilst travelling can still reduce their roaming charges by getting a Global WiFi Pass. It’s a simple APP you can download on any phone that will automatically connect you at no cost to millions of hotspots globally. There is really no need to over pay for roaming anymore.”
5174 travellers from around the world responded to the survey.
A recent survey commissioned by WorldSIM has revealed that 31% of travellers still don’t use their phone when they travel abroad. 40% use their existing provider and 15% of people use an international SIM card to stay connected.
The survey found that more than half (56%) of people who used their regular SIM card when they travel said that they paid a lot more, too much or excessive amounts while roaming with the extra cost being between £80 / $120 – £150/$225 per trip.
Using the internet and sending text messages accounted for more than half of the preferred ways to stay in contact while travelling internationally, with only 3% of travellers making local calls.
It’s clear from the survey that alternative ways of staying connected are becoming increasingly popular with just over 54% of people surveyed had heard of or used a travel sim card.83% of people had heard of a WiFi router and 66% of people being aware of portable Wi-Fi.
The most popular gadget beside a phone to take abroad comes at no surprise; a camera 68% or tablet 62.9% but what did come as a surprise was the amount of people travelling with smartwatches at 7.8%.
Arif Reza, WorldSIM CEO shared “Although the days of travellers receiving bills in excess of £15,000 are nearly behind us, travellers roaming with their existing providers SIM card are still being overcharged. By purchasing an international sim card, a traveller can simply add on a bundle for £30 or less that would give them 1GB of data.Buying an international data bundle is the best way of keeping costs under control. Customers wishing to keep their existing SIM provider whilst travelling can still reduce their roaming charges by getting a Global WiFi Pass. It’s a simple APP you can download on any phone that will automatically connect you at no cost to millions of hotspots globally. There is really no need to over pay for roaming anymore.”
5174 travellers from around the world responded to the survey.
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