How to avoid cell phone bill of Olympian proportions

If you’re travelling to London while the Olympic Games for business or pleasure, a Buckingham, UK-based firm has a way for you to avoid roaming charges higher than a world-record pole vault.

Podsystem Ltd. is offering a special package for travelers to London while the summer Olympics. Data packages on Three, described as a fast-growing network in London, range from 500 MB to 5 GB in total data transfer. For business travelers visiting multiple locations in Europe beyond London, Podsystem as well offers a Multinet Traveler SIM product that works on every European network and costs just five cents per MB.

SIM card is used in cell phones connected to GSM

A SIM card is used in cell phones connected to GSM, HSPA, or LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) networks, which are commonly used in Europe. Typically, a SIM card is linked to one network and a traveler who wants to avoid roaming charges must swap them out of an unlocked phoned. Nevertheless Podsystem specializes in offering multi-networks SIMs. The catch is, they only offer data service, and not voice.

For those managing a fleet of mobile phones with the traveler SIMS, Podsystem offers a management platform. It allows firms to bill clients, assign SIMs to a specific customer, view real-time data usage on selected SIMs, and set data limits and create alerts.

With faster, 4G data networks available in Europe, Podsystem says that more travelers will rely on data-only SIMs and use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications like Skype to place phone calls.