From the outside, the black Razr V3 shows no signs of its National Geographic status, but inside it offers a selection of themed content. You can choose wallpapers featuring animals or a world travel destination, though they don't look fantastic on the Razr V3's low-resolution display. You'll also find a series of animal and travel-themed ringtones such as a lion's roar or Calypso music. They're a nice touch, but we were hoping for more fluff--maybe a game or a National Geographic photo library. And while we're at it, a phone with a rugged design, a GPS application, and a full-fledged music player would be more than appropriate for frequent travelers.
Fortunately, the reasonable calling rates are the service's saving grace, particularly if you're ringing internationally. Domestic calls are a flat rate of 15 cents per minute at all times. As with any other prepaid service, you buy a block of time before you start using the phone. Then, once your balance is up, you must buy additional minutes before you can start using the phone again. Of course, you'll have to pay for the phone as well, but it's just $199. No contracts are required and the phone comes unlocked. And as we said earlier, you can buy just a $69 SIM card and get the same services.
Overall, the calling rates compare favorably with prepaid leader Virgin Mobile, which can charge anywhere from 5 cents to 20 cents per minute. It is a bit more expensive than Boost Mobile, T-Mobile, and AT&T, which charge 10 cents per minute for prepaid use, but unlike AT&T and T-Mobile, Cellular Abroad does not charge you $1 for each day that you use the phone.
International calls cost an extra 2 cents per minute to a variety of countries including Mexico, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Other countries cost more, but the cheapest rate should cover the nation you'll call the most. Overall, 17 cents per minute for international calling is pretty reasonable.
Text messages are 10 cents per sent and received message for both domestic and international. As of this writing, Cellular Abroad does not offer multimedia messaging or Web browsing on the National Geographic Razr V3, but these services should be available later this year. Hopefully, customers will have the option to buy messages in bulk.
Cellular Abroad does not operate its own network, but instead leases space from AT&T. When testing the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) Razr V3 world phone in San Francisco, we experienced decent call quality. The audio was clear, the signal was relatively strong, and we heard no voice distortion. On their end, callers said they could hear us without any problems, though they could tell we were using a phone. Our only real issue was that like the first Razr V3 we tested, the volume was rather low. However, on the upside, since the phone is unlocked you can use it with other carriers in the United States and abroad.
What You'll Pay
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