Some providers in a few countries — “first world” or otherwise — have definitely started offering good international roaming rates, which is great. The EU ‘roam like at home’ legislation has also made a big difference for short-haul European travelers. Even so, “the majority of casual, less than a month” travelers still don’t have affordable roaming available to them. It’s very dependent on where country you’re from, which cell provider you use at home, and where you’re going.

Even if you’re from the US, if you’re not using T-Mobile you won’t get anything like the rates you mention outside North America. If you travel regularly, you could always switch providers — but if you live or work somewhere with poor or no T-Mobile coverage, that’ll be a non-starter.

Buying local SIM cards can be a lot of hassle in some places. It can also be straightforward, take five minutes, and cost a few dollars in others. That’s why we cover each country separately. If you have a roaming solution that makes sense for you, definitely take advantage of it. Sadly not everyone has that option quite yet.

01-) You could have done this little travel hack below:
– Take your USB cable and connect one end to your phone and the other end into any USB port you can find in the room. LCD TV’s, Laptops, Desktop PC computers, they can all be used to charge your phone.
– Ask the front desk if they have an adaptor for your USB cable. Guests tend to forget them every week and most places have a drawer full of them.

02-) If you have a real cellphone provider from a first world country, they are currently offering outstanding low rates for international 4g access and calls.
I prefer T-Mobile. I call them, ask to add international data and calls for $15.00/mo. My per minute calls cost me USD 0.05 mobile to mobile and mobile to landline is FREE, including up to 10GB of data per month which should last you about a month. Once you have returned to your home country, you can ask them to remove the additional international call/data feature.

I get it that your blog is segmented to describe the hassle, pain and suffering on how to get a SIM Card in every single country but this specific problem is no longet what it used to be, not at least for the majority of casual, less than a month out of the country travelers.

That’s probably why people were insisting that you should provide a CPF. They were trying to save you some money (of course, if you had a CPF). You got the idea.

Moreover, I’m really sorry for all of this nightmare around bureaucracy and inefficiency.