海角大神

Ah, vacation: a chance to relax and get away from it all 鈥� but maybe not too far away.

Having a cell phone abroad makes it easier to stay connected back home and provides convenient navigation and coordination in a foreign country. But setting up can be an expensive hassle.

For most people in most places, buying a prepaid phone or SIM card for the聽country you鈥檙e visiting is the easiest and most cost-effective way to beat steep international roaming rates. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you find the best solution for your next expedition.

1. Do I really need to bring my own phone with me?

The no-phone option

OK, let鈥檚 talk crazy upfront: People survived without cell phones for the entirety of human history until about 20 years ago. Can you get by for two weeks in Paris without one?

Most likely, it鈥檒l be easy to find free or cheap Wi-Fi for your laptop, enabling you to check on things back home and figure out how to navigate your locale. Plus, you won鈥檛 find yourself standing on the Champs-脡lys茅es refreshing Instagram like a rube.

Traveling phone-free requires some extra planning and inconvenience, but if you鈥檙e on a tight vacation budget, this is obviously the cheapest route.

The Prepaid International Phone Option

Enough crazy talk. Having a phone is undeniably convenient, but bringing your U.S. plan abroad usually isn鈥檛. For most people in most places, the best solution is to just leave it at home and pick up a prepaid phone when you land.

As of May 2016, you can hop over to U.K. mobile carrier O2鈥檚 website and buy a cheap Android smartphone for $22 (拢15). For another $15 (拢10), you can top it up with 500 megabytes of 4G data, 250 minutes and 1,000 texts. That should be more than enough for a two-week trip to the U.K., as long as you can resist streaming video over your phone.

So, for $37, you won鈥檛 have to worry about any roaming overages or international package fees, plus you鈥檒l get 4G data, something that鈥檚 hard to find abroad on a U.S. carrier. The phone might not be the most robust in terms of features or longevity, but that鈥檚 not the point. It鈥檚 cheap, it鈥檚 functional and it鈥檚 fairly easy. The only minor sticking point would be transferring over your contacts.

We鈥檇 recommend this option for most travelers, unless you can unlock your phone as discussed below.

Of course, each聽country will have different phones, prices and network options. But as you鈥檒l see, international roaming from U.S. carriers can get expensive quickly; taking a few minutes to comparison shop the prepaid providers where you鈥檙e visiting is always worthwhile.

2. What if I want my phone, but don鈥檛 want to pay for roaming?

The Unlocked Phone Option

Even easier than buying a prepaid phone when you land, you might be able to just buy a prepaid SIM card and pop it into your own phone. Using our previous example in this case, you鈥檇 only be paying $15 for an O2 SIM card with preloaded minutes, texts and data.

Not everyone鈥檚 phone can do this immediately, though. Depending on how old your phone is and where you bought it, your phone could be anything from already unlocked to impossible to unlock. The best thing to do is call your carrier and ask it聽to unlock your phone. Legally, your carrier has聽to unlock it, as long as you鈥檙e off-contract and it鈥檚 actually聽possible for it聽to do so.聽If you鈥檙e still under contract and your carrier won鈥檛 unlock your phone, just pick up a prepaid phone, as previously mentioned.

The Over-the-Top Messaging Option

Let鈥檚 say you really don鈥檛 want to pay for any kind of international service, but you鈥檙e going to have your phone on you anyway, for pictures and such. In that case, over-the-top messaging provides a free and somewhat handy solution for keeping in contact back home and with your fellow travelers, though it won鈥檛 provide on-the-spot voice, text or data service.

Apps like iMessage, WhatsApp and Viber (among others) are messaging services that allow you to make calls or send texts anywhere in the world, without using聽text or minute allotments.

It鈥檚 not the most convenient option, as you鈥檒l have to hunt down Wi-Fi when you want to get in touch. But this means you can keep your phone with you, not pay international rates and call or text anyone anywhere in the world for free.

Just make sure to turn off your cellular and data roaming so you don鈥檛 accidentally get stuck with charges. To do that on an iPhone, go to 鈥淪ettings > Cellular鈥� and聽click the switch next to 鈥淐ellular Data.鈥� Also go to Cellular Data options and make sure 鈥淩oaming鈥� is turned off. On most聽Android phones, go to 鈥淪ettings > Mobile Networks > Data roaming access鈥� and then click聽on 鈥淒eny data roaming access.鈥�

3.聽What if I absolutely can鈥檛 live without my own phone and U.S. cell phone聽plan?

All four major U.S. carriers have international roaming options, with much better rates than in the past. However, it鈥檚 hard to find a plan with high-speed data that won鈥檛 cost you dearly.

, for example, includes unlimited 2G data and texting in 140 countries with its Simple Choice plans. International roaming calls are 20 cents a minute. However, if you want anything faster than 2G data 鈥� which is only good for things like email and basic web browsing 鈥� you鈥檒l have to pay $50 for 500MB of high-speed (usually 3G) data, good for two weeks. That鈥檚 $100 per gigabyte of data.

In most of North and South America, gives you unlimited talk and text, plus 1GB of 3G data, all for free through its Open World add-on. In other commonly traveled countries, Sprint still gives you unlimited texting, but calls are 20 cents a minute and data is $30 per gigabyte.

basic international package costs $30 and only gets you 120MB of data, which is a rate of $250 per gigabyte. Calls are $1 per minute, and texting is unlimited. You can pay more upfront for a package with better calling rates and more data.

international roaming structure is different, as it charges $10 per day for you to use your phone and then allows you to use your plan鈥檚 minutes, texts and data as usual. This means potential access to 4G data speeds, depending on the country, but if you use your phone every day on a two-week trip, you鈥檙e looking at an extra $140 tacked onto your phone聽bill.

If you鈥檙e really serious about using your own phone abroad often, Google鈥檚 experimental mobile service Project Fi is worth a look. You鈥檙e limited to a choice of three Android phones, but in most countries you get unlimited texting, calls for 20 cents or less per minute, and 3G data at a flat $10 per GB.

If you鈥檙e OK聽with 2G speeds, T-Mobile鈥檚 plan is the way to go. But if you鈥檙e not already with T-Mobile, there鈥檚 no sense switching over for just one trip. Pick up a prepaid phone or SIM instead.

Stephen Layton聽is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:聽slayton@nerdwallet.com. This article first appeared at .