Following up on my previous posts on how to avoid outrageous data roaming charges when traveling abroad, I wanted to mention mrsimcard.com which provides convenient solutions when it comes to using a smartphone abroad. I've already used their services twice and recommended them to friends. For a small commission, mrsimcard will send you a local sim card for the country that you are planning on traveling to. They will activate the sim card for you on the day of your choice and even follow up with an sms to make sure everything went smoothly once you've reached your destination.
Nothing beats their service. The commission they charge is totally worth it as it can save you precious time when traveling abroad (think: waiting in line in a local carrier store, trying to figure what voice/data plan will work with your smartphone while you could already be all set after deboarding the plane thanks to mrsimcard). So, whenever I travel to a country that mrsimcard has a roaming solution for, it's a no brainer for me: I just use their service.
For those of you planning to travel to the USA, they have this great iPhone plan using Simple in the USA with unlimited everything at an affordable price. Note that Simple uses the T-Mobile network which means you won't get 3G speeds when using an iPhone as T-Mobile uses a 3G band that isn't compatible with the iPhone. EDGE will work flawlessly though.
