As people that put on frequent air mileage know, making and taking international calls on your cell phone can be a chore at the best of times and impossible at the worst of times. The people at National Geographic certainly have first-hand experience with this frustration, with their video teams traveling to the furthest regions of the globe, so who better to try and solve this dilemma than them?

National Geograhic and Playa del Rey-based Cellular Abroad have come up with a solution with the National Georgraphic Talk Abroad Travel Phone, a quad band GSM cell phone that is designed specifically for people traveling globally who need dependable and affordable talk access. In addition to providing coverage in over 100 countries, you don’t need to sign a contract to own one of these units and you can pay as you go at a rate of 90 cents per minute (incoming calls are free throughout 65 of the countries.) Best of all, your phone number remains the same no matter if you’re visiting frigid Antarctica, humid Zaire or your plane is touching down back home. You also get SMS text messaging and 24/7 customer service support from Cellular Abroad which is handy to have when you’re running on the local time.

You can buy the National Geographic Travel Phone for $199 (and get 30 free minutes of outgoing air time) or rent it at $49 per week when it goes on sale next month. We sure hope that one of the ringtones offered is the classic National Geographic theme song.

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