Cell Phones
Taking your (unlocked) cell phone and buying a SIM card abroad with a local number or purchasing a local cell phone abroad is the most convenient way to communicate with friends in your host country. Deals vary, but the staff abroad will assist you to get what suits your needs during orientation.
Most students do not buy an international plan for a semester or year abroad, as it’s pricey for more than short trips. Likewise, many programs abroad require students to have a local phone number (see below). Some students decide to take two phones with them. They keep their U.S. number and only use it on WiFi at home or the program center (usually with WhatsApp) and get a local SIM card in the second phone to carry around with them.
Please be sure that you have downloaded the Authenticator App to your phone prior to departure from the U.S. This will ensure that when you are sent a verification code to log in to your Middlebury accounts, you’ll be able to access it in the App, as opposed to not getting the code that was sent to the number attached to your U.S. SIM card (phone number), which you will no longer be able to access once you swap that SIM card for a local one in your host country.
For safety reasons, students are required to have a local cell phone number and are expected to provide the staff abroad with their local phone number at the beginning of the program. For these same reasons, students are then expected to keep their phone charged, on, and with them at all times for the duration of the program.
West Lake, Hangzhou, China
