This wasn't an issue at all when I was a full-fledged backpacker and honestly, things were a lot simpler and dare I say, easier then before everyone was updating a profile or concerned about getting that perfect Insta-pic at every single leg of their journey. I actually liked it when the modus operandi was popping into an internet cafe once every 3 or 4 days in order to send email updates to people. Life was simple then.
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Regardless of how I feel that backpacking was a lot more authentic when you had to run around figuring things out rather than having a map app and a booking app and real time assistance take most of the adventure out of it, there is no denying that technology has certainly become a very important, if not essential aspect of all of our lives. The idea of simply not have mobile service, for many people, is unthinkable.
For many friends (of mine) in the United States that have gone abroad they were completely unaware of the simcard system and for some mobile service providers they didn't even have the ability to swap sim-cards until several years ago. The phones were all hardwired with a number that was built into the firmware and to be honest with you, this system was actually great for people that weren't going to leave the country since there was no incentive to steal anyone else's phone since it would basically become useless once they deactivated it. Of course wifi and smartphones changed all that and coincidentally that is right around the time that the USA market transitioned to simcards.
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Many people, when traveling from one country to the next will pay their home service provider a certain fee in order to not have to deal with swapping simcards and potential lack of compatibility. This seemed to be an issue with Apple products more often than Android and I have no idea if it is still true today. There are many reasons why opting to do this, although it will be easier, is a bad idea.
* It is almost a certainty that whatever your phone provider is charging for international roaming is going to be more expensive. This is easy to understand because Verizon doesn't own any of the towers in Spain, Senegal, or Singapore and therefore has an agreement with them for rates. Do you really think that these companies are going to offer and intermediary a better price than if you simply bought their product directly?
* The connection speeds, if the plan you are offered is really cheap, stands a very good chance of being the lowest quality that these towers have available. In one instance i purchased what I thought was going to be a good plan for unlimited data for several countries with my US plan only to discover in the fine print that it was 2G only. You ever tried to use an app on 2G? It barely functions to the point where many websites will time out these days as they are expecting far faster responses than such a system is capable of. It is probably phased out by now but I would imagine that the concept of supplying "visitors" with the crappiest connection and home-team customers with the best is a notion that still remains.
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So while I do encourage people to stay off the phone as much as possible when they are backpacking or traveling, I also understand that smartphones are simply part of life now and I'm not gonna get all "bAcK iN mY dAy!" on anyone whose face is in their phone constantly. I'm happy I'm not like that but I get it, that is life now.
The underlying point here is that in most countries, Simcards being sold at the airport is a big business provided by every single mobile service provider in that country, right there at arrivals. The competition keeps prices low and if you do just a tiny bit of research about the place you arriving at I am certain that that particular country has been addressed in multiple forums with very specific information. The only country I have ever been to where the airport simcards were egregiously overpriced is sadly, my own country of USA. Everywhere else I have been, and especially in the countries that would be considered "budget-friendly," have been extremely cheap.
So do yourself a favor and just get the simcards when traveling but be warned... if you are using Apple products it is smart to check beforehand whether or not your phone is going to work with a swapped sim. Otherwise you might find yourself needing to purchase another phone while abroad and that is no fun. By the way I have never heard of this problem happening to anyone using Android.
Happy travels!