Internation Roaming - Questions

For anyone who has "Been there... done that!" or has been though similar , I
have some international roaming questions...

Background: A relative with a Sanyo 5300 is in the NAVY and will be doing a
tour of duty in the SE Asia area ,New Zealand, Australia, all the way up to
Japan, for about 3 mos..

I realize that Japan is a problem unto itself!


1) The T's/C's state "PCS business plans may vary; please see a business
representative", Anyone have experience with this.

6) Or would it be better for him to pick up a pre-paid disposable phone
'in-country' in the countries, he is in?

7) Or do we revert to the 'old standby' of ATT calling cards from SAM's
Club?

8) Sprint's site says the GSM sim card is 'free'. Can their card be used in
any GSM phone, if you are paying for SPRINT GSM service?

TIA

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In article <[email protected]>,
"Joe Gill" <joegill@[email protected]> wrote:

> For anyone who has "Been there... done that!" or has been though similar , I
> have some international roaming questions...
>
> Background: A relative with a Sanyo 5300 is in the NAVY and will be doing a
> tour of duty in the SE Asia area ,New Zealand, Australia, all the way up to
> Japan, for about 3 mos..

Surely there is someone there in the Navy to ask.

Rental phones are big elsewhere in the world.

Joe Gill wrote:
> For anyone who has "Been there... done that!" or has been though similar , I
> have some international roaming questions...
>
> Background: A relative with a Sanyo 5300 is in the NAVY and will be doing a
> tour of duty in the SE Asia area ,New Zealand, Australia, all the way up to
> Japan, for about 3 mos..
>
> I realize that Japan is a problem unto itself!
>
>
> 1) The T's/C's state "PCS business plans may vary; please see a business
> representative", Anyone have experience with this.
>
> 6) Or would it be better for him to pick up a pre-paid disposable phone
> 'in-country' in the countries, he is in?
>
> 7) Or do we revert to the 'old standby' of ATT calling cards from SAM's
> Club?
>
> 8) Sprint's site says the GSM sim card is 'free'. Can their card be used in
> any GSM phone, if you are paying for SPRINT GSM service?
>
> TIA
>
>


Looked into this when a friend found himself in a similar situation.
Unless you have a specific need to receive calls on your sprint number,
I would avoid the Sprint GSM international roaming plan - especially for
the amount of time you're talking about. AAFES calling cards are
supposed to be the cheapest way to keep in touch from a landline, with
Sam's Club and Wal-Mart cards coming in close.

For cellular, I'd suggest getting a used phone off ebay. I've found that
the Sony-Ericsson T68i is showing up cheaply due to a west-coast AT&T
exchange program wherein T68i owners are getting free phones that
support a US only frequency that the T68i does not support. Make sure
you buy an unlocked phone. If you don't buy an unlocked phone, it won't
support any sim cards, excepting those of the phone's original carrier.
In any case, stick to a phone that supports GSM 900 and 1800, at a
minimum. When your relative gets into their country, have them get a
prepaid SIM card. These can be had in many tobacco shops, convienience
stores and department stores, though availability varies by region.

For my friend's situation, I also looked into solar panel chargers, but
your situation may vary, depending on your relative's ability to access
120 volt, 60 cycle AC power. Avoid 12-volt chargers, unless you know
your relative will be driving civilian vehicles, as most military
equipment has 24-volt electrical systems.

If you don't think your relative will be off the boat, or that your
relative will have only limited time on land and may not be able to
visit a store in country, (but why get cell if they'll never be off the
boat?) consider Telestial http://www.telestial.com/ . They can sell you
all the things you need.

An external antenna may be a good idea if your relative wishes to use
the phone from the boat, or at other great distance from a tower; keep
in mind that standard GSM towers have a distance limit of about 34km,
regardless of signal strength. If using from a boat, a Yagi would be the
best investment, I suspect.

Sprint has a program for military service members sent overseas. Call
them and have the account suspended during the time the relative is out
of country. If there is ever a tour that extends over a year, have this
relative designate a person to act on his or her behalf on the account
because this account suspension has to be renewed every year.
-mike

Sprint have roaming agreements with Telecom New Zealand, which has the best
land and sea coverage in New Zealand, so New Zealand would not be an Issue.
Aussie, I understand that Sprint have or are testing(?) roaming with Telstra
in Australia. Again which Telstra's CDMA network is the biggest in Aussie.



"Joe Gill" <joegill@[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> For anyone who has "Been there... done that!" or has been though similar ,
I
> have some international roaming questions...
>
> Background: A relative with a Sanyo 5300 is in the NAVY and will be doing
a
> tour of duty in the SE Asia area ,New Zealand, Australia, all the way up
to
> Japan, for about 3 mos..
>
> I realize that Japan is a problem unto itself!
>
>
> 1) The T's/C's state "PCS business plans may vary; please see a business
> representative", Anyone have experience with this.
>
> 6) Or would it be better for him to pick up a pre-paid disposable phone
> 'in-country' in the countries, he is in?
>
> 7) Or do we revert to the 'old standby' of ATT calling cards from SAM's
> Club?
>
> 8) Sprint's site says the GSM sim card is 'free'. Can their card be used
in
> any GSM phone, if you are paying for SPRINT GSM service?
>
> TIA
>
>