Anyone every used their phones overseas?

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 23:14:28 UTC, "John Doe" <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Looking for someone who's traveled overseas with their phone and had any
> luck using it internationally.
>

I've used my Cingular phone overseas, but never tried internationally


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› See More: Anyone every used their phones overseas?

John Doe wrote:
> Looking for someone who's traveled overseas with their phone and had any
> luck using it internationally.

I travel internationally (Europe) for a living. I have a Motorola V220
(tri-band).
I have a sim card for the UK, France, and Italy. Each gives me my own
phone number for that particular country. Beware that most, if not
all, Cingular phones are sold "locked" meaning you can't put someone
else's sim card into the phone.
Cingular was absolutely no help in getting my phone unlocked. I
finally found a Mom and Pop outfit in west Houston that unlocked it for
me for ten bucks. Once I had the proper sim card in my service was
perfect in Europe.

In alt.cellular.cingular Kenster <[email protected]> wrote:

> Cingular was absolutely no help in getting my phone unlocked.

Why?
They have sent unlock codes to me, and a couple of friends, at no cost,
upon request. They want to add international roaming to your account, but
other than that it's free, and only takes a couple of days.

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Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5

On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 22:22:50 +0000 (UTC),
[email protected] wrote:

>In alt.cellular.cingular Kenster <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Cingular was absolutely no help in getting my phone unlocked.
>
>Why?
>They have sent unlock codes to me, and a couple of friends, at no cost,
>upon request. They want to add international roaming to your account, but
>other than that it's free, and only takes a couple of days.

Depends upon what part of Cingular you are dealing with. The policy of
one part, formerly AT&T Wireless, was they wouldn't unlock your phone
period, end stop,. Whereas I got the old Pac Bell Mobile Services to
unlock one. I simply told them, I had bought it used as unlocked. If
they wanted to unlock it fine, I'd roam with them in California/Nevada
(and Roaming with a SIM from a foreign service provider is an
EXTREMELY profitable business) with my Optus SIM. If not, well, I
wouldn't be roaming, since in those days, dual 900/1900, and tri band
900/1800/1900 phones didn't exist yet.

It took them about an hour to decide to unlock the phone.

John Doe wrote:
> Looking for someone who's traveled overseas with their phone and had any
> luck using it internationally.

Being from the other side of the equation, I'd like to point out that
used unlocked dual or triband phones go for $50-$75 here and used 900mHz
locked phones go for free to $25.

The used phones if Nokia, can be unlocked for free using a program
available for downloading at unlock.nokiafree.org.

If you are going to visit family or friends, you could ask them if they
have one sitting in a drawer. If they do or they buy one for you, then
buy a new battery before you leave the U.S. where they are cheaper.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel [email protected] N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
Visit my 'blog at http://geoffstechno.livejournal.com/

On Sun, 25 Jun 2006 19:58:46 -0500, "Donald Newcomb"
<[email protected]> wrote in <449f30bf$1@kcnews01>:

>"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:z5Gng.3215$uo.1814@trnddc07...
>> Only $2.49 a minute?????????????????
>>
>> They call that a low rate??????????
>
>Actually, for service to/from a ship at sea that's not bad. The cheap rate
>to make an INMARSAT B call is around $3/min. Mini M is down to about
>$1.50/min. Iridium is around $1.50/min. These are the rates after you buy
>the phone and pay the monthly service fee. So, roaming at $2.50/min is not
>bad. (Not that I'd wan't to make a lot of long calls at that rate)

Iridium is no more than $1.00/min if you shop carefully.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:14:28 -0400, "John Doe" <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>Looking for someone who's traveled overseas with their phone and had any
>luck using it internationally.

See the international calling portion of the FAQ below.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

In alt.cellular.gsm Simon Templar <[email protected]> may have written:
> W-CDMA (aka 3G or UMTS)

W-CDMA != 3G/UMTS. It's just the underlying air interface used by UMTS.

> is starting to be used in many places around the world. I am using
> one here in Australia, all the carriers here have 3G networks
> expanding although mainly in major cities at this time. They
> automatically switch back to GSM when out of 3G coverage.

The W-CDMA network NTT DoCoMo use is not UMTS. It's a pre-cursor called
FOMA.

PD

--
Paul Day
Web: http://www.enigma.id.au/

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 20:22:53 -0700, Mark Crispin <[email protected]>
(allegedly) wrote:

> Last but not least, if you're going to Japan neither a GSM nor a CDMA
> phone is any good.

Same in Korea (South)

On Sun, 25 Jun 2006 06:19:05 +0000, Miles <[email protected]>
(allegedly) wrote:

> Thailand -- usually up north

Whereabouts?

I use GSM in Lampang extensively, find Orange the best there.

On 1 Jul 2006 00:20:46 GMT, "Dog Fart" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 20:22:53 -0700, Mark Crispin <[email protected]>
>(allegedly) wrote:
>
>> Last but not least, if you're going to Japan neither a GSM nor a CDMA
>> phone is any good.
>
>Same in Korea (South)
What planet are you living on?
South Korea isn't called the CDMA kingdom for nothing!

Japan uses PDC, which is a TDMA technology somewhat similar to GSM,
but there is no interoperability with GSM.

I took my quad-band Motorola V188 to England last fall and had no troubles
at all. I made sure that I had T-Mobile unlock it first, so I could use O2
and Vodafone prepaid SIMs in the UK.

- Earl

"John Doe" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Looking for someone who's traveled overseas with their phone and had any
> luck using it internationally.
>
>
>