Travel Technology - cell phone rental in Hong Kong

any suggestions for cell phone rental in Hong Kong?

Some places to try:

http://www.cellhire.com/

http://www.hirefone.com/

http://www.worldcell.com/

Do you have a current cell phone? How long will you be there. SIM cards that will fit into many cell phones can be readily found there.

If your mobile is UNLOCKED, you can get a prepaid sim issued by 3 for about HKD 100.00.

Everything you need to know re prepaid account alternatives for HK.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/index.html


Get a cheap unlocked tri or quad band phone, purchase local HK prepaid account - stick with the major vendors, coverage much better. In the long run, much cheaper than renting phone.

i do have a cell phone from verizon -- does it have a SIM card? its the LG VX 8100...

i do have a cell phone from verizon -- does it have a SIM card? its the LG VX 8100...

A verizon phone will not. You can pick up a cheap unlocked GSM on ebay just by searching for "unlocked gsm" and see what comes up.

May be cheaper than renting..

To expand just a bit: you want an unlocked dual or tri-band GSM phone. I bought a perfectly decent Ericsson T-39 on e-bay a few months ago for about $55 (including shipping). I also bought a T-mobile sim chip with 150 US minutes for $15 including shipping, really just to make sure the phone worked.

Note on frequency bands
Dual band will work in HK. Tri-band is to get the US frequency band, which does not seem to be supported elsewhere (or nearly nowhere else).

Note on Verizon
Verizon's CDMA phone might work in HK, because HK now has CDMA availability. You might want to call Verizon and discuss if they have a roaming agreement for your US phone over there (HK does have such agreements, Hutchison I believe, for HK phone here). You will retain your US number, but calls will be very expensive.

To expand just a bit: you want an unlocked dual or tri-band GSM phone. I bought a perfectly decent Ericsson T-39 on e-bay a few months ago for about $55 (including shipping). I also bought a T-mobile sim chip with 150 US minutes for $15 including shipping, really just to make sure the phone worked.

Note on frequency bands
Dual band will work in HK. Tri-band is to get the US frequency band, which does not seem to be supported elsewhere (or nearly nowhere else).

Note on Verizon
Verizon's CDMA phone might work in HK, because HK now has CDMA availability. You might want to call Verizon and discuss if they have a roaming agreement for your US phone over there (HK does have such agreements, Hutchison I believe, for HK phone here). You will retain your US number, but calls will be very expensive.

One minor correction: USA actually now uses two separate bands, Cingular added 850...so there are now quad-bands on the market to address this. But what you are looking for is at least dual band....those are the ones that work worldwide (except in US).

Just to add a bit more, the GSM bands used in Hong Kong are 900 MHz and 1800 MHz (as opposed to 1900 MHz and 800 MHz [aka 850] in North America).

Additional information about specific bands used by each provider can be found at the GSM Association website here: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_hk.shtml

FWIW, I used CSL prepaid with an unlocked phone in Hong Kong and was impressed. 3 is also a good choice. If you plan on making international calls, note that both those carriers, and possibly some others, have a second dialing prefix that can be considerably cheaper. Info on that would be included with the initial SIM card.

Verizon's CDMA phone will work in HK. Just make sure you call Verizon to activate international roaming.

i think verizon also now sells a hybrid cdma/gsm phone from samsung.... maybe i ought just switch providers to T-mobile......