Best cell phone rental option?
Nov 10, 2007, 6:17 pm
#1
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Best cell phone rental option?
Off to Australia for a week, and I have Sprint domestically, so need to rent a cell phone. Anyone have experience with any of the vendors?
Nov 10, 2007, 7:31 pm
#2
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Sprint themselves will supply you with a SIM and handset if you need but Australia is one of the few places in the world that you can roam with your Sprint PCS phone. Call Customer Service and tell them you want Int'l Roaming. Make sure they understand that you aren't talking about making int'l calls but want to use your SPCS phone in Australia, Hong Kong, et cetera. Rates are $1.29/minute.
Honestly though I think the best thing is to simply pick up a prepaid phone pack when you get there if you plan to use the phone a lot. The money you'd spend on a rental phone will pay for the package itself and airtime will be MUCH cheaper.
Honestly though I think the best thing is to simply pick up a prepaid phone pack when you get there if you plan to use the phone a lot. The money you'd spend on a rental phone will pay for the package itself and airtime will be MUCH cheaper.
Nov 10, 2007, 7:57 pm
#3
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Free 1-Month Rental from PlanetFone for Citi Credit Card Holders
http://www.planetfone.com/rates.htm
To the OP, if you are a Citi customer, you may want to check it out and compare the overall out-of-pocket cost with kanebear's pre-paid suggestion then decide which one is a better fit for your 1-week usage.
Nov 10, 2007, 8:08 pm
#4
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I've been seeing this promo popping up whenever I sign in my Citi accounts. The offer is free international cell phone rental (30 Days free rental. Airtime charges, shipping, or optional insurance do not apply). I've never used the service, so I can't comment on the coverage and the network quality. Maybe others who had used them can chime in.
http://www.planetfone.com/rates.htm
To the OP, if you are a Citi customer, you may want to check it out and compare the overall out-of-pocket cost with kanebear's pre-paid suggestion then decide which one is a better fit for your 1-week usage.
http://www.planetfone.com/rates.htm
To the OP, if you are a Citi customer, you may want to check it out and compare the overall out-of-pocket cost with kanebear's pre-paid suggestion then decide which one is a better fit for your 1-week usage.
@the OP: If you're going elsewhere besides Oz, call Sprint and rent a handset from them. They will also supply a SIM which is your SPCS phone number. Thus when out of the country you will receive calls when using the Sprint SIM. Not sure about Texts.
Nov 10, 2007, 9:07 pm
#5
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Sprint themselves will supply you with a SIM and handset if you need but Australia is one of the few places in the world that you can roam with your Sprint PCS phone. Call Customer Service and tell them you want Int'l Roaming. Make sure they understand that you aren't talking about making int'l calls but want to use your SPCS phone in Australia, Hong Kong, et cetera. Rates are $1.29/minute.
Honestly though I think the best thing is to simply pick up a prepaid phone pack when you get there if you plan to use the phone a lot. The money you'd spend on a rental phone will pay for the package itself and airtime will be MUCH cheaper.
Honestly though I think the best thing is to simply pick up a prepaid phone pack when you get there if you plan to use the phone a lot. The money you'd spend on a rental phone will pay for the package itself and airtime will be MUCH cheaper.
Nov 10, 2007, 11:57 pm
#6
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Look up Australian prepaid cell phone plans and make note of both their domestic and international-to-US rates. Estimate the cost based on how much you will call and compare to other cell phone options for the same call pattern.
Nov 12, 2007, 8:13 pm
#8
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Sprint themselves will supply you with a SIM and handset if you need but Australia is one of the few places in the world that you can roam with your Sprint PCS phone. Call Customer Service and tell them you want Int'l Roaming. Make sure they understand that you aren't talking about making int'l calls but want to use your SPCS phone in Australia, Hong Kong, et cetera. Rates are $1.29/minute.
Honestly though I think the best thing is to simply pick up a prepaid phone pack when you get there if you plan to use the phone a lot. The money you'd spend on a rental phone will pay for the package itself and airtime will be MUCH cheaper.
Honestly though I think the best thing is to simply pick up a prepaid phone pack when you get there if you plan to use the phone a lot. The money you'd spend on a rental phone will pay for the package itself and airtime will be MUCH cheaper.
Sprint customer service was frighteningly excellent (they don't have that reputation usually). A quick over-the-phone software download and I'm set up. My crazy boss can now get hold of me (shudder) in Oz simply by dialing my number. (I can expense the $1.29/minute.) Suh-weet!
If I want to call the US I'll just dial 00111 plus area code plus phone number.
Nov 12, 2007, 8:46 pm
#9
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A word of warning, besides being charged an arm and a leg on roaming fees, you also can't text or use the intrawebs when roaming in Australia on Sprint. And making domestic (within Australia) calls is annoying, since you have to punch in like 19 numbers. I almost threw my phone into the Sydney harbor cuz it got so frustrating.
Nov 12, 2007, 9:48 pm
#10
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A word of warning, besides being charged an arm and a leg on roaming fees, you also can't text or use the intrawebs when roaming in Australia on Sprint. And making domestic (within Australia) calls is annoying, since you have to punch in like 19 numbers. I almost threw my phone into the Sydney harbor cuz it got so frustrating.
Nov 13, 2007, 4:40 am
#11
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Nov 19, 2007, 2:42 pm
#13
Join Date: Oct 2005
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The main telco's in Australia are vodafone, Telstra and optus and they appear to have good coverage although Telstra seems to have better coverage in country areas. Check out the following:
http://www.vodafone.com.au/Personal/...Caps/index.htm
http://www.telstra.com.au/telstraprepaidplus/index.htm
http://personal.optus.com.au/web/oca...&site=personal
http://www.vodafone.com.au/Personal/...Caps/index.htm
http://www.telstra.com.au/telstraprepaidplus/index.htm
http://personal.optus.com.au/web/oca...&site=personal