World Phone??
 

I see multple threads on cell phones. I have a question that I don't see addressed.
I recently received a mailing from Nowthwest offering a Nextel offer ("Nextel Worldwide"). It includes $100 off a $225 Motorola i2000. It offers one number, world wide, and "works" world wide. The price is mentioned as 45.99/mo. Calls form overseas are about $1.29-2.00/minute.
The lure of a phone that works "everywhere" is attractive. My wife OR I take about 8-10 trips a year to places like Europe (France, Italy, Ireland, UK) and Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan).
I would not be using the phone a lot, but need to check in occasionally for business, so the high per minute charges are not a huge deal.
The question is, is there a better (cheaper) way to have "world" access with one number,one phone etc. for all of the countries mentioned above?
Thanks in advance
Ed
Edite to add: I am currently a Verizon customer with a Motorola StarTAC

[This message has been edited by Vulcan (edited 05-16-2003).]

T-mobile sounds like a much better option, the i2000 is OLD (like August 2000 old) and doesn't do tri-band (or even dual band GSM) networks. It won't work in Japan but then again neither will any GSM phone. Pick something with today's technology.

On T-mobile most countries are $0.99, others are between $1.49 and $2.99 except for some places you don't want to be anyway...

For worldwide use you need a GSM phone. In addition (I guess) to Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile have GSM in the US. In my opinion, AT&T is somewhat misleading about the world capabilities of their phones, and their international roaming rates are higher than T-Mobile's (and include a monthly fee, where T-Mobile does not have a Monthly fee).

Here are T-Mobile's international rates:
Europe*: $0.99/minute
Asia**: $1.49/minute
Malaysia: $1.99/minute

* Includes France, Italy, Ireland, UK, others
** Includes Thailand, Singapore, others

For a complete list go here: http://www.t-mobile.com/international/coverage.asp

First time I've noticed: Japan is not listed as a T-Mobile international roaming country. But for the others T-Mobile will be cheaper (and you'll be able to get a cheaper plan - my plan is $29.99/month for free nationwide roaming, unlimited weekends, 300 anytime minutes) and you might be able to swing a free worldphone as well.

edited to add: Scott's message reminds me that Japan isn't a GSM country - so that's why no GSM roaming there.

I looked at the phones on T-mobile - you can get a dual-band (900-1900 MHz GSM) Samsung R225M for free, but a tri-band phone(900-1800-1900 MHz) will give you slightly better coverage for $99 or $149. I had no problems with a 900-1900 GSM in/around London last month.

[This message has been edited by pdhenry (edited 05-16-2003).]

Thanks for the comments. Any suggestions for phones?

IMO you're better off sticking with Verizon. Their roaming rates are comparable (T-mobile is cheaper in Europe by .50/minute but MUCH more expensive in other parts of the world... Verizon is an absolute bargain in the former USSR) and they can get you 'same number' roaming in both Europe AND Japan. While you would use different handsets in each place, your number would remain the same. In the case of Europe (or indeed any GSM location) you could use any GSM phone and would have a Verizon/Vodafone SIM which would carry your Verizon number. For Japan, you would have a J-phone PDC handset which would be coded to your Verizon number.

[This message has been edited by kanebear (edited 05-16-2003).]

Amazon has the Sonyericsson T68i for free after rebates and activation with T Mobile. I bought this phone from them back in March and am very happy with it.

Edited to add new activation with T Mobile.

[This message has been edited by Cobijonz (edited 05-16-2003).]

Verizon is slated to have a CDMA2000/GSM-GPRS device towards the end of the year. It is the form factor of a standard CDMA2000 flip phone - was shown at 3GSM in Cannes this year.

Having had ATT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile domestically I shall try to rank them based on my experience.

Domestic network (does the phone usually work)
1. Verizon
2. AT&T
3. T-mobile

Domestic network roaming, size of network and availability of service

1. AT&T
2. T-mobile
3. Verizon

Domestic cost

1. T-mobile
2. Verizon
3. AT&T

International roaming service

1. T-mobile
2. AT&T
3. Verizon (really does not have any)

International roaming costs (with some exceptions such as Indonesia)

1. T-mobile
2. AT&T

Verizon does not seem to be a viable international option as one must rent or buy a separate phone - per their own web page. I switched from Verizon to T-mobile solely for the international roaming and the less expensive service with greater benefits.
Examples: Nation-wide long distance at cost of local call, Free domestic roaming, large number of minutes, free weekends including unlimited long distance domestically.

My plan is family. $75 with all taxes and fees for 2 cell phones. Nation-wide long distance, 800 minutes split between the 2 phones. One can use 0 and the other could conceivably use 800. International roaming and SIM unlock. Free weekends, 50 alpha-numeric messages per month. Web available for $2.99/month fee. Knowlegable customer service. The only down-fall is that the local service needs improvement - dropped calls and service area black-outs.

There is another option, it's what I do. I have a dual non GSM AT&T telephone for within the United States. When I travel I have a triband GSM with an AT&T sim in it for use out of the country. Same number, etc. Yes there is a monthly fee ($8 or so) and yess the per call charges are up there (though not sky high), but having one number here and over there, as well as still having a telephone that can go analog over here when I am out of reach of a digital tower) makes it worth it to me.

Let me offer another opinion. Speaking to the non-GSM AT&T option described above, it's true that you have analog fallback capability domestically. But, the international roaming is somewhat of a bailing wire approach. For the $8 a month fee (which is of course $96/year), what they're really doing is giving you a UK Vodafone SIM. That is, you have a dedicated mobile number in the UK. Since they have some level of integration, you don't really need to know or care what this number is. When the international SIM is powered up in a GSM phone and registered anywhere in the world that offers GSM service, Vodafone's UK switch is notified, and it ties in to your home AT&T switch, causing inbound calls to forward to your int'l phone.

cordelli has already covered the advantages. Let me cover the disadvantages:

- Inbound calls to your GSM phone go from your home switch first to the UK and then to whereever your mobile is. So, if you're in Singapore and receive a call from your US number, your account will be charged a call forwarding call (including int'l long distance) from the US to the UK, plus an international roaming call which has to include not only the roaming payment to the Singapore GSM system, but the long distance charge to get the call from the UK to Singapore. This is one reason it costs more per minute as well as per month.

- Since the roaming service is a completely separate but connected service, lots of features don't work the same as they do at home. For example, voice mail takes 20 minutes or so to kick in after you turn off the phone. Also, things like call forwarding and especially SMS (text messaging) don't work, unless they've changed things recently.

I have both the above setup and the T-Mobile solution. With T-Mobile, not only are you using the same handset (if you want to), but it's roughly the same service worldwide, since the PCS 1900 standard that is used in North America is a variant of GSM. In my experience, all of the features work seamlessly, including voice mail, call forwarding, and text messaging. The big drawback is that the coverage within the US is less, especially since there's no analog roaming fallback. But, these days, unless you're in or travel to rural areas a lot, this may not be much an issue.

I'd suggest that there is no point in an AT&T non-GSM approach now. AT&T is changing over to GSM, so it is possible to have a single phone that works worldwide except for Japan. I have a phone (Siemens S46) that supports both multiband GSM and AT&T's old TDMA network, for maximum coverage. In practice, the only place it has had to drop back to TDMA has been Alaska.

The previous discussion on how the non-GSM network works may be correct, but with the newer service, it's transparent. The charges are a little higher than T-Mobile. On a recent European trip, I was paying $1.27/min., while T-Mobile would have been $.99.

How do you like the Siemens S46? i was considering that phone and the GMS option from ATT?

Interesting discussion. It gets complicated http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif.
It would seem that when ATT has changed over to GSM, it would be a strong competitor (does anyone know when this will occur?).
I spoke to Verizon. There are 2 puchase choices. 1)for $249 they will sell you a GSM triband (Motorola T280) with a SIMM installed. It requires a $10/mo 1 year contract. 2)just buy the SIMM for $10 and no $10/month, but $300 deposit. Either of these would work. Is the T280 decent, or is there something else out there that will accept a SIMM.
Thanks
Ed

Regarding AT&T's cutover from their old system (800Mhz analog and/or TDMA) to PCS 1900 (the North American GSM variant that operates in the 1900Mhz band) in the US, I think this is an ongoing project. In the city that my AT&T service is based in (not Houston), they've offered both services for at least a year. They contacted me and tried to get me to switch to PCS 1900, but I opted to keep my old service for variety as my other service is already on a PCS 1900 network (through T-Mobile).

I suspect that Vulcan and Napa are correct in that if you have the PCS 1900 variant of AT&T, the roaming situation in worldwide GSM markets is roughly the same as with T-Mobile from an engineering point of view.

I still suspect that things are not as good if you have Verizon.

Regarding Japan, to my knowledge they currently have no service that's radio-compatible with any other country. Verizon is the only carrier that touts Japan roaming, but they do so with a dedicated Japanese handset that must be rented or purchased separately that they somehow tie in to your home service. I suspect that there are limitations in functionality, such as SMS perhaps not working, and almost certainly call forwarding and voice mail not working properly.

There is one other country that has its own proprietary radio standard: South Korea. To my knowledge, even though they have embracecd CDMA as a base digital standard, only a handset specifically designed for South Korea will work there. One thing that South Korea does have is that their primary carrier has South Korean handsets for rent that accept GSM SIMs. So, if you visit South Korea and have a GSM SIM, whether it be from a worldwide GSM market or a North American PCS 1900 market such as T-Mobile or the GSM AT&T, you can rent a handset that will accept your SIM but whose radio interface is South Korean.

The South Korean network renting CDMA handsets that will accept GSM SIM's is SK Telecom. More info on that here:

http://www.sktelecom.co.kr/english/products_services/roaming_service/inbound_ro aming/index.html

Last I looked I think T-Mobile US was CLOSE to having a roaming agreement

BTW: No Japanese WCDMA network is yet offering a multinetwork phone for inbound roaming customers, so your choices are to rent a PHS phone, WCDMA (DoCoMo FOMA) or a CDMA2000 phone from J-Phone

Also SK Telecom does allow CDMA roaming handsets on to their system. Both China Unicom CDMA and Hutchison CDMA (HK) work fine. Some S. American CDMA networks appear to work as well.

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 05-20-2003).]

[catwood] I like the S46. It's not flashy, but it seems to work well for the basics. I've also used it for data (GPRS) if you are interested in that, and it worked well there too. I was able to send an urgent email from a moving airport shuttle! The main gripe I have with it is that Siemens uses non-standard connectors for earpieces, so you can't use Jabra or other third-party add-ons.

[Vulcan] GSM now seems to be available in all of the major metro areas and in a lot of places you wouldn't expect. I live about 80 miles outside of San Francisco and still get a good GSM signal. And the recent agreements with other carriers should improve the coverage even more. I suspect that AWE has stopped investing in the older network.

I like t-mobile because:

1) International access.
2) Blackberry.
3) International blackberry.
4) blackberry cellphone (6710).
5) blackberry cellphone bill bundled.
6) Wifi service.
7) blackberry cellphone wifi bill bundled.

I am happily wired(less)!

I'd go with T-mobile, and buy the phone from amazon. that's what I did lst year, and it saved me a bundle.

I'm on the $39.95 pllan, which (promo running agin) gives you 1000 anytime, long distance natl. roming and free weekends.

amazon usually offeres $200-$300 in rebates on the phones....

Can anyone point me towards a list of triband GSM phones?

Vulcan;

2 sights I used before deciding on the Samsung SGH-S300-- which I highly, highly recommend to you. Very small, very cool, very good signal, great screen, etc. No bluetooth, if you care. But everything else it has. I wouldn't steer you wrong!

I assume if you buy the phone in the US from T-mobile it will be "locked" the that network-- mine isn't, and that's worth a little extra, IMHO.

Also seriously considered Siemens S55.

http://reviews.infosyncworld.com/
http://mobile.burn.com/index.jsp

I have seen verizon GSM described here. There is not a verizon option in Texas. Where can you get GSM with Verizon in the US? Do they have roaming agreements for the non-GSM areas in the US? Like Texas?

I have a tri-band unlocked Ericsson r340m purchased for $84 from an internet retailer. It works well in Europe with several different SIMs from Europe companies. I have seen them on ebay cheaper.

I would like to find a US GSM carrier that has prepaid with charge life of one year, like my Italy TIM SIM.

Verizon does NOT have GSM in the US.

They use a 3rd party that's a licensed Vodafone partner for using a handset outside the normal Verizon roaming markets.

http://internationaltraveler.verizonwireless.com/

Vodafone; Verizon Wireless's 50% partner IS developing (and has shown) a CDMA + GSM/GPRS phone to support a single device that can roam worldwide on Verizon, Vodafone and other GSM/GPRS networks.

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 05-22-2003).]

Which triband GSM phones are available "unlocked" so that I can purchase a SIM and just insert it?
thanks
Ed

The ones that you don't buy from a U.S.-based GSM carrier or it's dealers. For the most part, if you want an unlocked phone you have to specifically buy an unlocked phone-- from eBay, from a specialty net-retailer, in Europe (non-prepay), etc.

You pay more for an unlocked phone, of course, since there is no "subsidy" and you're not locked into a contract for a year.

I recently bought from a net retailer instead of eBay (which would have been cheaper.) Keep in mind if you buy from Europe you will get a Europe AC charger (no big deal at all) and you will need to change some of the internet settings if you want to use T-mobile in the US.

http://111-mobiles.co.uk/ (many places like this, but some don't ship to the US and some don't deduct the VAT.)

my experience has been that any phone in europe (expect those with pre-paid cards) are unlocked.

Also, US carriers will give you the unlock codes for their phones, as long as you keep a contract with them. (experienced this with T-mobile and Cingular).

While this may be true in continental Europe, it certainly isn't true in the UK.

Just a note on unlocked phones from T Mobile... I bought the SE T68i off of Amazon (free after rebates) as mentioned above. I asked about unlocking the SIM when I activated my service with T Mobile. I was told that they would do this after my first billing cycle. Sure enough, I received a call 5 weeks later with instructions on how to unlock the SIM. I haven't tried another SIM in the phone yet as I won't be traveling to Europe until later this Summer, but I had no problems with the unlock code.

This is website is a great resource for all things mobile phones... http://www.howardforums.com

[edited to add the url]

[This message has been edited by Cobijonz (edited 05-23-2003).]

Actually, currently more than half of the phones sold in Europe are still locked, even phones sold at full price will often be locked and almost every phone in packaging of the operator... The UK is leader in locking, but then they are also leaders in unlocking shops http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...um/biggrin.gif

T-mobile in the USA will unlock the phone for you, you just have to ask. It does take a week or two for the requewt to work its way through their bureaucracy.

The steps to take are simple.

Sign up for international service when you buy the phone from a T-mobile dealer. It is free.

Request a SIM unlock.

This assures one of a service/support level which should be much higher than buying an unlocked phone on E-bay. When my original phone went belly-up two weeks after buying it, it got replaced.

Try that on E-bay. (This from a registered E-Bay user).

Just a quick note about power supplies/chargers.


My Motorola (T-Mobile) provided cell phone came with a dual voltage charger and two plugs (Continental-Germany and British). Quite a slick setup with automatic voltage sensing and foldable U.S. contacts.

It works Europe and Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

By polite agreements Oftel (UK regulator) had with the networks, UK mobiles have to be unlocked upon request of the user. The only caveats are differences in how long the user needs to be on the network, or spend on the network + a fee to unlock.

Oftel is looking to update their policy. See: http://www.oftel.gov.uk/publications...02/sim1102.htm

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 05-23-2003).]

What have I done?

Due to reasons outside of my control, I'm with AT&T (company plan, etc.). I've been happy enough so far. Until I upgraded my phone.

I was going to Europe and wanted my phone to work. My roommate had switched to the GSM service and was pleased (he bought the Nokia). So I march into the store and (admitting much shallowness here) fell in love with the cute little SonyEricsson. Roommate cautions me that it's only GSM (not dual or tri band), but it only vaguely registers.

That weekend I flew to Syracuse, NY. Phone didn't work in the airport (SF0), didn't work *at all* in any place in NY. At home (in the city of SF), I get spotty service. Down the street at my coffee shop - zippo.

Went to France - perfection. Worked *everywhere*, even the most remote areas of Provence. SMSs came through and could be sent, etc.

Now to my dilemma - should I wait it out (installation of more GSM towers) or should I fall back to my old phone? I'd have to change plans to go back to the old and the new plan is significantly less expensive for the same number of minutes. But if I can't use them, what's the point?

Bingo ... let me just say that I feel your pain.

I've had the T68i with AT&T Wireless for 4 months now ... I'm just waiting to hit that 6-month window so I can switch phones at the promotional price. Because the GSM reception on the T68 is abysmal. I've heard rumors that it's more to do with the phone than the GSM service per se ... but I'm not sure. I'm certainly going to make sure my next phone is tri-band and has an external antenna.

I do know that their plans for GSM rollout are quite a bit behind schedule, which is contributing to the problem. I can't tell you how close I am to giving up on them entirely and casting my lot in with Verizon.

Good news for you, though ... AT&T does give you a 30-day grace period from the time when you sign your GSM contract to switch back to your old plan (whatever it was) without penalty or obligation. Seems they've had a lot of that this last year or so ...

Mook

The T68i has one of the best RF receptions I've seen on a phone, Ericsson was one of the last to switch from external antennaes to internal and they certainly did their homework, looks like At&T is at fault here, perhaps the upcoming roaming agreements with T-mobile might help?

Get a Siemens S46 and convert to a dual mode GSM/TDMA account. AT&T's network is decent and in places like Chicago it's already set up to run at 1900Mhz so it works fine but in SFO it's optimized for 850Mhz and until they turn on the lower band, there's really quite a few holes at 1900Mhz. With the Siemens S46, when you find you've got bad coverage you can switch back to TDMA and keep most of your features and most importantly GET AND MAKE calls.

Scott, the T68 and T68i's are horrible compared to similar Nokia's in a weak signal area... I would have to concur with others who report issues with the t68

When and if people go to 3G cell phones, a European 3G phone could work in Japan with either NTT FOMA service or Vodaphone 3G, and vice versa.

Until then, the Japanese PDC system (2G) is totally incompatible with any other standard. This is the standard used by NTT DoCoMo and Vodaphone (Jphone).

The third Japanese operator, KDDI, is going to use the CDMA2000 standard for 3G, and it's theoretically possible that this could work with U.S. CDMA phones someday.

It's virtually impossible to find prepaid cellphone service in Japan. Hotels gouge for short term rentals -- would you believe my hotel charges Y5000 (USD45) a day plus Y120 (USD1) a minute? If you're a frequent visitor, maybe your company can arrange a phone, but you can't get one individually, since you need to have proof of residency to sign up for a regular cellphone account.

I have the AT&T Siemens S46 "Global Phone" and love it. When my co-workers start bragging about their Tri-Band phone, I refer to my "Quad-Band" since it also does TDMA. Shuts em up. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

It's not as tiny as many phones today, but I dont see that as a bad thing. (remember Will Farrels character on SNL with the ultra-tiny phone?)

The one big annoyance is the lack of a headphone jack as stated earlier. You have to use their proprietary ear-bud.

I must have been lucky then http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

Never had any decent experiences with Nokia's. After the 6110 it went downhill...

$45 a day http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/eek.gif

Amex arranged rental for for me through a company called mobell in the UK (they claim to have an office in Japan too) for £5 (approx 8USD) per day. The only problem I had was "Cellular Bashfulness" in public because all the Japanese had far more advanced phones than mine!

http://www.mobell.com

I did take my 3G phone out with me but it wouldn't log onto any of the WCDMA networks (J Phone and FOMA) because there are no roaming agreements in place yet.