I am going on business (13 days ) to the Guangzhou area via Hong Kong then to Shanghai from which I will return to US.
I feel I will need a gps phone since my family will not be with me plus business decisions.
What experiences should I anticipate and where would I rent since I will be leaving from Shanghai.

jim

Do you mean GSM phone? What cellular carrier do you use in the US and what is the make/model of your current phone?

I beleive GPS phone and the service is only available in the US and Japan.

I mean "satelite" phone. Global positioning satelite phone. Works off satelites. Used a friends GPS phone in Canada in the middle of 10,000 acres 55 miles from Ottawa. I needed to call home in Florida.
Hope someone out there has some experience with this in Asia.

jim

Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai probably has better regular cellphone coverage than most N. American cities. No idea absolutely why one would want to use a satellite phone. Have you see how big one is?

Are you planning to travel to extremely remote areas where you would need satellite service? If you're just going to be in Guangzhou/Hong Kong/Shanghai then regular cellular service will work just fine. I've found cellular coverage in China to be excellent, at least as far as GSM networks go. I haven't tried using a CDMA phone there and from what I understand, this latter technology (more recently introduced in China) still lags behind GSM, so I would just make sure you have a GSM 900/1800 phone.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how comprehensive the network coverage is in China, far superior to what we have in the US.

I do realize how big the phones are. However, now I understand that I can use the local cell service ( with chip for English display )with a 800 number incoming from the U.S. for my family/business to call in if needed.
Thanks for your help.

Jim