kathleen

Need some assistance, please. I’ve read many lengthy and informative discussions here on this GSM quadband phone topic,and spent many months of trying to figure out phones and internet/ email systems (so confusing), and what to buy based on what we’ll need. At this point we’ve decided to buy either a Blackberry or Treo for the 3 months we’ll be travelling in Australia, then 1 additional month in New Zealand. We’ve read that waiting until you arrive in a country is better since you get a local number for the phone, and we’ll probably be using both the email and the phone quite a bit. I posted this on the Australia forum without any luck, so am asking on this Europe forum. You all seem to discuss it more frequently and in great detail.

Here are my questions.
1. If you can possibly venture a guess, would you suggest buying one (unlocked and with SIM card) at the Sydney airport or in the Sydney CBD? In general, airports vs big city centers?
2. Does one location usually have better selection and pricing over the other?
3. Does anyone have a favorite between these two units, the Blackberry vs Treo? We’re still uncertain about which would be better. We need coverage for all of Australia and New Zealand and phone service back to the US. I joined one technology talk forum that was suggested by someone on this forum but after several attempts, could not get my question to post. So, I’m asking here. Thanks for any input. Kathy

Gardyloo

My wife has a Treo 650 that she has nearly trown out of the car window on several occasions. It's basically a low-functioning computer with a phone grafted on, rather than a "smart phone." Her crackberry-addicted colleagues tend to agree.

I use a Motorola quad-band that I bought on ebay for US$65 that is a real trooper - great reception, good battery life; no problem with email/web enablement, but watch out for internet access using purchased overseas SIMS - you'll need to read the fine print in the wee type at the SIM stand after you've gotten off 15 hours on a plane... well, you get it. Actually, after buying local SIMS that inevitably run out of money when you need the phone the most, I switched for a Europe-Africa trip last month to a discount overseas plan from my carrier in the US (Cingular) that lets me keep my own phone no. all over the world. It's probably a little more expensive than buying local SIMs, but it sure was great not having to memorize a bunch of different numbers when hotels asked for a phone number etc. Also I didn't add to my collection of almost-spent SIM chips that expired before I used up all the airtime.

As for buying a phone overseas, I have never seen one that wasn't significantly more expensive than the comparable phone in the US (goes for cameras, computers and other electronics too) but YMMV. Watch out for invalid warranty provisions - your Oz-bought phone might be a slice of toast if it breaks in the US.

Check out Blackberry coverage in Oz - I'm under the impression that Telstra uses CDMA technology for their BB service in Oz, and that it's very pricey.

Sorry if this adds to the confusion. Two words: Internet cafe.

sharon1306

I'm not an expert on the subject, but when I went to Australia 2 years ago, I used a GSM quad band and got a local sim card. It was annoying like the previous poster has mentioned, the card running out of money, and calls back home were expensive. Buying phone cards as and when we needed was much cheaper and more convenient. Local calls in Australia were cheap on the local sim though but that was pretty much the only advantage.

When I went to Europe last year, I used the same number I use at home, and activated international roaming. Its more expensive, but I had the phone with me if I needed to be contacted in an emergency and used phone booths and internet cafe's for the most part.

I'll be taking my wifi enabled pda on an upcoming trip. Lets see how that works.

Dukey

I think a lot depends on how much money you think you are going to save, what you consider "convenient" and so forth.

I have a quad-band phone and use my Cingular international roaming plan and find that the most convenient. No changing numbers, you have your own phone, no buying and changing any kinds of cards, etc.

It is more expensive than some methods but to me the convenience and ease of use are worth it.

If I made more calls when overseas I might make a different choice.

Robespierre

As has been mentioned, using a US carrier's international roaming is expensive (when I was with AT&T, it was 99¢/minute), but simple.

Getting a SIM in each country is a minor PIA, but there are a couple of carriers who offer competitive rates all over Europe with one chip. united-mobile.com is one of them; there are others.

For those who are visiting one country, a local SIM is often the very best deal you can get. http://www.virginmobile.co.uk and http://www.orange.fr are two such.

Many carriers charge a pittance for texts, so informing your key contacts of your Europe number isn't really very taxing.

kathleen

Thanks Gardyloo, Sharon, Dukey, and Robespierre. Yes, the more information I gather, the more confusing it is. At times, I’m half tempted to use an internet cafe and phone cards, as we have in the past when we’ve traveled, but I know as soon as I decide that, I’ll wish for the flexibility of having the phone and internet right with us. This trip is far more extensive than our usual ones. We’ll be moving about all over the country, booking lodging using the country’s local phone service quite a bit, looking things up on the web, and emailing back and forth to US, as we go. We don’t want to always be trying to locate an internet café. Our calls back to the US will be far less frequent than the internal calls.

So here’s where we stand so far.
1.Buy the equipment here through Ebay or other discount place. No significant savings to be had by waiting until Australia, even though our dollar is strong right now compared to the OZ dollar. Should refurbished ones be considered?
2. Probably choose a BlackBerry over a Treo.
3. Confused on service- aren’t the SIM card and service the same thing? When you buy the SIM card you are getting GSM service, if you buy the correct one, right?
4. Buy local SIM card, but check the fine print, especially as it relates to the internet/email sections. If SIM cards can be bought in the city, then perhaps we should wait until better rested before purchasing it? Clearly we’ve never done this before.
We do appreciate the advice. Thanks for answering, and if anyone can think of any additional thoughts that might help, please offer them. Kathy

Gardyloo

The SIM card is basically buying you prepaid service on that carrier's network; you can refill the card with your credit card when you've used up the pre-paid airtime. The SIM card gives you a number that's good for that card only; when you swap it (say when you travel to NZ) the number and any remaining unused balance goes away.

SIM cards only apply to GSM service. The other technology in use in some countries, including both Oz and the US, but much less prevelant in Oz than the US, is CDMA technology, in which there is no SIM card, which makes CDMA phones much less portable than tri- or quad-band GSM phones.

The pros and cons of these technologies vary hugely according to the country and the specific service providers in those countries. In Oz last year we found that the SIM card (Optus) we bought had great coverage in some areas and lousy in others as we moved around (NSW, Queensland, NT) and I imagine the same situation applies to other providers.

If you haven't already, though, I'd post this on the Oz/Pacific board, where a number of Australians and Kiwis will be sure to offer much more direct advice than you'll likely get on the Europe board.

Natasha_Ramc

I know that Blackberry's has a device that works in OZ & NZ
I have a 8700 series which worked great in Europe. I did not need to purchase a new BB, the best bet is to go to a local retailer to find out which one works or go to www.blackberry.com

kathleen

Thanks Gardyloo. More clarity on SIM cards and service is certainly needed. I'll look into Optus and Telstra. And, although I did post a similar question on the OZ board, I'm going to repost and reword it. My previous title, unfortunately, sounded more like I wanted to go shopping than information needed on phones and BlackBerry units. Any thoughts (pros and cons) on buying refurbushed BlackBerry?

TC

Kathleen, Here is my experience and caution. We traveled to French Polynesia last year. I bought an "unlocked" quad band phone on Ebay to take along intending to purchase SIMS cards once we arrived. I had no problem getting either the phone or finding several places to buy the cards. Unfortunately the two never worked together. I spent a lot of time with techs in FP who tried in vain to get the two to work and we finally gave up. We used Internet Cafes when we could find them to communicate with home.

Now...I have a Nokia quad-band phone from Cingular. I have the Cingular Global calling program. With it, I can phone for about $1 per minute. But I can also send text messages for 50 cents and receive them for 10 cents. That is how we stay in touch for the most part with our daughter who is also on the Cingular program. Beyond that we use Internet Cafes.

I think you have gotten good advice and have a good plan, just be prepared for glitches.

kathleen

Thanks Natasha and TC,
From what I just gathered from the Blackberry site (and if I'm correct), only the 7230, the 7290, and the 7100v will work in both OZ and NZ. It appears that NZ only uses Vodafone carrier and OZ, besides Telstra and Optus uses Vodafone. So am I right in thinking that to cover both countries, it has to be Vodafone service? When we return home, of these three models, only the 7290 will work here? This is just too much thinking for a Monday morning.
TC, I'm hearing your story loud and clear.