Using Cell Phone Abroad
Mar 17th, 2006, 12:33 PM
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Using Cell Phone Abroad
We are leaving for Australia in 14 days and were told by our cell phone company that the best way to have cell phones that work abroad is to purchase a cheap cell phone and a calling card when we get there? Is that for real? Is that what everyone else is doing? (A techie I'm not!!) Thanks for info. bojabi
Mar 17th, 2006, 12:41 PM
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If you're not a techie, that's probably true. You might start searching with google to see what information you can find now. Look for things like "Australia prepaid cell phones" and see what turns up.
Mar 17th, 2006, 09:14 PM
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I'm not real up-to-date on cell phones in the US (we live overseas). Do most of them have all 3 "bands" for use all over - or do they just have the frequency for use in the US?
When we went to New Zealand, there was a Vodafone desk at the airport and we just got a SIM card put in my husband's phone so that it would work. They "opened" an account with our credit card and we were on our way. When we returned to the airport on our way out - we returned the SIM card and paid our bill. It was pretty easy.
To be honest - I don't think we ever used the cell phone, but because we were driving around a lot - I wanted to have it for security. I made most of our necesary phone calls from our hotels (checking on tours, reservations for dinner, etc).
I now have international roaming on my phone so that I can use it wherever I am. Since I don't use it much, I don't mind paying the higher per-minute charges. Lots easier than getting SIM cards everywhere I go. Altho I do have a separate SIM card for our summers in the US.
When we went to New Zealand, there was a Vodafone desk at the airport and we just got a SIM card put in my husband's phone so that it would work. They "opened" an account with our credit card and we were on our way. When we returned to the airport on our way out - we returned the SIM card and paid our bill. It was pretty easy.
To be honest - I don't think we ever used the cell phone, but because we were driving around a lot - I wanted to have it for security. I made most of our necesary phone calls from our hotels (checking on tours, reservations for dinner, etc).
I now have international roaming on my phone so that I can use it wherever I am. Since I don't use it much, I don't mind paying the higher per-minute charges. Lots easier than getting SIM cards everywhere I go. Altho I do have a separate SIM card for our summers in the US.
Mar 18th, 2006, 06:12 AM
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Not an expert but found this info
http://www.ausemade.com.au/biz/cellularabroad/
You should post your question on the Australia board here too. There are some Aussies who may be able to advise you.
http://www.ausemade.com.au/biz/cellularabroad/
You should post your question on the Australia board here too. There are some Aussies who may be able to advise you.
Mar 18th, 2006, 04:30 PM
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Buy a cheap unlocked GSM phone (dual bands 900 and 1800 or a triband) from someplace like overstock.com (they start at under $50) and then buy a SIM card to put into the phone when you get to Australia.
It's very cheap and incoming calls are almost always free to you.
Or you could just buy a calling card (not a SIM card) and rely on payphones or land lines. This is cheap too, but not as convenient and it'll be harder for people to reach you.
It rarely pays to rent a phone and companies like Cellular Abroad charge a high price for marginal ``convenience.''
It's very cheap and incoming calls are almost always free to you.
Or you could just buy a calling card (not a SIM card) and rely on payphones or land lines. This is cheap too, but not as convenient and it'll be harder for people to reach you.
It rarely pays to rent a phone and companies like Cellular Abroad charge a high price for marginal ``convenience.''
Mar 18th, 2006, 05:18 PM
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bojabi, I agree that posting this on the Australian forum would be a good idea. You'll also find good info if you run a search on the Europe forum, and www.gsmworld.com has exhaustive info. Having said that, I'll try to summarise the situation.
Most of the world except North America and Japan uses a cellphone technology called GSM. GSM is also used by some North American carriers, but is less common than the prevailing, incompatible, CDMA technology. To make matters worse, the frequencies used by US/Canadian GSM carriers (850 & 1900 Megahertz) are different to those used elsewhere in the world (900 & 1800 MHz).
GSM phones have a little clip-in card called a subscriber identity module (SIM), which stores your phone number and network info and can also store prepaid credits.
You can get triband (900-1800-1900) or quadband (850-900-1800-1900) GSM phones which can be used on both North American and other networks (again, Japan excepted). Or you can just get a 900-1800 GSM phone to use when travelling. To use it on any network other that the carrier's you bought it from, your phone must be "unlocked". You can buy unlocked phones on eBay. Failing that, unlocking codes for most are (I'm told) downloadable from certain web sites, or you can pay a phone shop to do it for you.
Once you've got your phone, when you arrive in Australia you can buy a SIM with a given amount of prepaid credit, clip it in and away you go. As you'll have a local number, you'll have to let your family know what it is so that they can call you. When you run out of credit just take it to any one of thousands of outlets and have it topped up.
The major Australian carriers are Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, and there are also resellers such as Orange. Telstra has the widest network coverage.
If you wish, you can buy an inexpensive phone, say a basic Nokia model, in Australia - a typical deal would be $99 (US$73) including $10 prepaid credit. (Be aware that if you do, it will be locked to the Australian carrier, typically for 6 or 12 months, after purchase.)
As all major networks have national coverage there's no additional charge for "roaming" between locations. However, Australian mobile phone rates are relatively high, so I'd use it for overseas calls only in cases of necessity, and for incoming calls. You won't be billed for incoming calls.
Australian mobile phone numbers are not prefixed by area codes, by the way - they have their own non-geographic '04' prefix 10-digit numbers. If someone in the US wishes to call you, they dial the US international access code + country code for Australia (61) + mobile number, omitting the leading zero.
Calling cards, which aren't the same thing as SIM cards, come in. They can be bought everywhere in different denominations from AU$10 up and carry an id. number and PIN. They can be used from any landline (or in extremis a mobile phone) and offer very cheap overseas calls, with a small sacrifice in call quality. You just dial a local phone number and then follow the prompts. You'll need to dial the international access code (in Australia, 1100) + US country code (1) + area code + local number. There's a bewildering variety of calling cards on sale - just pick one that offers a low rate (2-3 cents per minute) to the USA.
One advantage to having your own 900-1800 (or tri/quadband) GSM phone is that you'll be able to use it almost anywhere you go in the world.
As you've probably gathered, they're called mobile phones or "mobiles" here, not cellphones.
That's about it, bojabi. (bojabi - are you still there? Wake up! Wake up!)
Most of the world except North America and Japan uses a cellphone technology called GSM. GSM is also used by some North American carriers, but is less common than the prevailing, incompatible, CDMA technology. To make matters worse, the frequencies used by US/Canadian GSM carriers (850 & 1900 Megahertz) are different to those used elsewhere in the world (900 & 1800 MHz).
GSM phones have a little clip-in card called a subscriber identity module (SIM), which stores your phone number and network info and can also store prepaid credits.
You can get triband (900-1800-1900) or quadband (850-900-1800-1900) GSM phones which can be used on both North American and other networks (again, Japan excepted). Or you can just get a 900-1800 GSM phone to use when travelling. To use it on any network other that the carrier's you bought it from, your phone must be "unlocked". You can buy unlocked phones on eBay. Failing that, unlocking codes for most are (I'm told) downloadable from certain web sites, or you can pay a phone shop to do it for you.
Once you've got your phone, when you arrive in Australia you can buy a SIM with a given amount of prepaid credit, clip it in and away you go. As you'll have a local number, you'll have to let your family know what it is so that they can call you. When you run out of credit just take it to any one of thousands of outlets and have it topped up.
The major Australian carriers are Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, and there are also resellers such as Orange. Telstra has the widest network coverage.
If you wish, you can buy an inexpensive phone, say a basic Nokia model, in Australia - a typical deal would be $99 (US$73) including $10 prepaid credit. (Be aware that if you do, it will be locked to the Australian carrier, typically for 6 or 12 months, after purchase.)
As all major networks have national coverage there's no additional charge for "roaming" between locations. However, Australian mobile phone rates are relatively high, so I'd use it for overseas calls only in cases of necessity, and for incoming calls. You won't be billed for incoming calls.
Australian mobile phone numbers are not prefixed by area codes, by the way - they have their own non-geographic '04' prefix 10-digit numbers. If someone in the US wishes to call you, they dial the US international access code + country code for Australia (61) + mobile number, omitting the leading zero.
Calling cards, which aren't the same thing as SIM cards, come in. They can be bought everywhere in different denominations from AU$10 up and carry an id. number and PIN. They can be used from any landline (or in extremis a mobile phone) and offer very cheap overseas calls, with a small sacrifice in call quality. You just dial a local phone number and then follow the prompts. You'll need to dial the international access code (in Australia, 1100) + US country code (1) + area code + local number. There's a bewildering variety of calling cards on sale - just pick one that offers a low rate (2-3 cents per minute) to the USA.
One advantage to having your own 900-1800 (or tri/quadband) GSM phone is that you'll be able to use it almost anywhere you go in the world.
As you've probably gathered, they're called mobile phones or "mobiles" here, not cellphones.
That's about it, bojabi. (bojabi - are you still there? Wake up! Wake up!)
. Thanks again..will try Australian board too. bojabi
Mar 19th, 2006, 04:09 PM
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Excellent comments, all! I spent a lot of time researching this before our trip to Australia a year ago. If I had some of this information, it would helped me tremendously.
I suspect, that with so little time before you go, you may just need a very quick fix to your problem. If you live in the U.S., contact Cellular Abroad
<http://www.cellularabroad.com/>. They can sell you an unlocked GSM phone and an Australian SIM card. The nice thing about this is that your family and friends can call you and there is no charge for incoming calls. We got decent reception at Uluru, a very, very remote area.
I suspect, that with so little time before you go, you may just need a very quick fix to your problem. If you live in the U.S., contact Cellular Abroad
<http://www.cellularabroad.com/>. They can sell you an unlocked GSM phone and an Australian SIM card. The nice thing about this is that your family and friends can call you and there is no charge for incoming calls. We got decent reception at Uluru, a very, very remote area.
Mar 19th, 2006, 06:35 PM
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I rented a Vodaphone (or is it Vodafone?) cell phone at the Sydney airport on arrival. It was easy. As I recall (this was a few years ago), I had reserved ahead on their website so all the paperwork was ready to go. We didn't end up using the cell phone all that much, but occasionally it was handy. At the end of our trip, we dropped the cell phone off at the airport, which took only five minutes or so.
