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Way2Broke said:
What is the pay and QOL like? hahaha
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Pay I'm sure is great. Quality of life is, well, short-lived? ;)


"I know that my friend that lives in VHHH can change "cards" in his phone. Japan and Korea have their own weird protocols for cell phones...I don't know if you can get a phone in the US that you can do that with."

I think both Japan and Korea are using GSM technology which is what they have in Europe (we have mainly CDMA except T-Mobile which I think is GSM too). That's why I was trying to figure out this chip changing deal. Have you seen your friend change the card in his/her phone? Is it easy or pretty complicated? I wonder what kind of rates he/she is paying with a "local" chip. Is it still an international phone call or a local call?

"Verizon is introducing some kind of international phone, but I don't want one. If I need one the company will issue it!"

Well, I'm just trying to find an easy way of staying in touch with friends and family without having to tag along the laptop.
 
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Let's see, I know that one of the guys has phone that works in Europe that won't work in Korea.

Did just see a guy that has Singular (sp) switch cards and suddenly he had a Belgian local number. It was some kind of PDA/phone thing.

My guess is that VOIP is your best bet rather than doing something with all kinds of different chips and the bills that go with them...

May all them what may not have something else lined up soon find a good job!
 
Phones

Guys......I've researched cell phones ad nauseum. What exactly do you want to know?
 
FlyFastLiveSlow said:
Guys......I've researched cell phones ad nauseum. What exactly do you want to know?
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Basically, I’m trying to find a cell phone that works internationally without breaking me. I’ve been told that some phones you can replace a chip and make “local” phone calls even when you’re overseas. Also, supposedly there’s a cell phone there somewhere that has Skype built into it so you can either make phone calls or Skype when in hotspot areas. I use Skype a lot, but I hate to tag along my laptop when I go on sightseeing trips on layovers.

Btw. Would you please give me the “ad” part of your research and leave out the “nauseum” please? ;)
 
AV80R said:
Basically, I’m trying to find a cell phone that works internationally without breaking me. I’ve been told that some phones you can replace a chip and make “local” phone calls even when you’re overseas. Also, supposedly there’s a cell phone there somewhere that has Skype built into it so you can either make phone calls or Skype when in hotspot areas. I use Skype a lot, but I hate to tag along my laptop when I go on sightseeing trips on layovers.

Btw. Would you please give me the “ad” part of your research and leave out the “nauseum” please? ;)
Click to expand...

I will leave out the nauseum part just for you. It works like this. I think you have Verizon, right? They have one phone currently, the Blackberry 8830 that works worldwide. It has CDMA for the US, as well as two bands of GSM for international roaming. It will also roam on other countries that have CDMA, although there hardly are any. All GSM phones, including Verizon's have a "SIM card", about the size of a thumbnail. That's what gives whatever phone it is in it's "identification" as well as it's number. Both T-MO and ATT work solely on GSM both domestically, and int'l. And most TMO and ATT phones are quad-band GSM, meaning they will work more places in the world. Most of the rest of the world uses GSM. And that's the "card" that can be changed.

That being said, the Verizon Blackberry, and any phone ATT or TMO offers will work on any GSM network (Verizon only on two bands) as long as you tell them you want that capability, which is free. It's expensive to use however...int'l roaming is anywhere from .99 to 4.00 a minute, but you keep your local number that way. At Verizon, the only way to use their int'l service is with their int'l roaming plan. At ATT or TMO, you can request for them to "unlock" your phone, giving you the capability of putting any sim card from any company in your phone. For example, if you are in the UK, you could get a Vodafone sim card, pre paid, and have a local UK number, then switch back to your TMO card in the US.

As an alternative, you could buy an unlocked GSM phone from TigerDirect, Ebay or a number of other sources, and use it only for times when you are out of the country with a local sim card.

Hope that helps. And by the way, I have a great TMO quad band Nokia I was gonna put on EBAY. Lightly used. I could have TMO unlock it if you are interested.
 
Check it out!

Belch – just for you! ;)

LINK

Sorry about the stupid commercials. Btw. read the comments from some clueless aviation-know-it-alls! It’s funny!
 
Dude - you rock! Despite your neo-HillaBamic leanings - lol.
Seriously, thanks for the great reply.

I will leave out the nauseum part just for you.
:puke:

Oh no, it must have been the food I just ate... Sorry, just wanted to show you your favorite smiley face all over again. :)


That being said, the Verizon Blackberry, and any phone ATT or TMO offers will work on any GSM network (Verizon only on two bands) as long as you tell them you want that capability, which is free. It's expensive to use however...int'l roaming is anywhere from .99 to 4.00 a minute, but you keep your local number that way.

At Verizon, the only way to use their int'l service is with their int'l roaming plan. At ATT or TMO, you can request for them to "unlock" your phone, giving you the capability of putting any sim card from any company in your phone. For example, if you are in the UK, you could get a Vodafone sim card, pre paid, and have a local UK number, then switch back to your TMO card in the US.

I see, so that sort of makes using Verizon for international calls pointless. The whole idea was to make it cheap - if they charge 99¢ + a minute I might as well keep using my Skype account which most of the time is free since I usually call my friends and family directly to their computer accounts.

As an alternative, you could buy an unlocked GSM phone from TigerDirect, Ebay or a number of other sources, and use it only for times when you are out of the country with a local sim card. Hope that helps. And by the way, I have a great TMO quad band Nokia I was gonna put on EBAY. Lightly used. I could have TMO unlock it if you are interested.

Is it possible to use the phone without having it activated in the US? In other words only use it overseas with pre-paid sim cards? This way I wouldn’t have to keep paying for an account I only use when I’m overseas?

FFLS - do you realize that if you and I add up all our posts here on FI we can only come up to half the messages belch has posted!? Sure sounds like the old crew room even here on the FI huh? ;) Btw, did he ever tell you about the fishing in Alaska?

Sry belch, couldn’t resist…you are only 22 from 2K messages!
 
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Ask your friends if they have a tri or quad band cell phone that they plan to get rid of. They are plentiful in the US. RAZR, K1, Z600, PBEL, Samsung t619 to name a few just and many other older models. Just make sure they call their current service provider to unlock the phone before they sell/give it to you. Take T-mobile for example u can unlock the phone 3 months after the purchase. Then u can take it anywhere in the world and use your prepaid sim. Hope that helps.
 
AV80R said:
Is it possible to use the phone without having it activated in the US? In other words only use it overseas with pre-paid sim cards? This way I wouldn’t have to keep paying for an account I only use when I’m overseas?
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See, I'm actually useful for SOMETHING. :D

You don't have to activate an unlocked phone in the US. When you put a pre paid sim card in it, such as Vodafone, you'll have to go through their activation process. When you put someone elses sim card in, you'll have to go through theirs to make the phone work. No contracts though, and when you switch back to you Vodafon card, the phone will recognize it when you turn it on, and you would be up a running within a few seconds. The CARD has to be activated, NOT the phone. I've never switched cards, but have used my TMO in several coutries using their roaming plan. Very cheap for in country calls. .99 a minute to call back to the states from Europe. .05 text messages worldwide, and $20/mo extra for worldwide unlimited high speed data. Like I said, I can unlock that Nokia if you are interested.


FFLS - do you realize that if you and I add up all our posts here on FI we can only come up to half the messages belch has posted!? Sure sounds like the old crew room even here on the FI huh? ;) Btw, did he ever tell you about the fishing in Alaska?

Sry belch, couldn’t resist…you are only 22 from 2K messages!
Click to expand...
:nuts::laugh::cartman: Too funny. I never heard about the fishing trip, but......This one time, at band camp......
 
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AV80R said:
Belch – just for you! ;)

LINK

Sorry about the stupid commercials. Btw. read the comments from some clueless aviation-know-it-alls! It’s funny!
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Bah, just another shiney new -400. ;) Leave no Engineers Behind!!!

Probably fracked up and set the temp wrong so the chineese glideslope was off...I can't believe some of those comments are from people smart enough to turn a computer on!

Sim cards-yeah, that's it! About half the size of a postage stamp but thicker. I think voip is a better deal though. Sked can't call it, your significant other won't call and wake you up after a long night drinking after 18 hours on duty and a thirteen hour flight halfway around the world (well, not really half way but that dateline crap messes me up. If God wanted us to go back in time we would have time machines.) You call people at your liesure when you are sober, good and rested and don't have a bunch of drunken pilots chasing hookers around the room!

Of course if you are technically proficient you can send people live pictures of drunken pilots chasing hookers around the room...

perhaps I should learn more about computers!

Best of all computer to computer calls are free!
 
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I believe the 8th was the deadline to have their issues fixed before their certificate got yanked. I don't know how to check such things, though.
 
FlyFastLiveSlow said:
See, I'm actually useful for SOMETHING. :D...
...Like I said, I can unlock that Nokia if you are interested.
Click to expand...

Weird, I usually get a message when reply has been posted, never got one for your post. I am looking into a phone with Skype built in, apparently it's out there somewhere but I'm still looking for it. If I don't find one, I might take you up on your offer if it's still available by then. Thanks for the thorough explanation, I appreciate it.
 
Oooh ZING!
 

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