mobile phones around the world

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

OK - 2nd question for tonight.

Going on a world tour in March for 4 or more years if all goes well.
Families want us to be contactable - assuming that there is a signal to use in the first place (where I live now - there is not, nor is there where I work)
To date - we have either not had one to use, or we have used my other half's works mobile phone and paid up when requested...
We can't do that anymore and I have had to get him a pay-as-you-go phone.
I don't want a contract phone - but pay-as-you-go can't be topped up (or receive a top up) when abroad, or at least mine can't.

So what do you use? Assuming that you have a signal to use, do you purchase a pay-as-you-go/disposable phone in each country, or just a sim - I have heard that some countries use different frequencies and that my "UK" phone would not work in the USA for example - though it will be a few years before we have cycled there.

thanks

 

[greenmark]

Hi amorak

Your cheapest method to get a new Pay-as-you-go Sim each time you cross a border and updating your friends/family each time you change your telephone number. However, just bear in mind that:
- it might not always be that easy to buy a SIM at the border if you enter a country overland (so you might have to spend a few days out of connection until you can find a SIM retailer)
- some countries (eg China) require you to have a permanent residence in order to buy a SIM (so either you need to use a contract phone with huge roaming charges, or find a black-market pay-as-you-go SIM)
- some countries (eg USA) have funny bands (so either get a quad-band phone before you set off or simply buy a very cheap throw-away phone when you get there)
- some countries (eg Japan/Korea) have funny bands plus require you to go to have a home address. In those places you should be able to hire a phone at the airport.

At least for the Asia part of your tour, if I were you I would not worry about getting any signals. However, if that is a real concern for you then the only solution is to get a satellite phone which will be very expensive.

 

[ThePainInSpain]

In Spain all phones and sim's have to be registered, residencia or passport are ok. I think you will find a lot of countries require registration,

Remember the mobile phone is the terrorists timer of choice.

 

[Woldwanderer]

Having done a lot of travelling - not on my bike though - you will be suprised how easy it is to get SIM cards when abroard.

I mean look at tescos 99p off the shelf so would expect these are available in similar stores in Europe for the start of your journey.

May I sugest you carry two phones; one that is set up for a Pay as you go with a UK provider and another that is unlocked and set up to accept any SIM card. That is something I have when travelling. I use my UK phone, for a few texts, until I set up with a local provider.

The other posts are correct and in some places you have to be a resident - South America being one place although. I got round this by simply asking taxi drivers/cafe owners to go and get one for me. They usually said the reason they did this was because phones being used in crimes?

SE Asia is probably the easiest place when obtaining SIM cards. Phones are cheap and always chose the cheapest if you simply want to text/chat.

Maybe scrounge old phones off your friends. The more the better for me as I tend to lose them very easily after a few local shandy's

 

[snorri]

After a number of nights camping on tour, I feel like a bit of luxury and book in to a hotel for a night to sort things out and when there I use the phone. It saves me the bother of carrying a mobile, and the problems of keeping the battery charged.

 

[Ticktockmy]

OK - 2nd question for tonight.

Going on a world tour in March for 4 or more years if all goes well.
Families want us to be contactable - assuming that there is a signal to use in the first place (where I live now - there is not, nor is there where I work)
To date - we have either not had one to use, or we have used my other half's works mobile phone and paid up when requested...
We can't do that anymore and I have had to get him a pay-as-you-go phone.
I don't want a contract phone - but pay-as-you-go can't be topped up (or receive a top up) when abroad, or at least mine can't.

So what do you use? Assuming that you have a signal to use, do you purchase a pay-as-you-go/disposable phone in each country, or just a sim - I have heard that some countries use different frequencies and that my "UK" phone would not work in the USA for example - though it will be a few years before we have cycled there.

thanks

O2 do a pay as you go sim, which you can top up on line, I have one and when I am in my 2nd home in Malaysia, tops it up easly no problems at all, and I have done so from most other countries in South East Asia

 

[rualexander]

No experience of these, my travelling days were pre mobile phones, but there are a few international sim services, e.g. https://www.worldsim.com/

It might be better to travel without a phone if you can convince yourselves and family that it is better. There will inevitably be times when, for whatever reason, you will be uncontactable and if thats when they try to contact you, they might start worrying?

 

[mcr]

O2 do a pay as you go sim, which you can top up on line, I have one and when I am in my 2nd home in Malaysia, tops it up easly no problems at all, and I have done so from most other countries in South East Asia

Ditto for Virgin Mobile - you log in to your account as and when and top up with the registered debit card.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

At least for the Asia part of your tour, if I were you I would not worry about getting any signals. However, if that is a real concern for you then the only solution is to get a satellite phone which will be very expensive.

Hi
The concern is not mine/ours but our joint families. Currently I don't carry a mobile in the UK even when mountaineering but my other half has and that has clearly put their minds at ease. I have spotted one or two 'tracking systems' which might be the way around the problem - luckily for us, we actually have an address we can use for China, but the worldsim that rualexander suggested could be the way to go - but to be honest most of where we tend to go is unlikely to have a signal so something like The SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger might be the better option if our families want to pay for it - Christmas is just around the corner..

thanks

 

[andym]

I'd highly recommend Tescos SIM - call rates within europe are 35p a minute. You might also want to think about their prepaid calling card (call a national number from a phone box).

Whether a buying a PAYG card is cheaper depends a lot on where you are going, how long you are therefore and how much you use your phone.

There's a good guide here:

http://www.moneysavi...p-roaming-calls

Don't forget that you have to make a minimum top-up - so, for example, it's not going to be worth buying one for Lichtenstein. IME the mobile phone market in France is is a lot less competitive than here (a SIM for 99p? - pas de chance). Italy is very competitive and Spain somewhere in between (Carphone Warehouse's Happy Movíl are good).

You will usually find that the shop staff will help you jump over any hurdles - in Itlay you need a number clled a codice fiscale - but the shop staff know how to organize this. Most places require you to have an address, but I've used the address of my hotel or even the shop!

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/ is a really useful resource.

I would strongly recommend getting an (unlocked!) smartphone that includes WiFi (a basic no-frills mobile, and iPod Touch). This means you can keep in touch via email (your cheapest option), maintain a personal blog, or Tweet - if you are down with the kids - or use Skype, or Facetime when you have a free WiFi connection - as well as being contactable via SMS or phone call.

The tip about carrying two mobiles (maybe one expensive and one cheap) is a good one.

The Spot tracker is a useful thing to have as an emergency device, so offers some degree of reassurance. As a tracking device it's maybe a two-edged sword - OK it tells your family you're in Outer Mongolia but it doesn't tell them everything's OK, and if for any reason it should go wrong it could cause them to panic. Similarly it can send 'I'm OK messages', but again could cause problems if you don't check in. Mobile networks are much more ubiquitous than you'd think - if only because in less developed countries they are much easier to roll out than fixed telephone networks.

Oh and there have been quite a lot of threads on here about keeping your gizmos charged.

 

[Brains]

Get a Skype account .....

 

[HelenD123]

I would strongly recommend getting an (unlocked!) smartphone that includes WiFi (a basic no-frills mobile, and iPod Touch). This means you can keep in touch via email (your cheapest option), maintain a personal blog, or Tweet - if you are down with the kids - or use Skype, or Facetime when you have a free WiFi connection - as well as being contactable via SMS or phone call.

I've found you can never find an unlocked wifi signal when you most need it. I'm going to get a Kindle with 3G, primarily as an eReader but also because I can use it to check or send e-mail when there's no wifi. I know this won't be possible everywhere but it gives me another option.

Re the SPOT device, a friend who's an expert in safety and security issues said it's fine in theory but what do your parents do if they don't get that expected message from you? I decided not to get one and just e-mail my parents every few days with my itinerary.

EDIT: The guys at goingslowly.com are experienced in this area as Tyler runs his business from the road. They've got some info on their site or am sure would answer questions.

 

[Hacienda71]

I think you should check that the handset you get is quad band the sim is only the microchip that identifies you the user, it is not the thing that links to the closest base station.

 

[andym]

I've found you can never find an unlocked wifi signal when you most need it. I'm going to get a Kindle with 3G, primarily as an eReader but also because I can use it to check or send e-mail when there's no wifi. I know this won't be possible everywhere but it gives me another option.

Re the SPOT device, a friend who's an expert in safety and security issues said it's fine in theory but what do your parents do if they don't get that expected message from you? I decided not to get one and just e-mail my parents every few days with my itinerary.

EDIT: The guys at goingslowly.com are experienced in this area as Tyler runs his business from the road. They've got some info on their site or am sure would answer questions.

Yes I was curious about the Kindle, the blurb mentions a web browser and 3G coverage in a heap of countries - but internet and email without a data plan seems to good to be true. I assumed that you can buy books from Amazon in a heap of countries but only use wifi for browsing. But I'd be very happy to be wrong!

WiFi coverage is variable - so you also need to have a phone, but it should be possible to find a wifi connection once a week or so - and aramok may not want to talk to her mother-in-law more often than that.

 

[samid]

Re charging - I found that if you only turn your phone on to talk or text once or twice a day, while normally keeping it turned off - a single charge goes a long way (like 2 weeks). Just something to keep in mind.