MIDDLEBURGH

Middleburgh: Mobile Phones

The other day whilstin Xian my phone took a day off to go sight seeing on its own ..returning in the evening like the boomerang or bad penny it clearly aspires to be. (actually I left it on the table at breakfast.) . When you travel do you take your phone with you?? If so presumably you either expect like me to recieve incoming calls or make outgoing ones. I suspect most people take them merely to avoid a sense of isolation when travelling.(you tell everyone not to call except in an emergency !! as if they were going to call you anyway !!)

Case in point: #2 son goes off on an epic round the world trip; What outbound calls is he likely to make? He knows few people where he is going so he is only likely to call are those back home ie "I am ok" and/or "please send money", Well I suppose he might make the odd local call if he plans to meet someone ie I am at the corner of such and such street, where is the bar?. Any sense of isolation (definately) doesn't lie with him but with those he left behind (his mum!!) who want a means of contacting him to check he is ok ie where the "darn" are you, do you need money ? or to issue a recall ie come home son, your dog's popped his clogs!!"

As #2 would tell you taking a phone overseas is fraught with challenges (apart from risk of losing it or having it stolen) Roaming charges are a killer : it's hardly econonmic to make local calls via home. Indeed it's even an extravagance making "I am Ok" calls home. And do you really want calls in middle of night when you might be getting it on ?. (callers never consider time zone differences) Of course not! if for no other reason than it will surely run the battery down when you are somewhere where you can't possibly recharge it.

To his credit before #2 embarked on his recent tour, he organised phone connectivity so that he could report in periodically. There was discussion of getting a phone account from a reliable vendor with roaming capability (#1 sons prefered solution but it was ruled out on cost: Actually it's a good bet for short trips with low expected phone usage). Instead #2 opted to pay for a service whereby calls theoretically got routed over VOIP (some counties only) - was a total waste of money - rooted (shafted) might be a more accurate description. He then tried local pay as you go SIM cards (my preferred solution) but had issues with these so he periodically dropped off the radar and was uncontactable. I have found that to avoid these problems you need to know which card to buy (which carrier and service) and have a local install and activate it for you. It goes without saying you need an unlocked phone!! (indeed why do you NOT have an unlocked one ??)

• Carrier: All to do with coverage in the areas you are visiting: In lots of places mobie carriers are local and don't partner with carriers in other areas so there is a risk if you buy a SIM card at a railway station for example it will work anywhere except where you are going. eg applies to places such as India and China. Even if there is nominal coverage, reception may be poor.eg when I visit my mother in London the hotel I stay at is in a vodaphone dead zone but is seems fine for other carriers (all do do with proximity to masts) : I use this site to get an idea whose is likely to be an appropriate carrier. (i don't guarentee it will work for you though!!) The other sites listed here may be useful.

  

• Service: To make overseas calls obviously the card must support international dialling (not all Pay As You Go cards do) Also beware of special features and offers. The last card bought we for use in mainland China was puchased here in HK. We paid a premimum for a feature (Calls recieved from HK were free ) that we subsequently discovered didn't apply outside southern china ie not in Xian. Additionally we discovered that because it was a dual number card there were 2 activation codes for international calls - one worked in HK , the other in the mainland. It was a real bitch to set up - all instructions were in chinese which is why you need ...
• A local to install: In singapore I give my phone and some money to a friend's daughter and ask her nicely to sort it out (even though insructions for singtel cards are in english).In china I should get one of the girls in the office do do so (there are about 600 in our Xian office - in their mid 20's - and #2 didn't take up the suggestion when he visited - silly boy!!). The acid test that the phone is set up correctly is to make a call home (this also establishes the cost to ring home to ensure that there is sufficient credit on card and allows you to give a phone number for mum or whomever to call you. As a matter of principle I also get my fiendly local to save their personal number so that I can call them if I need help eg telling taxi driver where to take me, or ordering a meal (I am in a restaurant , staff don't speak english, I can't read menu, would they please order for you) or to ask for advice on night clubs and bars . You therefore should choose your local carefully - you might want to invite them to join you.

just been for a beach break

It was only after #2 left HK on his travels last November that I realised that I had missed a trick. Last month that epiphany became even more significant. Frankly March was a pisser of a month for many. In the Middle East, regimes sought to surpress protests by cutting off phone services and in Japan the earthquake and tsunami took out networks in the north east in same way that the eathquake in 2010 took down mobile phone networks in Haiti. Normal mobiles with sim cards or roaming simply don't work if there is no network. I had realised one sunday morning last November as I strolled down the main road in Ap lei chau village was that there were 3 Shops there supplying Marine equipment including Satellite phones. So here's the thing if you really need a phone and you are travelling somewhere where there is an iffy phone network consider renting or buing a Satellite Phone. It's not cheap but whether you are

• in middle of the China sea,
• in a jungle in Borneo,
• deep in the Australian outback
• up a New Zealand glacier

you can have a working phone. I want one for Chistmass !!!! (any of the following will do!!)

• Inmarsat:IsatPhone Pro
• Iridium:Iridium 9555
• Thurya:Thuraya XT
• GlobalstarGlobalstar GSP-1700

Posted at 4/10/2011 03:50:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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