 glnz
join:2006-11-26
New York, NY | Hey - which mobile plan if spend half the year abroad? One of us spends approx. half the year in Asia, primarily Bangkok and occasionally Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. So, where can we find a smartphone plan that does not kill us on data roaming charges?
We work out of NYC but need to find a mobile phone plan that will let one of us bring and use his NYC smartphone in various Asian cities, esp. Bangkok, WITHOUT paying a fortune for data. (Voice is not the issue.) This smartphone must receive and be able to transmit email 24-7, so a WiFi-only setting is not good UNLESS it can make all data apps WiFi-only EXCEPT email which stays connected all the time to both mobile and WiFi.
Voice is not the issue because when we go to Asia, we turn on "All Call Forwarding" or "Unconditional Call Forwarding" so all calls to the NYC mobile number are IMMEDIATELY diverted to NYC landline and such calls do NOT ring on the mobile phone in Bangkok -- which means there are NO voice roaming charges. But we have a big problem with data.
Please let us have your suggestions.
Gracias! |
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 NickPurveyor of common sensePremium,VIP,MVM
join:2000-10-29
Smithtown, NY | Well, I know that one of my coworkers has an unlimited international plan with Verizon for something like 65$ but I am not sure if it is something our company has negotiated |
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glnz
join:2006-11-26
New York, NY | Nick - thanks. Could you ask him or her for the details?
And just to clarify - we are not interested in unlimited calling FROM the US to Asia. We are interested in bringing our NYC-based smartphone to Asia for 6 months per year and using it in Asia for email, web and data without getting killed on data charges.
Thanks. |
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NickPurveyor of common sensePremium,VIP,MVM
join:2000-10-29
Smithtown, NY | i understand that, we don't really deal with selecting features since the admins normally handle that. In my experience its easy to just get a local sim chip for data. It may be expensive by local standards but it is way cheaper than roaming. For example in Hong Kong, I pay 328 hkd for unlimited monthly data which is about 40 usd. In Belgium I was buying 500mb blocks of.data for 10 euros. I think any local company would be cheaper than roaming and you could even sign up for a regular plans whereever you go.
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-Stupidity, like hydrogen, is one of the basic building blocks of the Universe.
-Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Misc |
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 AlcoholPremium
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI
kudos:3 | reply to glnz
I spent 5 months outside US last year. I froze my AT&T account and bought a local sim card.
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I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock. |
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AlcoholPremium
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI
kudos:3 Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| reply to Nick
said by Nick:Well, I know that one of my coworkers has an unlimited international plan with Verizon for something like 65$ but I am not sure if it is something our company has negotiated
No longer offered
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I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock. |
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glnz
join:2006-11-26
New York, NY
1 edit | reply to Alcohol
Alcohol - we had a similar thought. (SIM-ilar?)
Does anyone have experience swapping the SIM card in an Apple iPhone 4S? If that is possible, does the iPhone lose data, or does the data on the memory chip become unreachable? (We do understand that the iPhone must be unlocked. If we go with Sprint, unlocking the iPhone should be possible after 90 days.)
For example, if the iPhone has a lot of emails (or a long list of emails) and then we swap the SIM card when we land in Bangkok, do those emails become unopenable, or does the iPhone insist on re-downloading the same emails?
Freely admit I don't know what I'm talking about, since we don't yet have an iPhone and have never played with one. Nor have we ever swapped a SIM card in anything.
Thanks. |
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IanR
join:2001-03-22
Madison, NJ | I think it depends whether your contact data is written to the phone or the phone's SIM card. If you service is through Sprint then it won't be using the SIM card in the USA. |
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glnz
join:2006-11-26
New York, NY | IanR: Interesting comment!
Would you say that's true for any smartphone, not just iPhone 4S?
In other words, if the smartphone is CDMA when we're in the US but becomes GSM-capable using a SIM card when we're in Bangkok, the data in the phone is NOT in the SIM card and therefore won't be lost or hidden when we start using the smartphone in Bangkok, whether or not we swap the SIM card? How about data that the smartphone accumulates when we're in Bangkok - does it disappear when we return to US?
It is interesting how all of this smartphone stuff is NOT geared to global users like us. I know we're a small part of the market, but aren't there lots of US banker-types and non-US entrepreneur types who wrestle with this issue?
IDEA! We base and purchase our smartphone and plan in Bangkok and swap SIM cards when we return to US. HAS ANYBODY TRIED IT THAT WAY?? Is there yet another country -- neither the US nor Thailand -- we should "start" in to get the best combo on cost? |
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AlcoholPremium
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Comcast
| reply to glnz
said by glnz:Alcohol - we had a similar thought. (SIM-ilar?)
Does anyone have experience swapping the SIM card in an Apple iPhone 4S? If that is possible, does the iPhone lose data, or does the data on the memory chip become unreachable? (We do understand that the iPhone must be unlocked. If we go with Sprint, unlocking the iPhone should be possible after 90 days.)
For example, if the iPhone has a lot of emails (or a long list of emails) and then we swap the SIM card when we land in Bangkok, do those emails become unopenable, or does the iPhone insist on re-downloading the same emails?
Freely admit I don't know what I'm talking about, since we don't yet have an iPhone and have never played with one. Nor have we ever swapped a SIM card in anything.
Thanks.
iphone uses mini sim cards. you can cut a normal sim card and fit it in the iphone. It's a pain in the ass but you can youtube for instructions.
The iphone has to be unlocked. I dont know if any of the US carriers give iphone unlock codes. Apple is a control-nazi when it comes to things like this.
Emails will stay on the phone if they've been downloaded.
If you don't have the iphone yet - Don't buy it. Iphone is probably the worst phone to have for global roaming.
If you go with sprint get one of their global phones such as motorola photon.
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I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock. |
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AlcoholPremium
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Comcast
| reply to glnz
said by glnz:IanR: Interesting comment!
Would you say that's true for any smartphone, not just iPhone 4S?
In other words, if the smartphone is CDMA when we're in the US but becomes GSM-capable using a SIM card when we're in Bangkok, the data in the phone is NOT in the SIM card and therefore won't be lost or hidden when we start using the smartphone in Bangkok, whether or not we swap the SIM card? How about data that the smartphone accumulates when we're in Bangkok - does it disappear when we return to US?
It is interesting how all of this smartphone stuff is NOT geared to global users like us. I know we're a small part of the market, but aren't there lots of US banker-types and non-US entrepreneur types who wrestle with this issue?
IDEA! We base and purchase our smartphone and plan in Bangkok and swap SIM cards when we return to US. HAS ANYBODY TRIED IT THAT WAY?? Is there yet another country -- neither the US nor Thailand -- we should "start" in to get the best combo on cost?
No data is stored on the sim card. It doesn't have enough memory to store anything other than contact numbers (which are also stored on the phone)
You should buy your phone in the US because carriers will subsidize the cost if you sign a 2 year contract. $600 phone will be sold at $200. You can get your phone unlocked for relatively cheap in Bangkok if AT&T/Verizon/Sprint/T-mobile don't give you the unlock code in time. |
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