[Idyllchat] united mobile cell phone

Sun Jan 13 16:18:52 EST 2008

True, quad-band is best, and if you're acquiring a new phone anyway, you should try to get the quad-band model. But even a tri-band phone from T-Mobile (900/1800/1900 MHz) WILL work in Europe (and yes, they've always unlocked them for free), whereas a tri-band from AT&T/ Cingular (850/1800/1900 MHz) will NOT. In other words, if you have a tri-band from T-Mobile, you don't need to worry whether or not it will work (although you should learn how to switch between different bands--not all phones do it automatically), and you really don't need to spend more on a quad-band phone. 

I'm too lazy to unlock my newer quad-band phone, so I just take my old tri-band phone from 5 years ago, whenever I go abroad. Thanks to my friends and family, the phone has traveled to more continents than its owner--and not once did anyone complain of any connectivity issues. (You can even get service in some areas of the Australian outback.)

----- Original Message ----
From: Jay Cloidt <jayclimbs at gmail.com>
To: L B <oiseaudecham at yahoo.com>
Cc: Idyllchat <idyllchat at lists.untours.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 7:01:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Idyllchat] united mobile cell phone

To have full connectivity both here and in Europe, you should get a quad-band phone. The US has an old frequency and a new frequency, and so does Europe. To get complete coverage, you need a quad-band phone. I use a Palm Treo 680. Works great here, and it worked great in Switzerland. 

Cingular wanted to charge me $199 for the phone. For an extra $150 I got an unlocked phone.

I keep waiting for someone to sue the Wireless companies about this phone locking idiocy. We are the only country that does this. Especially since there are 2 competing technologies in this country anyway, and you can't take a Verizon phone to AT&T and vice versa because the network technology is different. I'm glad to see T-Mobile will unlock their phones. 

  - Jay

On Jan 12, 2008 12:31 PM, L B <oiseaudecham at yahoo.com> wrote:

let this be the final word on cell phones... :)

When this discussion comes up, I invariably bring up United Mobile's SIM cards, which are the best value for anybody who plans to travel more than once in their lifetime, and who can invest in an unlocked tri-band phone (or, for T-Mobile customers, just have theirs unlocked for free by the CS). 
I've been using mine for several years, back when it was called "riiing" and gave you a Liechtenstein number, and you had to buy the starter card on eBay. They've now upgraded  to UK numbers (less expensive to call FROM the US), you can buy starter kits directly online, refill online. Their outgoing rates are great (29 eurocents to call the US from Europe, although there's a 25c connecting charge per call); incoming calls are free in 80 countries (including most of Europe, Oceania, and even Asia, but not the US), and you never need to purchase another SIM card again. They do expire in theory (after 9 or 12 months), if you don't use them--but all you have to do to prevent it from happening is to send an SMS to yourself or someone else (or refill the account), since the card works in the US as well. Even better, I lend it to all my family and friends wh en they travel, so I never have to worry about expiration. It works as a callback service, which is a
 little strange, if you haven't used it before, but you learn after one single phone call. Even my parents figured out how to use it on their trip to China. (It helped that I created a detailed list of instructions--which I'd be happy to share if anybody needs it). 
http://www.united-mobile.com/

(another) final note:
On my last trip to Europe, my phone stopped charging after a few days. (By then, we were in Heidelberg, Germany.) It's an older model, so I couldn't find a new battery for it in any of the cell phone shops on the main drag. But one of the salespeople recommended a little shop called "Schwarzmarkt", which sold some odds and ends (anything from keychains to apparently cell phone paraphernalia). The clerk there asked me why I thought it was the battery and not the charger. I insisted that I knew better (not that I'm qualified to make such assumptions). He suggested that I leave the phone in the store, connected to his charger, for a couple of hours, and see what happens. So I left my phone there, in a foreign country, with a stranger, and went up to the castle. When I came back a couple of hours later, my phone was fully charged; I bought the charger from the man (who could have sold me a more expensive battery instead...), and was on my way. Both the phone
 and the charger are still fully operational (right now, they're in Madrid, Spain, with my sister-in-law.)  There's no lesson learned (other than the obvious "only in Germany"--and that even dual-voltage chargers can blow in a foreign outlet), but I love to tell the story. 

----- Original Message ----
From: John Ruch <jruch39 at verizon.net>
To: acricchi < acricchi at comporium.net>; Idyllchat <idyllchat at lists.untours.com>
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 12:34:04 AM 
Subject: Re: [Idyllchat] Mobal cell phone

We got an old-model Nokia three years ago as reward for making a donation to The Travel Insider (a interesting online newsletter, by the eway). Use it two-four times each trip to Euope and it's been trouble-free. Mobal's online newsletter for customers is also useful. You have a permanent phone number and while per call charges are perhaps higher than those of other providers, with low use it doesn't matter, and  calls are billed to your credit card after you get home. We'd previously rented a cell phone, but owning is better and I believe you can buy a Mobal phone for as little as $49, although haven't priced 'em for six months. Have thought about getting a new one because batteries are going to be hard to find for our current Nokia when they give out.   

John & Shelby Ruch

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