Myanmar does not have a mobile network. They seem to have one planned, probably working only in the capital. All the other countries you mentioned, except Japan, are covered via united mobile and 09

turns out i prolly woulnt want to make calls from myanmar anyway, or email for that matter ... the government reads all outbound emails and can listen to phone convos ... so myanmar is out of the equation how, haha

so it pretty much has come down to yackie or UM for me, which both seem like good deals ... and then which phone to buy ... which Im also not sure on ... any tips on that front?

Not quite "no network". On cellular-news.com I found the link to the Myanmar post/telecom website: http://www.mpt.net.mm/mobile/index.html. It seems that they have D-AMPS, CDMA and GSM. Moreover GSM is already functioning but very slight chance for roaming at any price:
<quote>
International Roaming
1.Under negotiation with AIS ( Advanced Info Service ), Thailand.
2.Under negotiation with China Mobile, China.
3.Under Negotiation with Maxxis, Malaysia.
</quote>

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/net_mmpt.shtml

and

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/roa_mmpt.shtml

Prion, I think that infos on operator websites are usually more up to date than those on gsmworld.com. Anyway, it doesn't solve Moxie990's main problem - no roaming possibilities with Yackie, Travelsim or any "regular" operator - only a satphone remains :(

Even the infos provided via the website suggest that there are no roaming possibilities at present, which is the most important, I agree with you :)

Here for the card validity, it says 1 activity every 12 months, and on the yackie FAQ it says 1 activity every 6 months. One of them has to be a typo. Does not matter much for me, since incoming/outgoing calls are pretty reasonable here in the US. It's really just clarification for others.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/international.html


Yackie FAQ Excerpt:

Q: When does the Yackie SIM card and airtime credit expire?
A: Your Yackie Mobile SIM card will never expire as long as the SIM card is used at least once to make or receive calls every 6 months. Airtime credit will expire after 6 months if no calls were placed or received.

We should ask cizake, but if I'm now wrong I was told directly by him about the 12 months, but I could have understood it wrong.

Roaming in Myanmar is claimed with Telestial's Passport sim card but at US$1.90/min outgoing (and. .41/min. incoming) to the US a satphone or a calling card would be cheaper per minute. Thuraya only claims coverage in western Myanmar, Globalstar shows map coverage but it's not available to North American roamers, which I think would leave Iridium or Inmarsat. If only rare travel there, probably an Iridium handset rental would make the most sense.

I think that this about roaming with telestial is wrong for the reasons that I and Przemolog have written