Various topics in Asia.

DRNewcomb · **Various topics in Asia. -** 30-01-2007, 06:33

Well, since I dropped off the net about Christmas it's been one of my more eventful “vacations”. All I can say is that you don't want to think about what will happen to you if you're in a 737 that decides to spontaneously disassemble itself in midair. In the mean time, I was able to do some interesting research on prepaids and roaming in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. An interesting side note is that while I was in route to Singapore a major earthquake occurred off Japan. The ensuing submarine turbidity flows cut several communications cables in the eastern Pacific, disrupting communications all over East Asia.

First thing, I've been beta testing a new international SIM from CelTrek.com. This appears to be similar to YackieMobile in that it is an Israeli SIM with a US number. CelTrek: Worked on all nets in Singapore, even when earthquake disrupted communications. Worked on Smart and Globe networks in Philippines but I needed to wait about 1 minute for the callback. Worked on INDOSAT and ProXL (Excelindo) in Indonesia. Did not work on TelComSel and did not register on any network in Malaysia.

Singapore: Purchased StarHub “Green” prepaid at a “7/11” store for S$18.00. They have a S$0.59/day option to allow unmetered incoming calls. This, coupled with VoiceStick, allowed me to receive calls from my US number for $0.077c/min.

Indonesia: Got an INDOSAT “Mentari” prepaid. Not sure of cost as it was given to me by work. SMS sent to my T-Mobile (US) phone did not arrive. When my T-Mobile phone roamed onto the ProXL (Excelindo) network I received a SMS informing me of the local phone number I’d been assigned for free incoming calls. I called this number and, despite the fact that I had all my incoming calls forwarded to voicemail, I still received the call. I then set ProXL as my preferred network in Indonesia. The test call has not shown up on my T-Mobile billing, so I assume it works. This is a great feature which I hope many more networks adopt. You can avoid having to buy a local prepaid for short visits if they give you a local number for free incoming calls. This worked with my Mobal SIM as well but not for a variety of international prepaids. Incoming calls in Indonesia with 09 are listed as 69cts/min. Using ProXL’s automatic local number you can get incoming calls forwarded via VoiceStick for about 11c/min and callbacks from CBW for about 20c/min.

Earthquake: T-Mobile and 09 would not reliably register on nets in Singapore after the earthquake that cut undersea communications cables. It's better now.

AndreA · 30-01-2007, 13:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRNewcomb

First thing, I've been beta testing a new international SIM from CelTrek.com.

Really interesting! And great review from Asia, thanks

	(#1)
DRNewcomb (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,465 Join Date: 27 Feb 2004 Location: Mississippi, USA Country:	Various topics in Asia. - 30-01-2007, 06:33 Well, since I dropped off the net about Christmas it's been one of my more eventful “vacations”. All I can say is that you don't want to think about what will happen to you if you're in a 737 that decides to spontaneously disassemble itself in midair. In the mean time, I was able to do some interesting research on prepaids and roaming in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. An interesting side note is that while I was in route to Singapore a major earthquake occurred off Japan. The ensuing submarine turbidity flows cut several communications cables in the eastern Pacific, disrupting communications all over East Asia. First thing, I've been beta testing a new international SIM from CelTrek.com. This appears to be similar to YackieMobile in that it is an Israeli SIM with a US number. CelTrek: Worked on all nets in Singapore, even when earthquake disrupted communications. Worked on Smart and Globe networks in Philippines but I needed to wait about 1 minute for the callback. Worked on INDOSAT and ProXL (Excelindo) in Indonesia. Did not work on TelComSel and did not register on any network in Malaysia. Singapore: Purchased StarHub “Green” prepaid at a “7/11” store for S$18.00. They have a S$0.59/day option to allow unmetered incoming calls. This, coupled with VoiceStick, allowed me to receive calls from my US number for $0.077c/min. Indonesia: Got an INDOSAT “Mentari” prepaid. Not sure of cost as it was given to me by work. SMS sent to my T-Mobile (US) phone did not arrive. When my T-Mobile phone roamed onto the ProXL (Excelindo) network I received a SMS informing me of the local phone number I’d been assigned for free incoming calls. I called this number and, despite the fact that I had all my incoming calls forwarded to voicemail, I still received the call. I then set ProXL as my preferred network in Indonesia. The test call has not shown up on my T-Mobile billing, so I assume it works. This is a great feature which I hope many more networks adopt. You can avoid having to buy a local prepaid for short visits if they give you a local number for free incoming calls. This worked with my Mobal SIM as well but not for a variety of international prepaids. Incoming calls in Indonesia with 09 are listed as 69cts/min. Using ProXL’s automatic local number you can get incoming calls forwarded via VoiceStick for about 11c/min and callbacks from CBW for about 20c/min. Earthquake: T-Mobile and 09 would not reliably register on nets in Singapore after the earthquake that cut undersea communications cables. It's better now.