TAKE TWO! ONE WILL BE BETTER. Advice especially for newbies.

[Robins]

Hi all,
Newbie here appreciate the info so far. Just purchased a blu dual sim phone for travel from the US to South America Europe and Japan.

Based on what I've read here, will load it with a piraña card for the benefit of everyone to call us while we travel and then will also load it with some local cards as we go and rely on skype for most calling. Will be on the road for three months total. If the whole thing doesn't work in Japan, I guess that will,have to be ok.

Other thoughts?

[inquisitor]

Which phone model have you bought exactly? For Japan you will need one that supports at least UMTS2100 as they don't have any 2G networks anymore.

[snidely]

Originally Posted by Robins

Hi all,
Newbie here appreciate the info so far. Just purchased a blu dual sim phone for travel from the US to South America Europe and Japan.

Based on what I've read here, will load it with a piraña card for the benefit of everyone to call us while we travel and then will also load it with some local cards as we go and rely on skype for most calling. Will be on the road for three months total. If the whole thing doesn't work in Japan, I guess that will,have to be ok.

Other thoughts?

Who is your local carrier in the U.S.? If you are on T-Mobile you would have free wifi calling built-in if you have an Android or BBerry. Free calling back to U.S. wherever you have wifi.

[Robins]

Hi all,
Thanks for the input: we got a Blu samba junior plus. As far as tmobile goes, we use prepaid, and according to them, there's no international available for prepaid, we also found that the sim did not work in Mexico.

As far as Japan goes, if the phone doesn't work there, it's only 14 days. I also did not think we could get a phone that worked in all places for less than forty bucks.

Thank you again, appreciate it

Robin

[inquisitor]

That phone won't work in Japan at all. The cheapest phone sold in the US and being compatible with Japanese networks that I could find on the quick is the Nokia C2-01 for a price of $80.

[Bossman]

Actually, tmobile prepaid does have some international roaming, at very expensive rates of course. My sim worked in Mexico as well.

I am currently in Nigeria, using the Piranha sim and my local Nigerian sim in a Samsung 6102B (with the 2100 3G)Galaxy Y duos dual sim phone. In my experience, it seems like the Piranha sim is doing a lot of checking or connecting and disconnecting from the network. And that uses the battery a lot. Besides that, it works fine.

Originally Posted by Robins

Hi all,
As far as tmobile goes, we use prepaid, and according to them, there's no international available for prepaid, we also found that the sim did not work in Mexico.

Robin

[snidely]

Originally Posted by Robins

Hi all,
Thanks for the input: we got a Blu samba junior plus. As far as tmobile goes, we use prepaid, and according to them, there's no international available for prepaid, we also found that the sim did not work in Mexico.

As far as Japan goes, if the phone doesn't work there, it's only 14 days. I also did not think we could get a phone that worked in all places for less than forty bucks.

Thank you again, appreciate it

Robin

Prepaid users on TM have had the ability to roam intl. for a while. You would NOT want to do that as rates in Europe are $1/min and in So. America much more than double that. You would need to call CS at TM to activate that. To make use of their wifi calling feature you would need an Android or BBerry.

[EDF30]

Thanks for all the help from the experts!

I think I will try the Piranha sim, I can have it shipped to my house before my trip, test it out and learn how it works.

I checked the providers for the various countries I will visit. Hopefully I will have good coverage on my journey. I love the internet and forums like this one, as you can find out just about anything from experts that have been there and done that.

Netherlands

KPN
TMobile
Vodafone

Germany

Eplus
02
Tmobile
Vodafone

Austria

Mobilkom
Orange
Tmobile

Italy

Tim

France

Bougues
Orange
SFR


Is TIM a good nationwide coverage network for Italy? I will spend a week of the trip going to Venice, Lake Como, and Italian Riviera.

Thanks again for all the help!

[ranerio]

Originally Posted by EDF30

Thanks for all the help from the experts!

I think I will try the Piranha sim, I can have it shipped to my house before my trip, test it out and learn how it works.

I checked the providers for the various countries I will visit. Hopefully I will have good coverage on my journey. I love the internet and forums like this one, as you can find out just about anything from experts that have been there and done that.

Netherlands

KPN
TMobile
Vodafone

Germany

Eplus
02
Tmobile
Vodafone

Austria

Mobilkom
Orange
Tmobile

Italy

Tim

France

Bougues
Orange
SFR


Is TIM a good nationwide coverage network for Italy? I will spend a week of the trip going to Venice, Lake Como, and Italian Riviera.

Thanks again for all the help!

Yes Mr, TIM has got very good coverage in Italy. Wind offers a better value plan if you want to use a lot of data, but it takes like 24-hours to activate.