Using cellphone in USA, best option?

[Dalcon]

I'm going to the states for a few weeks and was wondering rather than just asking telecom/vodafone and getting the best option for thier own profit margins, has anyone here had actual expierence of what the best option is.

These are the 2 main options I'm aware of.

- Arrange with telecom/vodafone to use my nz phone(assuming it has the right freq etc) in the states. Simple, can recv calls from home, but very expensive.

- If have a gsm phone, instead of using vodafone nz's sim card, buy one in the states to take advantage of much cheaper rates specially considering I'll only be calling another cell phone with the same provider in the us of a.

[Simon]

If you're only going to be calling another cellphone, why would getting a local SIM be significantly cheaper than roaming with your own phone -- if at all?

[SuperKing!]

I think he means that he'll be calling cellphones in the states, and if he has a local sim, he'll be charged for a "local cellphone call" but if he's roaming, he'll get ultra charged because it's like 1000x more expensive to call on the roaming plan thingee, not to mention getting charged for receiving calls. At least that's how it was in Aussie.

If anyone know's wtf I'm talking about feel free to explain it in a way that actually makes sense.

[Simon]

Imagine you travel from Country A to Country B carrying a GSM phone from Country A, where you are a customer of Telco X. You turn on your phone and the handset announces itself to Country B's networks and connects to one of them -- most handsets will simply connect to the network with the strongest signal then and there, although you can override this auto-selection and force connection to the network of your choice if you so desire. Let's call the foreign network you connect to Telco Y.

So here you are, carrying a Telco X phone from Country A, presently connected with a roaming connection to Telco Y in Country B.

If someone back in Country A calls your phone, that call goes to Telco X. Telco X then forwards that call to Telco Y in Country B, which puts it through to your handset. What Telco X has done is make an international call on your behalf, and that charge goes on your bill. That's why answering a phone call from home while roaming is expensive -- there's an international call involved.

On the other hand, if you -- while connected to Telco Y in Country B -- decide to call another number in Country B, you're just another Telco Y customer. You pick up your handset in Country B and call a number in Country B. There's no international call involved. It's no more expensive than for any other customer of Telco Y.*



* unless Telco Y specifically charges higher rates for roaming handsets on its network. So connect to a different network.

[Dalcon]

Is that from personal expierence using cell phones in the states, or just what you think makes sense?

Cause from what I can tell you get charged the roaming rates no matter who you call, in the local country or not, just cause you're not a local customer. If there is a provider that doesn't do that, I'd like to know, its just vodafone nz don't seem to think there is.

This is just for the states btw, don't care bout other countries telco policies.

[Mr M]

Yeh - I'm pretty sure Simon's got it right how it works.

[Napalm]

It's f'n expensive roaming. Took my tri-band Nokia 6100 over at the start of the year. (was on prepay). Even the chick at the Vodafone store in Chartwell Mall in Hamilton where I went to set it up told me it was a lot cheaper to get a new SIM over there, from her experience.

I called Vodafone customer support from LAX on the way back, to try and find out why none of my txts were getting through to a particular phone (a Nokia too...), got put on hold for a short while. I think that call cost me $20 something Never did figure out why either.

[juandem@rco]

Get your self an account in Skype then use an internet cafe. If people need to get hold of you they can text you in your "vodafone pre-pay tri-band phone with International roaming" then you call them back using Skype. Or call within the US using the same thing.

Worse case scenario get your self a phone with Nextel and use them!

Just an idea...

[Dalcon]

No.

To clarify, the primary purpose of the phones would be just to call the other phone and accept calls from the other phone, nothing else. I just want to have 2 small pieces of plastic that allow me to talk/txt the other peice of plastic at any range at a reasonable cost, for the 2.5 weeks I'm in the states.

There are other options like renting etc, but while I can talk to telecom/vodafone all I like, it won't be nearly as helpful as someone who has actually been there done that and can say definitivly what good options there are besides just paying the roaming rip off.

[Rocket]

this type of question is best posted on the geekzone forums. they are mobile gurus.

[Simon]

Originally posted by Napalm
I called Vodafone customer support from LAX on the way back, to try and find out why none of my txts were getting through to a particular phone (a Nokia too...), got put on hold for a short while. I think that call cost me $20 something Never did figure out why either.

You rang Vodafone, in New Zealand, from LAX, in the USA, using a roaming mobile phone, and you can't work out why it was expensive?

[Napalm]

Yeah, I think it was on their special number or something, but it was still a lot just to get hold of their support.

But the worst thing was after getting back, and Vodafone screwing up my account payment. On the form it specifically says that unless otherwise notified they'll automatically charge the balance to the CC number provided, which I wanted to do anyhow. After returning I got the bill, did nothing so it would be charged. A few weeks/next month I get a letter asking for payment, I ring, they say they'll sort it out. Couple of weeks later I get a txt from them saying unless I pay them they're going to disconnect my cellphone... Ring them yet again...finally it's charged and sorted. :/

[Napalm]

Actually I just had another look at my account.
As a reference, most txts were around NZ$0.42-$0.61
One incomming call cost $4.49 for 2:24min:sec
One cell-cell call was NZ$6.25 for 2:34.

But what Simon said sounds about right. I'd try just try getting a new account if I was going for more than a few weeks.

[Simon]

Back when cellphones themselves were still something of a novelty (let alone GSM roaming), the All Blacks were sponsored by BellSouth (later purchased by Vodafone to create Vodafone NZ). The novelty of mobile telephony was such that while on tour to South Africa in the mid-90s The Boys had a great time calling each other, no doubt initiating every call with "STATUE, BRO?" and much giggling.

However.

Consider my description of the roaming system above. Every time a drunken rugby player called up another drunken rugby player Just Because He Could, the local South African network would forward the call to the destination handset's home network (in NZ) which would then forward the call to the destination handset's current location (in SA). So each drunken call from a drunken rugby player at one end of a Capetown bar to another drunken rugby player ten metres away at the other end of that same bar was actually circumnavigating the globe, involving two international call transfers. Legend has it that quite a few players made calls Just Because They Could (remember, this was a time when talking on a mobile phone in public was an indicator of great phallic girth).

Legend has it that when the Bellsouth sponsorship manager received an accounting of the charges associated with the All Blacks sponsorship, there were a few more zeroes on it than expected. Quite a few more.

[Rince]

It wasn't the Bellsouth manager that we know and love involved was it?