Ok, here's the deal. My Girlfriend is going to Germany in less than a month for 2 weeks with her school. I'm the paranoid type, and seeing the movie Taken has not parlayed my fears one bit.
I want her to have a cell phone while she's there, but also want something that can run Mologogo or another similar GPS tracking program. I'm not infringing on her privacy and she has control on when to turn on the program (unless there's a way to have it run in the background secretly... just kidding... but seriously)
So, I'm looking at 2 options. 1) Get her current plan upgraded for international for this month while she's away. Not the best prices, but it's simple. or 2) The better plan is to find a local carrier (vodafone, cello, etc.) and have her swap out the Sim on a phone I get here....
I have NO idea how cell service works across the pond and I've been getting conflicting stuff left and right. Basically, if you've done option 2 before, just let me know what you did, and I'll probably do that. The GPS tracking is NOT a priority, I just want her to have a phone there.
thanks
first you need a Quadband phone then some trust
When traveling internationally you need an UNLOCKED tri or quadband GSM phone. My favorite travel work horse is a Treo 750v. If receiving calls to your current USA cell number is a priority simply add international calling to your current account (if GSM carrier like At&t) and it is enabled automaticly on your sim card. Non GSM carriers like Sprint will issue you a SIM card to put in your phone while away. Rates are high for this convenience, expect to pay around $1.75 to $1.99 per minute or more for USA calls. Data support is sometimes available, expensive or other times data is non existant.
Once abroad you can purchase a local SIM card that gives you a local number in the foreign country and now you must either use a prepaid phone phone card (excellent for short term) or subscribe to a monthly billing account (good for long term) to have usable calling minutes on the phone. I like the $10 cards and most of them can be re-charged using a credit card. Rates are cheaper to the USA, around $1.40. Unlike the USA data rates are expensive, often billed per 1k! This is ok to check email occaisionally but forget about browsing the net for hours. The negative of all this is you have to switch SIM cards depending on if you want to receive USA inbound calls or make calls to the USA and check you voicemail. Now you know why there are "dual sim" made in china phones on ebay.
Recent phones now offer WIFI so it is possible to use skype for calls if you have an account and find an open WIFI network. I have accomplised this on my Treo 800w. There can be reduced call quality on WIFI depending on available bandwidth.
Tracking a person's phone would either rely on a USA based service that unlikely functions abroad or raw GSM data from foreign towers that may or may not yield valid data.
Seriously re-examine your need to track someone and the level of your trust. If this is a person you want in your life then allow them the freedom to be away and miss your quality companionship. If they really care for you then you have nothing to worry or track about.
Actually, the tracking is an on-board Java applet that accesses the Phone's internal GPS module and sends the coordinates to an off-site server for viewing on PCs, etc. www.Mologogo.com if you're interested. Yes, I do have trust issues, but not with her, more of other people. Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. I always err on the side of over-preparedness... worst-case-scenario type of thing.
Yes, my plan is to use the "local sim card installed on an unlocked tri/quad-band cell phone bought locally here in the US" method. However, I've heard of companies that actually ship those sims to you ahead of time, so that you can do all the set-up here, instead of fiddling with it in the middle of your already hectic trip.
My thing too is One or both of us will be calling international. It would probably be cheaper for me to use a land-line and a phone card to call her local german number, no? Or maybe even use Skype's Skype-out service (which is basically VoIP-to-Landline/Cell service)
But again, Which company do I use. I know the mechanics, I need the specifics.
Oh, and thanks for the heads-up on the data plan, ix-nay on that on account of costs. I think I'll just spring for a can of pepper-spray instead of gps tracking.
Related
So I'm cheap. I do not want to pay an extra $30 for data on my fuze. Shortly after buying my fuze, I immediately called up AT&T and asked them to turn off data, because my phone was constantly trying to connect to 3g, and from previous experiences I know it will rack up my bill since I am without a data plan.
Anyway I've been searching around because data on this phone would be nice to have when I am outside of wifi. I noticed how at&t offered prepay data on select go phones for between $10-20 per month (Link http://www.phonenews.com/att-gophone-prepaid-adds-data-only-option-3381/. I thought sweet! But then what about voice and texting? I need voice and texting, and it would be nice to stay on my family's plan since I am not paying for it.
Then I started reading about dual sim's and dual sim adapters and thought what if I could have my current sim (unlim. voice, unlim. text, no data) and add in the 2nd sim card of one of those special prepay data phones and have my fuze run off of that for 3g data.
I have read with dual sim adapters it sounds like you have to switch between the 2 of them, so would that mean I could use only one at a time? Meaning if I am on the second data only sim, I could not receive texts or calls until I switch back to my main sim?
If this configuration could work simultaneously than it would be PERFECT. But if theres anyone out there with more insight, please let me know. Thanks
first of all. 3g is not only data. 3G is basically a faster connection (that also includes phone calls). [unless i'm wrong, this is how I understand 3g]
second. I don't think there is a dual sim adapter for the touch pro, but it also kind of makes the phone look horrible (assuming it's connected to some port since there is no room for another sim card).
Only specific phones can handle dual sims like KIRF iphone nano so it's not really worth it to save 10 bucks a month since you'll be spending money anyways, to get this adapter of yours.
I think there is finally a dual sim adapter for the touch pro...
Check this out:
http://www.simore.ch/en/two_sim_cards_in_one_mobile/dual_sim_card_gold_1.php
wow. That's kinda crazy to see that you have to cut up your sim card to fit it inside the dual sim adapter...
mike3000 said:
So I'm cheap. I do not want to pay an extra $30 for data on my fuze. Shortly after buying my fuze, I immediately called up AT&T and asked them to turn off data, because my phone was constantly trying to connect to 3g, and from previous experiences I know it will rack up my bill since I am without a data plan.
Anyway I've been searching around because data on this phone would be nice to have when I am outside of wifi. I noticed how at&t offered prepay data on select go phones for between $10-20 per month (Link http://www.phonenews.com/att-gophone-prepaid-adds-data-only-option-3381/. I thought sweet! But then what about voice and texting? I need voice and texting, and it would be nice to stay on my family's plan since I am not paying for it.
Then I started reading about dual sim's and dual sim adapters and thought what if I could have my current sim (unlim. voice, unlim. text, no data) and add in the 2nd sim card of one of those special prepay data phones and have my fuze run off of that for 3g data.
I have read with dual sim adapters it sounds like you have to switch between the 2 of them, so would that mean I could use only one at a time? Meaning if I am on the second data only sim, I could not receive texts or calls until I switch back to my main sim?
If this configuration could work simultaneously than it would be PERFECT. But if theres anyone out there with more insight, please let me know. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting thought. Bad news is they won't work simultaneously - however you can have the autoswitch every hour or so if you wanted.
Personally I'm not sure its really worth the effort. First off, you have to buy the adapter - which is going to cost you close to 100 bucks, then you'll need the gophone and it's sim-chip and the monthy prepay on that. By the time you add all this up you might as well just blow the 30 bucks on a data plan and save yourself the headace.
However the ability to now have dual sims in the FUZE is great. I suppose if you traveled a lot it could prove quite handy.
We all know how all of us want to spend as little money as possible, and have the best speeds and coverage. This is where my idea comes in. I recently switched from Verizon, to TMO. It hasn't been easy. TMO is in the middle, while Verizon is top dog in nationwide coverage (ahead of AT&T and so on) I went onto every carrier website and acted as if I were to build my own plan. I noticed that if you specify that you WANT or HAVE a smartphone, your plan went up regardless of how much data you chose, or minutes and texts. (Doesn't apply as much since talk and text are unlimited)
Here is where my idea comes in.
1. Choose up to as many lines as you need.
2. Choose all basic phones.
3. Get the max amount of data for the carrier you're going to switch to or are on.
4. Change the amount of data you want later on, and so on.
Then, this is where it gets a little confusing. So, bare with me guys!
You would get today's "basic sim". They have changed, but I am taking about a SIM for a flip phone of some sort. I am aware that some phones are sim free, but I know that some that do require some sort of sim card. You somehow ask to get 1,2,3,4,5,6 GB's of data on THAT basic sim. Now, I don't know how you would enable 4G/LTE on there, because it looks like they are incompatible. Somehow, someone could enable 4G on those basic sims, SOMEHOW. Then, cut it depending on what smartphone you want and bam. Save $10-20$ per phone. The fact that the carrier "knows" you're going to want a plan that involves one or more smartphones, bumps up your bill. I honestly don't think basic sims even support 3g, but with this day and technology, anything is possible. Anyone have any kind of idea of what I am saying? :fingers-crossed:
really its a great idea i like it . i appreciate it..................................
I want to update everyone on here since I had a difficult time finding the legit info I needed about traveling abroad with my xt926.
Germany (Munich)
Purchased a sim card at a small local shop that sold sims, tobacco, watches, sodas, etc.. It was through "Lebara" and included 500 minutes and 1gb data for 20 euro. This included 10euro activation, but that was applied to my Lebara account (so 30 euro total). I got around 6-7mbps while in Munich. Just inserted card and everything worked (after the clerk activated it).
Austria (Salzburg)
Same story, but the clerk didn't speak English so I had to activate the sim card online and it sent me a text message with activation number. After that I had to call the number on the card and "top up" with the given pin code. As I type I'm getting around 1.5mbps. --small edit: clerk only sold me a standard top-up so I was paying per MB and burned through it pretty quickly, make sure you ask for a package deal as paying per MB is ridiculous.
The only difference in Austria is that I had to manually add the APN. In Germany no APN was required.
Both places are operating on H+ (hspa I think)
So, have no fear when traveling with your xt926. All is well and working properly (voice, data, text)
EDIT:
Amsterdam
I went with another Lebara sim card here, but didn't realize that the guy at the shop in the train station sold me a data only top-up pin code (10 euro for 1gb). It was not really a problem tho as I didn't need to make any calls. Data speeds here were only clocking around .8 megabits. It was still plenty to get me around.
The only problem that I had on this trip was battery life. Turns out there's a battery drain from the modem fast dormancy service due to network conflicts. I downloaded a service killer (I have root access.) At first I thought my battery was going quick due to heavy GPS usage, but after turning off that service my battery life was back to normal.
Hopefully this helps someone out!
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using XDA Free mobile app
I did a search and couldn't find a good spot to ask about plans so hopefully this fits here.
Recently upgraded from N4 to N5, since I now have have access to LTE (and T-Mobile has recently rolled out Band 2 coverage just about state wide in my state) it has opened up my service provider options. Currently on ST (AT&T) $45 a month, was hoping to be able to switch to something else and gain LTE speed (I have an early sim card and no LTE speed) and maybe save $5 or so a month.
Came across an ad for MetroPCS (MVNO for T-Mobile) offering a free LTE phone with porting of a non T-Mobile # (since I'm on AT&T right now I should be eligible). Figured I could pick up a free phone, drop the sim card into my N5 and keep the phone has a spare/give it to my son/sell it.
I have 2 questions:
1. If I were to give it to my son, would I have to use MetroPCS for service or could I use it on T-Mobile or any of its MVNOs (eyeing the $30 text/data plan). From what I have read I think it would be stuck on MetroPCS unless I unlock it, which is apparently a little difficult for their GSM devices.
2. Not sure if anyone would know the answer for sure, but the large majority of my data is used streaming music on pandora to my car radio (Android headunit running pandora app that connects to my phone via wireless tether). The appeal of MetroPCS vs. other MVNOs was even tho I lose 2GB of data (3 vs. 5) I save $5 a month and if my pandora steaming doesn't count then my monthly usage goes from about 4.5GB down to 2GB. I assume that MetroPCS just looks at the servers on the web the data is coming from and then flags anything from Pandora has not to be against my quota, it doesn't care if my phone then shares that data via wifi to another Android device.
Anyway thanks for any answers or feedback.
Well I have working tether now, I'll report back about the answer to 2. And I will steal a t-mo sim from another phone and check 1. but I believe the answer is it will only work with metropcs sims and not any t-mobile mvno.
OK to answer #2 it appears that A. MetroPCS is lying just streaming pandora on my phone seems to eat up data (or something is eating it up at an alarming rate with my phone idle and just playing pandora) and it most certainly is counted towards my data cap when its on a tethered device, in fact their whole data usage seems to be a big scam. According to the MyMetro app I have used 800mb in 3 days, this is with playing about 2 hours of pandora (which shouldn't count) 3 short trips of navigation, about 20 emails (none with attachments, just short text only emails) and about 10 minutes of web browsing. On ST that wouldn't have been more than a few hundred MB.
And lastly their coverage map isn't even remotely close, 3 separate times I have been outdoors on a main road in an area that is solid dark purple even at the most zoomed in level and I can travel a good mile in every direction before I get any kind of signal, let alone a 4G LTE signal.
/Rant
Does anyone have any experience with esim? I was using esim with Verizon for about a month and a half and I have to say that my service sucked. I was having issues with keeping service, it would randomly drop, my internet speeds were ranging 0.5-1 mb/sec, dropped calls, ect...
I ended up going with physical sim with Verizon and it was like a 180 degree turn, I don't have service being dropped, my internet ranges 25-100mb/sec, no dropped calls, you get the picture.
But I ask if anyone else has had that problem? I did research and found that due to the antenna array in the majority of the phones will have a decrease in service quality when you have both esim/sim activated at once, but I only had esim running with the physical sim empty.
Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Brandon
brandonpa said:
Does anyone have any experience with esim? I was using esim with Verizon for about a month and a half and I have to say that my service sucked. I was having issues with keeping service, it would randomly drop, my internet speeds were ranging 0.5-1 mb/sec, dropped calls, ect...
I ended up going with physical sim with Verizon and it was like a 180 degree turn, I don't have service being dropped, my internet ranges 25-100mb/sec, no dropped calls, you get the picture.
But I ask if anyone else has had that problem? I did research and found that due to the antenna array in the majority of the phones will have a decrease in service quality when you have both esim/sim activated at once, but I only had esim running with the physical sim empty.
Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Brandon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Negative experience with an iPhone 11 soured interest in messing with esims. Daughter's phone; attempted to migrate long standing Verizon service to esim so physical slot could be used for regional carriers during a overseas trip.
Transition was a nightmare; lost service for 12 hours on two occasions while still in the US, both of which required intervention by Verizon support due to provisioning issues. Hoping it was a device issue made another attempt on a XR; that failed entirely. Dumped Verizon on that line and migrated to Google Fi (physical card). Cut over instantly and worked flawlessly through 7 Western European countries. Never looked back.
I wonder how much was due to Verizon provisioning vs. using esim. Reported experiences vary widely with final results largely polarized. Not worth the hassle IMO, especially when transitioning to a new phone. Card transfers seem to work flawlessly (at least with Verizon) and allow instant reversion to another device.
At least I am not the only person. So many people saying it is in my head and that esim is superior.... But regardless, wish it wasn't a problem.
Thank you.
DB126 said:
Negative experience with an iPhone 11 soured interest in messing with esims. Daughter's phone; attempted to migrate long standing Verizon service to esim so physical slot could be used for regional carriers during a overseas trip.
Transition was a nightmare; lost service for 12 hours on two occasions while still in the US, both of which required intervention by Verizon support due to provisioning issues. Hoping it was a device issue made another attempt on a XR; that failed entirely. Dumped Verizon on that line and migrated to Google Fi (physical card). Cut over instantly and worked flawlessly through 7 Western European countries. Never looked back.
I wonder how much was due to Verizon provisioning vs. using esim. Reported experiences vary widely with final results largely polarized. Not worth the hassle IMO, especially when transitioning to a new phone. Card transfers seem to work flawlessly (at least with Verizon) and allow instant reversion to another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
esim was the only way to get service until I got a new sim and it worked pretty flawlessly for me.
Mine works just fine.
Phisical sim on Vodafone and e-sim on Orange.