On Monday 03 December 2007, Grant Edwards wrote: > On 2007-12-03, Grant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> What I do is use Verizon CDMA (far better coverage than any of > >> the GSM networks) in the US and I have a GSM phone that I use > >> internationally. You can get good used unlocked tri and > >> quad-band GSM phones for $20 and up. You can get brand new > >> ones for $30 and up. I got nearly new used Noka candy-bar > >> phone that's US-only for $18 off craig's list and a brand-new > >> quad-band Motorola V190 off ebay for $40. Just for giggles I > >> have a AT&T pre-paid SIM for my GSM phones so I can use them as > >> backups in the US. > > > > Speaking of SIM cards. Could I buy a local SIM card in a different > > country and use it for official data access while I'm there? > > Maybe. In the US, data plans aren't usually available for > pre-paid SIM cards. I've never tried to get data service > outside the US -- only prepaid voice and text messaging.
In Europe GSM is synonymous with cell phone (as far as I know analogue cell phone networks are no longer available to retail customers). You can buy Pay-As-You-Go SIM cards for less than $20 dollars equivalent. If you want a new phone with that, you may have to pay a bit more, but not much. I wouldn't be surprised if these days you can get a phone for 'free' as long as you buy say, $50 equivalent of Pay-As-You-Go minutes. As long as your phone is not locked by the provider (or you are prepared to unlock it yourself) it will work with any provider's SIM card. Also in Europe there are many ISP dial-up numbers, which will just cost you the price of a local call. These in the UK start with 0845- and for some/many of these you do not have to register as a user. Google for 'anonymous free dial up number UK' and you'll get a long list of 0845- numbers with username & passwds. You can use your PAYG phone and SIM card to ring any of these numbers. I have not found yet any dial up numbers which are barred by cell phone providers in the UK or in Europe (at least Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, Spain and Greece), but YMMV. To avoid paying international call rates between different countries in Europe it would make sense to search and find ISP dial up numbers for each country that you intend to visit. All of the above deals with numbers which are dialed up using plain GSM (TDMA or 2G technology). That's sloooow but cheap if you only intend to stay on line for short periods of time (e.g. downloading a couple of plain text emails) since charging is structured around the period of time that you stay connected. For larger downloads you need more bandwidth which in (most/all? of) Europe means a GPRS connection (FDMA, or 2.5G) and charging structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Packet_Radio_Service With this you can stay connected as long as you want - you only pay for the kb of data that you up/download. As always Google should be able to show you loads of deals that are available these days to choose between providers. PAYG top-up cards containing the necessary codes that register your SIM with the respective cell phone network are available widely from corner shops and kiosks. Any GSM cell phone sold today can access both GSM & GPRS services. More recently 3G technology (W-CDMA) has been made available in Europe and along with 3G enabled cell phones, cardbus, or USB 3G modems are being sold as the latest best gadget to get your laptop online (Internet). There's even 3G cell phones sold by Nokia with a Skype button on them. This allows you to make Skype (free) calls to other Skype users. More on 3G here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G With regards to the mechanics of placing a call, you can use a USB cable (assuming one comes with the phone), bluetooth, or irda. Just like dialing a dial-up number with your desktop, you load up the relevant driver, identify the new interface and connect to it using e.g. kppp. You will need to set up your phone to accept connections over the relevant interface/ act as you would with a PCI modem. Hope this helps to fill in the picture for Europe. Googling for relevant mobile services deals in UK will get you price plans and what not. HTH. -- Regards, Mick
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