[Gocamino] Mobile Phones

[Richard Ferguson]

There are many horror stories about people incurring huge roaming charges when they take their smartphone outside the country.      One way to avoid roaming charges is to take an "unlocked quad band GSM phone" with you, and buy a SIM card for $15 or so when you arrive in country.   Buy another $10 in "credit", and you have a working phone with a local phone number.    I have done this in several countries; for a while I had a Puerto Vallarta phone number.  ;-)   

Besides saving money, people who try to call your USA number will not ring your phone in Europe to invite you to lunch.   You will get very view incoming calls with a new number, just to those select people to whom you give your new phone number.  And of course, you don't need to turn it on after you make your first test call, just keep it in your pack for emergencies.  One advantage of leaving it off is you don't need to charge it every few days.

Somehow I have ended up with three of these "unlocked quad band GSM" phones, complete with 110/220V chargers.   I would be willing to entertain loaning one out if someone is planning a trip.   

Note that an unlocked quad band GSM phone is a true global phone;  it will work in the USA and around 200 other countries in the world.   Many US phones may not work overseas, due to different frequencies and different technical standards, so do some research before you take your US phone abroad.

Richard




On Oct 20, 2011, at 12:46 PM, Grant Spangler wrote:

> We have had occasional dialogs about using a cell phone on the Camino and the amazing charges one might incur. Here's a horror story of $200,000 in data roaming charges on a US mobile phone used in Canada.
> 
> ----- Begin AP News -----
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> A Florida woman recently received a shock from her cell phone company when she got a bill for $200,000. She has two deaf brothers on her plan, and huge data charges were incurred during a trip to Canada. (Oct. 18) 
> 
> http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=69016&sitesection=bostonglobe&VID=23539748
> 
> ----- End AP News -----
> 
> Whilst in the mobile phone arena, my dear Peregrina Anita is in Spain to walk the Camino Madrid. I unlocked her old iPhone 3G to be able to use any GSM system worldwide. I further embedded both our North American and European contacts for ease of use. She dutifully bought a Movistar SIM in Madrid, turned off data roaming and location services so everything was set. Flawless low cost communications ensued. Well, the Camino Madrid seems to have poor waymarkings, and decidedly less infrastructure than, say, the Camino Frances. Still, things were under control until she tripped and fell and incurred some major injuries. After a bit of the Camino miraculous (or amazing happenstance, your choice) she ends up in the safe haven of Rebekah and Paddy in Moratinos. Thank God for technology and friends on foreign shores. What could have been a major situation was downsized to the tolerably painful. So everything works out. But ain’t that just like the Camino?
> 
> Buen Camino,
>  
>  
> Grant
>  
> http://www.ElCaminoSantiago.com
> Resources for the Pilgrimage Road to Santiago 
> 
> 
> 


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