Telestial Global Explorer Pre-Paid SIM User Report w/ 8125
In the spirit of trying to give back to the community from which I have learned so much, I offer this review of my recent experience with a prepaid SIM on a business trip to Europe. I purchased this SIM through www.telestial.com, since I couldn't find any glaring negative reviews about the site (unlike GO-SIM). I also snagged a Vodafone SIM from them, since it offers GPRS service, but I won't get to try it out until next month.
Upfront Info:
• Using an unlocked AT&T (Cingular) 8125 w/latest Cingular ROM's (they are months old by now)
• Have never taken my 8125 to Europe before, but have travelled throughout Latin America with it.
o It's been a great world phone for me – after my hacks & customizations (MS VC 1.6 is key)
Positives/Comments:
• If the SIM doesn't work when you first install it, make sure that you have put it in correctly… haha (don't laugh, everybody does this once, right??)
• Estonian mobile number
o Folks calling you need to keep that in mind when they are estimating their calling rates
o For example, my brother can call German mobiles for $.30/min, but Estonian Mobile phones are $2.95/min !!
• Free incoming calls in most European countries – woohoo!
• Outgoing calls are usually about 35-50% of AT&T's preferred roaming rates
o Still not cheap, but paired with free incoming = Great deal
• You can enable auto-recharge on your account so you don't have to worry about running out of airtime
• Sep 2007: Travelled throughout Germany, Switzerland, Austria, & Luxembourg
o Great coverage; phone always picked a good, strong carrier
Don’t know how much of that was phone dependent though
• Also used an international callback service to reduce outgoing call costs a bit more ($0.10/min reduction on average vs. regular Global Explorer rate back to US)
o Provider: www.Gphone.com
o Piece of cake to use, but I thought their instructions were a bit confusing at first, especially when paired with the Global Explorer SIM.
o A typical call would occur like this:
Dial your Gphone access # in the US
Your phone will tell you to hang up
Wait a few seconds for it call back, and you answer
Wait a few seconds until it rings ONCE, then hang up
? Wait a few seconds for a call back from the Gphone service, then answer
Once you answer, then you follow the prompts to dial a number – whether it's in the US or international
o These nested callbacks were confusing to me at first, and for brief calls or for those made at 200+ kph on the Autobahn, probably aren't worth the risk/trouble
Negatives:
• Dialing out is a bit kludgey
o You dial the number, and the phone tells you to hang up
o You receive a callback and answer the phone
o Wait a few seconds (varies, but always <5), then your call starts ringing
• No GPRS data – major bummer, but I've been able to find lots of Wi-Fi hotspots
Related
Hi, I have been very happily using my XDA with a '3' SIM after unlocking it but as of this weekend, it stopped working. It will work with other network SIMs so I know the phone is fine. I called '3' but obviously they are not interested. Is it because of the IMEI? If so, I would like to find out how I can change it ... My radio was 4.21 so I downgraded to 3.23.00 and then tried XDA Manipulator but it does not show that option (flashes and dissappears) . I cannot seem to find Radio Stacks V4.06 or 4.10 anywhere ... any help much appreciated.
Details
<Wallaby 5.14, ROM = 3.17.03. Radio = 3.23.00>
How did you downgrade the radio stack, please give me the method used because I know many people will be interested, I have never managed it either.
Reference your usage of the sim from 3, I cannot see it being an imei problem, as you know the xda is not 3 compatable so it will be logging you on through a 3rd party network as far as I know. If the imei was blocked it would not work with any operator here in uk. Does the 3 sim work in another phone.?
I found GERMAN Radio Stack from this forum. (REF:http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=2185). The '3' network also uses O2 network. Have not tried '3' sim in another phone - will test tomorrow.[/b]
cruisin-thru said:
How did you downgrade the radio stack, please give me the method used because I know many people will be interested, I have never managed it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have downgraded a few times, but i dont know if this method will work 4 u.
if i currently have a TMO stack, ill go to a ATT stack, then i can bak to an earlier TMO, or visa versa
i only tried this with ATTs and TMOs, never had the need to try other stacks...(or should i :twisted: )
It is possible that the phone has been blocked, I have had this problem with 2 phones that I bought as faulty, I repaired them only to find that the sellers had claimed on insurance then sold the knackered phone which had been blocked by the provider.
JUICEe - I am not brave enuff to go down that route given the dire warnings from this forum in moving from UK/Europe stacks to US ones.
crusing-thru - Given that XDA works perfectly ok with 02 SIM, and '3' SIM works fine in 3' phone, I believe its something about the '3' SIM/Network and not the phone that is preventing me using it in my XDA at this time.
Tx for the interest, hope you were able to downgrade using the German stack. It works fine with O2 SIM.
It is strange though that the sim was working fine then doesnt work in xda but still works in another phone. Have you tried an orange or t mobile sim in the phone? If you are positive that 3 uses O2 as a patch network then ignore this. Have you been to bootloader and inadvertently changed gsm to 900 only, if 3 uses an 1800 network this would explain it, if you havent been to bootloader then I have no idea and if as you said the people at 3 are not interested I would consider dumping them as a service provider.
"Hutchison 3G has agreed to share network facilities owned by UK operator mmO2 to ensure rapid time to market even before its own network is complete, with customers roaming between Hutchison's limited 3G network and mmO2's existing second generation network. Hutchison's right to let customers roam with at least one existing competitor's 2G network is part of the 3G license and enforceable by law."
3 have locked the SIM, must be in one of their phones or will not work, even though it uses O2 as a voice network. Seen this problem many times, and there is nothing you can do about it. Anyone who has made it work is just lucky, and 3 will get to you in the end.
Don't ask me why they do it as to me they are restricting their own business, cos if you use your own handset, you are likely to use it more. Just ask my girlfriend who just hates her nec 606 and hardly uses it!!
Hi,
Basically what happened was that O2 complained to '3'. People were getting the cheap tarriffs from '3' and using them in 2g handsets.
O2's opinion was those people 'should' be using O2 as their provider if they are just using the 2g voice part.
'3' realised that if this becomes wide spread, although they will still make a % off the voice call in profit (after paying O2 for using their 2g network), they wont be acustoming people to using any of the 3g functions.
Really they would be hindering the progression of users from 2g to 3g, which may end up costing them alot more ultimately.
In my opinion it was most likely O2 threatening to take action too.
Really their marketing stratedgy is to give out cheap voice calls, to get the 3 phone in your hand... then they bombard u with offers to try video calls etc etc eventually 'in theory' u get used to these services.. same old story.
I havnt monitored the message, but from what i can tell they are using one of two things to stop the phones working:
1) capability messages from the phone restricting the phone from completing authentification because it isnt '3g' capable. That could be done as part of the auth process, raising the required capability to 3g.
2) Using the SAT (sim application toolkit) capability to talk to the USIM and dissable it.
Although SAT and USIM are not actually compatible, you can talk to a USIM through a SAT phone with limited functions.
If they're using (1) your **** outta luck really. But if that were the case you would expect everyone to be knocked out within the space of a month max (when they update the hlr records). Did you just get your 3 card?
If its 2.. you may be able to try an OLD handset that isnt SAT capable, just to prove the point.
I'm leaning towards (2) because i do know that on many nokia's if u type a number as soon as you boot up the phone it will work.
Also if u leave a digit on the screen.. say 0 as soon as u end that call it will still work when u dial the next number.
Clear the digit and not type one quick enough and you gotta reboot before it'll work again.
Sounds like the nokia firmware blocks access to the sim for other processes, in anticipation of reading the KC and doing an auth when u make the call.
Toxic.
I am currently visiting Poland, and using a local simcard. During calls my old T68 displays the current balance on my account in real time. My XDA-II just displays the duration, giving me no way of checking call costs. Is there any way to enable this feature, or any third party programs which can do it?
Phone Dashboard Minute Trackerv 1.0 Arm Ppc Phone Edition
There is a good software:
Phone Dashboard Minute Trackerv 1.0 Arm Ppc Phone Edition
that should fulfill all your needs. I can send U this.
Doesn't work with pre-pay cards. I contacted Hudson Mobile for this.
It's only intended for subscribers.
Grtz,
Jos
it would be easy to program though the program would just call the api call which give the cell call time and multiply it with the price typed in by the user and subtracted from the full cost on the sim card
of cause that could be the problem that windows dont support reading that factor from the sim card
I realise call costs can easilly be calculated from the call duration, but I was referring to a feature which most phones have which shows call costs in real time based on information sent by the network.
With my SIMPLUS account here, on my T610, during any phone calls the display shows information on the balance remaining on my account. Unfortunatly with sim plus, this is the only way of checking the remaining balance. On my XDA II I only know when I've run out of cash when calls get blocked.
heyah maybe?
Swith to Heyah - new prepaid offer. It's best offer on the market today and U hear voice info before each call (ca. 14s - duration) when U have AFAIR 5 zl left on your account. It's very cheap and simple offer but there's no MMS and GPRS at all..
Hi
I love my XDA Exec to bits, but find it a bit of a pain to take out and about at evenings and weekends. I have a Jabra bluetooth headset, which works a treat, but still means finding a bag or massive pocket to store the brick in.
What I’d love to be able to do is use another, much smaller, ‘normal’ handset, using the same number, but without having to faff about changing the SIM from one to the other. I believe that some providers offer a second SIM, but I don’t think that O2 do. I’ve heard about SIM cloning, but I suspect that’s a rocky road to go down, legally.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Cheers
contact your carrier's service center and order a second sim for the same number, it should be as simple as that.
I wish it was as simple. Unfortunately, O2 won't allow me to have two SIM cards with the same number.
Vodafone has this...
What you are looking is called on Vodafone network Multicard, here in Spain Multitarjeta. I am using this with my JJ, primary card, (GSM works with data GPRS,3G and SMS) and secondary card is in my Nokia 6600 (can’t do data nor SMS). This option gives me the freedom to pickup a call on any of these two and they are on at the same time.
There is another solution, called Vodafone Nexus which is similar thing, you can have GSM+DATA+SMS on both terminals but not at the same time, one of them needs to be off.
As far as I know, only Vodafone is giving these options and it costs me 3€ per month…
Hope I put this in the right area.
I will be traveling to the Czech Republic this July and am wanting to use my unlocked TMobile MDA (US) while there. I have looked at a couple of the carriers for plans that may fit my needs but I am not entirly sure I understand how exactly they work.
So here is what I am looking for. I will be there for 2 weeks. I am needing limited cell, mostly data. I am planning on using the data for VOIP built in to WM6 connected to my Asteriks server if possible. If I can't get that working I will be using the data as a modem to connect via soft phone. I was looking in to Pay AS You Go type services but with the terminology - tariffs? - I got a little confused. Now if data won't work for me obviously I will need more cell mins.
Can anyone help fill me in on what I might be looking for? I know of only 3 carriers for the country so am thinking my choices are limited - TMobile, O2 and Vodofone.
not sure about Czech Republic
but many places you can just buy a prepaid sim
with various amounts on in a convientstore or supermarket
and use it in any phone
Right, I have read up and understand that pre paid is the way to go, but does this normally include data service as well. And is there a service more reliable than the other. Just because I use TMobile in the US doesn't mean I will have the same luck with them out there so I will go with whoever seems to have the best service\price.
I used my UK tmobile pay as you go for data in Switzerland and France last february. It worked fine and wasn't all that expensive as far as I remember. I just collected andsent email a couple of times a day though and I used about £10 in a week.
Yes, all 3 Czech carriers (TMobile, O2, Vodofone) sell prepaid SIM cards, and I think that all of them support data/internet services (at least GPRS/EDGE). Vodafone's prices are 0,68 CZK/kB for WAP and 0,060 CZK/kB for generic internet (which is what you are interested in, I guess), other carriers' prices are probably very similar.
With O2 there is prepaid data nonstop tarif, it supports also 3G. Just go to one of O2 shops, some of them may speak english
I second the o2 suggestion. I recently took the train to Praha CR and my 02 dervice did not let me down. Problem sometimes with prepaid is they want to see documents...like residency requirements..at least here in Germany. I would get a calling card and call ahead...things like that can throw everything off.
no problem to buy prepaid card anywhere, no documents needed. you can buy it on most petrol stations, post offices - everywhere. I will give you further info about pricing as soon as i recieve it...
nocturne lives in Czech Republic so I would avoid going there.
So, i made some search about current situation.
t-mobile is the best fitting solution for you.
They offer prepaid sim card called "Twist Internet" - for 850CZK (about 35USD), you can use unlimited data connection (GPRS, EDGE or G4)
this card can be bought in every t-mobile shop, there are many of these shops in all cities larger than 10000 habitants - so it's almost everywhere.
you need no papers to buy this card, if yu will not spend another 850CZK, it simply will not work after a month, no more payments necessary.
Calling pricing is hard to choose. It depends on how much will you call and where. Try to specify it better...
If you have more questions, feel free to contact me...
vlodeck: shut up you polish freak
nocturne: ukrainian to be more exact
So, Im off on holiday in a couple weeks and after hearing a few horror stories of supprise roaming charges i'd just like to know a few steps to take so not to get hit by a massive bill when i get back.
Im in the UK and will be traveling to greece, Im on Vodafone UK.
Thanks in advance..
Also whats the deal with sending SMS's abroad? It will only be to my friends who im on holiday with, so its not going to be from greece to UK, just within greece, albeit to diferent networks.
again, thanks.
x
Off the top of my head...
djchubbs said:
So, Im off on holiday in a couple weeks and after hearing a few horror stories of supprise roaming charges i'd just like to know a few steps to take so not to get hit by a massive bill when i get back.
Im in the UK and will be traveling to greece, Im on Vodafone UK.
Thanks in advance..
Also whats the deal with sending SMS's abroad? It will only be to my friends who im on holiday with, so its not going to be from greece to UK, just within greece, albeit to diferent networks.
again, thanks.
x
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Off the top of my head: -
Install 'NoData', which, whilst I haven't used it myself yet, is supposed to permanently turn off all selected data connections. You presumably need to use the app to renable them when you get back.
Make sure you've not checked any of the roaming options on data-using tabs/apps, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, weather, etc.
Set your email to 'Update manually', and then don't update
Not sure on SMSs, but if you're sending from UK VF to another UK network, you'll pay whatever your tariff has in place for sending/receiving roaming SMSs. Not sure if you can get it, but I recall something along the lines of 'Vodafone Passport', where you can elect to use it and pay one off connection fees then use your inclusive minutes for all calls. Not sure if it covers SMSs as well in some form though. See http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=templateBlank&pageID=OS_0100
My top tip.........
DONT use Google Maps.......
I managed to add 40 quid to my bill over a weekend just using that and the facebook app
Wont be doing that again lol
Since you have Energy ROM, all the good advices from post #2 you can accomplish just by using Data Controller (located: Start - Internet - Data controller), which is cooked in in Energy ROM. Prior to leaving UK, just disable all the connections that are shown in Data Controller. That also includes MMS connections (Note that you will not be able to sen/receive MMS).
Once you are back in UK, just enable all the connections in Data Controller.
thanks very much for the help guys.
xx
or,you can just search for "no data in roaming", a small util which will automatically disable all data connection when it will find that you're out of your original network.
Tested while driving from UK to Poland, with both: O2 UK (way: UK->France-> Holland-> Germany-> Poland) & Polish Orange (opposite direction) SIM cards.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=503131
I used NoData - it stops telephone network data connections, which means you can still use WiFi.
If you are sending an SMS to a mate on holiday with you, then you will be charged a roaming SMS charge (which may be about 40p). Your mate will no get charged for receiving the SMS (and visa versa). What actually happens is the SMS is sent back to the UK, passed onto your mate's number and transfered back to him in Greece.
It is similar for phone calls between you. The caller will be charged at European roaming rate and the receiver will also be charged at European receiving roaming rates.
no need to use any external cabs like nodata.
Nothing simpler than manila settings>wireless settings>menu>connection>advanced>select networks and then make sure that all entries in there read "office network", that is, it will efficiently make the phone unable to use any carrier internet connection
Disable VoiceMail. You get charged for the call to your phone and for the diversion to your mailbox.
I avoid data charges by turning off roaming in each built-in application. Third party programs might still use data so the advice above is good.
To avoid silly bills, I use a PAYG SIM. I can't spend more than I have on the SIM. Topping up isn't always possible abroad. I can buy data from T-mobile from £1 for 3Mb. Calls and SMS cost extra even with add-ons because they originate abroad. Note that MMS are sometimes cheaper than SMS, especially if you have a lot to say eg. Switzerland: SMS £0.40, MMS £0.20 on my tarrif.
Seconding the Data Controller option. I used this on a recent trip overseas, and it kept my data connections killed. I was still able to use the phone over wifi, without any problems.