[JinFocker]

I know I need to unlock it. I think that it's free if I call tmobile and Im a customer in good standings. Once my phone is unlocked, what should I do? I don't want to pay for calls using tmo cause Im sure it's gonna be mad expensive. Do I need to get a sim card for whatever service they use in HK and then buy a calling card?

[SCOTTPOLK]

I was just in Hong Kong and Mainland 2 weeks ago with my pearl. I didn't get it unlocked nor did I purchase a sim card and the phone worked great. Of course for this trip I of course had to pay the t-mobile rates but am looking for options in the future since I frequent there.

[JinFocker]

^so it does work everywhere without unlock? awesome! Im going to mainland too. Im going to guangzhou. Just curious, do you know how much it is per minute?

[SCOTTPOLK]

i just need to let tmob know that I was going international and they set my account up for it (no charge). Once I got there it worked fine. I think it is $1.95 a minute. Somehthing like that. Visiting a factory?

[SCOTTPOLK]

$1.49 in Hong Kong and Yikes $2.99 in China

[JinFocker]

Im going to visit family in Guangzhou. I was born there. Such a pain in the arse just trying to go back. Just got back from the Chinese consulate. Waited all morning and afternoon for my visa. That's alot of money to spend for phone calls. I wonder if it will be cheaper to just get a calling card.

[SCOTTPOLK]

i have had problems with calling cards in the past. You can buy a world roaming sim card that will be cheaper then all other options. You can find them on the internet. Next time you need to get your visa try China visa and U.S. Passport expedited service provided by VisaRite . I just mail them my stuff and they take care of the rest

[JinFocker]

Where can I get a world roaming SIM card? And once I get the sim card, how do i use it? do i use it on a calling card? Is it prepaid sim card?

[jeffharris]

The best world roaming SIM I have found (and have) is GeoSIM (<--- click the link) . It is the best, IMO, because it is the only one that offers 30 second/6second billing (of the Isle of Man numbers. You can also get Estonia, Iceland,and Lichtenstein world roaming SIMs, but, they cost FAR more to call from the US than UK numbers)..

It is a normal UK cell number, and roams for free in 50 countries. Unfortunately, HK (40c a minute incoming) and China (65c a minute incoming) aren't 2 of them. But, a lot cheaper than T-Mo. You order online, and top up online. Outgoing calls from those 2 countries are maybe on average 60-90c a minute. But, the initial 30 second billing makes it nice to call someone to tell them to call you back, so it only costs half a minute.

See PrePaidGSM.net to find out more of these things.

That all being said, local prepaid SIMs are REALLY easy to get in HK, and I think also China (I use my GeoSIM or HK chip there anyway, as I only spend a day or 2 in China at a time). If you subscribe to a Skype In number, and do some creative forwarding, it is, in the end, only 2c a minute to forward your T-Mobile phone to your local HK or China SIM !!!! (meaning, you forward your T-Mo to the US Skype number, and then forward your Skype to your Asia mobile number.) So, someone would call your US T-Mo number, and you only pay 2c a minute to receive the call in China on your cell !!!

That cheap eatins' !!!!

Of course, that ALL being said, unless you get an additional cell while you're there for the local SIM, you lose your Blackberry abilities with the Pearl and local SIMs.

[rwily]

Originally Posted by JinFocker

Im going to visit family in Guangzhou. I was born there. Such a pain in the arse just trying to go back. Just got back from the Chinese consulate. Waited all morning and afternoon for my visa. That's alot of money to spend for phone calls. I wonder if it will be cheaper to just get a calling card.

I live in the U.S. and work part time (a month at a time) in Jakarta, Indonesia. My t-mobile is set up to roam for voice and data internationally. It seems like the data rate isn't too bad, but voice is like 3 or 4 dollars a minute - outrageous. For voice, the cheapest and most convenient thing is to get your pearl unlocked and use a prepaid gsm sim card from the country you are visiting. That will give you voice and and [presumably] sms but, alas, no data. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get data services with a local sim card and telephone number. So, you will have voice, sms, PDA and media working on your pearl with a local sim card. It's pretty good, especially if you will have convenient access to a computer for email and internet as needed.

[Krissy]

You can get prepaid SIMs literally everywhere in Hong Kong. But GEOSim is really good as well.

Jeff - I really want to try your skype idea next time I'm overseas, dunno why I never thought of that before!

[JinFocker]

I just bought a sim card from china mobile. One down side is that I can't activate the card untill i get to guangzhou. Once I activate there, I can then travel to HK and roam. Its not bad-just that I have to wait to get to mainland china before making calls to my relatives to arrange pick up. The sim card was $22 and it comes with 80 local minutes.

[kmccarthy]

Damn. I am going to Europe next summer for a month and I don't know if I even need a phone that bad for that much money! Could I just buy a pay as you go phone for any cheaper?

[ibrg]

Originally Posted by JinFocker

Im going to visit family in Guangzhou. I was born there. Such a pain in the arse just trying to go back.

Wow how cool! I stayed in the White Swan hotel there and, of course, loved Guangzhou

[JinFocker]

^thanks for replying to my other thread.

I'm not even from Guangzhou. Im actually from one of those ghetto farm villages....lol. I hearg GZ has improved alot since I last went back(1994)

[SCOTTPOLK]

it has changed a lot since 94. you will be suprised.

[JinFocker]

i know....i heard

[jeffharris]

Originally Posted by rwily

I live in the U.S. and work part time (a month at a time) in Jakarta, Indonesia. My t-mobile is set up to roam for voice and data internationally. It seems like the data rate isn't too bad, but voice is like 3 or 4 dollars a minute - outrageous.

On the Blackberry international data roaming plan (which they call e-mail roaming), you will not pay ONE PENNY for data roaming -- period. That also holds true even when using wap.ovicestream.com on a non Blackberry device, as long as you have the Blackberry int'l e-mail roaming, and make sure they add in wap.voicestream.com in the acct.

Kind of a loophole, let's see if it stays this way. But, has been since Blackberry was introduced.

I even have a separate SIM, with BB plan, no voice, that I use as an EDGE modem, the being directly inserted into my Sony VAIO internal EDGE modem. I have paid nothing, all over the world.