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ronin1
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| Joined: | Saturday January 21st, 2006 |
| Location: | S.F. Bay Area, California USA |
| Posts: | 622 |
| Visits: | 7 | | Currently: | married |
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Posted: Tuesday October 10th, 2006 03:59 am |
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Cell Phone Service in the CIS…
If you’re from North America and are planning on using your cell phone on your visit, make sure you have a quad band phone. Quad band phones operate on two frequency bands in the CDMA system (850 & 1900Mhz used in the USA and Canada) and two frequency bands in the GSM system (900 &1800Mhz used in most of the world). Russia and the Ukraine use the GSM system.
However it isn’t that easy. If you use your regular domestic cellular plans in the CIS, you will be paying through the nose. Check your plan rates for international coverage and rates.
Perhaps the best way to go is to hook up with a local cellular service provider when you arrive at your destination. All that is needed is for them ‘unlock’ your cell phone and replace the SIM chip. Don’t forget to retain your origin SIM. You will need this to resume service when you return home.
If you received your cell phone from a cell phone service provider, your phone is most likely locked. This means that you will not be able to use your phone through other service providers. You will have to pay a fee to unlock the phone. Some cell phones are more difficult to unlock than others. It is possible that you may have a phone can’t be unlocked at your destination. If you want to be sure that you can use your cell at your destination, unlock your phone in North America.
Service Providers for Russia:
Service Providers for Ukraine:
GSM Coverage map for Western Russian & Ukraine
Ronin
Last edited on Sunday November 26th, 2006 04:24 am by ronin1
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dwfunk
Member
| Joined: | Tuesday March 21st, 2006 |
| Location: | Houston, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 109 |
| Visits: | 3 | | Currently: | married |
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Posted: Wednesday October 11th, 2006 03:26 am |
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I have a quad band cell phone, (TREO 600) through T-Mobile. I had originally explored using my provider, T-Mobile for the whole trip. They're a German company and all over the UK and Europe. They have a Russian affiliate, but unfortunately T-Mobile wanted to treat me like a roaming customer at about $3 a min! Not!
My cell phone was locked, and it turns out that T-Mobile will un-lock one of your phones for international travel, but they wanted a big deposit. So . . .
Warning, the following information may be "uncomfortable!" Ronin, if any of this is too uncomfortable, please feel free to edit as is seen fit.
I used the information from http://www.TheTravelInsider.Info to unlock my cell phone and Telestial.com to purchase an International roaming SIM card. I chose and purchased the Explorer SIM card, it wasn't the cheapest, but covered more countries, allowed text messaging and at the time, best suited my needs. They also have Russia SIM cards from Megafon. These are all prepaid services.
It turns out that the number I got, is an Estonian number. It's longer than 10 digits! You get to keep your number forever when you purchase a SIM card like this. The number may go inactive after a period of non-use, but is easily re-activated. Adding additional funds is easy, by web interface, by phone, and in Russia, there are places to pay on Megafon, as well as through Telestial.com. Texting was easy, everybody just "replied" to me. Only a couple of calls were made to me, the callers still had to pay international rates from their provider, but they all were able to "Return Call" and get us. Calling the states was more expensive so we used a calling card we picked up locally. Rates were pennies per minute.
I had no problems using my phone. I used it in the UK and in Russia. The train ride from Moscow to St. Petersburg was interesting as my phone was "seen" and registered on just about every network usable in Russia. I saw the cell antennas in the Metro on my last trip, and sure enough, no interruption anywhere I went in Moscow, St. Petersburg and areas around St. Petersburg. I understand that service is not so good in more rural areas of Russia, so be prepared.
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David & Natalia
Republic of Texas/Moscow, Russia
УЛ. КОНЕНКОВА
16th World Spacemodeling Championships
Last edited on Wednesday October 11th, 2006 03:28 am by dwfunk
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