Report from Japan: Celtrek and Ekit (and Skype)

monkeyboy · **Report from Japan: Celtrek and Ekit (and Skype) -** 09-02-2009, 06:04

Just came back from 10 days in Japan: Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Tokyo. Great trip...

I went "prepared" with a Celtrek and ekit SIM, and also signed up for Skype. Pisser that in Japan you pretty much need UTMS 2100 (no GSM). I bought an AT&T/HTC Tilt/8925 WinMo phone off the Internet (for $120) since it is one of the few phones readily available in the US that does UTMS 2100, as well as Wifi and of course all WinMo stuff (movies, music, browser, email, etc). The ekit I picked as a last minute thing, off ebay for cheap: $10, just to have a backup...

Well, when I landed, I quickly found out that NEITHER Celtrek nor ekit worked off the bat -- both got signal but neither were successful with the Tilt phone for initiating callbacks. With some digging, I found the alternate dialing method for ekit: *126* #. It *is* discussed on their website. Voila! ekit now worked using this dialing method only. Ekit is more expensive to the US ($0.49/min), so I wanted to get Celtrek working (also Celtrek gave my family the ability to call me as a local call). I figured that the same problem as ekit was happening, BUT NOWHERE on Celtrek's website do they mention any alternate dialing method and they weren't responding to emails.

So I called Celtrek (via Skype!) and sure enough they let out that they also have an undocumented dialout procedure: *600* #. Pisser that they wouldn't list this on their website or any included info sheets. Anyways Celtrek began working also.

Signal on both ekit and Celtrek (mostly through Softbank, I think ekit can also roam on NTT DoCoMo) was generally good everything I went (except on MtFuji

).

Skype: Simply brilliant. The problem in Japan was a general difficulty in finding useable free Wifi. But once I established Internet connectivity, Skype was really the way to go for most outgoing calls where I had control over where/when to make them. Highly recommended and worked well with the Tilt's wifi feature (and Skype's WinMo client). Unlimited calls to the US for $3 probably saved me $50 or more on Celtrek usage.

(and my UM+ sim is still languishing... After I sunk $50 in it almost a year ago, I have yet to make use of it once because it hasn't worked where I needed it to... sigh)...

DRNewcomb · 24-02-2009, 14:21

I never had any problem in Japan with Celtrek using either my Moto V980 or Nokia e61. You might want to look at Boingo Mobile for WiFi. While there is little free WiFi in Japan many McDonalds and other places have WiFi that works with Boingo.

	(#1)
monkeyboy (Offline) Member Official Member Posts: 31 Join Date: 03 Jun 2005 Country:	Report from Japan: Celtrek and Ekit (and Skype) - 09-02-2009, 06:04 Just came back from 10 days in Japan: Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Tokyo. Great trip... I went "prepared" with a Celtrek and ekit SIM, and also signed up for Skype. Pisser that in Japan you pretty much need UTMS 2100 (no GSM). I bought an AT&T/HTC Tilt/8925 WinMo phone off the Internet (for $120) since it is one of the few phones readily available in the US that does UTMS 2100, as well as Wifi and of course all WinMo stuff (movies, music, browser, email, etc). The ekit I picked as a last minute thing, off ebay for cheap: $10, just to have a backup... Well, when I landed, I quickly found out that NEITHER Celtrek nor ekit worked off the bat -- both got signal but neither were successful with the Tilt phone for initiating callbacks. With some digging, I found the alternate dialing method for ekit: 126 #. It is discussed on their website. Voila! ekit now worked using this dialing method only. Ekit is more expensive to the US ($0.49/min), so I wanted to get Celtrek working (also Celtrek gave my family the ability to call me as a local call). I figured that the same problem as ekit was happening, BUT NOWHERE on Celtrek's website do they mention any alternate dialing method and they weren't responding to emails. So I called Celtrek (via Skype!) and sure enough they let out that they also have an undocumented dialout procedure: 600 #. Pisser that they wouldn't list this on their website or any included info sheets. Anyways Celtrek began working also. Signal on both ekit and Celtrek (mostly through Softbank, I think ekit can also roam on NTT DoCoMo) was generally good everything I went (except on MtFuji ). Skype: Simply brilliant. The problem in Japan was a general difficulty in finding useable free Wifi. But once I established Internet connectivity, Skype was really the way to go for most outgoing calls where I had control over where/when to make them. Highly recommended and worked well with the Tilt's wifi feature (and Skype's WinMo client). Unlimited calls to the US for $3 probably saved me $50 or more on Celtrek usage. (and my UM+ sim is still languishing... After I sunk $50 in it almost a year ago, I have yet to make use of it once because it hasn't worked where I needed it to... sigh)...

	(#2)
DRNewcomb (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Professionist Posts: 1,465 Join Date: 27 Feb 2004 Location: Mississippi, USA Country:	24-02-2009, 14:21 I never had any problem in Japan with Celtrek using either my Moto V980 or Nokia e61. You might want to look at Boingo Mobile for WiFi. While there is little free WiFi in Japan many McDonalds and other places have WiFi that works with Boingo.