Help: President Of Company Needs Global Coverage

[liquix]

The president of my company travels frequently all across the world and his Cingular phone does not work in some countries. He would like to keep one phone and be able to make/receive calls and check voice mails anywhere in the world, but does not want a different number.

He would also like to access emails/have data coverage on his phone, but this is not as high of a priority as voice is.

What would you do in this situation?

[prion]

Can you be more specific on the countries that he is not covered by cingular so that we can check for an alternative;

[Stu]

T-Mobile USA has better international roaming agreements than Cingular. Buy a Nokia E61. It has sect-band coverage. It will work in Japan unlike most phones. It has all major GSM frequencies and great data connectivity. The phone also has built in wi-fi which means he is able to use it on many hotel networks as well. Lastly, the phone has great data connectivity. It handles Blackberry, Microsoft Exchange Server, Good, Intellisync, etc.

Can you try to let us know what countries are an issue. If you can eliminate Japan and Korea, you have more options. Does your company have a presence in England. If so, a Vodafone or 02 SIM might have better roaming options, but you'll pay dearly for this.

Can you give us a list of the recent countries your president has visited and the ones he has had problems in. We are going to approach the situation differently if he had problems in the Carribean than in Asia.

Is your president going to freak about having to occasionally change a SIM card or having more than one mobile phone?

Lastly, I presume that costs is irrelevant. From what I'm gathering, he would rather have a $3 a minute connection in the UK without thinking about it, than having to figit for 10 minutes to get a ten second a minute connection.

Stu

[liquix]

I am actually comparing T-Mobile and Cingular for a company wide move, and I was very intererested in who had better international agreements. Unfortunatley, it is almost impossible to get a list of which countries either provider has agreements with. How do you know T-Mobile has better agreements?

The Nokia E61 does look interesting, but what OS does it run on? He likes Windows Mobile on the phone he has now.

Countries he visits (* indicates voice/data was not working)

Canada
India
China
Dubai*
England
Austria
Thailand
Singapore
Shanghai
Mumbai
Denmark
Luxembourg
Israel
South Korea*
Tibet*
Nepal*
Kuwait

Although we do have some locations in England, he is not there for very long or often.

His requirment is to carry one phone only. He currently has an I-Mate Jam/HTC Magician which is unlocked.

And finally, yes you are right about costs. As long as it works, he is happy.

I have been looking at different options like obtaining a Dual SIM holder for the phone. One with his Cingular SIM and the other with world SIM, like TravelSIM. Then when gets to a country where he has no service he would enable call fowarding oh his Cingular SIM and foward the calls to the TravelSIM. Then we would activate the TravelSIM. But then he would not have voicemails or data...

[unlocked]

Mobal covers 160 countries and is essentially postpaid (they charge time to your registered credit card, then send you a confirming invoice so expense-account reimbursement is easy). The card is also very easy to use (no ring-back or special codes to use). The phone number is UK. There is no monthly fee, billing is in dollars and it's readily available (with a reasonably-priced phone or SIM-only) in the US from its website (there's a link from PPGSM).

T-Mobile UK prepaid also has an extensive roaming list, though it is traditional prepaid that has to be "recharged" or "topped up" with funds prior to use. Obviously it also has a UK phone number. They've also recently reduced their roaming prices within the EU. Easiest to obtain in the UK, though ebay UK is a possible source for Americans.

I have found both of the above to be highly reliable, though definitely on the pricey side compared to some of the other offerings popular on this site. Both allow text messaging and have voicemail.

[Stu]

This is the best response I can offer:

Cingular v. T-Mobile

My opinion Cingular v. T-Mobile is based on many factors. First, I have both SIM cards at my disposal. I have a Cingular on its International Blackberry Plan. My wife has a T-Mobile SIM. We are Americans, but she is based in Dubai and I go back and forth. In the last year, we have collectively been in the US, Canada, Guatamala, Belize, Mexico, England, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Oman, Hong Kong, the UAE, Macau, and Mainland China. I have also had Cingular?s international division concede the point to me, but I?m sure that it wasn?t official.

Here is a link to Cingular?s global roaming page.

http://www.cingular.com/media/roaming_gen#country


Here is a link to T-Mobiles:

http://www.t-mobile.com/International/Roam...b_RoamWorldwide

You might be able to get printed brochures at company stores with the full list.

The Nokia E61

It is Symbian, not Windows. I suggested the phone because of its multiple bands and connectivity. Also, it has built in VOIP which can prove helpful as well.

Countries Discussed


Problem Countries Listed.

South Korea. South Korea doesn?t use GSM. You need a 3g phone like the Nokia E61. According to GSM World, neither South Korean provider has declared any roaming agreements. Donald Newcomb who is a regular to this forum has managed to use his phone in Korea and will probably be able to explain whether the the statements on GSM World are correct. By the way, I?m reading from:

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_kr.shtml

GSM World is the GSM umbrella organization.

Dubai. I?m surprised about his comments on the UAE. I am there so much that I signed up for their E-Pass so that I don?t? have to go through customs. My E61 works there easily on data and voice. Sometimes, Cingular takes a couple of hours to register on Etisilat.

Nepal. A year and a half ago when I researched Nepal, they had almost no roaming agreements. I?d be shocked if they had any data services.. According to their filing with gsmworld.com.

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/ser_npnt.shtml
Neither Nepalese carrier lists roaming agreements with the US, but they do list roaming agreements with O2 and Vodafone in the UK.,

Tibet

China Mobile has a tiny amount of coverage in Tibet:

http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?cc=cn&net=ct

02 out of the UK is the only listed roaming partner of China Mobile. I can?t believe that, but that is what I read on the GSMWorld website I couldn?t turn up a China Unicom map.


Why I Mentioned England

02 out of the UK has the most extensive roaming agreements in the world. At least that is my opinion. I was suggesting that you might want to have your UK office obtain a UK SIM for your president as a backup. It is the gold standard. If need be, you can get a US number which will call forward to the UK number.

As a matter of fact, a call forwarding number might be perfect for this guy. That way, if he has any problems, someone back in the states can reset the number to ring on the backup SIM. Call forwarding his Cingular SIM will only work if he is able to get it active on the network.

You can get an 02 SIM with international roaming active from mobal.com, but they mark up the prices significantly. If you have a presence in the UK, get a UK SIM through your UK office. A good call forwarding number to a UK mobile is from voicestick.com. Not only are the rates reasonable, but the service connects quickly. It also places a recording saying "please wait while I connect your call." Since there is sometimes a small delay before connecting to a roaming mobile, this lets the caller know to be patient a second or two longer.

[andy]

- and O2 have cut roaming rates in Europe to 35 pence a minute - not yet wonderful, but cheaper than any of the others for outgoing calls, and only slightly above the global SIMs own tariffs

Or get Vodafone, but their Passport option only has cheap rates on its affiliated networks

[prion]

Cosmote in my country(Greece) does declare roaming agreement with both networks in Corea, and vodafone has albeit with one. So I think the info on Gsmworld is probably due to the 3g nature of the networks there. Interestingly enough travelsim also claims coverage in Korea

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by liquix

He would like to keep one phone and be able to make/receive calls and check voice mails anywhere in the world, but does not want a different number.

The only phone that will do this is an Iridium satellite phone. This is probably not the solution he wants.

[snidely]

IF you can wait a month or so - maybe Yackie (www.yackiemobile.com) will have their system running smoothly. They are a startup discussed in other threads here. They have roaming in 160 countries.
The system (making/recvg. calls and SMS) works fine now. (I have a Yackie SIM.) The support system, which is web based, (call history, recharging etc.) is not yet working. One advantage is you can choose a number that is local to much of where you are in the U.S. (Or get a UK or French number etc.)

...mike