Global Roaming Mobile Phone

[NoFakie 45]

Has anyone got a Japanese mobile phone that works overseas? I use AU but their model doesn't work in Europe, so I think I'll ditch it for Vodafone or Docomo.

 

Has anyone out there got one? Have you tried it overseas? What was the coverage/reception like?

 

I get all my work email transferred to my mobile, so it gives me good early warning. If I keep that up overseas and transfer my home phone as well, it would be great.

[Error404 0]

I have a friend who uses Vodafone service - says its pretty pricey but useful esp if you spend a lot of time overseas. Thats about all I know I will ask him more when I see him next.

[fukdane 2]

What sort of costs we looking at?

[badmigraine 0]

Short answer: it's not ready yet. Wait a year or two.

 

Longer answer: Mogs and I have the Vodafone global standard phones (V801SA, by Sanyo) and they suck for the following reasons:

 

--handset was very expensive (maybe you could get one for cheap now, but read on).

 

--handset is giant, clunky and heavy. It sucks.

 

--everyone I know who's had one has returned it at least once for service. I've returned mine 3 times for service. Everything from freezes and crashes (like a bad computer) to very hot battery that runs out in less than 1 hr. Mine actually changed its own clock time, and because I use my keitai as an alarm clock, I got to work an hour late. Of course nobody believed me. Would you? The damn clock set itself back by over 40 minutes. WTF?!?! I should have got a 1-yen regular keitai...my wife has one with an E/J encyclopedia and a little bear that lives inside the screen. Fantastic.

 

--J Phone shops will return the handsets for service as much as you want if you can show it is defective, but after 3 times I thought I deserved a refund, upgrade or switch to a different model, but guess what? NOT ALLOWED. If this were a car or computer, you'd have returned it for your money back. Meanwhile, the handset price is less than half what I paid for it.

 

--These phones need a different kind of relay station or antenna, and this requires a huge capital investment by the keitai companies. The work is not done yet, so although you have the Latest Thing with "Global Standard" written all over it, the signal and quality is much worse than a regular keitai. I often can't get a signal here in Shinagawa, while others with all makes of keitai around me have a full-strength signal all day every day. Mogs' home is actually a zero-signal area until Vodafone puts in more antennas or relays down there. Imagine that. He got it as a home phone replacement, and it doesn't even work at home. So much for "Global Standard".

 

--the handset eats battery power and you only get most of one waking day out of it. If you make a few calls, it's dead by dinnertime.

 

--due to the antenna/signal problem described above, the phone is constantly seeking a signal and working hard just to get through the day...this makes the battery run out even faster.

 

--on/off time is slow compared to other keitais I've had, and so does deleting mails. This thing is more like a computer that has to boot up, than an instant-on keitai.

 

--Mogs has used his abroad and it works in most places. Not too hard to make the phone calls, but e-mails have been a problem. Yes, airtime costs a lot.

 

--[my own fault] I got it because I'd been told I'd be traveling abroad half of the time, but since I got here the company had drastic changes and there are no int'l trips for me. A waste of money to get this phone.

 

Given all the problems, I would have been better off getting a nice 1-yen model with a camera and all the bells and whistles. Then, if and when I had massive international travel, switch to a cheaper GSM model (by then there should be more of them and some of them will be down to 1 yen, right?). If you join the J-Phone club or whatever they call it now, it's not much money to switch handsets.

 

Maybe Mogs, who's just getting back from overseas today, will post more about the cost of airtime, phone/e-mail service abroad, and his take on the whole thing.

[NoFakie 45]

Thanks for the reply migs.

 

That model is also heavily criticized on the notice board at kakaku.com. I could get one for next to nothing, but yours and comments on there have put me off. My wife's family all use J-phone, so I'd get the family discount thing going if I could sign up with them. The newer one sounds a bit better, but its still over 10000 or so.

 

J-phone have one with an optical zoom now. It looks just like a camera.

 

If you change the chip, I think you can use any FOMA Docomo phone overseas. I don't know very much about Docomo though.

 

My work email is only for customers and so is virtually spam free. I don't get so many calls, so the cost shouldn't be too much of a worry.

[mogski 0]

The system, while ideal for me, has way too many bugs to call it perfect. I don't expect a bug free system, but I do expect some relaibility. This I have not seen.

 

Like badmigs says, wait 2-3 years for it all to kick off.

 

I have parts of the phone fall off never to be seen again nearly every second day and the thing is less than three months old.

 

Actually, I am on my second phone. The first one I bought, failed hours after purchase. Got a new one and within a week it failed. It went to hosiptal only to come back with another problem and go back into hospital.

 

Because of the new system you can only use a loaner of the same type. There are very few loaners around so it would seem and I had to trapse all over town to find one. I was unsuccesful and a after a very angry phone call to Vodafone, they found me one close to where I live.

 

The infrastructure, as badmigs says, is no where near where it should be given the marketing drive on these phones. Not only that, but unless you are carrying an extra charger with you, you are screwed when the battery runs out as they do not sell those one off charger batteries at the convenience store yet.

 

Strangely enough I actually get a better signal strength and clearer calls from overseas on the GSM networks.

 

So far I have used the phone in Hawaii, Dubai, Lebanon and Bahrain. Three of these I expected problems, but to Vodafone's credit, the phone worked well.

 

Oh and watch out for the mysterious time loss that seems to happen with the clock. It's almost as if it loses a couple of mintues a day!

 

To sum it all up the phone really sucks and get a triple thumbs down from me. (Be happy to sell it to anyone willing to pay me the full price of purchase )

[base40 0]

I had similar experiences and would wait. Not good enough yet.

[mogski 0]

My global phone went "global" on me yesterday and turned itself off for no apparent reason...twice!