"Dennis Ferguson" <dcferguson@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:slrneqa9fr.83.dcferguson@akit-ferguson.com...
> On 2007-01-10, VicTek <abc@xyz.com> wrote:
>> My wife is going to Japan for a couple of weeks and wants to be able to
>> use
>> her cell phone there. I've heard it's possible to add on international
>> service in a way where people just call your regular cell number instead
>> of
>> having to dial international codes - is that correct? Are there any
>> other
>> "gotchas" to be aware of to make sure this works properly, such as the
>> modes
>> her phone supports? TIA
>
> You have two problems: she's going to Japan, and you have Verizon
> as your cell phone carrier.
>
> No US mobile phone roams in Japan. In Japan you need either a
> (Japanese-only) PDC phone or a European-style 3G phone. Worse,
> outside of the relatively small number of countries where there
> is a CDMA carrier, Verizon's international rates are quite awful.
>
> Verizon will rent you a PDC phone. I forget what the rental costs, it
> is on their web site. The phone will, however, have a Japanese
> phone number; if you want to keep the US number working you'll need
> to forward it to the Japanese number at Verizon's quite terrible
> overseas long distance rates. And while incoming calls to the
> phone are likely free, outgoing calls from the phone are expensive
> at something like $2.50 per minute.
>
> Then again, if she really needs a phone this is an option. I seldom
> go to Japan so I don't know what it is like to buy service once you
> get there. The last time I went I had a borrowed Hong Kong 3G
> phone which worked for the day.
>
> Dennis Ferguson
>
Wow, none of that sounds very good. I wonder if it would be more affordable
to buy a "pay as you go" phone in Japan with just enough minutes for the
trip? Do they offer that kind of option?