The missus has another trip to the US, having left Tuesday. During her wait at
SFO to catch her flight to New York, she fired up the phone to see if
international roaming was working.
Yep, you guessed it - still ****ed.
Before she left she made a point of getting it activiated and confirming that it
was.
But here she is in the US and no international roaming.
Luckily she bought an AT&T SIM card off of Ebay and put $100 on it. It was
activated the day before she left here and is good for a month. Only problem is
that it doesn't call overseas ie. to Australia from the US.
She had to call a business in Oz today about something, but as neither phone SIM
will allow her to call here, she Skyped me and gave me the details to pass on.
Oh, if you're in the US don't expect 3G to be everywhere. She's in New York and
her phone will only connect to 2G services. Luckily where she's staying they
have wifi on their broadband so she can use it.
Apparently CDMA 3G is still popular over there. And where she's staying, it's
sort of like Toorak (wealthy Melbourne suburb), but the people there aren't
fussed about mobile services.
In article <bv0m16tdun5brfa8rkkhtppil4s78q41ao@astraweb.com >,
Marts <marts@ymail.com> wrote:
> The missus has another trip to the US, having left Tuesday. During her wait
> at
> SFO to catch her flight to New York, she fired up the phone to see if
> international roaming was working.
>
> Yep, you guessed it - still ****ed.
>
> Before she left she made a point of getting it activiated and confirming that
> it
> was.
>
> But here she is in the US and no international roaming.
>
> Luckily she bought an AT&T SIM card off of Ebay and put $100 on it. It was
> activated the day before she left here and is good for a month. Only problem
> is
> that it doesn't call overseas ie. to Australia from the US.
>
> She had to call a business in Oz today about something, but as neither phone
> SIM
> will allow her to call here, she Skyped me and gave me the details to pass
> on.
>
> Oh, if you're in the US don't expect 3G to be everywhere. She's in New York
> and
> her phone will only connect to 2G services. Luckily where she's staying they
> have wifi on their broadband so she can use it.
>
> Apparently CDMA 3G is still popular over there. And where she's staying, it's
> sort of like Toorak (wealthy Melbourne suburb), but the people there aren't
> fussed about mobile services.
>
> Go figure.
She can afford 3G data roaming?
The alternative is to just drop into any of the electronic warehouses
and pick up a prepaid phone. Sure it's another phone but at least you
can pick the carrier with the necessary coverage. T-Mobile prepaid SIMs
can have longer life than just 30days (IIRC, when recharged).
--
In any case, she rarely saw 3G on her phone. She had an AT&T pre-paid SIM. I
think that if she got a T-Mobile one it would've been better.
She ended up emailing Optus and served it a rocket. Lo and behold, they were
able to activate international roaming for her that day while she was still in
the US. Last time this happened, two years ago, she wasn't able to get it
activated there. She had to be here before she left for there...
On 18/06/10 15:34, Marts wrote:
> The missus has another trip to the US, having left Tuesday. During her wait at
> SFO to catch her flight to New York, she fired up the phone to see if
> international roaming was working.
>
Instead of continually complaining, just dump useless Optarse, and get
on Tel$stra.
Or are you tied to some sort of contract (in which case you may be able
to break if Optarse don't provide the contracted service?)
On 18/06/10 15:34, Marts wrote:
> Oh, if you're in the US don't expect 3G to be everywhere. She's in New York and
> her phone will only connect to 2G services.
Probably a SIM card restriction.
I have no trouble roaming in New York with both AT&T and T Mobile on 3G.
> Instead of continually complaining, just dump useless Optarse, and get
> on Tel$stra.
If you regularly visit countries with Vodafone service, go with Vodafone as
they have deals with Vodafone-owned networks globally that give you cheaper
roaming costs (or did last time I looked)
> Instead of continually complaining, just dump useless Optarse, and get
> on Tel$stra.
Um, it's not a "continual complaint". Rather, the ressurection of one that she
experienced two years ago and which was supposedly fixed.
> Or are you tied to some sort of contract (in which case you may be able
> to break if Optarse don't provide the contracted service?)
It's her phone, her contract. The original one expired in July. So, she hummed
and ha'ed over going on a cheaper month by month basis, or to get a new phone.
She decided to get a Nokia N900 (and to keep the Nokia N95 as a standby).
Certainly, there's nothing wrong with the phone or the service here in Oz.
The only issue was the damned international roaming that she thought she had
activiated going by the instructions to dial a certain number, wait to hear the
confirmation, then hang up. And when she landed in SFO, she found that it wasn't
activated. Luckily her AT&T pre-paid SIM was active, so she used that to make
her calls.
Thing is, she didn't know if the AT&T card would have been active until she
landed in the US, so she was relying on Optus's I/R in case the ATT one wasn't
working. Luckily it was.
In article <0nu0461u4rqlqaij14v9la16puohlr4e0j@astraweb.com >,
Mike Rofone <mike_rofone@mic.org.nz> wrote:
> Artoi wrote...
>
> > She can afford 3G data roaming?
>
> Probably. But why would you?
>
> In any case, she rarely saw 3G on her phone. She had an AT&T pre-paid SIM. I
> think that if she got a T-Mobile one it would've been better.
>
> She ended up emailing Optus and served it a rocket. Lo and behold, they were
> able to activate international roaming for her that day while she was still in
> the US. Last time this happened, two years ago, she wasn't able to get it
> activated there. She had to be here before she left for there...
When I purchased my iPhone 2 years ago and went overseas, I similarly
had the same problem despite having Optus activate roaming on the phone
prior to departure. At my first connection in AKL, I found out that I
was stuck without international roaming. Fortunately I had a VoIP app
and was able to use it to call Optus through airline lounges' WiFi
service and had the problem sorted out before final destination. It did
cost 15mins of waiting in queue, but it sure was way way cheaper than
calling through a regular carrier.
Lessons learnt,
1) Have cheap VoIP app charged up on the iPhone.
2) Find out the service number that can be access from o/s destinations
ie. Not 13/1800 number.
3) Be prepared for the worst.
--
Arrgh - Optus and its International Roaming 
Linear Mode
