I've been shuffling back and forth between London and Connecticut for the last 6 months. I've manged to do this with out killing myself on roaming charges. The worst I've had it in excess charges was the first month I was in London prior to getting wifi in my flat - that month it was 'only' $50 in charges that month for calls. Given $0.99/minute ...
For communicating with Marina and the kids Skype has been the savior. Video chat works well and can use from either my office, flat or hotel room. We have since expanded this to include both grandparents. This probably saves the majority of what I'd have spent otherwise.
I do have a UK based nokia n95 mobile phone, which works for those people that have the number and do not mind the international costs.
Since not everyone has skype, and I've had the same US 646 mobile number since 2000 (1999?). Given my shuffling back and forth I do not yet want to give up a US mobile. As a lot of people have that number and I don't want to yet make people change. I've thought about either a skype or gizmo5 call in number and have that forward to a PC, but that does require being near a wifi connection at all times.
As my wife will also confirm I'm somewhat 'attached' to my blackberry. I've got to have that working on both sides of the Atlantic with out excess data rates.
In looking around at options, I discovered that I could get a US based Blackberry on either T-Mobile or Verizon with 'unlimited' international data roaming. I had the Verizon world phone in a prior life so knew that worked. My personal mobile has been on T-Mobile so I let that be. The cost for this is $29.98/month for base enterprise blackberry with a $19.99/month add on for the international roaming. For both carriers this is hard to find, but in my case it is an add on option in my.t-mobile.com
Given I'd had $25/day roaming costs in the past this was a clear no-brainer. Note: I did look and I do not see any UK carriers that have the same type of roaming, but if people know of any let me know as I'll likely have to change at some point in time.
This solved one issue, but still had the issue of voice calls. Turns out US T-Mobile has something called Unlimited Hotspot Calling which is a $9.99/month add on to my mobile bill. This uses the same technology as their T-Mobile @home for doing the voice over ip, but works on any of the wifi enabled phones.
This turns out is the real solution as my Blackberry 8820 unit is a wifi enabled unit with UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access). When the unit is in the range of a wifi connection it knows about, like in the office or at home, the unit switches off EDGE/GPRS to UMA. It also switches, in my case, from the roaming mobile network to the normal 'T-Mobile' network as if I am in the states. At this point in time all data and call activity does not cost me anything.
I simply check the status when someone calls - if it says UMA - I am free to talk with no concerns I am about to go broke.
I've looked and besides the US T-Mobile network, I can not seem to find any providers in the UK that have the same type of setup. My Nokia unit in theory will do wifi calls, but with out the UMA settings it does not work. In my case perhaps this is due to my carrier, there is some hint on Orange.co.uk they might have it - dunno. If someone does please let me know as I do have the similar problem in reverse when I take my UK number to the US.
In the end this solved a bunch of issues for me, including what to do in the US when I'm in places with low cell coverage (including my house at times). The wifi option solves that in US or UK.
My remaining gripes on all this:
1. I'd really like a iphone - but can not deal with the roaming costs internationally.
2. When I'm just normal roaming in the UK I'm at GPRS speeds instead of EDGE. Has to be something with the UK networks by choice, when my unit hits France it is in EDGE out of the gate.
What I really want moving forward:
1. More carriers using UMA and more wifi devices
2. Google Voice - WHY or WHY can I not forward to an international number? I'll pay the international calling rate you charge me for making calls through the system.
Some might say that T-Mobile does not have the same coverage as AT&T or Verizon. Look, that may be true, but in truth it usually works where I need it to. Has worked a lot better than an old nextel I had. I'm not normal as also tend to carry multiple units on different carriers, but still, t-mobile has been my primary phone for years.
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You could get a Skype number and have it forward to your cell phone. The big downside here is that your essentially double paying for your minutes. IIRC calls forwarded to landlines are free with a "subscription". Mobiles are per minute in most places.
Depending on the amount of usage it may or may not make sense. If you take calls from your desktop or landline most of the day and just occasionally from your cell phone it could be a something to look into.
Outbound calling from a cell phone to the US (if you do it) is still through your mobile provider though.
Still hoping for a Skype for iPhone to come out. I've never gotten Fring to work. Even if it's WiFi only it would be pretty cool.
You can forward Google Voice calls to international numbers and here's how.
Go to my.gizmo5.com and signup for a free Gizmo5 account. Take note on the my.gizmo5.com page of your 10 digit "747" number which you will need to enter into your Google Voice configuration. Then purchase $10 of credit. In the Forwarding section you can have any of your calls forwarded to any international number to specify. Calls to international destinations will be billed at low per minute charges and unlike Skype there is no 3.9 cent per call connection fee.
Now go to Google Voice. Then select Settings: Phone: Add a New Number and select Gizmo as your phone type. Enter your 10 digit number beginning with 747.
Now all calls to your Google Voice number will ring your international number as well.
You can also use this method to forward Google Voice calls to Skype so you can answer them there as well.
Orange UK does do UMA as "Unique", I have a 8120 Blackberry form Orange UK & connect to Orange UK the world over via wifi...In AU I use 3UK roaming on 3AU at no cost, for the rest of the world I divert my 3UK calls to Orange UK & all my incoming/outgoing calls & texts to UK numbers are from my allowances with UMA ;)
You can also get a £5 bundle to add if you have a Unique mobile, £5 gives you 1000 mins to call 01/02/02 UK landlines, Orange UK & ( the deal maker ;) ) 30 international landlines ( includes US mobiles, wink wink ! )
Available to all Personal & Business customers Unique gives you FREE* landline calls to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and USA* & UK - Orange mobiles & landlines with the 01/02/03 prefix
Customers starting thier call within wi-fi^ (UNIQUE/UMA) will be connected to Orange via the internet to Orange's servers, moving out of wi-fi the call will be seemlessly switched to the regular Orange mobile network BUT YOUR CALL WILL REMAIN *FREE when the call started over wi-fi.
Calls over 1000 mins will be billed as per your usual EXPENSIVE plan minutes/rates when monthly allowances are exhasted & international rates for the 30 international landlines *so be careful* - you can check your Unique allowance by calling 150 option 1, option 1 & option 1 again - cross network minutes will be detailed first then Unique, automated system ONLY reports " xx Orange to Orange & landlines minutes " but includes the above 30 international destinations, 01/02/03 & Orange UK as these are your ~ Unique minutes
Unlimited UK 01/02/03 landlines/Orange are STILL included if have them on your plan as a after the Unique minutes are used up it will use your priceplan allowances over UMA
sean AT beanzstop DOT com
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