Experiences using a Droid 2 Global Overseas?

[spqrzilla]

Well, I'm in the US and have a Droid 2 Global via Verizon currently. I'm going to be in the Netherlands and Belgium for several weeks in Spring '12. What are people's experiences with taking a Verizon D2G overseas? Should I use the included SIM and arrange with Verizon for European roaming or should I get a SIM while in Europe for use?

Are there vendors of SIM's that work well and economically with the D2G for broadband and voice calling for short periods?

 

[rjmaype]

I had mine in Egypt, Italy, France, Spain, Sicily, and Tunisia in early August.

I used the sim supplied by Verizon and only turned on the data for $30 for 30 days.

It worked great, but I had three T Mobile sim cards I bought in Heathrow with Europe roaming data as a back up.

I think I only made 4 phone calls but was using Google maps a lot every day.

I had problems having the emails come in consistently but I could power off and on and recheck global roaming if no emails came in.

 

[silver6054]

I had mine in Egypt, Italy, France, Spain, Sicily, and Tunisia in early August.

I used the sim supplied by Verizon and only turned on the data for $30 for 30 days.

It worked great, but I had three T Mobile sim cards I bought in Heathrow with Europe roaming data as a back up.

I think I only made 4 phone calls but was using Google maps a lot every day.

I had problems having the emails come in consistently but I could power off and on and recheck global roaming if no emails came in.

Were you there for all of the 30 days? I thought $30 only got you 70MB or so. Didn't Google Maps eat a lot of that up? I would go for local SIMs for those two countries. Check out Vodafone offers (directly from them rather than the Verizon one!) and then see if there are better prices from other local providers once you are there.

Edit: just checked the VzW page. Looks like the plan has changed again, no longer Canada, Europe etc. 3 standard packages in many countries, 50MB for $30, 150MB for $75 and 300MB for $125 with $5 per MB overage (cheaper in Canada) Still way too much!

 

[SJWackness]

It's probably not worth it anymore as unlimited global data has been cancelled.

I used mine for 2 months in Ireland and 3 months between Spain and France (when unlimited global data existed). Under their current offerings though, I wouldn't bother. Unlock your phone and look into local sim cards. In Ireland for instance, you can get unlimited data and text (plus some minutes) on a pay-as-you go offer for €20-30 a month.

Beyond the pricing details of the plan, Verizon seriously needs to release a software update for this phone. It's obvious that very little global testing was done. The 3G antenna's awful. If the connection ever drops (which happens whenever you're in the shade, whether it's behind a building or beneath a cloud), a pop-up appears asking if you'd like to enable global roaming (turning on CDMA in addition to 3G). There's no way to disable this message unless you want global roaming to be permanently active (battery drain). If you hit ignore, you'll probably see it again 10 minutes later after you pocket your phone or enter a shop. Moreover, when the message appears, it wakes the screen UNTIL you acknowledge the message. So if you're at the cinéma and you've got your phone on silent, it's safe to presume your screen's been running for two hours.

When the phone does work, it's quite good. The hardware's brilliant, but the software's ****e. Curiously as well, the phone is MUCH faster in Europe. GSM's 3G connection is superieur to the 3G data connection offered in the major American cities I've been in. There's also a little H icon which replaces 3G when the connection's even faster. I'm not sure what it is precisely as I don't think it's 4G. That H guy, whatever it is, is well fast! Could easily do 300k sustained downloads. If someone would update the software, I'd say this phone's much better in Europe than it is in America.

 

[Gasai Yuno]

3G is UMTS.

H is HSPA which is considered 3.5G. You can get up to 14Mbps downstream on HSPA+; the D2G supports 7Mbps downstream with something like 3Mbps upstream if I am not mistaken.

You're also right about 3G GSM being faster; CDMA EV-DO is an old technology and HSPA is just faster by design.

 

[spqrzilla]

Is it best to obtain a SIM card once I arrive in Amsterdam or should I buy one before going? Vodaphone is what I'm understanding is the best for compatibility with the D2G?

 

[silver6054]

Is it best to obtain a SIM card once I arrive in Amsterdam or should I buy one before going? Vodaphone is what I'm understanding is the best for compatibility with the D2G?

Actually, try something OTHER than Vodafone in Holland! A few people have reported problems as the SIM that comes with the phone is Vodafone NL, and it looks like the phone may treat those specially (and thus fail to work with a non-Verizon Vodafone NL SIM).

 

[13th angel]

Works great on Vodaphone (atleast in Greece, Italy, and Denmark). However, if you plan on using data I would deffinately recommend getting a local sim, VZW charges out the ass for data overseas. I kept mine off the entire time (was around wifi alot so wasnt a problem) and never had any problems with dropping service or anything. If your rooted and running an aosp rom make sure to get the sim id number before calling, otherwise they'll have you going through settings for something that doesnt show (aosp settings doesnt have any of the GSM things in it).