Feedback on overseas usage?

[HueyGuns]

Hello all. I have the DROID2 and am very happy. Considering going to the Global for my upcoming trip to India in a few weeks. Will be there for a few months and am looking for feedback on global use. Any and all would be great. Thanks.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums App

 

[silver6054]

Hello all. I have the DROID2 and am very happy. Considering going to the Global for my upcoming trip to India in a few weeks. Will be there for a few months and am looking for feedback on global use. Any and all would be great. Thanks.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums App

Hi, mine worked fine with calls, data and text in the UK (using a foreign SIM). In various places worked on GPRS, Edge, 3g and H speeds. Really only one issue, the signal strength indicator seems to be very conservative. It would often show no or almost no signal when calls could be made without a problem. Better than the other way round I guess!

 

[Nematocys]

I am currently using my D2G in Afghanistan using a foreign SIM card (GSM only) for one of the local carriers over here. It works great...can't speak to the data except that I use the WiFi when available.

One item of note tho...you will need to get a SIM unlock code if you are planning on using a foreign SIM card....Verizon can provide if you have been a good customer for over 60 days I believe, else I have seen other threads where people talk of buying a SIM unlock code online somewhere but not sure....search the forums for that info.

 

[freightdog]

I use the D2G overseas with the verizon global email service. I don't normally make calls on it overseas, just use the data. So far it has been good, I second the signal indicator being a lot more conservative using GSM than CDMA. I did get a bunch of warnings about roaming data and then text messages from verizon about running up a huge bill, but I called global services and they assured me it was a glitch and I would not be billed for anything but my plan. This happened to me once when I was using a blackberry too. They did give me the unlock code, no questions asked, when I called to set up the new sim card and the global plan. I have not yet used a different sim in it though.

 

[sidsub]

I use the D2G overseas with the verizon global email service. I don't normally make calls on it overseas, just use the data. So far it has been good, I second the signal indicator being a lot more conservative using GSM than CDMA. I did get a bunch of warnings about roaming data and then text messages from verizon about running up a huge bill, but I called global services and they assured me it was a glitch and I would not be billed for anything but my plan. This happened to me once when I was using a blackberry too. They did give me the unlock code, no questions asked, when I called to set up the new sim card and the global plan. I have not yet used a different sim in it though.

I'm in China right now with my D2G and got the scary messages when I landed. Like you, I called Verizon customer service, and they assured me it was a glitch... my online Verizon account appears to confirm this. I'm now just getting the occasional -- "You're not on your home network" (gee, I hadn't noticed), and "this could cost you money" warnings, which are especially annoying because they seem to occur randomly, and when they do, they light up your screen (see problems with battery life)

Does anyone know if there's a way to switch off the roaming warnings? I haven't found a way -- there may be some bloatware I could kill after I root this thing.

I have tried going back and forth between the GSM-based networks and CDMA. I found that Global mode tends to stick to the last known type of network rather than picking a preferred type. The only 3G networks here are on the GSM side (CDMA just has 1X for data), but the GSM networks seem pretty unreliable and only get a weaker signal on this phone compared to my work Blackberry which I'm also carrying. I don't know why... so now I'm pretty much staying with the CDMA/1X network now, and it's plenty fast for the light web browsing and email I want.

By the way, the web browsing appears to proxy through the US... it's nice to not have to deal with the Great Firewall.

My main complaint is about those roaming warnings. If I could kill those, I would be happy.

 

[elydoug]

I did get a bunch of warnings about roaming data and then text messages from verizon about running up a huge bill, but I called global services and they assured me it was a glitch and I would not be billed for anything but my plan. This happened to me once when I was using a blackberry too.

I had those warnings as well with the same response from VZW. No strange charges appeared on my bill, so all is well. The Global plan from VZW is so easy and seamless, I don't know why anyone would want to go through the hassle of getting a foreign sim and a new number unless they were going to make a lot of calls and/or stay for a long time. My experience with the Blackberry overseas was that the data and email were flawless. Traveling from one country to the next (12 in all), my BB would just give me an alert and say " Welcome to (insert country here)". No configuration at all. Voice calls could be a little pricey, but data was ~$2.50/day. There is no charge to use the service, just pay the pro-rated $64.99/month data fee. Only staying 15 days? Then charge would be ~$32.50. There may be some other charge to use the voice/text but it is minimal ($4.99/mo?) Don't get bogged down with the nickels and dimes...

I was hanging on to my Storm 1 because it works so well outside the US. This droid is great on my home network so I hope the experience will be the same as my BB when I go overseas!

 

[silver6054]

I did get a bunch of warnings about roaming data and then text messages from verizon about running up a huge bill, but I called global services and they assured me it was a glitch and I would not be billed for anything but my plan. This happened to me once when I was using a blackberry too.

I had those warnings as well with the same response from VZW. No strange charges appeared on my bill, so all is well. The Global plan from VZW is so easy and seamless, I don't know why anyone would want to go through the hassle of getting a foreign sim and a new number unless they were going to make a lot of calls and/or stay for a long time. My experience with the Blackberry overseas was that the data and email were flawless. Traveling from one country to the next (12 in all), my BB would just give me an alert and say " Welcome to (insert country here)". No configuration at all. Voice calls could be a little pricey, but data was ~$2.50/day. There is no charge to use the service, just pay the pro-rated $64.99/month data fee. Only staying 15 days? Then charge would be ~$32.50. There may be some other charge to use the voice/text but it is minimal ($4.99/mo?) Don't get bogged down with the nickels and dimes...

I was hanging on to my Storm 1 because it works so well outside the US. This droid is great on my home network so I hope the experience will be the same as my BB when I go overseas!

The plan is certainly good for data, but foreign sims really do win for calls, quite quickly. My SIM allows calls from the UK to the US for 6 cents per minute (and additionally with topups you get free minutes) vs 99c per min with the reduced cost ($4.95 a month) plan from Verizon. So it doesn't need to be many calls to decide to use a foreign SIM, (it's really not much hassle, you only need one unlock code for all SIMs). But yes, if you are not planning to make many calls, stay with VZs plan.

 

[pobrien904]

My D2G worked great in Germany- However I do advise you to *228 and update your phone settings before you leave the US.
The phone was having trouble finding some towers once in a while- but I was in a fairly poor coverage area.

Otherwise, the phone worked great!

the battery life was pretty terrible, at best. The GSM network uses the battery differently than the CDMA network here in the US, but keeping a car charger nearby or a wall charger and everything was fine.

Good Luck!

 

[elydoug]

I did get a bunch of warnings about roaming data and then text messages from verizon about running up a huge bill, but I called global services and they assured me it was a glitch and I would not be billed for anything but my plan. This happened to me once when I was using a blackberry too.

I had those warnings as well with the same response from VZW. No strange charges appeared on my bill, so all is well. The Global plan from VZW is so easy and seamless, I don't know why anyone would want to go through the hassle of getting a foreign sim and a new number unless they were going to make a lot of calls and/or stay for a long time. My experience with the Blackberry overseas was that the data and email were flawless. Traveling from one country to the next (12 in all), my BB would just give me an alert and say " Welcome to (insert country here)". No configuration at all. Voice calls could be a little pricey, but data was ~$2.50/day. There is no charge to use the service, just pay the pro-rated $64.99/month data fee. Only staying 15 days? Then charge would be ~$32.50. There may be some other charge to use the voice/text but it is minimal ($4.99/mo?) Don't get bogged down with the nickels and dimes...

I was hanging on to my Storm 1 because it works so well outside the US. This droid is great on my home network so I hope the experience will be the same as my BB when I go overseas!

The plan is certainly good for data, but foreign sims really do win for calls, quite quickly. My SIM allows calls from the UK to the US for 6 cents per minute (and additionally with topups you get free minutes) vs 99c per min with the reduced cost ($4.95 a month) plan from Verizon. So it doesn't need to be many calls to decide to use a foreign SIM, (it's really not much hassle, you only need one unlock code for all SIMs). But yes, if you are not planning to make many calls, stay with VZs plan.

Thanks. I use mostly data when I travel so do you know if those sim cards can be had for similar data rates? I might consider unlocking and using a sim if email and other data were reasonably priced.

 

[silver6054]

I did get a bunch of warnings about roaming data and then text messages from verizon about running up a huge bill, but I called global services and they assured me it was a glitch and I would not be billed for anything but my plan. This happened to me once when I was using a blackberry too.

I had those warnings as well with the same response from VZW. No strange charges appeared on my bill, so all is well. The Global plan from VZW is so easy and seamless, I don't know why anyone would want to go through the hassle of getting a foreign sim and a new number unless they were going to make a lot of calls and/or stay for a long time. My experience with the Blackberry overseas was that the data and email were flawless. Traveling from one country to the next (12 in all), my BB would just give me an alert and say " Welcome to (insert country here)". No configuration at all. Voice calls could be a little pricey, but data was ~$2.50/day. There is no charge to use the service, just pay the pro-rated $64.99/month data fee. Only staying 15 days? Then charge would be ~$32.50. There may be some other charge to use the voice/text but it is minimal ($4.99/mo?) Don't get bogged down with the nickels and dimes...

I was hanging on to my Storm 1 because it works so well outside the US. This droid is great on my home network so I hope the experience will be the same as my BB when I go overseas!

The plan is certainly good for data, but foreign sims really do win for calls, quite quickly. My SIM allows calls from the UK to the US for 6 cents per minute (and additionally with topups you get free minutes) vs 99c per min with the reduced cost ($4.95 a month) plan from Verizon. So it doesn't need to be many calls to decide to use a foreign SIM, (it's really not much hassle, you only need one unlock code for all SIMs). But yes, if you are not planning to make many calls, stay with VZs plan.

Thanks. I use mostly data when I travel so do you know if those sim cards can be had for similar data rates? I might consider unlocking and using a sim if email and other data were reasonably priced.

It depends on the country of course. If you regularly go to 12 countries, messing about with several local SIMs is probably not worth it. There are "global" sims, but their call prices aren't much better than the VZ Sim. That said, the particular SIM I used in the UK is now 25p (~ 38 cents) a day for 25MB per day (and 10p, or about 16c, for each additional MB). So that's fine if your usage is in that range, (0.75GB per month). There are many other alternatives. T-mobile offers a plan for a max of 1GBP (~ $1.50) per day for a fair use of 40 MB per day. (They charge 0.73p per KB until the cost is a pound, then the rest is free).

So, basically consider call cost, data usage and hassle factor to decide whether this route is worthwhile. Also, in some countries, such as India, it's not so easy to buy SIMs without providing passports etc (unregistered SIMs used to detonate bombs, not sure if the registration requirements provide any real additional security!)

 

[Captain Canuck]

What does *228 do?

CC

 

[elydoug]

Ok. I don't usually travel that much but I just wanted to say how easy it is to travel on VZW. I guess there is no easy way to get both voice and data at a rate that you don't have to pay attention to. We usually tether through the BB (4 family members) so our monthly use has been as high a 3GB. I just use email and IM's to communicate back home when traveling, and only use voice for serious matters. I'm not complaining, I called ATT to ask about tethering an iPad in multiple countries and they passed me to various Customer Service Reps until finally getting me to their Global Rep. Their plan was $199 for 250 MB and I had to call ahead to change countries! They were shocked at hearing my Verizon plan that was unlimited (ok, ok there is a rumored 5GB/month limit) for $64.99 month. As in everthing, there are trade-offs that have to be weighed...

 

[delkan99]

I use the VZW overseas data.
It works great in Korea and Japan.
They use CDMA, sim cards are hard to find,
And only work in metropolitan areas.
I leave my phone on global and it is issue free.
The international data roaming warning is terrible.
Make me wish my BB storm still worked.
That bug appears to be an Android 2.2 software issue.
You won't find a better international data roaming package.
But the call and text rates are steep. $2/min 59¢/text.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums App

 

[elydoug]

Thanks for the feedback. My storm 1 worked great no matter where I went. What do you mean the roaming notifications don't work well? I did get notifications when traveling in europe, but a call to verizon assured me there was no problem.

 

[r314bd]

OP I recently used my D2G in India for a month. Only the government networks (MTNL/BSNL) had 3G so I got an MTNL SIM, which was a mistake. I would get 3G and 3.5G (HSDPA) pretty consistently in Delhi, but the dropped calls, inability to make calls, and hassle of so many settings changes (you need to configure an APN to get 3G and there are like half a dozen sets of settings online, only one of which worked)...just wasn't worth it.

Hopefully the private companies (Airtel/Vodafone/etc) will have 3G for mobile phones by the time you go (right now they only have it for mobile broadband)

Also, battery life was atrocious. Compared to my D1 I was not really impressed.