Korea Roaming

[GoodmanR]

Well....just found out I will be heading to Korea on business at least five or six times starting March...I am wondering who has roamed there and on what systems.. I rely on my cellular phone heavily and it would be difficult for me to have to rent a phone and have a different number. I currently have Cingular with a V3, of course I think most Korean systems are CDMA. Why not just get a CDMA phone in the US? My problem is I also travel to Europe enough to make a GSM phone worth it, and I don't like using my Blackberry as a phone. I really do like the RAZR and my Cingular service, but if Korea turns to regular trip, I may have to reevaluate and think about an a790 or an a840.

What do people think of these phones? Anyone know when the a840 is coming out or know of any other CDMA/GSM hybrids coming soon??

[eko]

the a840 was suposed to be available in the second half of 04 according to moto but obviously hasnt been released yet, looks like a pretty sweet phone. You can always sign up at their site to be notified when its available they have also added it to their graphics section and had a press release about it on the 5th so it cant be too much longer.

also would you be interested in sending back a import phone to the states for me if I sent you off with some mula?

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by GoodmanR

Well....just found out I will be heading to Korea on business at least five or six times starting March...I am wondering who has roamed there and on what systems.. I rely on my cellular phone heavily and it would be difficult for me to have to rent a phone and have a different number. I currently have Cingular with a V3, of course I think most Korean systems are CDMA. Why not just get a CDMA phone in the US? My problem is I also travel to Europe enough to make a GSM phone worth it, and I don't like using my Blackberry as a phone. I really do like the RAZR and my Cingular service, but if Korea turns to regular trip, I may have to reevaluate and think about an a790 or an a840.

What do people think of these phones? Anyone know when the a840 is coming out or know of any other CDMA/GSM hybrids coming soon??

I think all the Korean networks are W-CDMA which means a CDMA phone from here won't work over there. I believe they are on different freqency bands as well, so that won't work. I don't believe there is a GSM network over there, so your V3 won't work.

If you are going to be over there a lot. Buy a cheap phone over there, get a prepaid card, and just use it while you are over there. If having your phone number that you have here in the US is very important, set up a call forward to the Korean number when you get it. That or have your greeting on your current voicemail direct people to that number.

Sorry I know this wasn't what you wanted to hear...

[COtech]

Originally Posted by GoodmanR

Well....just found out I will be heading to Korea on business at least five or six times starting March...I am wondering who has roamed there and on what systems.. I rely on my cellular phone heavily and it would be difficult for me to have to rent a phone and have a different number. I currently have Cingular with a V3, of course I think most Korean systems are CDMA. Why not just get a CDMA phone in the US? My problem is I also travel to Europe enough to make a GSM phone worth it, and I don't like using my Blackberry as a phone. I really do like the RAZR and my Cingular service, but if Korea turns to regular trip, I may have to reevaluate and think about an a790 or an a840.

What do people think of these phones? Anyone know when the a840 is coming out or know of any other CDMA/GSM hybrids coming soon??

Study Verizon's options here, one of them is using your (existing) CDMA dualband or trimode phone. Prices are listed.

COtech

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by COtech

Study Verizon's options here, one of them is using your (existing) CDMA dualband or trimode phone. Prices are listed.

COtech

Listed is South Korea. If this is the area he is going, then he would be fine. I guess out of the two, S. Korea would be the place you would be going, not North...

That site has good information on it. the a790 looks to be a solid handset if you really need one phone to work in multiple countries with Verizon.

[GoodmanR]

Originally Posted by azcellphonejunkie

I think all the Korean networks are W-CDMA which means a CDMA phone from here won't work over there. I believe they are on different freqency bands as well, so that won't work. I don't believe there is a GSM network over there, so your V3 won't work.

If you are going to be over there a lot. Buy a cheap phone over there, get a prepaid card, and just use it while you are over there. If having your phone number that you have here in the US is very important, set up a call forward to the Korean number when you get it. That or have your greeting on your current voicemail direct people to that number.

Sorry I know this wasn't what you wanted to hear...

All Korean networks are not W-CDMA only. Actually, W-CDMA is more closely associated with CDMA, so they are really EVDO networks, and they run oon the same frequencies as the networks here, so I could use any old CDMA phone there, but my issue is iwth needing to use it in Europe as well. Also, I can't buy a "prepaid card" for a CDMA phjone as they don't take SIM cards. I don't like call forwarding for a few reasons (redirecting people with VM is not an option). First, call forwarding is obnoxious, people see a different number when I call them back. Secondly, I haven't always had good luck with reliability of call forwarding.

[GoodmanR]

Originally Posted by COtech

Study Verizon's options here, one of them is using your (existing) CDMA dualband or trimode phone. Prices are listed.

COtech

Problem is it needs to also work in Western Europe.

[azcellphonejunkie]

Originally Posted by GoodmanR

Problem is it needs to also work in Western Europe.

Right, so the a790 would work for you then right? It has the CDMA abilities as well as 900 and 1800 GSM roaming for europe and the rest of the world...

[twopiece]

Wireless Imports has an A840 prototype for $999.00:

http://www.wirelessimports.com/Produ...?ProductID=407

You should wait because I can't think of one sane reason why anyone would pay their prices.

[GoodmanR]

Originally Posted by azcellphonejunkie

Right, so the a790 would work for you then right? It has the CDMA abilities as well as 900 and 1800 GSM roaming for europe and the rest of the world...

Yes, the a790 would work for me, but I really don't like the phone. In addition to having crummy battery life, the phone is big and awkward shaped and I don't like the keys. Also, it doesn't have GPRS which isn't a big deal, but seems stupid to buy something on the GSM side without GPRS. The a840 takes care of that but still has bad battery life and is big. I just wish I had better options, but I would take the a840 over a790 I think.

I have also read reports of the a790 being pretty buggy, especially when connected to GSM networks. Can anyone with the phoen comment on this?

[GoodmanR]

Originally Posted by twopiece

Wireless Imports has an A840 prototype for $999.00:

http://www.wirelessimports.com/Produ...?ProductID=407

You should wait because I can't think of one sane reason why anyone would pay their prices.

Thanks, I'll definitely wait for it to come out officially. I have to, we can't buy things like phones from 3rd party and pay for them using a corp. acct, which is how I will pay for the phone....

[Bugwart]

Verizon's roaming rates in Korea are not too bad at $.69/min. in addition, the rates for calling the US from a Korean cell phone are quite low, so people can afford to call your US number.

If you want to wait for the Moto A840, you can still roam in Korea using your existing SIM card. SK Telecom has kiosks at Incheon Airport where you can rent a CDMA phone that uses your SIM card for billing and identity.

On a contract (as opposed to roaming), incoming calls are free in Korea. In network calling is not free, but it is very cheap.

(SK Telecom subscriber since 1994)

[GoodmanR]

Originally Posted by Bugwart

Verizon's roaming rates in Korea are not too bad at $.69/min. in addition, the rates for calling the US from a Korean cell phone are quite low, so people can afford to call your US number.

If you want to wait for the Moto A840, you can still roam in Korea using your existing SIM card. SK Telecom has kiosks at Incheon Airport where you can rent a CDMA phone that uses your SIM card for billing and identity.

On a contract (as opposed to roaming), incoming calls are free in Korea. In network calling is not free, but it is very cheap.

(SK Telecom subscriber since 1994)

Thanks for the info. I think I will wait for the a840 to come around, it's just so big....

[Bugwart]

Originally Posted by GoodmanR

Thanks for the info. I think I will wait for the a840 to come around, it's just so big....

You are most welcome.