Has anyone used (or plans to use) this phone?

[adventurekq]

We are considering a National Geographic 'Lite' Phone through Cellular Abroad. Another name for it is the Blu deejay lite phone. It's very, very basic. The phone itself is $59.00 plus you buy an amount of time to use. We also can set up an automatic re-load of time (using our credit card).

Please, if anyone has any information on these, we would greatly appreciate the help.
We begin our Camino Frances the end of next month (Sept.) !

Kathleen & Ross

 

[Anniesantiago]

It's much cheaper just to buy a pay as you go phone or a SIM card for your unlocked phone when you arrive.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Kathleen and Ross,

There are several technology gurus on the forum, who will give you good advice no doubt. I am NOT one of them, but I do walk with a phone.

I don't know if your main purpose is to be in contact with home, or to be able to use a phone on the camino, but I think that will be important in determining which way to go.

I use the phone for in-Spain calls with family at home knowing they can contact me in an emergency on the number (but it's very expensive for regular communications). For me the easiest thing to do is to just buy a cheap phone in a phone store (I go to movistar, which seems to get the edge in terms of service) and put about 25 euros on a card. The last time I bought a phone was about 8 years ago, and I just keep bringing it back every summer to reload with a new card. Buying a phone with about 10-15 euros time on it will run around 25 euros. I forget the exact rates for calling, but it seems to have gotten a bit cheaper over the last few years.

For calling home to the US, I typically go to a locutorio, which is a store that has internet/phone/fax, etc. and you can find them in most large places. This past summer, the going rate was about 8 centimos a minute.

But if you plan to use the phone for regular US contact, you might want to go the way you describe.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[adventurekq]

Hi, Kathleen and Ross,

There are several technology gurus on the forum, who will give you good advice no doubt. I am NOT one of them, but I do walk with a phone.

I don't know if your main purpose is to be in contact with home, or to be able to use a phone on the camino, but I think that will be important in determining which way to go.

I use the phone for in-Spain calls with family at home knowing they can contact me in an emergency on the number (but it's very expensive for regular communications). For me the easiest thing to do is to just buy a cheap phone in a phone store (I go to movistar, which seems to get the edge in terms of service) and put about 25 euros on a card. The last time I bought a phone was about 8 years ago, and I just keep bringing it back every summer to reload with a new card. Buying a phone with about 10-15 euros time on it will run around 25 euros. I forget the exact rates for calling, but it seems to have gotten a bit cheaper over the last few years.

For calling home to the US, I typically go to a locutorio, which is a store that has internet/phone/fax, etc. and you can find them in most large places. This past summer, the going rate was about 8 centimos a minute.

But if you plan to use the phone for regular US contact, you might want to go the way you odescribe.

Buen camino, Laurie

Laurie,
Thanks. On the phone you bought about 8 years ago in Spain, the one you continue to reload, do you get a US number on it for your relatives to call in an emergency? That one I was asking about has a US number so when -- if -- our relatives need to contact us, they will pay .30 USD/min., but if we use it to call them, it's .60/min.

We only thought about having a phone for emergencies, and if our family back in the US truly need to get ahold of us quickly. We don't plan on using a phone to make reservations in Spain while on the Camino, etc. That part of our Camino will be "trusting" that the place for us will be open and available when we arrive (or not).

Sorry if I'm being confusing. Thank you for the help.

Ultreya!
Kathleen

 

[adventurekq]

It's much cheaper just to buy a pay as you go phone or a SIM card for your unlocked phone when you arrive.

Hi and thanks.

Currently, we have phones with Verizon which are not unlocked. Along with getting ready for our Camino (the end of next month), shopping for the perfect phone and re-doing our contract with Verizon seems to be something we can delay until after our Camino. We were just thinking about family back in the US contacting us if it's urgent, and vice versa. Not just regular communicating. We can seek out a place with internet access in larger towns for that.

So we saw this Blue deejay lite phone and wondered.

Appreciate your help.

Kathleen

 

[Merryecho]

I take my AT&T iPhone when abroad, turnnoff data roaming. Answer only calls from numbers you know you want to accept. As easy as calling you at home for callers, around 1$/ minute charged to you if you answer, easy to call home if you want to. And Download Skype to your phone and talk to home free anywhere with wifi. Don't see need for extra overseas phone, but as others say, local phone is good to have for in Europe calls.

 

[adventurekq]

I take my AT&T iPhone when abroad, turnnoff data roaming. Answer only calls from numbers you know you want to accept. As easy as calling you at home for callers, around 1$/ minute charged to you if you answer, easy to call home if you want to. And Download Skype to your phone and talk to home free anywhere with wifi. Don't see need for extra overseas phone, but as others say, local phone is good to have for in Europe calls.

Thank you for your reply. Wish we had an iPhone. . . currently basic LG models from Verizon (with no int'l capability), and cannot upgrade until April.

We very much appreciate your information.

Ultreya!
Kathleen

 

[manifestdestinyLISA]

Hi,

I have used Telestial for my phone..its a great little Euro phone..I used in Italy 3 years ago and just reactivated with new sim card..its called the A55 Siemens it does not have bells and whistles but is a great a compact travel phone for calls and incoming are free..I used it a ton when Italy and thought it would be good to meet up with pilgrims, make reservations or just check in with friends at home..and of course in "emergency"

check out the website for Telestial..there are a couple of deals..

Happy Trails!
Lisa

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Kathleen,
The phone I buy is a Spanish phone with a Spanish number (they just give me a new little card with a new number every year), but my family has a calling card they use to call me in Spain for about 3 cents a minute. It's from onesuite.com and it works great. I have professional contacts in both Spain and Portugal and I use it all the time. It's really cheap and reliable. I guess I don't know why it is a good idea to have a phone in Spain with a US number, but as I said, I'm pretty low tech.

I rarely call to make reservations, but sometimes it's a good idea. More than that, though, I find that having the phone allows me to be in touch with other peregrinos a few days ahead or behind. If your phone has a US number, it would be very expensive for others in Spain to call you, or for you to call them in Spain, right?

Sorry if I'm not helping here, I should leave these threads to those who understand phones better. Laurie

 

[adventurekq]

Hi,

I have used Telestial for my phone..its a great little Euro phone..I used in Italy 3 years ago and just reactivated with new sim card..its called the A55 Siemens it does not have bells and whistles but is a great a compact travel phone for calls and incoming are free..I used it a ton when Italy and thought it would be good to meet up with pilgrims, make reservations or just check in with friends at home..and of course in "emergency"

check out the website for Telestial..there are a couple of deals..

Happy Trails!
Lisa

Thanks, Lisa.
We'll check out Telestial.
Buen Camino.
Kathleen

 

[adventurekq]

Hi, Kathleen,
The phone I buy is a Spanish phone with a Spanish number (they just give me a new little card with a new number every year), but my family has a calling card they use to call me in Spain for about 3 cents a minute. It's from onesuite.com and it works great. I have professional contacts in both Spain and Portugal and I use it all the time. It's really cheap and reliable. I guess I don't know why it is a good idea to have a phone in Spain with a US number, but as I said, I'm pretty low tech.

I rarely call to make reservations, but sometimes it's a good idea. More than that, though, I find that having the phone allows me to be in touch with other peregrinos a few days ahead or behind. If your phone has a US number, it would be very expensive for others in Spain to call you, or for you to call them in Spain, right?

Sorry if I'm not helping here, I should leave these threads to those who understand phones better. Laurie

Hi Laurie. Thank you for the information.
We are very intrigued with onesuite.com (never heard of it before!) and are checking that out.
We greatly appreciate your help.

Buen Camino,
Kathleen

 

[Anakasha]

I have a phone from http://www.telestial.com that I purchased when I moved to Italy. They have other countries. I loved the fact that they had a a service where I could call a free number and it would call me back and then I could dial the number I wanted to call. This eliminated the expensive long distance charges as they have cheaper long distance, and free incoming calls. I was able to purchase time for the phone either online, from the phone, set up auto recharge or at local tobacco shops. They have great package deals so check their packages first.

 

[adventurekq]

Thank you. We are thinking now that the telestial might be the easiest way for us to go.

We appreciate your help, and also all the other information that other peregrinos have offered to us.

Ultreya!
Kathleen

 

[edandjoan]

My suggestion. Forget the phone. Take your ipod touch and find wifi once a day where you can email or skype.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Take your ipod touch

My brother did that, and was fine.

 

[efdoucette]

Coming from Canada I think I'll take my android phone, turn off the data and just use wifi. So, I will use it for email, facebook, skype through wifi and will also be my camera, map app, kindle app, music and emergency phone. My provider offers phone & data for a reasonable rate that I could turn on data and use if necessary.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

take my android phone, turn off the data

You can probably buy a data SIM chip for an unlocked phone, have internet connections many places as you walk, and be able to make emergency/expensive cell calls along the way. The chip is nearly free with the initial 10E of data on it.

 

[manifestdestinyLISA]

the phone I brought , paid for new international sim card and added money too, never worked in St Jean Pied de Port and then I tried once in Spain to the same result...I never followed up to find out why it didnt work, could really care less- and just sent an occasional email from alberge to say I was alive and well..just figured it was the sim card and decided to just go without! It was liberating in the best way and really so many alberges had computers so I let the folks at home know they could email me if necessary and that I would be checking when possible...

 

[miamijhp]

Check here:

el-camino-frances/topic14620.html

 

[mauveglass]

I brought an Ipod touch to keep my blog going and I bought a Spanish phone from Orange in Madrid. It was 20 euro and I had a plan that cost me 1 cent a minute to talk to my family in the US. It worked out great!
Cindy

 

[poogeyejr]

I also picked up a pay-as-you-go phone from Orange in San Sebastian. It was €20 for the phone and it came with a €10 phone package. The calling cards to call back to Canada were €5 at a time and I could talk for about three hours. This gave me a number that my dad could text, a phone I could text from, the family could keep track of where I was and it didn't cost anyone a fortune.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

I had an unlocked iPhone 4S (with Verizon), bought a SIM card at Orange for 10 Euro, with unlimited internet (topped it up twice with 5 Euros for phone calls) and used Skype to get a hold of my parents twice just so they could hear my voice and once to wish my mom a happy birthday. In Portugal, you can get 1GB of data for a month with some phone calls for 15 Euros at Vodafone. I used two SIM cards because I was on the Camino Portuguese and was traveling in both countries over 3 1/2 weeks. Worked perfect! The coastal route I was walking on the CP was not the "normal" one and without my GPS on my phone and internet, I would have been totally lost! Yellow arrows were not common until I got to Spain...now, if I were walking the CF again, I'd say get a phone with internet and use Skype or Viber to communicate with family. Just my .02.

 

[poogeyejr]

What a difference a year makes. I walked in May 2011 and no one would sell me a SIM for my unlocked iPhone3. Progress is fabulous!

 

[renegadepilgrim]

What a difference a year makes. I walked in May 2011 and no one would sell me a SIM for my unlocked iPhone3. Progress is fabulous!

It might be because there isn't a SIM slot in the 3, my understanding is there were SIM slots in the 3G and 3GS, in addition to the 4S and the new 5. Correct me if I am wrong...

 

[poogeyejr]

You are right, my phone was a 3G.

 

[Milepost99]

I have the iPhone 5, Verizon. Supposedly it's unlocked although you wont read that in any Verizon literature. it uses a nano sim, I hope to buy a prepaid chip when I get to Spain.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

I have the iPhone 5, Verizon. Supposedly it's unlocked although you wont read that in any Verizon literature. it uses a nano sim, I hope to buy a prepaid chip when I get to Spain.

You will need to call Verizon and ask to have them unlock your phone. I did this before I left the US and it was very easy. Google "unlock Verizon iPhone" and you'll get a wealth of information. The nano sim cards are readily available for the iPhone 5 in Spain.

 

[rickster]

I had my iphone unlocked this year prior to walking the Camino, but my contract had run out. Are you sure that Verizon and Apple will unlock if you are still under the 2 year contract?

 

[renegadepilgrim]

I had my iphone unlocked this year prior to walking the Camino, but my contract had run out. Are you sure that Verizon and Apple will unlock if you are still under the 2 year contract?

Yes. I just got my iPhone in March. Not a problem.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Verizon has officially told the AP that the SIM slot on its iPhone 5, which shipped unlocked, won’t be re-locked later on, as was the case with the initial shipment of Sprint iPhone 4S devices sold last year. That means that Verizon iPhone 5 owners can effectively use their devices with any GSM carriers around the world, including AT&T in the U.S.

That freedom not only to travel, but even to switch carriers within the U.S. once a contract expires puts a big premium on Verizon iPhone devices, if you ask me, allowing customers to save money both in the near- and long-term. It also increases the resale value of used Verizon devices, since the person you’re selling to doesn’t have to be on the same carrier.

There is a significant caveat, however: The iPhone 5 from Verizon will need Verizon’s network to achieve true 4G LTE speeds, while on AT&T it would have to settle for so-called “4G” HSPA+ network connections. That’s still a far cry better than being limited to EDGE, however, and probably plenty fast enough for most people.

As for the competition, AT&T has a policy of unlocking phones once they’re off-contract, and Sprint provides unlocking for international use only after a customer has been in good standing for six months or more.

Long story short, frequent business travelers looking for as little hassle as possible when taking their phones on the road would do well to give Verizon a good long look if they’re interested in buying an iPhone 5. Well played, Verizon.

Note that iPhone 3, 3GS, and 4 locked SIM's are not addressed. A Verizon rep told me that the SIM in their earlier iPhones cannot be removed. That did not sound right to me, but I was just shopping for better service than I was getting on my T-Mobile chip in an unlocked 3GS, so did not feel like challenging the assertion. You can get lied to more often than in a cellular store only if you go to the airlines! Two service industries based on duplicity, an interesting marketing model.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

For iPhone 4 Verizon users:

Hi All

I purchased a 16GB iPhone 4 in the US and have found that i can't use it at all in Australia. It has no sim card slot to take my sim.

Details are ads follows :

Carrier - Verizon 11.2
Version - 5.0.1 (9A405)
Model - MC676LL

I'm going to have to sell it and i need help to verify if it is the same as this one selling on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iPhone-4- ... 701wt_1141

Can someone please help me out , i'm in a real pickle and i don't want to lose hundreds of $$$ for nothing.
ArnettH_VZW
Correct Answer by ArnettH_VZW on Jan 6, 2012 10:49 AM

Hello @cleaner and other community members,

As we all know, the iPhone 4 is an impressive device with an array of features! It is one of the most popular devices in the wireless industry. The original iPhone 4, as great as it is, is not a global device. Global usage is one of the added capabilities found on the new iPhone 4S that was released in October. Based on the information that you have provided, the iPhone that you have is the original iPhone 4. The easiest way to visually confirm is the SIM tray located on the right side of the device. If there is not a SIM tray then it's the iPhone 4.

Looking at the link that you provided, the device shown is a iPhone 4 also. I also noticed that the bidding has ended for that device. If you are interested in purchasing an iPhone 4S then I have a link that posted for your review.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/splash/iphone.jsp

If you have any questions or concerns about the iPhone 4S and it's additional features then please reply to this message so I can further assist.

Thank you...

 

[Deleted member 3000]

iPhone 3:

If I'm not mistaken that unlocked iPhone 3G will only work on another GSM network, not on CDMA (Verizon).

A Verizon iPhone only works with Verizon, apparently.

 

[renegadepilgrim]

I just used my 4S in Spain and Portugal and amazingly enough, it had a SIM card that was removable, as I stated in my earlier post. I called before I left to have my phone unlocked. It was seamless. The 4 does not have a SIM slot on the Verizon phones, I cannot speak to other providers phones. The 5 has a nano SIM, and while Verizon says it ships unlocked, it is still a good idea to call before leaving to make sure it's all good.

Since Falcon is here, I am going to leave this conversation...

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Orange mobile service in Spain; the Delfin low cost plan:

http://internetmovil.orange.es/tarifas/ ... delfin-20/

And the SIM to make it work:

http://internetmovil.orange.es/tarifas/smart-sim/