Roaming to Japan

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Roaming to Japan

bradstewart

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#4976 14-Sep-2005 21:49

I am having all sorts of problems getting a straight answer out of Telecom. Maybe somebody can help me.... What is the deal with roaming to Japan? They have CDMA and GSM over there but i was told i cant take my CDMA phone over nor can Telecom give me a SIM card to use on GSM networks. Although their website says otherwise

freitasm

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#20076 14-Sep-2005 22:06

Can you give a link to Telecom's site with this information please?

bradstewart

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#20078 14-Sep-2005 22:14

"Telecom's international roaming service makes it easy for you to keep in touch with your existing mobile phone while you are overseas. Many countries will allow you to roam with your existing 027 mobile phone. We can provide you with a GSM loan phone if the country you are travelling to doesn't provide coverage for your 027 phone."

http://telecom.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/telecom.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=135

When I asked they told me only customers who they give SIM cards to can roam to Japan but they wouldnt give me a SIM card and wouldnt give me a reason as to why not

freitasm

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#20079 14-Sep-2005 22:18

brad05: ... they wouldnt give me a SIM card and wouldnt give me a reason as to why not

bradstewart

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#20080 14-Sep-2005 22:22

freitasm:
brad05: ... they wouldnt give me a SIM card and wouldnt give me a reason as to why not

Nothing???

freitasm

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#20081 14-Sep-2005 22:26

I think the

in my post says all that I feel about Customer Services that have services only in the name...

bradstewart

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#20082 14-Sep-2005 22:32

Yeah i fully agree, although I have generally found Telecom really helpful in the past, but this time i am quite angry, and it does take a lot to get me going.

freitasm

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#20084 14-Sep-2005 22:36

Don't take me wrong. My previous post is about this specific episode. My opinion on Telecom have changed in the last year. Like almost everone else I talk to, I think the company (at least the mobile side of it) is more dynamic, open. I would even like to see them blogging, because the guys are really cool there.

But Telecom, like many other large corporations, is actually a conglomerate of smaller companies, and some don't have the same customer oriented focus.

I think both Telecom and Vodafone (and Woosh, Cafenet, and everyone else in the high technology area) should read The Cluetrain Manifesto:

"A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies".

But this is going OT, so let's see if we have some other input here later...

Tradepub

Free professional, reference and technical white papers (affiliate link).

johnr

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#20092 15-Sep-2005 07:26

Japan does not have a GSM network they have W-CDMA networks and Vodafone offers seamless roaming there now (just a normal 3G handset a GSM alone handset will not work there) and I am sure you can video call there to from New Zealand but please check out the vodafone NZ website first.

https://www.vodafone.co.nz/services/roaming_countries/japan.jsp?hd=foryou&st=coverage&ss=goingoverseas&item=where%20in%20the%20world%20can%20you%20roam?

freitasm

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#20097 15-Sep-2005 08:43

johnr: Japan does not have a GSM network they have W-CDMA networks

Now this is not a good reason for TNZ not to have loan 3G SIM service there - just get a few 3G handsets and that's it. Also, still doesn't explain why the services person wouldn't say the reason.

By the way, the GSM association has a list of GSM networks by country if someone needs it. GSM roaming is not automatic to all countries/networks either, and if you have a contract on a GSM operator the roaming to a certain country/network may or may not exist.

johnr

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#20104 15-Sep-2005 09:51

There is no such thing as a 3G SIM. A SIM is a SIM

freitasm

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#20105 15-Sep-2005 09:54

There are some devices that use a SIM card with different voltage - but I guess the Vodafone is not the case, so people can move from one device to another. I know 3 uses different SIM cards.

But back on topic for TNZ...

skyplonk

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#20109 15-Sep-2005 10:29

Japans CDMA standard is a lot different than anyware else in the world.
Their Transmit and Receive channels are a lot different to what the rest of the world uses.

As fas as I know our handsets will not roam, correct me if I am worng.

J-CDMA
Rx: 830-850MHz
Tx: 830-850MHz

J-CDMA
Rx: 860-870MHz
Tx: 860-870MHz

CDMA
North American Standard
Rx: 869-894MHz
Tx: 824-849MHz

cellman

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#20128 15-Sep-2005 15:41

The only CDMA phones that will work there from a outside country are the ones that state they support "GLOBAL PASSPORT"". However Telecom does not have any of these phones on there product range.

Japan uses TX/RX frequencies that the rest of the CDMA world don't, so the phones need to be made to support a Japanese network to work there, and of course no one outside of Japan can be bothered adding this to there phones

bradstewart

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#20132 15-Sep-2005 18:26

Thanks for all your help on this. Looks like i have to buy myself an W-CDMA phone from Japan.

johnr

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#20133 15-Sep-2005 18:40

If you purchase a Handset from Japan make sure it supports GSM 900mhz as well