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lchiu7

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  #3361333 6-Apr-2025 15:56
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Well my experiences are with the Pebblebee tags but as my previous posts attests, they worked okay in OZ. And they seemed to work in China but I will have to add some caveats. I had an eSIM in my Pixel so all Internet was routed via HK so was not affected by the China firewall. I checked the tags when the suitcase with the tag inside was in my hotel room and it reported its location accurately. But I suspect it was just connected to my phone which was connected to the Google network so it reported correctly. It never occurred to me to check when I was on the road - I suspect it might not have worked but reported the last known location.

 

 

 

 





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  #3361338 6-Apr-2025 16:04
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Every time I've lost something with a Pebblebee attached it's always been somewhere nearby so I've not had much opportunity to really test the wider network. It's been great for locating e.g. keys/wallets/etc in the car or dropped behind the sofa etc. I've used it a few times to check my baggage has landed with me -- but then again it may simply have been able to attach to my phone rather than the wider network as generally I check once I'm the baggage hall and near the baggage sorting area. I am keen to test putting an item in a random location and seeing if it ever gets picked up, but so far just going by my natural forgetfullness it's worked fine but perhaps more due to luck than actually using the network.

 

Just to add more context to the previous post regarding eSIM/Pixel/etc: It doesn't make a different whether it's an eSIM or a SIM -- if the SIM/eSIM is a non-Chinese SIM roaming in China then data traffic gets routed back to the home network and thus bypasses the Chinese firewall. Nothing to do with eSIM/Pixel phones/etc and has always been the case for roaming.


lchiu7

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  #3361344 6-Apr-2025 16:37
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KiwiSurfer:

 

[snip]

 

Just to add more context to the previous post regarding eSIM/Pixel/etc: It doesn't make a different whether it's an eSIM or a SIM -- if the SIM/eSIM is a non-Chinese SIM roaming in China then data traffic gets routed back to the home network and thus bypasses the Chinese firewall. Nothing to do with eSIM/Pixel phones/etc and has always been the case for roaming.

 

 

 

 

Getting a bit OT but good to know. I was using a Nomad eSIM since I did not want to roam on my NZ SIM because of cost. I could still make and receive phone calls using VoWiFI. But there is one advantage of having a local SIM. Many services will not work if you don't have a local number such as food delivery services, trying to access free WiFi services in some hotels or on trains where the access code is sent to you a local number via SMS.  





Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD.  https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd  PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.




freitasm
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  #3366990 24-Apr-2025 10:06
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For those wanting a tag that works with either Google or Apple network: https://chipolo.net/en/products/chipolo-pop 





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PANiCnz
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  #3387934 29-Jun-2025 11:03
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blackjack17:

 

How would these work as a child tracker?

 

We are planning an international trip to Japan and my 6 year old has the attention span of a goldfish and wanders off.

 

I am guessing the standard Chipolo Ones ($24) that you get at Noel lemmings don't work with the find my phone network and so are more like the Tiles?  The Pebblebee ones are a lot more expensive ($75) and then you have the samsung ones ($40) which network with all samsung phones but seem to have very mixed reviews.

 

Wish it was as simple as apple sometimes.

 

 

@blackjack17 did you end up using a tag as a child tracker? We're planning a trip to Japan later this year and am thinking about using a tag just in case. I've got existing Tile trackers but they're a bit rubbish so considering something that uses the FMD network.

 

For Android users the Samsung network seems to get better reviews and were a Samsung household so leaning in that direction. 


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