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Photo by Alessio Corradini, on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, of two locals

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Alessio Corradini,
on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia,
of two locals



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  #1  
Old 12 Dec 2009
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Lightbulb 3G Around The World data connectivity
Can't find anything on this site about this, so here's the question:
What's the best way of getting 3G/GPRS RTW? Is there a nice SIM data package available for not too many sheckles? I doubt it, but thought I'd ask.

I'm typing on a Samsung NC10 which rocks, BTW, and will do even more when I get a bomb-proof, very low power, solid state hard drive for Christmas

Countries I have in mind are Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Kazekstan...

cheers, david
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  #2  
Old 13 Dec 2009
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Done a little more research and come up with this:

Global SIM Card, now just £19.99#

it doesn't include Iran, and can still cost a lot in certain countries, but is cheapest I've found... has anyone used them?
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  #3  
Old 13 Dec 2009
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we used this
Hi there,

We had this actually and it worked for phone calls in most countries that we travelled through. ( I can't remember which ones it didn't work in). However data did not work in several countries. It would always error and say packet radio data unavailable. all up we ended up buying local sims in many countries and using them. However data can be expensive.

I would recommend using a light weight email client and not download and view images etc that way you can get much more done on less
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  #4  
Old 13 Dec 2009
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Arrow
I'm using 3G in NZ at the moment. Vodafone claim to cover "97% of where Kiwis live, work and play". That doesn't include any rural areas for a start, i.e. in all of Northland it's only available in Whangarei and even in Stratford there isn't any. Luckily, the data plan allows fall-back to normal data use, so I don't use internet cafes any more.

No 3G in Thailand at all, but lots of open wifi points.

Worked reasonably well in Malaysia, even at some beaches. They seem ahead of the Kiwis in coverage.

Cheers,
Peter.
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Europe to NZ 2006-10
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  #5  
Old 19 Dec 2009
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Don't expect 3G coverage worldwide. You'll be able to make phone calls (2G), but data transfers will be a) very slow, and b) very expensive. Usually, data transfers are not covered by plans, except special data plans. My suggestion would be open Wifi, since, in my experience, it's the better option in most cases.
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