Comments on: Help! My cell phone doesn’t work http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-technologist/help-my-cell-phone-doesnt-work/ Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott's site. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:25:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: cellgsmservice http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-technologist/help-my-cell-phone-doesnt-work/comment-page-1/#comment-59531 cellgsmservice Wed, 29 Dec 2010 02:41:42 +0000 http://beta.elliott.org/photos/help-my-cell-phone-doesnt-work/#comment-59531 I think buying a local SIM card is the first thing you should do. If you really cannot handle, go to a gsm service, at least for the consultation. I think buying a local SIM card is the first thing you should do. If you really cannot handle, go to a gsm service, at least for the consultation.

]]> By: Mekhong Kurt http://www.elliott.org/the-travel-technologist/help-my-cell-phone-doesnt-work/comment-page-1/#comment-10035 Mekhong Kurt Sun, 16 Mar 2008 06:00:10 +0000 http://beta.elliott.org/photos/help-my-cell-phone-doesnt-work/#comment-10035 You wrote that buying a local SIM card is too techie, but I don't think so. Anytime I go somewhere outside Thailand but in this part of the world, I always buy a local SIM card; they typically cost about $10, at most. And that's a lot cheaper than using my roaming service for my pre-paid mobile phone. In Cambodia, at today's exchange rates, it costs about $5.00 per *minute* to receive a call. Outgoing calls are even higher. There is one pitfall to this in certain countries: foreigners can't legally buy SIM cards. But I've always been able to ask a local to buy one for me. Usually, I just the taxi driver if he's willing to stop at a phone shop and get a SIM card plus a pre-paid card for me, and none has ever refused me. You wrote that buying a local SIM card is too techie, but I don’t think so. Anytime I go somewhere outside Thailand but in this part of the world, I always buy a local SIM card; they typically cost about $10, at most. And that’s a lot cheaper than using my roaming service for my pre-paid mobile phone. In Cambodia, at today’s exchange rates, it costs about $5.00 per *minute* to receive a call. Outgoing calls are even higher.

There is one pitfall to this in certain countries: foreigners can’t legally buy SIM cards. But I’ve always been able to ask a local to buy one for me. Usually, I just the taxi driver if he’s willing to stop at a phone shop and get a SIM card plus a pre-paid card for me, and none has ever refused me.

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