"New iPhones next week..." <vic.healey@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e2a95986-0a48-4790-ac44-69dcb92dbf9d@n19g2000vba.googlegroups.com...
> Question for you...
>
> Do you have a T-Mobile G1 phone? if so - how have you enjoyed it?
> If you don't is there any phone that has world access capabilities
> that your recommend?
>
> We may be able to get a pretty good deal on a Blackberry Storm -
> reviews are balanced across the board - we believe we can live with
> the quirks - but we have also been offered somewhat of a deal on the
> G1 and want to compare.
>
> Thanks much!

You didn't think you could post this without somebody asking "why not just
use your iPhone?" did you? The iPhone obviously wil work fine in Germany,
and the iPhone's roaming data disable function actually works, unlike that
function on first software version of the G1 which still managed to talk to
Google's servers over cellular even if you disabled roaming data!
(Apparently that's been long-since fixed, however.)

In case you're new to international travel with GSM, here's a few basic
pointers: whatever phone you use, to reduce roaming charges, remember to
forward your cellular number straight to voicemail or to a domestic number
(home phone, VoIP, etc.) BEFORE leaving the states, unless it's vital you be
able to receive calls "live" in Germany.

Since GSM's roaming system locates you and attempts to deliver a call to you
prior to rolling to voicemail, users will be charged for a one-minute
roaming call for unanswered calls or even for calls when your phone is
turned off, since the call is passed to the roaming operator you last
registered on, then "forwarded" from them back to your home carrier if
unanswered, resulting in a one-minute "call" charge being generated.

Only by forwarding all incoming calls unconditionally to somewhere BEFORE
registering on a foreign system can you prevent these "phantom" roaming
charges. Since international incoming SMS is cheaper than a minute of
roaming, it might be better to forward to a service like YouMail and have
them send an SMS notifying you of missed calls and new voicemails as well as
who they were from, and then you can decide whether it's urgent enough to
return the calls immediately on your cell or wait until you can get to WiFi
to use VoIP, or use a calling card from a landline. You might even buy
YouMail's transcription service for a month- that way they'll even text you
a text transcription of the message a caller left your voicemail box saving
you from having to retrieve it via phone call or email (YouMail, to simulate
the iPhone's Visual Voicemail, emails an audio file of your voicemail to the
email of your choice, typically a push email account on your phone.
Presumably you'd have automatic email retrieval shut off on the phone when
roaming and wouldn't get any email until you had access to Wifi, so SMS
voicemail/missed call notification is probably more practical when roaming.)

My wife and I got along pretty well on a trip to Mexico with our phones last
winter, me with my WinMo Tilt and her with her iPhone, both forwarded to
YouMail prior to leaving. The hotel had free WiFi in the lobby and we
checked email (including missed calls and voicemail notifications from
YouMail) when returning from our daily excursions and then returned any
necessary calls via VoIP clients on our respective phones for $0.02/minute
instead of T-Mobile's $1.49.

Conventional wisdom always says "get a local SIM and stick it in an unlocked
phone," but I suspect that depends on how long you intend to be there and
how much calling you need to do. The cost of the local SIM is often enough
to have paid for a handful of roaming minutes, and the rare times when my
wife and I did split up, we got along fine communicating via SMS. Spending
$10 or $20 each plus airtime on local SIMs for a short trip probably just
isn't worth it, unless the locals offer a much better deal on 3G data than
your hotel does for WiFi.