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View Full Version : Anyone in US order from out of country?


spg
07-13-2003, 09:54 PM
Simple question - Is there anyone here from the US that got their Smartphone out of country? If so, from where, and are you actively using it as your phone back over here?

Robert Levy
07-13-2003, 11:07 PM
Many people have ordered from Arne over at ppcw.net and have reported success. He seems to be sold out at the moment but you can get on the waiting list - there is a link to it at the upper right of our front page ("Featured product")

Btw, glad to see you here - love your tablet site

encece
07-14-2003, 03:47 AM
I purchased my Orange SPV thru eBay from a bloke in London if that counts. Everything works great...not an incompatibility bug to mention at all. (the phone on the other hand has a few of it's own...but it doesn't matter what country you're in!)

In short....no problems.

By the way....is there anyone is the US that got the phone from the US? I believe most buy them from overseas with the exception of phones from the DevKits or if you work for MS. Is this not true?

spg
07-14-2003, 04:03 AM
Thanks guys... ordering overseas is not the pefect solution I know, but it might be better than nothing. :)

By the way....is there anyone is the US that got the phone from the US? I believe most buy them from overseas with the exception of phones from the DevKits or if you work for MS. Is this not true?
I'm pretty sure this is correct, at least from all the people I have heard. If there is a way to get them in the US, I would obviously prefer it, but so far I have not been able to find anything.

RDC
07-14-2003, 05:33 AM
I bought mine from Arn at ppcw.net and couldn't be happier. I was using a PPC-PE but needed something smaller, stable and rugged. Also, it was too awkward to use the PPC-PE with one hand.

spg
07-14-2003, 07:01 AM
I bought mine from Arn at ppcw.net and couldn't be happier. I was using a PPC-PE but needed something smaller, stable and rugged. Also, it was too awkward to use the PPC-PE with one hand.
Cool... Just out of curiousity, what cell-phone network are you guys using? Any problems getting connected?

Robert Levy
07-14-2003, 07:46 AM
Thanks guys... ordering overseas is not the pefect solution I know, but it might be better than nothing. :)

By the way....is there anyone is the US that got the phone from the US? I believe most buy them from overseas with the exception of phones from the DevKits or if you work for MS. Is this not true?
I'm pretty sure this is correct, at least from all the people I have heard. If there is a way to get them in the US, I would obviously prefer it, but so far I have not been able to find anything.

That is correct

Robert Levy
07-14-2003, 07:47 AM
I bought mine from Arn at ppcw.net and couldn't be happier. I was using a PPC-PE but needed something smaller, stable and rugged. Also, it was too awkward to use the PPC-PE with one hand.
Cool... Just out of curiousity, what cell-phone network are you guys using? Any problems getting connected?

Any GSM network will do... just go in and tell them you want to start up an account, already have a phone, and just need a SIM card. In the US, I've personally used T-Mobile, Cingular, and AT&T on my Smartphone with no problems.

Chronos
07-14-2003, 05:19 PM
I got my Tanager from Hong Kong, and it is running flawlessly on T-Mobile in the US. :)

spg
07-14-2003, 10:24 PM
Cool, I figured it would work fine on any of those networks, but just wanted to hear some actual user experience with them. That is good to know.

spg
07-17-2003, 08:18 PM
Well, I now have an Orange SPV Smartphone on its way. I'm getting it from a TabletPCBuzz user who is located in the UK. I'm greatly looking forward to getting it. Any thoughts on your favorite things on you phone that I should look at loading or using first?

Also, I'm looking at various phone plans around... I'm obviously going to want data transfer ability with this phone. What types of plans have you used for this, and on average how much bandwidth use do you use in a month?

Thanks in advance! 8)

encece
07-17-2003, 11:27 PM
If you are a T-Mobile Customer...There is an unlimited data plan for $19.99/month. What a deal!

I was averaging 5MB/month...but now that I have automatic email synchronization set up...It will probably go up.

mcsouth
07-18-2003, 01:32 AM
Something I'm curious about, regarding order a phone from out of country - how do you know if the phone is 'unlocked'? Granted, I guess I'm not really clear on just exactly how a cell phone is 'locked' or 'unlocked', but based on the little I've heard, if the phone is 'locked', it will only work on one provider's network.........so, anyone gotten burned by ordering an overseas phone only to find out it was 'locked'?

I have an HP567 PPC that I am really happy with, and none of the new PPC2003 units are doing it for me yet. I seem to have the upgrade itch right now, though, and would seriously like to replace my boring Nokia cell with something that would allow me to get wireless access to internet and e-mail (yeah, not exactly an early adopter, am I.....)

spg
07-18-2003, 04:37 AM
If you are a T-Mobile Customer...There is an unlimited data plan for $19.99/month. What a deal!
Yes, I have seen that when I was looking around. I think it was $29 though, still a great deal. My concern though is with their coverage area... it seems to be smaller than the others. Still probably a good choice though I think.

Edit: We have accounts with AT&T and Sprint PCS right now, never used T-Mobile.

spg
07-18-2003, 04:39 AM
Something I'm curious about, regarding order a phone from out of country - how do you know if the phone is 'unlocked'? Granted, I guess I'm not really clear on just exactly how a cell phone is 'locked' or 'unlocked', but based on the little I've heard, if the phone is 'locked', it will only work on one provider's network.........so, anyone gotten burned by ordering an overseas phone only to find out it was 'locked'?
In my looking around for a place to get one, they usually specified if they were locked or not. I don't think I saw a place where they didn't mention locked or unlocked. Just to be safe though, if it doesn't mention it I wouldn't want to order it.

jenneth
07-18-2003, 07:30 AM
There are two types of lock - application lock and SIM lock. Both of these locks can be overcome - check out the discussion forum at MoDaCo (http://www.modaco.com) for more details.

encece
07-18-2003, 11:04 AM
When looking on eBay or someplace similar....it sometimes say that the smartphone is UNLOCKED and DECERTED. They say this to make it seem like YOU SHOULD BUY THEIR PHONE because of this.

The truth is...you can easily SIM unlock the phones and easily decertify (application unlock the phone).

Well...up until this minute it is a fairly easy process. The Networks may make it more difficult on a future upgrade...but someone will figure out how to overcome this.

If you hard reset an Orange phone...it becomes application locked again anyway...which means you'll still have to learn how to go thru this unlocking process. (and you will be hard resetting one day, I can assure you!)

So, if you see two SPVs online...one says locked and the other says unlocked. I would just go for the better deal. Good Luck.

encece
07-19-2003, 01:46 AM
If you are a T-Mobile Customer...There is an unlimited data plan for $19.99/month. What a deal!
Yes, I have seen that when I was looking around. I think it was $29 though, still a great deal. My concern though is with their coverage area... it seems to be smaller than the others. Still probably a good choice though I think.

Edit: We have accounts with AT&T and Sprint PCS right now, never used T-Mobile.

By the way...T-Mobile's unlimited data plan is 29.99 if you just buy the data plan...like on a Danger Sidekick. It's $19.99 if you already have a voice plan $29.99 or over. This is for new and existing customers.

spg
07-19-2003, 03:42 AM
By the way...T-Mobile's unlimited data plan is 29.99 if you just buy the data plan...like on a Danger Sidekick. It's $19.99 if you already have a voice plan $29.99 or over. This is for new and existing customers.
Ah, very cool. That makes it even better. 8) At this point I'm really leaning towards going with T-Mobile, although I'm still looking around a bit until I get my phone.