[pandabearest]

Hi

I recently signed up to vodafone in sydney and they are telling me its going to cost a bomb to get out of the contract.

Will my phones I got work in hong kong (isnt it called the GSM network?) Are the sim cards the same shape?

[MXZ]

Hi,

Assuming they turn on roaming, you will be able to use your phone in Hong Kong. However the roaming charges are very likely to be extremely high.

The other problem is that you would obviously have an Australian phone number instead of a HK one which could be a nuisance as local phone users will need to make an international call to phone you - an you will need to call internationally (whilst roaming) to call them.

[MovingIn07]

However - it does depend on how much your contract costs, if you will be travelling back to aus and if you have friends in aus who want to call you. If so, they can ring you quite cheaply (you pick up the roaming bill, not them!). And if you have a lowish monthly fee you could just keep the SIM and pay the monthly fee but get another one here in HK for local use.
I keep an aussie mobile phone number (I carry two phones) so australian clients can ring without incurring the charges - but it IS expensive.

[MXZ]

MovingIn07 is right - it really depends on how expensive your contract is, what they will charge you for roaming and whether or not you'll actually use the phone.

If you don't have a good roaming deal ( I sooo love 3's "like home" service where I don't pay any roaming charges on other 3 networks ) then it may be cheaper to set up a SkypeIn number in Australia and forward it to a HK mobile.

My wife is in Australia at the moment and we have been using this cunning little trick to save an absolute fortune on roaming costs

[pandabearest]

^^Does Vodafone offer that skype service?
Sounds very naughty


I know I could set up roaming or just downgrade to a pre-pay for when I am over visiting..

But aside, will the local hong kong sim cards fit into the phone (so i dont have to buy a new phone for local use in hong kong) ?

Or will I have to sign up and buy a phone when i get to hk.....

I was not thinking of using roaming at all as I will have a blackberry which I can email off thru work.

[MXZ]

You can use that Skype service with any network. Literally all you do is buy through Skype a number in any given country. When someone calls this number, it is put through to your Skype account.

For example when I was in the UK, I bought a HK SkypeIN number (£10 for three months) so that my wife could call a local Hong Kong number with her free minutes. I could of course have just called her mobile phone directly - but there would have been no way for her to initiate contact.

Once you have the SkypeIN number you can tell Skype to direct unanswered calls to any phone number in the world. However you will need to pay for that part of the call with your Skype credit.

For example it used to cost 1.1 pence per minute to call a Hong Kong mobile. My wife is in Australia at the moment and calls my Australian SkypeIN number. This calls through to Skype which then calls my HK mobile. All I pay is for the Skype call to my Hong Kong mobile.

It's pretty neat really

Sim cards are a standard size. You shouldn't have any problem using your Australian sim in a HK phone or using a HK sim in your Australian phone. In fact, my wife is using an Australian sim card so I know it will work

[MovingIn07]

Just a note to the above - YES a GSM sim card will work in HK (and anywhere). If your aussie phone is CDMA (Telstra's Next Generation?) then NO it won't. But if it has a SIM it's unlikley to be a CDMA phone so you are almost certainly ok.

[dropdedfwed]

hey,

your vodafone SIM will work in HK as long as it is not pre-paid. Your phone will work in HK with your Oz SIM, and as long as your phone is not locked, it will take a HK SIM too (most the fones Vodafone sell are unlocked, apart from prepaid phones).

CDMA phones will not work anywhere, telstra tunred it off this year.

Next G is WCDMA, ie 3G with an 850,900, 2100 mhz band (can't remember which is unique to Next G, i think it is UMTS 850). Next G SIMs work in 2G, 2.5G and 3G phones (i have one in an old GSM motorola i bought in HK, works just fine). you will only get the network your phone is capable of, and obviously that is available (ie u willl only get GSM in a 2/2.5G fone regardless of SIM).

Prepaid SIMs from Oz do not allow global roaming, as far as I know.

so, yes your phone will work, your SIM will work in all HK phones, likewise your phone will take most HK SIMs (not sure if a 3G fone will take a GSM SIM, it works the other way, ie GSM fone takes 3G SIM), and yes it will be expensive. data may be cheaper though... i found roaming data on vodafone was cheaper than domestic, but that was a few years ago...

HTH,

DDF

[pandabearest]

Thanks heaps guys I will ak my techy friend about that skype...Sounds fabulous.

You guys have been so great!

[MovingIn07]

Actually, prepaid SIM's from Aus DO work overseas, but you have to load them up with money before you go. My husband had one for years and I used it to contact him in NZ, Saudi and UK once or twice.