[Bogs]

What's the script with phones? Basically i'm gonna wanna make calls back to the UK from HK, so I guess you can get cheap call deals on a landline phone for that? I also want a mobile to send text messages back to the UK, this will be expensive if I take my UK mobile and use that. So I was thinking to buy in HK a pay-as-you-go mobile that can send texts back to UK pretty cheap. This possible?
I'd appreciate any help from you folks with HK experience.
Thanks in advance, Bogs.

[BenderBends]

i had the same question....

i am in need of getting a cell phone for out there....
but i want to be able to call to US occaisionally....
i would also like it if i can send cheap or free text back and forth...

do HK cell companies have contracts? or are they all pay as you go?

and are phones more expensive to buy in US or in HK?

[jayinhongkong]

as long as you have a GSM phone, you should be able to just pop in a prepaid sim card or a sim card tied to a contract. It's MUCH cheaper to make calls overseas and locally with a Hong Kong sim card. Phones are much more expensive here, though, since most people buy them outright. You get a discount when you buy one with a contract, but nowhere near as much of a discount as you'd get in England...my brother got a phone for free (just had to pay a monthly fee of 15 quid a month or so) that costs about $3800 HKD here...it's a samsung D-500. I don't really know about sending SMS overseas, though, I don't do that kinda thing...my new phone supports outlook express so I'll just shoot people e-mails...lol

[Bogs]

Thanks for the info. any more help please?
Yeah, i'd like to send texts to the US as well as the UK ideally..looking at the costs keeping my UK mobile and it's contract and using it in HK is not an option.

[penguinsix]

Most of the UK carriers also have a web->SMS interface such that you can text from a PC in HK to your friends mobile in the UK, should you feel like it. However, it is often necessary to get the logon and password for such a system while you are still in the UK (it sometimes comes by SMS and if the SMS isn't reaching you in HK than it can be annoying).

[rani]

I've not had a problem SMSing or getting SMS messages from Hong Kong phones when I'm in the UK or the US.

[jaykay]

The problem with a lot of UK mobile phone is that they are locked to network in UK, especially Orange and Vodafone. Unless they are unlocked it isn't possible to slip in a HK sim card.

Phones here aren't as subsidised as they are in the UK, but then the contracts aren't anywhere near as criminal as the UK either. So although you have to pay more for a handset you'll pay a lot less for a contract which you can get out of at any time.

For example for £7.35 (my original contract) I had 800 free minutes, with an extra 200 added in the deal, so a 1000 in total, with an extra 200 minutes free to my wife, unlimited texts to my wife. Texts back to the UK are about $HK1.50 and texts to other operators (other mobile company users) are $HK.0.40. Calls back to the UK are an astounding $HK0.23 a minute, which in English is about 1.6p per minute! Still think our handsets here are expensive? In England you get free handsets cos you get absolutely mugged in contract costs and call charges.

If you are here for a short term I would advise getting your phone unlocked in the UK and getting a local sim once you're here. If you're here for a year or so then it would be well worth buying a handset here and going into a contract.

[lastrega]

I've found that I haven't had any problems sending texts to the UK from my HK mobile phone. However I haven't had the same success with sending texts to the US - my friend's network and the HK Sunday network I'm using doesn't seem to be in sync somehow. Anyway rates for calling overseas from HK are really cheap like HK$0.10 a minute (according to the office manager at work).

[angiebaby80]

better to bring your phone over from the uk and get a hk-simcard...

texting is more expensive with pay-as-you-go simcard...when i first came from london, i had a pay-as-you-go simcard and texting overseas cost me $3 but now i have changed to the monthly tariff one and it's now costing me only $1 but as people have mentioned above, better value if you just call them rather than texting...

[Laughing_Monkey]

Roughly how much are handsets in HK (pref ones with cameras) - and are there any superstores like MBK in bangkok where you can just buy the components and put the phone together yourself for a fraction of the price...? (though it might take a while to figure out how...)