[pct-l] Foreign Hiker - 2 questions and SPOT Connect

Sun Sep 8 11:20:31 CDT 2013

Well now I'm even more confused!

All AT&T customers in the USA had to either get brand new phones (at deep discount) to switch to Sprint (due to this GSM/CDMA stuff)
Or AT&T gave them other options for GSM carriers, so that their phones would work.

My parents just ran into this issue where they had to trade in brand new phones.

I was also on a CDMA network and couldn't switch to TMobile (GSM) unless I purchased a new phone, even unlocked CDMA phones wouldn't work. But it could be an unlocked GSM phone.

This may be a USA issue only because from my understanding from travelling outside the US most of the world is running on GSM.

I would look at the US AT&T website and see what they are saying regarding the issue just to be safe.

But if AT&T made all of their USA customers switch to CDMA and get brand new phones I don't know how that would work for international people. I mean why would they risk losing millions on telling people to use their phones on other competitor networks if the phones would work?

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Martinot <eric at martinot.info>
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2013 04:00:59 
To: <lilacs007 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Yoshihiro Murakami<completewalker at gmail.com>; Eric Martinot<eric at martinot.info>; Pacific crest trail PCT Listserve<pct-l at backcountry.net>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Foreign Hiker - 2 questions and SPOT Connect

Sprint is about to merge with Softbank of Japan, not ATT.  My ATT prepaid Go Phone (GSM) still works fine in the US on the ATT GSM network. And it works with overseas SIMs on other overseas GSM networks I've tried, but only once it was unlocked (not easy).  The main question for overseas hikers, which is still unanswered, is the opposite, however: can an overseas GSM phone work with a prepaid ATT Go Phone SIM in the US?  It's not a question of CDMA vs. GSM, but rather how the prepaid plan works, if the prepaid ATT SIMs are only meant to be used in ATT phones (I suspect).  

On Sep 9, 2013, at 2:57 AM, lilacs007 at yahoo.com wrote:

I didn't address the major point in this post :)

Which is that At &T merged with Sprint and no longer runs on GSM but on CDMA.
People in the US had to trade in their phones for CDMA ones and now are on Sprint/AT &T.

Any GSM phone will work on a GSM network, but NOT any CDMA phone will work on a CDMA network.

So those people could take their GSM at &T phone to any other gsm provider and the phone would work fine.

That's how companies in the USA were able to offer 2 year contracts and charge nothing for actual phones but upcharge on costs of service.

If you have an at &t phone and need to use it in the USA you would have to find another carrier or buy a new phone... It won't work here anymore due to the merger.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: Yoshihiro Murakami <completewalker at gmail.com>
Sender: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2013 20:45:44 
To: Eric Martinot<eric at martinot.info>
Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net<pct-l at backcountry.net>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Foreign Hiker - 2 questions and SPOT Connect

Dear Eric

Briefly speaking,

My AT&T SIM card is not a prepaid type, it is sold by Mobel Co.in Japan.
Therefore, I hold AT&T phone number permanently. Its cost is around 30
dollar in a year.

My phone is  SONY XPERIA tipo dual ( SIM free type ). I use this phone with
a DeLorme in Reach.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OUb-86l_SGk/Uej-lsDC7oI/AAAAAAAAS_M/CiY6UYtbWvk/s1600/P7195776.JPG

It worked fine this summer.

Good night.

2013/9/8 Eric Martinot <eric at martinot.info>

> I live overseas too, and went through this a few years ago.  I ended up
> buying an ATT Go-Phone (pre-paid) smartphone because Verizon didn't seem to
> offer a pre-paid plan for smartphones at the time (may have changed now).
> After unlocking the Go-Phone smartphone (a major project), I was able use
> it overseas as my primary phone with overseas SIM cards.
> 
> I don't know if an ATT Go-Phone (prepaid) SIM card will work in a non-ATT
> phone, someone should verify that before you count on that. (Seems that
> Yoshihiro Murikami's recent PCT-L post implies that that the ATT Go-Phone
> SIM will work in a non-ATT phone.)   If yes, however, ATT won't sell you
> just the SIM card by itself, you have to buy it with a phone.  But you can
> buy a really cheap ATT Go-Phone for $30-40 with a Go-Phone SIM card, and
> then just throw away the phone and use the SIM card.  The biggest problem
> for an overseas hiker is that ATT will only mail the phone/SIM to your
> credit card billing address, so you'd need to have one in the US, I think.
> 
> True, ATT service on the trail isn't great.  It was fine in almost all
> trail towns, and at high elevations on the trail with line-of-sight to some
> metro area.  But many times I got a carrier signal of another network, and
> couldn't use it, the phone says "not registered on network" and the
> Go-Phone pre-paid service doesn't allow out-of-network roaming.
> 
> I also got a Delorme Inreach to pair (bluetooth) with the ATT Go-Phone
> (Android), and use that for text messages (140-char) when out of range of
> cell service.  Works really well, but its heavy (8 oz.), and requires a
> fairly clear view of the sky, so not in deep valleys, although trees by
> themselves don't seem to bother it.  The Inreach was the first on the
> market to allow two-way communication, so it can receive texts too, but
> SPOT now seems to be providing two-way also?  I'm surprised there hasn't
> been more discussion on PCT-L over the past year about Delorme vs. SPOT, as
> they are now head-to-head competitors it seems, and both useful gear for
> the PCT.
> 
> 
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-- 
Sincerely
--------------- --------------------------------------
Low Gear (trail name) ---  Low Gear Song was written by Diane with Trail
Hacker and Shroomer  https://sites.google.com/site/completewalker/low-gear

Hiro   ( the short name of Yoshihiro Murakami  村上宣寛 )
facebook  http://www.facebook.com/completewalker
Blogs  http://completewalker.blogspot.jp/
Photo  https://picasaweb.google.com/104620544810418955412/
Backpacking since 1980 in Japan, A foreign member of PCTA;  JMT( 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012), Wind River Range, Glacier NP (2013)

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