Cell Phone Travel Problems

Cell Phone Travel Problems

I am having the never-ending list of cell phone problems. The biggest problem is reception is bad because the world has concrete rooms. The next is the distance from the cell tower.

The biggest problem though it figuring out all these small rules before I leave for the next country. I am using a Tigo cell phone system in Guatemala; I did a couple of test phone calls to my parents. Now I am trying to make a call, and it shows me no signal. Very frustrating, I turned on and off the phone, went out on the balcony, however no signal presently. I am fortunate the location where I purchased the SIM card is close.

The difference between me and most people who have cell phone is this, I do not want to use the phone, I do not use the phone, I do not learn all the problems quickly because I do not want to use or have this phone. It has become a necessity because nobody in the USA picks up the phone; I must have them return a call. Voice mail is not a form of communication that is functional, it is dysfunctional in nature.

Most people that have cell phones are not moving from country to country or are willing to pay the 5 dollar per minute charge of a contract rate.

I am using the cell phone as a way for people to call me back; I am now going to try the Skype system if I can find a headset to purchase. I will do a call over Skype, and then ask them to call me back. IF you live in a five star hotel, the call back number is not a problem, presently most hotels under I have lived in, and including all the Caribbean ones for 50 dollars would not be the answer for receiving telephone calls.

I need a telephone in my room, this is not a normal thing to be in my room, the D and D Hotel on Khao San Road had this for about 12 U.S. per night and a swimming pool on top. Internet Caf? in the Hotel, not in the room.

Next after I figure out how to have a number, then I have to make it a no-brainer for the person in the USA to call me. I have to give them the exact number, totally empathize with them, give them the whole number including all the country codes, etc, and then somehow check to make sure it works. Checking is the big problem; I have to have someone in the USA that can figure out how to make it work. Diligent to call the international operators. I am amazed at what stops the average person.

Cell Phone Travel Problems

Cell Phone for Travel |

< Older | Newer >
Reader Submitted Comments | Deleted Comments (0)

ash said on Sunday March 12th, 2006 09:34:00 AM

Skype is useful... It is basically like internet conferencing, but because they market it as a phone, all the people who are afraid of computers feel okay to try this. Clever marketing.I bought a headset in Nepal for about $6US after haggeling. they had cheaper ones, but I wanted this nice small one that I could fit in my shirt pocket. I don't want something like a CANs headset that would take up half my daypack.a lot of the better internet cafes had skype on their machines in India and Nepal. I didn't use it for voice, just IM. but It is good to know they have it there if you can tolerate the speed. I can use the headset back home, though, where it is half the price of the ones in the shops. and too small for Customs to see and want tax for... if they could prove i didn't take it with me anyway.

Anonymous said on Sunday March 12th, 2006 01:33:00 PM

Why do you want people to call you back if you have Skype available? The per minute rate with Skype-Out is about 2 to 3 cent per minute (US dollar cents, that is), regardless of where you are calling from. I doubt your parents will get a better rate when they call you back.Also, you might want to get a permanent phone number in the US, so that people can leave you voice messages. Then you can call yourself to receive those messages, and then call the person back, using either Skype or a calling card. My experience is that calling cards are usually quite reasonable in price (about 10 to 15 cents/minute), and Skype, as I noted above, is ultra-cheap.My permanent phone number is from Virgin Mobile. I pay $15/every 3 months, automatically charged to my credit card, for a voice mailbox plus $15 of airtime for use in the US. Since the airtime can only be used in the US, I just leave the phone at home when I am traveling and let it take voice mail.

Andy HoboTraveler.com said on Sunday March 12th, 2006 04:07:00 PM

I do not have problems calling my parents, they pick up the telephone.BUTttS The normal, I do not care to answer the phone business person is having a mental problem in the USA. They want to be in control and will not answer the telephone. I am trying to make a business relationship with people that WILL answer the telephone. I need to purchase services for my webpage. I do not want to be in the phone answering business. I want to be in the Internet business. As Bill Gates said in his book the ROAD AHEAD it the internet is Asynchronous, I can work only one hour per day connecting by email.This is just a complicated way of getting a priority message to the older not wanting to deal with the internet people. Trust me, nobody believe anyone makes money on the internet by having a webpage. They think I design webpages for moneny ,or maybe Ebay at best.I need to have an open way for me to call cheap to the not so good business person of today that will not answer the phone.The have an open 24 hour way for me to receive the call back in peron, no voice mail in my room. There is NOT 24 hour a day internet access on the planet in a room. Very complicated to find this.Bottom line, they have voice mail, they call me back or we do not do business.It is a service concept to me, marketing and such, in reality a person should answer the telephone, not put me on voice mail 100 percent of the time.

ash said on Monday March 13th, 2006 01:02:00 PM

you know, I was writing to someone earlier trying to figure out a word I wanted to use that I'd heard Bill Gates use... Asynchronous! I couldn't remember it. I think I put a-linear, which is both wrong and not a word. Oh well... education all the way!