Gprs Roaming

Steve,

My worry with roaming is always the fine print or those exception to normal billing procedure. I am in the countries where they are not included and only when expensive.

I plan on leaving Togo and going to Cameroon or Gabon next, I am not in the mood for Nigeria, so I seem to need to find GPRS in one of those two countries.

What I wish would happens is Satellite would take over, then I would know life would be easy.

Andy in Atakpame, Togo West Africa

At 15:14 5/10/2007 +0200, you wrote:

I understand.  Just as GPRS wireless Internet is spreading through the world so are alliances of providers to permit transfer of costs or standardized costs.  Back in the mid 90s one of the hottest tech companies going was one that was able to get local dial-up Internet providers in 148 countries and over 2000 cities to join a network so travelers could get the dial-up number for the city they were in from a small application on their laptop, dial the number and login with the normal uid/password from their own home  Internet provider.  It was great.

Now the same thing needs to happen with GPRS.  You won't need to have a data account in each country.  The various GPRS providers will simply agree to cross bill or provide a standard network access rate.  The wireless data focus to date has been WiFi hotspots because business people were constantly using hotels, airports, coffee shops, etc.  Now, as handsets become smarter and can do more (like provide computer connections) GPRS, EVDO, UMTS and HSDPA standards (last three are much faster) are proliferating to provide much greater geographic coverage - even in lesser developed nations.  All cool stuff.

Here is a short news blurb re a company trying to network the GPRS providers:

TSI Telecommunication Services Inc. (TSI) ( www.tsiconnections.com) announced today that it will provide Hutchison Telecom (Hong Kong) with its GRX service, inpackSM. The solution offers a platform for Hutchison Telecom to connect its GPRS network with global GPRS network operators. The cooperation will enable the extension of Hutchison Telecom’s GPRS roaming coverage and allow its users to enjoy highly convenient GPRS mobile data services globally. As the GRX provider for all major North American GSM operators and now as a GRX provider in the Asia-Pacific region, this contract with Hutchison Telecom makes TSI a leading worldwide GRX provider.

GRX is a centralized IP routing network that interconnects GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks and enables global roaming coverage directly or via other GRX networks. GPRS roaming is a requirement for making future global wireless Internet services possible.
http://www.syniverse.com/pdfs/service_solutions/grxinpack0307l21.pdf

Thank you,
Andy HoboTraveler.com
http://www.hobotraveler.com/blogger.html