{"id":20268,"date":"2011-02-23T10:33:51","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T17:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=20268"},"modified":"2011-02-23T10:33:51","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T17:33:51","slug":"phoning-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/23\/phoning-in-italy.html","title":{"rendered":"Phoning in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Mobile Phones for the Win!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So we’re going to be in Italy for two weeks at the end of May. \u00a0And, being the tech geek I am, I’ve been worried about …<\/p>\n

… my phone.<\/p>\n

(I’ve also been pondering e-readers a bit. But that’s another post.)<\/p>\n

When I shifted from my old company Blackberry to my new HTC Incredible, I also shifted from AT&T to Verizon … and from GSM to CDMA. Those are different communication protocol (think of it as AM vs FM). There are plenty of people who will debate between the two of them (CDMA is generally thought to be a bit better), but the key issue is that, so far as Europe is concerned<\/a> (Italy in particular<\/a>), GSM is it.<\/p>\n

In other words, my phone … and Margie’s identical phone … won’t be doing much while we’ve Over There.<\/p>\n

This is a bit worrisome — I need to stay in touch with the office (or, rather, the office needs to be able to get hold of me). \u00a0More importantly, while there, it will likely be important to be able to call within the group — we’re a crew of 8-12 at various times, may be in different places, etc. \u00a0Phone (or even text) comms will be important.<\/p>\n

Now, the simplest thing to do is simply plan on either renting a phone while there, or grabbing a disposable phone at the airport. \u00a0That would take care of the basics, but …<\/p>\n

Dagnabbit, I’ve grown to love my Android smartphone. \u00a0And I’m looking at all the things that would be so handy over there — Google translation services, maps, Wikipedia, all that jazz.<\/p>\n

So how to get a smartphone over there?<\/p>\n

I chatted with the Verizon folk about breaking my existing contract in order to replace my Incredible with one of their GSM-based phones (Droid 2 Global and the Droid Pro). \u00a0Massive hundreds of dollars ensue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Their “best” suggestion was to buy a third phone under our current contract (e.g., a Droid 2 Global, my choice between the two of them) so that I get the discount price ($199), then transfer my current number to that, relegating my current phone to a perpetual (or couple of year) $10\/mo service contract.<\/p>\n

Then buy the Verizon Occasional Traveller plan for a month, pay out the nose for voice and data service, and …<\/p>\n

Well, let’s see if there’s another option.<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that, while my cellular voice\/data services (phone calls, SMS, 3G) won’t be working, GPS and WiFi will still work.\u00a0 Which means I could do mapping (except maps can’t be pulled down), and if I’m at a WiFi hotspot (Internet cafes, hotels, etc.), I can get to data.<\/p>\n

WiFi …<\/p>\n

What about a MiFi<\/a> setup?\u00a0 Basically a portable WiFi hotspot, with a SIM plugged in for the local phone systems.\u00a0 And it so happens they can be rented for the country for a not-unreasonable (vs remote data plans and buying another phone) cost. (For reference: MiFi rental for Italy<\/a>. More MiFi info<\/a>. More MiFi info<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

So that’s what I’m looking at at this point.\u00a0 As far as voice services go, I could do something with Skype, I guess (if I have data), or I could just go ahead and grab a cheap, disposable phone when we arrive.<\/p>\n

Am I overlooking any blindingly obvious answers here?<\/p>\n

Any other thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So we’re going to be in Italy for two weeks at the end of May. \u00a0And, being the tech geek I am, I’ve been worried about … … my phone. (I’ve also been pondering e-readers a bit. But that’s another post.) When I shifted from my old company Blackberry to my new HTC Incredible, I … Continue reading “Phoning in Italy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[65,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-mobile-pda","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/phones.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20591,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/28\/phoning-in-italy-parte-seconda.html","url_meta":{"origin":20268,"position":0},"title":"Phoning in Italy, Parte Seconda","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Mar-11 10:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So some developments since my original Phoning in Italy post ... Data Connectivity I've gone ahead and signed up to rent a mobile wireless \"MiFi\" hotspot configured for Italy with unlimited data, via XcomGlobal.\u00a0 It's costing me about $280 for the full trip, but the idea is to have instant-on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Mobile \/ PDA \/ eReader \/ tablet"","block_context":{"text":"My Mobile \/ PDA \/ eReader \/ tablet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/my-mobile-pda"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/phones-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20395,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/05\/tweets-from-2011-03-05.html","url_meta":{"origin":20268,"position":1},"title":"Tweets from 2011-03-05","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 5-Mar-11 11:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's great to have neighbors wander by and not have to apologize for the place being a mess. # All pack (thx, Margie!) and doing last-minute fiddling around the house before heading off to airport. Wish I weren't going. # No, really. Exciting about Australia, sure, but all sorts of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128137,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/22\/the-universal-new-yorker-cartoon-caption.html","url_meta":{"origin":20268,"position":2},"title":"The Universal "New Yorker" Cartoon Caption","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Sep-15 7:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Which, for a variety of personal reasons, is a hell of a lot funnier now than it would have been six months ago. A New Caption That Works for Every 'New Yorker' Cartoon And it's not \"Christ, what an asshole.\" View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31131,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/05\/are-we-there-yet.html","url_meta":{"origin":20268,"position":3},"title":"Are we there yet?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Nov-12 6:24am","format":false,"excerpt":"From today's XKCD (http:\/\/xkcd.com\/1130\/), \"Poll Watching\". (Hover caption: \"The choices we make Tuesday could have MASSIVE and PERMANENT effects on Nate Silver's blog!\")Google+: Reshared 1 times Google+: View post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3452,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/11\/19\/less_with_moore.html","url_meta":{"origin":20268,"position":4},"title":"Less with Moore","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 19-Nov-02 6:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"Spinsanity has another fine skewering of Michael Moore and his film, Bowling for Columbine. Putting aside Moore's claim to be in it for the humor, the column points out the...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32847,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/22\/elvis-has-left-the-building-cosmic-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":20268,"position":5},"title":"Elvis has left the building (cosmic edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 22-Mar-13 10:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"Worth clicking through to the cartoon just to read the ToolTip caption. \u00a0(h\/t +Amy Shira Teitel)Reshared post from +Jason MajorLOL @ this. ;-)(Via\u00a0http:\/\/xkcd.com\/1189\/) View this post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}