<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm starting to research cell phone options while traveling in Southeast China and I'm hoping for some suggestions. Will a blackberry work? Is it better to buy a phone or SIM card there? Will there even be coverage in the mountain regions.</p>
<p>What about Skype? At least initially is seems coverage is more complicated in this area.</p>
<p>Any suggestions are appreciated</p>
<p>Having an unlocked bb will allow you to use the phone anywhere… all you’ll need is a sim card. I have an iPhone not a bb so I can’t tell you how/about unlocking it, but you can probably google the info yourself. If you buy a bb from where you live, assuming the states, it’ll only work in the states (I believe)? Otherwise you’ll have to pay roaming charges and stuff which is pricey.</p>
<p>As for coverage… not sure on that tbh. I’m abroad and find that my friends and I (who all are with diff companies) can’t find signal/have little signal in the same places. Not sure if that helps.</p>
<p>As for skype, I know that have more info on their site, but my friend currently pays $8/mo. for unlimited calling to her mother in the states. </p>
<p>Sorry, I might not be much help haha.</p>
<p>I have done some backpacking in southeast asia and studied abroad in Australia and have work for a few cellphone companies att, verizon, sprint and tmobile. So i know a few things about phones. I also studied abroad with my old faithfully BB curve.</p>
<p>Two aspects</p>
<p>Blackberry phone - must be a world phone meaning it support all bandwidths used in the world which mostly all new bb phone do( with the exception of Japan). Also you need it to be a GSM (must take a sim card) phone. </p>
<p>You will need to get this phone unlocked from your service provider Att or Tmobile. </p>
<p>Service</p>
<p>As far as signals is concerned this will greatly depend on the SouthEast Asian service provider. You should be able to get a simple sim card when you land in Asia at a 7-11. Please note you will need to know the international code to call the USA. THis is tricky a little bit.</p>
<p>Skype is lovely the best thing for this situation. You can sign up for a free account and have your mom learn how to use it also. Skype to Skype is free. Or you can sign up for an unlimited skype account to all USA phones for 23 per year.</p>
<p>You can use your blackberry mobile there with a local sim card.Check which network having good coverage in there in China and get it.For using the local sim you may need to unlock it ,get the unlocking service from any online vendor like [URL="<a href="http://www.unbblock.com/blackberry-9700/rs18wp9/“]UnBBlock.com[/URL”>http://www.unbblock.com/blackberry-9700/rs18wp9/"]UnBBlock.com[/URL</a>] .Skype is a good option for making free calls ,but for that you should get data plan or free Wi-Fi with good network coverage.</p>