Cellphone service in Southeast Asia?
I am travelling to various destinations in Southeast Asia. What is the best way to go about getting cell + data service? Is there a telecom that offers cheap roaming throughout a broad region, or will I need to get a SIM card in each country I travel to (most of my destinations will be a few days at a time, the most being a week, so this would be a bit inefficient)?
Best Answer
The bad news is that there's no sensible pan-Southeast Asian solution nor one in sight. There are no operators that cover the whole region, or even more than a country or two, and thanks to nationalistic telecoms policies and the lack of something like the EU cracking heads, this is unlikely to change anytime soon.
The good news is that prepaid SIMs are dirt cheap, ubiquitous and easy to get, you generally can pick them up in any corner store with minimal hassle for as little as US$1. So if you're willing to change cards and numbers every time you change countries, getting mobile service is not a problem.
(And as an aside, if you're traveling for pleasure and changing countries every few days you should probably reconsider your itinerary a bit, that's not enough to do any of the larger countries justice.)
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Can I use my phone in Asia?
Using a Smartphone in Asia The cell network in the U.S. is no different, so not all American mobile phones will work abroad. In a nutshell, these requirements must be met to use a cell phone in Asia: The phone must be the correct hardware standard (GSM or CDMA) for the country you are visiting.Will my cell phone work in Vietnam?
Yes, you'll be able to use your mobile phone in most urban areas of Vietnam, although remote and mountainous areas may have limited network coverage. Ensure you have global roaming activated with your mobile carrier before you leave home if you wish to use your mobile while in Vietnam.Will my cell phone work in Singapore?
That means a dual-band GSM phone that works perfectly in Sacramento will be a brick in Singapore. If you have a quad-band phone, that's another story: quad-band GSM phones work equally well on 850/1900 and 900/1800 bands. European phones use the same GSM bands as those in Southeast Asia, so no problem there, either.Does Verizon work in Asia?
A Fortune 10 company with approximately 260,000 employees and more than $63 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.Southeast Asia Mobile Phone, Handphone, Cellphone Subscription
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Answer 2
If you have a contact in Hong Kong to get you a contracted simcard, you can use Hutchison ("3") data roaming. I am using this now since 3-4 years and I am very happy with it. They cover almost the whole world and you can go online for 168HKD per 24 hours, 88 for China, and Macau, HKG is included in the plan. They also allow tethering.
Smartone/Vodafone has a similar offer, by from my experience they do not allow tethering abroad.
This is a good idea if you are seldom in an office and depend on a reliable internet connection on the road.
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