Best mobile phone solution for the world traveller?

I'm travelling from this October for 12 months all around the world and am getting no joy in searching for any sort of mobile tariff solution that is affordably usable around the world.

Currently I'm with Orange and my friend is with a vodafone UK contract but thats already up, and at present im looking to go Orange pay and go as receiving texts is free. HOWEVER, phoning home (england) or even receiving calls from home is ridiculously impossible. Another option is to get a pay and go for each country, or use Skype as much as possible OR use one of those travel sims such as this: http://www.sim4travel.com/ but so far its unclear whats going to be the best solution. Our trip includes Japan too which i believe runs on different networks, would a quad band or 3 g phone work there?

I'd be very appreciative if anyone has any previous experience and/or advice on this.

Oh and just to gloat a bit, this is the route:

london - dehli - tokyo - seoul - hong kong - bangkok (laous, vietnam, cambodia, malaysia) Singapore - Bali - Darwin - Alice Springs - Cairns - Sydney - Christchurch - Auckland - Hawaii - LA - San Fran - Vancouver - Las Vegas - Mexico - Miami - Toronto - Niagra Falls - New York - Boston - Madrid - London!

yeah I was going to post a similar question. I'm going travelling in November and want an affordable phone I can take so that I can be contacted if necessary. I'll use a payphone/chargecard to phone home.

AdamsSands - I'm doing a similar route to you but going to South America after Auckland. Are you going overland from Hong Kong to Bangkok or are you flying? If your going overland what route do you plan to take?

I plan to go overland from Hong Kong through Vietnam, and Cambodia to Bangkok - can anyone advise on the best route?

hello i am off in october and when looking in to call costs i recon that gosim or one of the international sim cards is best for ease of use ,when i have gone away before if i am in the far east usually pick up a local sim card or use an internet connection to ring home ,to be honest mobiles are great for convenience but a pain to carry around for the 5 mins every other day you use them ,just use pay phones and set yourself free

Quoting Shepwad

yeah I was going to post a similar question. I'm going travelling in November and want an affordable phone I can take so that I can be contacted if necessary. I'll use a payphone/chargecard to phone home.

AdamsSands - I'm doing a similar route to you but going to South America after Auckland. Are you going overland from Hong Kong to Bangkok or are you flying? If your going overland what route do you plan to take?

I plan to go overland from Hong Kong through Vietnam, and Cambodia to Bangkok - can anyone advise on the best route?

Sounds like we have a similar plan. At the moment I'm still working out the best route out of China and into Vietnam; it looks like train to Nanning (but unfortunately from HK not in a straight line), then on to Friendship bridge and into Vietnam; bus to Halong Bay, then on to Hanoi. From there I'm a bit vague; probablybuses into Laos and to Vientiene, then back into Vietnam via northern Thailand, get to Hue, then Reunification Express down the coast to Saigon (with stops). From there, bus into Cambodia to Phnom Penh and then (I think) the bus and boat route to Siem Reap and Angkor, then bus out to Bangkok. I'm trying to avoid flying until I absolutely have to (not for environmental reasons, I just want to see stuff), so I'm hoping not to get on a plane until I need to fly to Australia, probably from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.

Hey,

Yeah the complete plan is:

london - dehli - tokyo - overland - seoul - hong kong - bangkok - (Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore all overland) - Bali - Darwin - Alice Springs - Sydney - Christchurch - overland - Auckland - Sdyney - Hawaii - LA - overland - San Fran - overland - Vancouver - Dalis - Mexico - overland - Belize city - Miami - Toronto - Niagra Falls - Boston - New York- Madrid - London!

Sorry just realised it was a bit jumbled up on first post,

Yeah the problem im finding looking at these travel sims is that a lot of them either dont work in Japan or dont receive free calls. Does any one have any experience of using one on such a trip?

Also with Japan does anyone know what type of phone would work there? im considering the SE w810i as its a quad band or the SE k800i as its a 3g triband?

For buying in country sim cards which i believe is cheaper, does anyone know the best for tyhe whole of SEA area?

Many thanks for any help

Adam

Your best bet on compatible phones for Japan is to talk to O2 or Vodafone (even if you don't use them). O2 have a reciprocal deal with iMode in Japan and they list some handsets that will work in the UK and there (which means they'll pretty much work anywhere). I think you can find the info on the O2 website, and as far as I remember they were all Moto and Nokia handsets. You might have an additional problem in Korea though, because like Japan they have their own unique standards.

I'm taking a Nokia n80 because it has WiFi on board and I'm going to use VOIP as much as possible, and use the phone for incoming calls only. That way I can leave it on contract with enough money back here to pay the direct debit. However I don't have to worry about Japan or SK, so quad-band should be good enough.

Can't help on the regional SIM-cards, I remember seeing them in Bangkok but I wasn't paying attention. Sorry.