Sprint PPC-6700 and European travel ???

[JimSmith94]

I'll be going on a 12 day European tour next month. I know the phone itself won't work, but I have some questions about other functionality while I'm there:

If I leave my phone in airplane mode, will WiFi still work? If so, will the clock sync with WiFi? If not, and I have to set the clock manually, will the clock and alarms still work? Will pocket Skype work over WiFi, so I can call my European contacts from my phone?

Any recommendations for a free currency converter for the 6700?

Any other suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[SEmerson]

Sky will work on the wifi. And if you put money on the skype you can call anyone. You can also pay skype for a incoming # then people from the states can call you as long as you are on wifi.

[JimSmith94]

Thanks for the reply. I do plan to put money on Skype so I can call my European contacts from my laptop and hopefully the 6700 too. I guess I need to find a local WiFi spot, put my phone in airplane mode, and see what does and doesn't work. I remember going to Mexico a few years ago with an old Sanyo 8200, and couldn't even use it as an alarm clock. It wouldn't let me set the time manually, because I didn't have a signal.

Still looking for recommendations for a free currency converter, and any other tips and suggestions to help with my trip.

[rrvo]

Don't use airplane mode. That shuts down ALL of the radios, including WiFi. Instead, go to the settings page for the radios (the one that has all the icons for Airplane Mode, phone, wifi, data, infrared, bluetooth, etc) and select the "phone" icon to make sure the phone is turned off. No point in draining your battery since your CDMA phone is useless in Europe.

Skype will work from the ppc6700, although its quality depends a lot on the quality of the Wifi signal...which often is only at its best in hotel lobbies, and in restaurants frequented by US tourists. Unless you know your business contacts well enough that you don't have to impress them, I wouldn't depend on the ppc/Skype combo for voice communications with them. It's fine for checking your e-mail and keeping in touch with the loved ones back home, but my experience (about 45 days in Europe, Africa and Asia this year) is that Skype messaging and chat are much easier and more reliable than Skype duplex voice communication (ie normal telephone use).

If good phone contact with your business associates in Europe is really important to you, the easiest and most dependable thing is to simply call your carrier and tell them which countries you'll be in. Rent a phone from them for a couple of weeks and bite the bullet on in-country calls. Take your PPC6700 along for all its "other than phone" uses (I no longer carry a laptop, using my 6700 instead). Use your PPC/Skype to save money on your communications back home...and give your folks back home your rental number so they will have a dependable way to contact you in case of an emergency...and vice versa.

If you're going to be going out of the country often, you might want to invest in a quadband, unlocked sim chip phone, but my experience is that in western Europe, that is not significantly cheaper than the rental phone I suggested earlier.

By the way, I use MobiMate for currency conversion and expense tracking. Mobimate is an annual suscription program and I don't think it works with WM6 yet.

Hope this helps.

[JimSmith94]

Originally Posted by rrvo

Don't use airplane mode. That shuts down ALL of the radios, including WiFi. Instead, go to the settings page for the radios (the one that has all the icons for Airplane Mode, phone, wifi, data, infrared, bluetooth, etc) and select the "phone" icon to make sure the phone is turned off. No point in draining your battery since your CDMA phone is useless in Europe.

Skype will work from the ppc6700, although its quality depends a lot on the quality of the Wifi signal...which often is only at its best in hotel lobbies, and in restaurants frequented by US tourists. Unless you know your business contacts well enough that you don't have to impress them, I wouldn't depend on the ppc/Skype combo for voice communications with them. It's fine for checking your e-mail and keeping in touch with the loved ones back home, but my experience (about 45 days in Europe, Africa and Asia this year) is that Skype messaging and chat are much easier and more reliable than Skype duplex voice communication (ie normal telephone use).

If good phone contact with your business associates in Europe is really important to you, the easiest and most dependable thing is to simply call your carrier and tell them which countries you'll be in. Rent a phone from them for a couple of weeks and bite the bullet on in-country calls. Take your PPC6700 along for all its "other than phone" uses (I no longer carry a laptop, using my 6700 instead). Use your PPC/Skype to save money on your communications back home...and give your folks back home your rental number so they will have a dependable way to contact you in case of an emergency...and vice versa.

If you're going to be going out of the country often, you might want to invest in a quadband, unlocked sim chip phone, but my experience is that in western Europe, that is not significantly cheaper than the rental phone I suggested earlier.

By the way, I use MobiMate for currency conversion and expense tracking. Mobimate is an annual suscription program and I don't think it works with WM6 yet.

Hope this helps.

That's exactly what I needed to know. Thanks!