Going to Europe... few questions!

[maneetb]

Hows it going everyone? So I live in California and im going to Poland, Amsterdam, Barcalona Spain, Rome Italy and Paris France. I know my Mogul with sero wont work there (please correct me if im wrong!) but will I be able to use my wifi for emails and web browsing? Or will my phone keep saying roaming or no service and act stupid? I was going to take it for the airports and hotels that have wifi... internet on my phone would be really nice! And is there anyway to use a service like Sype or something to call home w/ wifi? And if so... is it easy to use and decent quality? or should i stick to phone cards? And lastly... is the wifi the same in Europe as the US? Sorry for the huge amount of questions... here is a recap!


Will the mogul work in europe?

Will I be able to use wifi from my phone if its available there or is the phone going to go ape-**** for not getting signal? (I want to browse the net and check emails)

Is a service like Sype possible from the phone and is it worth it all if wifi is useable? Or should I just stick to phone cards?

Thank you verrrry much!

[timewaster]

wifi is not dependent on having a sprint phone signal, so yes it should work.
wifi is universal and does not differ between countries.
skype would only work if you are in a wifi spot, so you might want to get a phone card depending on your situation.

[magoo66]

If you don't want your phone complaining about no signal, just turn off the 'phone' part in the comm manager. You should still be able to use wifi, so as long as you're at a hot spot, you can enjoy all the benefits of the internet (e-mail, music, videos, maps, etc).

Arguably, skype might work better via wifi, since most wifi connections tend to have faster connections than the phone data connection. I'm not sure if that will hold true everywhere, but it makes sense to me. Try it out before you go, so you don't have to figure out how to do it once you're there.

[specialk2980]

How about GPS? Provided you have European Maps installed, will GPS work? I have Garmin Mobile XT and notice everytime I start the application It connects to the data plan (I assume its for traffic and weather)

[maneetb]

Ok sounds good. I tried turning off the wireless from the comm manager but that means that wifi wont work either unless theres a way to work around that. And yeah ill just try it out on my home router and hopefully it will work. Ive been reading there there is a 2.1 and 2.2 skype version and that 2.1 works and 2.2 doesnt... anyone have any other suggestions?

[timewaster]

Originally Posted by maneetb

Ok sounds good. I tried turning off the wireless from the comm manager but that means that wifi wont work either unless theres a way to work around that. And yeah ill just try it out on my home router and hopefully it will work. Ive been reading there there is a 2.1 and 2.2 skype version and that 2.1 works and 2.2 doesnt... anyone have any other suggestions?

wifi should work even if you put your phone in flight mode in comm manager.

yes, i can confirm that 2.2 doesn't work.
I got a copy of 2.1 and it does work. I am using 2.1.0.65

[timewaster]

Originally Posted by specialk2980

How about GPS? Provided you have European Maps installed, will GPS work? I have Garmin Mobile XT and notice everytime I start the application It connects to the data plan (I assume its for traffic and weather)

the mogul uses assisted gps, which requires a sprint cell tower.
unassisted gps mode may or may not work. There are conflicting reports.
Check out the sticky thread on the mogul gps.

[shellguy]

You can disable asisted GPS and it should work, have used it at home with no issues killing the phone portion, just use the wifi to download the latest sat positions, or i do anyways, and you will be fine.


Will

[jerryyyyy]

I am currently in France for a 6 week stay and can give you some info:

1. Skype works and saves me a bundle... free to 800 numbers!
2. Internal GPS does not work... lots of people have verified this... I use a Holux 1200
3. You can turn off the radio and leave WiFi on as well as BT. I use PocketAlarm and put it into Sleep Mode but turn on BT as needed. With this set up I only lost 10% battery power while away from a plug for two days with all radios shut down.
4. Nonetheless, shame this is not quadband. I have a cheap GPS phone here and use it with insertable cards.
5. Of course, you could get an iPhone..... but they get you $1 a minute. Better to buy a new phone. If you are in France you can get rates of about .3-.4 Euro/min.

Cheers

[sparhawk6]

Originally Posted by jerryyyyy

2. Internal GPS does not work... lots of people have verified this... I use a Holux 1200

That's awful news. I was planning on using it in Italy this summer.