Posted on 03/04/2015 4:37:01 PM PST by VA Voter
My wife is going to Italy Sat 3/7 for one week and I am trying to set up a simple unlocked cell phone for her use there. She is definitely not tech savvy. I am beginning to doubt my own rudimentary skills.
I got an unlocked new but older Blackberry LG-A275. I set up one contact name using multitap but now I've pushed something that I think activated something called T9. In anycase the multitap won't provide anything resembling the names I am trying to set up in the contact list.
The users guide is nearly useless. User friendly has progressed a lot since this was printed.
I will be in deep do-do if I can't set up her contact list.
Yes, yes, I tried to do this on the cheap and am now paying the price.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Write the numbers in a handheld notepad and give her the notepad. Works just as well.
That is last choice fall back solution but will come with much tarnish to my guru statue.
Most phones have a global reset. You may just have to start over.
The instructions are:
“Open device settings
Scroll to Typing and Language
Open Typing
Scroll to style and select predictive to enable / direct to disable then save”
This might have worked but there is no Typing option. Thanks.
The cell systems in Europe are different than in the US, as I am sure you know. The SIM card often needs to be replaced or reprogrammed.
I don’t use one there now, but my wife does use her business phone in Europe. She has a complete staff of phone/IT people ready to help. And even then, half the time it doesn’t work when she gets there!!!
Disposable cell phones that can have minutes added are available at any electronics store. And you can buy minutes on a card at any 7-11.
That might be more economical.
But really - does anyone HAVE to have one?
I tried to reset but it requires a PIN # that I botched setting up.
To be honest I think you would be better off buying a phone and prepaid SIM card once you get there. As much as I don’t trust google I use Gmail and any android divice will automatically synchronize with your gmail contacts. It is very handy for my travelling.
The phones are already unlocked in Europe. You won’t have to worry about the phone being compatible with GSM networks. When I was shopping for phones they had strip down android phones for under $40 and minutes are 5 to 10 cents and in country calls will most likely be free.
If she’s going to spend the week on the phone chatting with her contact list, she probably should just stay home. She is aware that there is a time zone difference, isn’t she?
I do have a question for the tech folks here - is it going to remember the contacts list when the SIM card is pulled out and an Italian one plugged in?
The SIM card is GSM and Europe compatible with T-Mobile.
Pull the battery wait 10 min and see if that resets it. Download the blackberry desktop and use that to upload contacts.
Didn’t work the first time. Was hoping that was it.
Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your help.
It takes some cojones to make this post and a couple of your admissions.
Priority? Contacts. 2nd? Phone.
Suggestion: Set up Hotmail or Gmail account, set up.her contacts there, have her buy phone when she gets to Europe and that staff set up her email account.
It really is your way out of this one to ensure she has a phone that actually works.
Just be 100% sure she has her email account logon info memorized.
Good luck.
As you already noted, if the phone is GMS, it is Europe compatible. But there is the issue of international roaming charges which can add up very quickly. By this article it looks like T-Mobile is better than other providers when it comes to international roaming charges but I would still check with them.
http://www.lodgephoto.com/blog/going-wireless-in-europe-what-you-need-to-know-about-cell-phones/12/
I traveled to the UK for work last year, my first trip across the pond, and I don’t have a company issued phone. So I temporarily added to my Samsung Galaxy through ATT, an international roaming, data and texting plan, the smallest and cheapest available and cancelled it the next month, which BTW, my company paid for : )
Even though I was also traveling with my company laptop and could connect via Wi-Fi, once I landed in Manchester, I had to take two trains and a taxi to get to my destination in Hull plus take taxis everywhere I needed to go while there and needed to be able to make those calls plus call and have my office be able to reach me as it was a payroll processing week. I also texted my niece as to my safe arrival in the UK, and texted her again just before I boarded my flight back home and when I got home.
I am a bit OCD however and wanted to make sure I could call, text and even connect to the internet via my phone if I needed to, if for any reason my laptop stopped working, I couldn’t connect to a public Wi-Fi or it got lost or stolen. I felt like my phone was my life line…just in case. I also kept in my wallet, a list of emergency phone contact numbers.
Of course I’m sure you already know that she will need to have a power converter so she can keep the phone charged. I bought two global power adapters just like this one:
One I kept in my laptop bag and the other in my purse.
I hope you get the phone issues resolved and that your wife has a great time in Italy. My nephew and his wife went last year for nearly 2 weeks and had a fabulous time. Italy is some place I definitely want to travel to one day.
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