I actually lost my T-Mobile cell phone in Dubai. It fell out of my pocket in a taxi and I didn't notice it was missing until the cab was long gone. Being well aware of the possible charges that would acrue of someone found it and used it, I immediately contacted T-Mobile and had my service suspended. They were really cool about it and I lucked out that nobody used my phone.
I really needed a phone so I went and purchased a Nokia and set up service through Etisalat a popular UAE provider. I had to prepay for minutes but the international rates were so cheap compared to T-Mobile that I actually saved money by using a locally-purchased phone service to call home.
The cool part was I was able to bring a very nice Nokia (with Arabic writing on the keys) back to the US and use it with my T-Mobile SIM card.
Similar deals are available in Asia from what friends tell me. But when friends from Singapore, Hong Kong and Indosnesia come to visit, they simply get a locally purchased phone.
cool = understanding?