MetaChat - Smart Phone for Boss?

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31 July 2008

Smart Phone for Boss? Boss is going to Israel next week→[More:] and mentioned that, while he does not want to travel with a laptop, he is considering getting a smartphone to keep up on email, so he does not get hammered when he returns (there would be hundreds of emails, most being actionable).

He is with ATT, and aside from an iPhone (which may or may not have international capability), does anyone have any suggestions, or experience?

post by: danf at: 13:15 | 3 comments

Data point: My American-Israeli friend has a newish Blackberry. He lives in the US but regularly visits Israel.

I'd check Blackberry first.

posted by spork 31 July | 13:35

the big thing is to get a phone from either AT&T or T-Mobil... someone who uses SIM cards. Then it'll be able to go into roaming on any overseas network.

posted by kellydamnit 31 July | 13:42

Most ATT plans do not have international roaming activated. If your boss has used the account internationally before nothing is needed. You have to call 611 and ask before you leave -- and you need to enable both voice and data. Voice without an intl package is $2.50/minute whether you are calling/receiving anywhere.

Data is 2 cents a kilobyte and it can add up fast (about $20/MB). You can get a data plan with the first 20MB for $25 and then $0.005/kb thereafter).

If all the boss is going to use is mostly text based email it should be reasonable. But if there are lots of attachments or the boss does a lot of web browsing it will get expensive.

I spent $500 in overages when I was in Mexico for a week on my iPhone. In retrospect I should have connected to wifi hotspots and put the phone down.

If your boss is a windows person, go blackberry. Mac an iphone. The data rates are the same but the iPhone can browse the "real" internets with the images and whatnot, it is easy to spend real money real quick.

I haven't found on ATT's website any information on if there's an extra charge for roaming 3G. I would hope not for that obscene price they are charging.

posted by birdherder 31 July | 14:06

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