Guys,
Just got back from Tanzania. I had zero cell phone connectivity via Verizon. My PH used a simcard for the local TZ cell provider.

I am a simpleton on electronic issues and cell phone issues.

What is an economic and simple way to get cell and email connection in remote areas?

I really do not want to call a sat phone if possible. I need something that can manage email and voice.

Being unskilled in this, please use simple words and methods that I can understand.

HELP!

Dogcat,

It depends where but since you mentioned Tanzania, the local networks offer pretty good coverage as the PH demonstrated.

So, assuming its TZ again, I suggest you purchase a local chip for your phone, pay for a Talk/SMS bundle and buy a second bundle for internet use which opens the door to Whatsapp/Skype, etc.

The validity of these bundles is 30 days or less and charges depend on GBs required but still a damn sight cheaper than any sat-phone in existence.

Once you have your internet bundle you may log on through a computer or simply read/reply to emails on the phone.

Thanks for the heads up fulvio.
I will be hunting Western Tanzania and Monduli in a few weeks and I know Fell will have wifi in camp.

On all three of my safaris I turned the phone off as we left the gate in the US and didn’t turn it on again until we arrived back in the us. The important people in my life knew how to contact me for a true emergency.

I can think of no better way to ruin a hunt than trying to stay in electronic touch with the world back home.

quote:

Originally posted by Hasher:
On all three of my safaris I turned the phone off as we left the gate in the US and didn’t turn it on again until we arrived back in the us. The important people in my life knew how to contact me for a true emergency.

I can think of no better way to ruin a hunt than trying to stay in electronic touch with the world back home.

THIS!!! ^^^^

I don’t remember exactly how I did it, but I had text capability from Zim and SA. Texted a couple sentences every 2-3 days to wife. That worked just fine for us.

I have Verizon.

On my trip to Tanzania, i had my phone set so that i could make calls. and it worked in Dar and in the hunting camp. I am not sure what you did wrong. You just pay for each minute used.

Heck, most of the camp workers had cell phones and they were always walking away from camp to use there cell hone in private.

Just used it in South Africa at a $10.00 a day and no charge for minutes and in Namibia it was pay for each minute used.

What happens is after you land, you power on your phone, you will receive a text that you will need to click on to activate your phone for the country your in and your all set.

What i do is call the Verizon support group and see what is the best way to go. There are options.

I just purchased a "Bivy Stick". Turns your personal cell phone into a satellite phone for 30 days.
Will report back after the Mongolia hunt in October.

Ski+3
Whitefish, MT

One thing to keep in mind is that if you’re going to use a local SIM card, you need to have an unlocked phone. That’s all I use anymore, but if you get your phone from your provider, it’s likely locked. You can buy unlocked phones from Amazon. The phone needs to work on the bands used in that country, but this isn’t much of a problem now.

For what it’s worth, I use T-mobile,with a plan that gives free wireless data and texting in many countries. Very useful in Europe, but also in China and South Africa. For Namibia in 2017, I bought a local SIM card and data package. Less than $20 for the duration.

I just looked my T-Mobile USA, Tanzania is free text, free data and 25 cents a minute, not really worth buying a local SIM card.

I always carry one of my satellite phones and also a device called an I Savi.

If they have cell service. No issue. If they have WiFi, no issue. I can use What’s App. If they don’t that is where the problem starts.

Obviously, the satellite phone is easy. The I Savi is satellite WiFi. I have used it in connection with my cell to use What’s App. I also get my e mails.

quote:

Originally posted by SkiBumplus3:
I just purchased a "Bivy Stick". Turns your personal cell phone into a satellite phone for 30 days.
Will report back after the Mongolia hunt in October.

Ski+3
Whitefish, MT

I looked at the website and it looks like just text messages plus tracking, SOS, and weather. Maybe I missed the other functionality.

Edit: I guess that's most of the sat phone functions except voice.

I always take my sat phone because it always works.

I use AT&T for cellular and call ahead and tell them my route and countries entering. My cell phone works if anyone else’s works with this method.

I only get emails if Wi-Fi is in camp. Email is not mandatory for me these days.

I believe there is a method with some sat phones for them to become a router and produce Wi-Fi for your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

Many areas in the Selous have no cell reception.

Which means your only option is either sat communications in the camp, or you bring your own.

Sat phones have extremely low data rates, so you are not going to get very far with that.

For Internet and to use WhatsApp you really need a data connection, which is not cheap.

I use at&t, had no issues at all in Masailand. Worked very well almost everywhere.

Where there is cellphone buy a local sim card, that will always the cheapest option.
But many hunting areas won't have cellphone.

I do carry a Satsleeve from Thuraya. It connects with your smartphone and you can use it via satellite. Quite expensive but worth it if you need to be available.
I use it for Whatsapp and Email.

Best Regards,

Dennis

Years ago, we discovered that an ant hill very close to the camp had cell reception!!

I still cannot understand how that happened.

The camp staff were congregating there for calls.

Our game scout took his cell phone with him when we were out hunting, and tried every time we stopped fro lunch.

So one day I took my sat phone with me, and climbed a tree close by, and called home.

The game scout had no idea I was using a sat phone.

After I cam down, he took off to the top of the tree, and tried his cell phone.

We kept telling him to move around, which he did, without any success!

I understand being disconnected, but that doesn’t work all the time. My clients or secretary know I’ll be in touch within a day or so.

I once had an extra iPhone with a local sim, but WiFi is quite available in Argentina.

I always take my sat phone using the iridium network. It’s always worked anywhere I’ve been!
In the overall cost of a safari, a few hundred$$ is negligible. I can send and receive messages as well as data.

If you want to do full on email,I take my BGAN which works on Inmarsat and you have email and data as you would at home.you can also make calls with it too.

I have been on many safaris and still haven't reached the point in my life where I can be on safari for 28 days without a simple text or sat call every few days checking on family, business and our coastal storm watch.

Ross:

For the future, a restart or reboot of your phone will often allow it to connect to a new local network. I had that experience in Tanzania last year and Mauritius just a few days ago. In both cases, I asked the provider if I would have international service and both assured me I would. So, after two days in country with no cell service, I remembered to restart the phone. In both instances, the messages and calls started coming in after the reboot, no problems.

THanks all. That is great help. My carrier is Verizon. I am not sure if my phone is locked or not. I will check.

THanks so much.

You might try searching for a small Bluetooth gadget that you can put a local SIM card in, and using at on your own phone.

It apparently works as if you have two SIM cards in your phone.

But, this does not help with your original question to have email from the camp.

For that you need other means of communication where there is no cell reception.

Last couple of years I've been taking a Huawei E5577 with me on my travels. Just buy a SIM (w/ plenty of data) in the country you are in and boom you are good to go. It is unlocked for all networks. You can connect up to 10 devices. Of course, you would need to have a cell signal.

This device helps avoid having to pop a sim in your phone, worrying about your phone being unlocked for the network you need, and using your phone as a hotspot if you want to connect multiple devices. I highly recommend it for anyone that travels out of the US. it will pay for itself on the first trip.

When I travel, I normally buy a cheap phone and SIM card when I arrive in a country. When I travel to remote areas, I relish NOT having connectivity.

It simply amazes me how dependent upon cell phones and computers we have become. Why not take your hunting vacation from both? I freely admit that I am an old fart and do not understand such things, and as a social dinosaur, I have only a cheap tracfone that makes phone calls. I got it for emergencies at my hunting camp, since my wife and I are approaching 80, and is not turned on any other time.
When we went to Africa I left the cell phone at home and enjoyed the trip. Had there been an emergency, my PH had one.

quote:

Originally posted by muttleysgone:
It simply amazes me how dependent upon cell phones and computers we have become. Why not take your hunting vacation from both? I freely admit that I am an old fart and do not understand such things, and as a social dinosaur, I have only a cheap tracfone that makes phone calls. I got it for emergencies at my hunting camp, since my wife and I are approaching 80, and is not turned on any other time.
When we went to Africa I left the cell phone at home and enjoyed the trip. Had there been an emergency, my PH had one.

You do have the right attitude.

But, some of us have reasons to have both voice and data connections from camp.

We have families at home, who we would like to keep in tough with by phone.

Our members here always enjoy our daily reports from our hunts, and many look forward to it.

All this never detracts from the enjoyment of the hunt, as the only time we do use any communications is when we are back at camp.

quote:

Originally posted by ijl:
When I travel, I normally buy a cheap phone and SIM card when I arrive in a country. When I travel to remote areas, I relish NOT having connectivity.

This!^^^^^^^

quote:

Originally posted by Hannay:
One thing to keep in mind is that if you’re going to use a local SIM card, you need to have an unlocked phone. That’s all I use anymore, but if you get your phone from your provider, it’s likely locked. You can buy unlocked phones from Amazon.

Just call your carrier and ask to have your phone unlocked. It’s a slight process, but not hard. Legislation came out about 4 years ago saying a carrier can’t keep your phone locked to them should you request it be unlocked.



This message typed on a cell phone.

I understand those that want to be “in the dark” while out of the country. Unfortunately, my like of work won’t allow it, especially when the technology is readily available where I typically go. While I may not be able to deal with business problems/prospects in person, I can address them and get a colleague to help out.

That being said, I only use the WiFi at the lodge or at restaurants and not in the field. Most of my time abroad is in Argentina for 3-5 weeks a trip multiple times a year. I have done the cheap, unlocked phone with local chip once. It was rarely used and gave the phone to my buddy for his kid after a month or so.

A local sim is no guarantee of service. There are still lots of parts of Tanzania with no connectivity, or only voice capability, and no internet. A Satsleeve or other satellite connected device is required.

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:


Just call your carrier and ask to have your phone unlocked. It’s a slight process, but not hard. Legislation came out about 4 years ago saying a carrier can’t keep your phone locked to them should you request it be unlocked.

I didn't know about the legislation, so thanks for that. My last experience was in 2014, when I asked AT&T to unlock my iPhone. There was no problem - the contract period had already expired - but the first step of the unlock procedure was to reset the phone to the way it came from the factory. I decided that was too much hassle and just bought another (unlocked) phone.

If you use AT&T, they have a very practical international plan. $10 a day unlimited if you turn on your data in country. Use WiFi whenever possible at no cost and connect as needed. Wife and I have been doing that for years and that is what my company uses.

Safe travels

I switched from AT&T to T-mobile in 2015. It's an even better deal as far as I'm concerned. (The price for 5 mobile phones was about what I was paying AT&T!) For about 190 countries, there's no charge for data or texts. I'm often abroad, having averaged 7 weeks per year since I moved back from Sweden in 2015. Alas, most of that time has not been on safari!

On the other hand, I doubt that T-mobile's coverage in the US is as good as AT&T's.

Buy an unlocked GSM cell phone from Amazon like a Samsung Galaxy A10 ($130) and grab a SIM card when you arrive in Tanz/Moz/Bot/SA/Nam airport. Buy a voice/data plan and you will have access to the local network on the cheep. A voice/data package for a week week or so will cost about $20 - $30 USD in most southern Africa countries. Put WhatsApp on your phone before you leave the States and you can call anywhere in the world for peanuts.

If you don't need a smart phone functionality, buy an unlocked 3G burner phone like a Nokia 3310 ($30 - $39) and leave it behind as a tip. In many fringe areas, 3G works when 4G won't. The only downside to a burner phone is no WhatsApp.

It's ALWAYS a good plan to carry a phone of some description when traveling. Murphy resides in Africa and seldom does he NOT make an appearance on your trip and screaming simply does not work here.