National Geographic's Talk Abroad global phone
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Feb 22nd 2007 9:08AM
posted Feb 22nd 2007 9:08AM
This phone looks so boring, we can't actually look straight at it -- we kinda have to aim our eyes just right or left of it and take it in with our peripheral vision. Then again, gearheads don't appear to be the target demo sought out by Cellular Abroad with its new National Geographic-branded Talk Abroad candybar; the upshot here is keeping global roaming relatively cheap and simple (as in, prepaid simple) on an equally simple, no-frills handset. For your hard-earned $199, you get the phone (a quadband GSM piece -- we'd expect no less when they're playing up the global angle here), a set of plug adapters for whatever countries the average National Geographic reader might visit, a UK-based phone number, and thirty minutes of outgoing talk time. Best of all, incoming calls are allegedly free of charge in 65 countries, though the countries aren't spelled out. Look for the Talk Abroad handset to ship next month; if you've got it in your heart to accept an exceptionally uninteresting cellphone, that is.[Via Mobilewhack]
First of all, the phone has an annoying National Geo theme that plays when you turn it on or off. This cannot be silenced unless you set the phone to vibrate only. Of course, then if you want a ring tone, you have to set it back...every time. But the biggest complaint was that the phone did not work in Italy. Not at all. It turns out that if you set the phone to extended roaming, using a secret recipe, and then do a cold restart by removing the battery, it will work in Italy. But nowhere in the instruction book nor online nor when they accepted my $200 was there any information about this. When you leave Italy, you have to do another cold restart to return to a mode that will work elsewhere. To their credit, and mine, Cellular Abroad did give me a free recharge when I called threatening to destroy the phone in public on a main street somewhere. But they need to get their act together and ink a contract with the Mafia or something.
If it's GSM, can't you just swap out the SIM card into a much cooler phone?
Looks like you can just buy a sim for $59 right now.
http://www.cellularabroad.com/cellAbroadppsc.php
Free incoming calls anywhere in Europe (and China) is a pretty good deal - too bad the outgoing rates are so high ($.97 within "zone 1").
I've never heard of a package with free incoming calls for roaming before.
I PURCHASED THIS PHONE FOR MY GRANDDAUGHTER BECAUSE SHE WAS GOING TO DENMARK TO STUDY FOR 6 MONTHS. FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS IT HAS NOT WORKED AT ALL, AFTER COMPLAINING, THEY SENT OUT A NEW CHARGER,,,IT STILL DOES NOT WORK. WHEN I CALLED TODAY THEY TOLD ME THAT N,G. WAS HAVE DIFFICULTIES AND IT WOULD BE TWO MORE DAYS BEFORE IT IS STRAIGHTENED OUT. WE PURCHASED THIS SO THIS STUDENT WOULD HAVE A DEPENDABLE PHONE,THIS HAS NOT LIVED UP TO ITS ADVERTISEMENT. FOR ALL THIS INCONVENIENCE, AT LEAST SOME MINUTES SHOULD BE FREE AND IF IT STILL DOES NOT WORK IN TWO DAYS, I EXPECT A FULL REFUND. HOPE THIS GETS STRAIGHTENED OUT, VERY DISAPPOINTING......