Taiwan
 

On 1/22/2013 3:10 PM, Alfred Molon wrote:
I'll be in Taiwan over Easter for two weeks with the family and still
need to plan the itinerary (just have some vague ideas right now). Has
anybody been there?

One other thing, for SIM cards, the last time I was there I had to go to
one of the mobile carrier's stores to buy a SIM card because the
government had halted sales of SIM cards in convenience stores like
7-11. However I have heard that they have since revoked the ban on SIM
card sales at 7-11. You need a passport and one other form of ID to buy
a SIM card.

When I was in China last year, all four of us had phones with local SIM
cards and this enormously convenient so we did not have to worry about
getting separated or going off to do things on our own. My son used his
phone to call me from the toilet in a department store to bring him
toilet paper! Amazingly, the phones all worked fine out on the wall at
Jinshanling.

Taiwan
 

In article , SMS says...
One other thing, for SIM cards, the last time I was there I had to go to
one of the mobile carrier's stores to buy a SIM card because the
government had halted sales of SIM cards in convenience stores like
7-11. However I have heard that they have since revoked the ban on SIM
card sales at 7-11. You need a passport and one other form of ID to buy
a SIM card.

When I was in China last year, all four of us had phones with local SIM
cards and this enormously convenient so we did not have to worry about
getting separated or going off to do things on our own. My son used his
phone to call me from the toilet in a department store to bring him
toilet paper! Amazingly, the phones all worked fine out on the wall at
Jinshanling.

Getting a local SIM card is one of the first things I do when travelling
to a new country.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

Taiwan
 

On Mon, 28 Jan 2013 08:40:13 -0800, the renowned SMS
wrote:

On 1/22/2013 3:10 PM, Alfred Molon wrote:
I'll be in Taiwan over Easter for two weeks with the family and still
need to plan the itinerary (just have some vague ideas right now). Has
anybody been there?

One other thing, for SIM cards, the last time I was there I had to go to
one of the mobile carrier's stores to buy a SIM card because the
government had halted sales of SIM cards in convenience stores like
7-11. However I have heard that they have since revoked the ban on SIM
card sales at 7-11. You need a passport and one other form of ID to buy
a SIM card.

When I was in China last year, all four of us had phones with local SIM
cards and this enormously convenient so we did not have to worry about
getting separated or going off to do things on our own. My son used his
phone to call me from the toilet in a department store to bring him
toilet paper! Amazingly, the phones all worked fine out on the wall at
Jinshanling.

Is there any problem getting cards that work with the verfication
scheme used at, say, Starbucks? I think they only accept China Mobile
and maybe one other carrier.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Taiwan
 

In article , Spehro Pefhany
says...
Is there any problem getting cards that work with the verfication
scheme used at, say, Starbucks? I think they only accept China Mobile
and maybe one other carrier.

A mobile phone is not dependent on the infrastructure of a coffee shop.
Maybe you are confusing something.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

Taiwan
 

On 1/28/2013 6:22 PM, Spehro Pefhany wrote:

Is there any problem getting cards that work with the verfication
scheme used at, say, Starbucks? I think they only accept China Mobile
and maybe one other carrier.

I don't know, I was using China Unicom. Are you referring to Wi-Fi or
what? I did not use any 3G data, only Wi-Fi, and only at hotels.

Taiwan
 

On 1/29/2013 1:08 PM, Alfred Molon wrote:
In article , Spehro Pefhany
says...
Is there any problem getting cards that work with the verfication
scheme used at, say, Starbucks? I think they only accept China Mobile
and maybe one other carrier.

A mobile phone is not dependent on the infrastructure of a coffee shop.
Maybe you are confusing something.

I think that he might be referring to the use of Wi-Fi.

One thing to be sure that you have is a VPN service for security. In
China the use of a VPN also means that you have access to Facebook,
otherwise you don't.

Taiwan
 

On Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:27:59 -0800, the renowned SMS
wrote:

On 1/29/2013 1:08 PM, Alfred Molon wrote:
In article , Spehro Pefhany
says...
Is there any problem getting cards that work with the verfication
scheme used at, say, Starbucks? I think they only accept China Mobile
and maybe one other carrier.

A mobile phone is not dependent on the infrastructure of a coffee shop.
Maybe you are confusing something.

No, just not spelling out the details.

I think that he might be referring to the use of Wi-Fi.

Yes, that's it. You can't log on freely as you can in North America-
you have to authenticate using a cellphone, but it has to be one with
a SIM card from one or two domestic Chinese service providers. So you
can go in there with your Android tablet or iPad or notebook but if
you don't have a China Mobile or whatever cell phone account, you're
not using their WiFi (apparently it's a government requirement).

I've had to use SMS messages for authentication in other places, but
they didn't require specific carriers.

One thing to be sure that you have is a VPN service for security. In
China the use of a VPN also means that you have access to Facebook,
otherwise you don't.

I use a VPN in local (Canada) coffee shops too- at least if I'm doing
banking or other sensitive stuff. I don't care about Facebook much,
but in the Emirates even Skype was blocked without a _good_ VPN. China
may have recently tightened theirs up to that point too.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Taiwan
 

On 1/29/2013 8:04 PM, Spehro Pefhany wrote:
On Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:27:59 -0800, the renowned SMS
wrote:

On 1/29/2013 1:08 PM, Alfred Molon wrote:
In article , Spehro Pefhany
says...
Is there any problem getting cards that work with the verfication
scheme used at, say, Starbucks? I think they only accept China Mobile
and maybe one other carrier.

A mobile phone is not dependent on the infrastructure of a coffee shop.
Maybe you are confusing something.

No, just not spelling out the details.

I think that he might be referring to the use of Wi-Fi.

Yes, that's it. You can't log on freely as you can in North America-
you have to authenticate using a cellphone, but it has to be one with
a SIM card from one or two domestic Chinese service providers. So you
can go in there with your Android tablet or iPad or notebook but if
you don't have a China Mobile or whatever cell phone account, you're
not using their WiFi (apparently it's a government requirement).

We didn't hang out in coffee shops at all in China, but there was free
Wi-Fi outside the Apple store in Shanghai, and in most of our hotels.
One hotel was wired-only. I had brought along a travel router, and my
netbook has a wired port, so I was okay there.

We had four phones and four SIM cards, but only one was a smart phone. I
was hoping that the Nexus 7 would come out in time for our trip, but it
was a month late. I would have liked a 7" Wi-Fi tablet with built in GPS
(the Wi-Fi only iPads don't have a GPS, but most mid to high-end Android
Wi-Fi only tablets do have one).

Strategies for International Calling
http://nordicgroup.us/internationalcalling/

I have heard of it not sure you can get to have a lot with the things there but has a National Palace Museum, Tarako National Park etc which are there to be.
So yeah thinking of how something can work for us and sources like fort lauderdale to melbourne there which are helpful.

Taroko National Park is located in Taiwan. It is one of the most visited parks of this region. This park was established by the Governor-General of Taiwan on December 12, 1937. We can enjoy a lot of adventures activities. A lot of trails are also located in this spot.