Cell phone in Japan and China

I'll be sepending a few weeks in Japan and China (Tokyo and Hong Kong
mostly). And I need cell phone service for calls to/from the US. I'm
interested in figuring out what I need to do in order to have service.
Does anyone know if AT&T has a service and phone I can buy? I've
heard that I need a tri-band phone, but I'm not sure where to get the
phone/service from. I plan to use about 100 minutes a week. Any
suggestions on where to start researching this?

Thanks.

Nick

On 11 Sep 2003 20:29:00 -0700, the renowned (Nick)
wrote:

I'll be sepending a few weeks in Japan and China (Tokyo and Hong Kong
mostly). And I need cell phone service for calls to/from the US. I'm
interested in figuring out what I need to do in order to have service.
Does anyone know if AT&T has a service and phone I can buy? I've
heard that I need a tri-band phone, but I'm not sure where to get the
phone/service from. I plan to use about 100 minutes a week. Any
suggestions on where to start researching this?

You got cell phone kiosks/shops in malls where you are? Just ask
around with the various services.

AFAIK, you'll not be able to use your phone in Japan, but China, HK
will be okay. You may be able to rent a handset in Japan and use it
with your smart card if you go with that kind of system.

Find out the per-minute charges from the service, expect the cost to
be very high compared to what you're used to. It's not hard to run up
hundreds of dollars in bills calling from China.

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

Nobody in the kiosks is even slightly helpful. All plans I could find
require a 1-year agreement, and I couldn't find anywhere around here
to rent one.

I am leaving in a few days. Is it easy to find a phone in Japan with
pre-paid minutes? I only speak english, so how difficult will this be
for me? Do you know if they sell phone in the airports, or anything
to that effect?

Thanks.

Nick

Spehro Pefhany wrote in message . ..
On 11 Sep 2003 20:29:00 -0700, the renowned (Nick)
wrote:

I'll be sepending a few weeks in Japan and China (Tokyo and Hong Kong
mostly). And I need cell phone service for calls to/from the US. I'm
interested in figuring out what I need to do in order to have service.
Does anyone know if AT&T has a service and phone I can buy? I've
heard that I need a tri-band phone, but I'm not sure where to get the
phone/service from. I plan to use about 100 minutes a week. Any
suggestions on where to start researching this?

You got cell phone kiosks/shops in malls where you are? Just ask
around with the various services.

AFAIK, you'll not be able to use your phone in Japan, but China, HK
will be okay. You may be able to rent a handset in Japan and use it
with your smart card if you go with that kind of system.

Find out the per-minute charges from the service, expect the cost to
be very high compared to what you're used to. It's not hard to run up
hundreds of dollars in bills calling from China.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany