Communications for RTL

So, it dawned on me a couple of days ago that even on fairly small local
rides, we rely hevily on our mobiles (cell phones) to keep in touch
with the other riders if we get split up, or to arrange the exact
meeting point. I can imagine that during Ride The Lobster this is
going to be important on a much higher scale.

My mobile is a 3G tri-band thing that should work in pretty much any
part of the world. However, the cost of using it to make or receive
calls abroad is a small fortune. Therefore us UK riders (and most
other nationalities too), could do with a cheaper alternative.

Here in the UK you can walk in to pretty much any mobile phone shop and
pick up a Pay As You Go SIM card for a couple of pounds, then load it
up with, say £10 of credit and it'll last ages. Coverage is very good
for 99% of the country, with only a couple of pockets of poor/non
reception.

I know that the US is a couple of years behind us technology wise, but
I have no idea about the Canadian market. Will such a thing be an
option? Would we need a Canadian address to register the SIM card to?
What is the reception like around Nova Scotia?

Any advice from Canadian (or better still, Nova Scotian) residents will
be much appreciated.

STM

--
semach.the.monkey
------------------------------------------------------------------------
semach.the.monkey's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/12078
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69871

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

It's not Europe, so they're a bit backwards as far as phones go, but
they do have one network with GSM, and they do have pay as you go. I
believe like the US, there are still some backwards networks without
GSM, but obviously no pay as you go sim cards for those.

A card costs $50CAD which I think is about £25-30
http://tinyurl.com/2k8k7d

Coverage is good in towns not so good outside -
http://www.amlnet.com/rogers-coverage-maps.asp

looks like stage 2 will have no GSM coverage for quite a bit, stage 5
will end out of coverage, but the rest there should be cover.

If we all get the same network sims, then you don't have to pay to
receive calls, only to make them.

The hard thing about SIM cards is US riders, a lot of US people have
ancient phones that don't take a sim card, for them it's probably
cheapest just to roam with their phone for a week. Same goes for some
of the NZ, Australian riders, they still have some CDMA networks.

The alternative is 2 way radios - we'd need GMRS radios.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service

Annoyingly the standards are different in Canada, so we can't just
bring over European PMR446 radios (the motorolas that people use at
races) and use them (legally at least).

Joe

--
joemarshall

my pics http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuq44
------------------------------------------------------------------------
joemarshall's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1545
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69871

Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

Communications for RTL

What we know about this thread

Active in this thread

What we know about this thread

Continue through CyclingForums

Active in this thread