In another country your iPhone is useless
September 30th, 2009 | Published in Mobile Apps, Mobile Devices, Mobile Services | 2 Comments
I had to take a flash trip from Munich to Prague by car. I’ve noticed when we crossed the border how my phone changed and sent an SMS welcoming me to the Czech Republic…Blah, blah, bah… Same as usual.
We arrived at night and had a few hours before the meeting, so we decided to go walking and see some of the city. Since I’ve never been there before, I though it might be cool to get some orientation and who knows, maybe with all the LBS (location based service) apps that I installed on my phone we didn’t need to look like dumb tourists holding maps. Qype Radar is an LBS app that is very good and reliable. Back in Munich works like magic. So I pulled my iPhone and I notice the 3G is gone from the main bar… Tried Qype… can connect to server… Try Google maps… Nop… Tried Facebook….forget it…a few other things… Nada…
So basically the only thing I can do with my iPhone is call and send SMS for an astronomical price. I mean really… Mobile operators are making a fortune for something that doesn’t really cost as much as they claim. 51 cents a minute is just plain stealing!
So what is the use of having an iPhone that is completely useless outside your country? Apple has a problem of always complicating the most simple things. Tying up the iPhone with a particular mobile operator was certainly a smart business move, but a lousy branding exercise. Will there ever be a day when we can use our phones everywhere? I really hope so.
March 14th, 2010 at 5:52 PM (#)
[...] the longest time I’ve been ranting and raving about not been able to use my iPhone when I travel. Apparently that is about to change. In my quest for using my iPhone overseas I [...]
March 14th, 2010 at 8:53 PM (#)
[...] the longest time I’ve been ranting and raving about not been able to use my iPhone when I travel. Apparently that is about to change. In my quest for using my iPhone overseas I [...]