Hello Forumosa Friends,
Here’s the deal. I arrived in Taiwan for the first time, yesterday.
I need a cell phone that will allow incoming calls from Taiwan, France, and the United States.
Yes, I have friends from all these places !
Any recommendations on where to purchase such a phone in Taipei ? I will be staying for 6 months minimum.
I don’t really have a limit on budget.
Thanks in advance,
Sebastian
Do you need a phone or a number and a carrier?
All of the above
The big three all have plans that offer phones: Chunghwa Telecom, Far Eastone, Taiwan Dageda. They have retail outlets all over the country.
OMG! You have friends from Taiwan, France, AND the USA?
There have been many a thread on this very topic…do a search, it’ll be quicker for you to locate the information. Any cell phone shop will sell you a phone. Service is a whole different story, surely nothing like going down to Walmart and buying a prepaid phone kit.
[quote=“Delonge182”]Hello Forumosa Friends,
Here’s the deal. I arrived in Taiwan for the first time, yesterday.
I need a cell phone that will allow incoming calls from Taiwan, France, and the United States.
Yes, I have friends from all these places !
Any recommendations on where to purchase such a phone in Taipei ? I will be staying for 6 months minimum.
I don’t really have a limit on budget.
Thanks in advance,
Sebastian[/quote]
Well, if your budget is unlimited, I would suggest buying the iphone from CHT. You have to prepay your phone bill, about 23,000, but you won’t have to pay a phone bill again until you leave six months later. The iphones sold here are unlocked so you can take it home with you and it will work with any phone cards. And because you have to prepay such a big sum when signing the contract, they do no require a safety deposit.
What you would get is the iphone and six months of free calls and free internet access. Before you leave Taiwan, make sure that you get CHT to activate international roaming. This means you will get to use the phone overseas for another month or two before they decide to cut you off.
Maybe it’s wrong to sign a two year contract knowing you will leave six months later, but it’s not like they will lose money. You have to prepay 23,000 for a reason. Even if you signed the contract and left Taiwan the same day, they are still making money.
Doubtful, I had a friend who recently uploaded some pictures while in Canada and it cost him nt$11,000. Using 3G abroad is quite expensive.
Doubtful, I had a friend who recently uploaded some pictures while in Canada and it cost him nt$11,000. Using 3G abroad is quite expensive.[/quote]
When I was signed up with myphone, they gave me a phone call if my phone bill surpassed 7000NT, just to let me know. Also, it’s possible to switch off 3G on the iphone.
Pretty much what catfish said. There is a lot of chatter about cellphone plans and devices in the Technology subforum. In terms of receiving calls from abroad, just about any cellphone can do it. In Taiwan, the charges for voice calls go to the originating caller. In most if not all cases, you are not billed to receive calls on a cellphone in Taiwan.
In terms of what phone to get and from which carrier, that all depends on 1) if there is a particular model or service you want 2) if there is a particular deal that is ongoing and 3) what network the majority of your contacts are on (in-network calling is cheaper).
The nice thing about the iPhone in Taiwan is that it is not carrier-locked. Still wouldn’t recommend it though.
Point being that, with 3G international roaming, it’s pretty easy to rack up an amount where they will shut you down, not allow you one or two months as you seem to suggest the op should consider doing to advantage in your earlier post.
Thanks for your advice Robin,
The Iphone + 2 year plan for that price seems like a great deal. I might go with that if I can use it with another carrier in Europe or the US.
By the way what does the CHT acronym you used stand for ?
-Delonge182
You’re welcome. The iphones sold in Taiwan are unlocked so you can use them in Europe and the US no problem.
CHT stands for Chungwha Telecom. They were the first service providers to sell the iphone in Taiwan and they had the monopoly for a while. Now I see that Fareastone and MyPhone, two other service providers, will also be selling the iphone. I’m not sure what kind of deals they have.
Regarding 3g charges for roaming calls overseas, citizenk might be right to say that you could get cut off early if your bill is big and overdue. I’ve never tried it. But even if they cut you off the day you leave, I think it’s a pretty good deal if you can use the phone elsewhere after you leave.
It’s not MyPhone, it’s Taiwan Mobile 
There’s already a thread discussing this and CHT offers the best deals in most circumstances, unless all of your friends are on the other networks.
Afaik, the iPhone’s sold by CHT are meant to be unlocked, so you can just pop in another SIM card (pre-pay) when you’re abroad. But you might want to double check this.
Thanks All.
Just a quick note though, if you are planning on using your iPhone with AT&T in the US it doesn’t matter whether it was purchased from them or overseas they will automatically tack on a $30/month iPhone data plan whether or not you plan on using data.
It’s an easy thing to implement by checking IMEI’s. There have been reports that AT&T is even tacking on the data plan on the Nexus One when even it is sold unlocked and unbundled with AT&T.
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: