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North Korea allows tourists to rent phones or SIM cards, but doesn't include internet
North Korea (which recently added Google's Eric Schmidt to its guest book) will begin loosening its restrictions on foreign cellphones, allowing any arrivals to either pick up a rental phone or SIM card from service provider Koryolink. With a rental booth already set up in Pyongyang airport, you'll be able to dial out to numbers abroad, foreign embassies and international hotels. However, the SIMs (priced at around $67) won't allow you to call locals, nor will they offer any internet data -- not even EDGE. Apparently, providing data to the rental SIMs in North Korea wouldn't be a technical issue, but is dependent on whether it's granted approval by the DPRK government. Image credit: Wikipedia Creative Commons
iPhoneTrip (KeepGo) SIM rental review: the best way to keep your smartphone connected while abroad
In the seemingly unending quest to remain connected while traveling abroad, we recently decided to try yet another option when departing the US for a lengthy amount of time: iPhoneTrip. In a way, it sounds like the perfect solution. A single rental SIM, mailed to your address anywhere in the world, that you don't even have to return when you're done. There are claims of supporting "200+ countries," and if you don't have a smartphone or mobile hotspot at the ready, the company will rent you one of those, too. Of course, we've long since learned to take grandiose claims with an adequate amount of salt. Care to see how iPhoneTrip's rental SIM service stacks up against similar alternatives from Tep Wireless and XCom Global? Read on.
Bringing wireless to the disconnected: internet tales from the South Pacific
"We only have dial-up here. You'd be shocked at the speeds. [Laughs.] But it's okay -- as long as I can send and reply to email, I'm fine with it."Those were the words spoken to me just weeks ago by the absolutely precious owner of Litia Sini Beach Resort on the extreme southeastern tip of Upolu. For those unaware, that's Samoa's most populous island (~135,000 people) -- a sliver of lush, mountainous land dropped almost perfectly in the center of the Pacific Ocean. I chuckled a bit upon hearing it, immediately realizing that I had a connection in the palm of my hand that was 20, 30, perhaps even 40 times quicker than what this business owner was relying on. She paused, as if to collect her thoughts before going into a familiar spiel about the resort's amenities, and then drew my attention to the display of her laptop. "It's still a draft for now, but this is the new tsunami evacuation plan that we're working on. Soon, we'll have this in each fale. It's taking a bit of time to get right, as the drawings are actually done in New Zealand."I nodded my head in understanding, immediately thinking that this must be in reaction to the catastrophic tsunami of September 2009, caused by a magnitude 8.1 submarine earthquake that hit barely 100 miles from the very spot I was sitting. It was the largest quake of 2009. The entire resort was leveled. Dozens upon dozens were killed. And here we were, over two full years later, and the evacuation schematics are still in "draft."
