Triangle Trip

If you’re visiting Hong Kong for business or pleasure, I highly recommend getting the PCCW prepaid international mobile plan. Make sure your GMS phone is unlocked before you leave the country. You may also want to check out my previous posts on what to see and where to stay in Hong Kong.

PCCW has one of the cheapest prepaid calling plans in the world, and you can even call international numbers with great rates. The two downsides are:

1. You need to memorize a bunch of codes to dial long distance (IDD)
2. You will need to use the prepaid SIM at least once every three months

For your convenience, below are the codes used to dial international numbers from Hong Kong, and codes you’ll need to dial to use the PCCW prepaid SIM from abroad:

*  Calling from Hong Kong to International number:  0060 + Country Code + Area Code + Telephone Number.  If you are calling the US from Hong Kong:  0060-1-212-xxx-xxxx.

*  When you are outside of Hong Kong (i.e., back in the US), you can still use the SIM card to keep it active with favorable rates. To call Hong Kong with the PCCW Rechargeable SIM:  **128* + Hong Kong Telephone Number + # then SEND.

*  While you are roaming and you want to use the PCCW SIM to call the local country (i.e., you are in the US and want to call a number in the US):  **128*001 + Country Code + Area Code + Telephone Number + # then SEND. If you are in the US and want to call a US number:  **128*001-1-212-xxx-xxxx.

You can pick up a PCCW prepaid rechargeable SIM card from HK$28 to HK$100 in value at any PCCW store, malls or grocery stores. Recharging your PCCW prepaid SIM can be done the same way. It’s similar to buying prepaid long distance phone cards across the world, where you buy a prepaid card at a grocery store with an activation code.

After using the Sprint MiFi 2200 for a few weeks, my overall impression is that it’s a great wireless router (enables you to connect up to 5 devices), but doesn’t offer enough consumer support. Here are some details about the MiFi card that are not in the instruction manual:

The MiFi 2200 package from Sprint doesn’t come with a USB micro data cable. This means you cannot charge the MiFi card from your laptop and have to carry around a plug. You can and should purchase a USB micro data cable for a number of reasons. However if you using the USB micro data to charge the MiFi 2200 from a laptop, it can’t provide WiFi routing service at the same time.

Wait. It can’t charge from the laptop and tether at the same time? Doesn’t that mean it’s even worse than a standard WiFi card, then?

Not exactly. The MiFi 2200 CAN do it all but Sprint and Novatel Wireless (the MiFi 2200 manufacturer) just don’t tell you about this trip.

Here’s how you can use the MiFi 2200 as a wireless modem and charge your router at the same time:

Have your USB micro cable in hand and download the Sprint SmartView program from here; don’t worry that the card listed on the page isn’t the MiFi, they all run on the same software. Previous Sprint customers will remember that SmartView is the same program used to connect regular WiFi cards and USB sticks to a network.

Tethering is extremely simple once you install and load the Sprint Smartview program. With the MiFi card attached to your computer, navigate to the Mobile Broadband tab across the top of the Smartview program, and then click the yellow Connect button at the bottom right.

When tethered, the MiFi 2200 operates in the same exact way as a standard WiFi card; it charges, and gives signal to the attached computer at the same time. While charging, the MiFi will not function as a modem.

Recently, the New York Times had an article describing iPhone users’ frustrations with AT&T: dropped calls, missed calls, late voicemails, etc.  If you have a Google Voice number (or even a home landline with an answering machine would suffice), there are small ways in which you can alleviate some of this awful AT&T service. (The tips below should work with any cell phone on the ridiculous AT&T network and not just iPhones.)

For one, if you have ever been frustrated with calls that you never ever received because of AT&T’s poor service, you can have AT&T forward calls to your Google Voice number when you are not reachable on AT&T’s network (which unfortunately happens way too much).  On your cell phone, simply dial *62* plus your 10-digit number Google Voice number to which your calls should be forwarded and then #.  This will forward all your calls to your Google Voice number when you are not reachable on your cell phone.  Google Voice keeps track of all missed and received calls.  Or even a home landline with caller ID in place of Google Voice works well too.

Secondly, if you’ve ever received voicemails several hours or even days after the fact (which annoyingly has happened to me a lot with important voicemails), you can setup to have all your calls forwarded to your Google Voice number or a home answering machine if you do not answer your cell phone.  On your cell phone, simply dial *61* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #.  This will enable the caller to reach your Google Voice voicemail or your home answering machine, bypassing AT&T voicemail altogether.  Visual voicemail is overrated anyhow.

Lastly, if you’ve just been sick and tired of AT&T’s poor service to the point that you don’t care to answer any calls on your iPhone altogether, you can have all your calls immediately be forwarded to a different number: simply dial *21* plus the 10-digit number to which your calls should be forwarded and #.

AT&T… More bars in more places?  Are they drunk (pun intended)?