Has anyone had any experience at using their mobile abroad with a foreign telco's simcard?

I'm getting fed up of the bills from Orange every time I'm away.

So long as your handset it fully unlocked their should be no problem in using ANY foreign SIM card in your handset.

Provided that the SIM card uses the GSM network (I think all do anyway).
I don't know about contracts and the like, whether you can get pay as you go out there. However so long as it's unlocked it will work on all networks all over the world.

1 more exception to that rules is the type of handset.

E.g. To work in the states it must be a triband handset.
My 7250i is a Triband, but most are dualband (dual bands work in Europe).

Check the handset's manufacturing website for further details and spec on your phone.

If you give me more info (i.e. make / model / country you want to use it in) I'll do sime digging for you this afternoon.

A friend of mine did exactly that in Greece. Bought a pay as you go phone in Greece and just swapped the sim into her Britphone.

Be sure to switch your Britphone off before you leave our shores as any incoming calls will attempt to access your phone in its last known position. Subsequent callback messages will incur roaming charges.

I would like to try to get any SIMs before I go so I can leave a message on my UK number along the lines of "if its urgent, call me on 00 XX XXXX XXX"

Locations, well Europe, USA and the Carribean.

P900 on Orange so I suppose I will need to get it unlocked too.

P900... the sony?

Well there in lies your first problem.... Sony Ericsson's cannot be unlocked remotely like Nokia and Samsung.

They need software and a datacable.
If you have the serial cable for the phone which plugs into your PC, I will locate the software for you.

What generally you'll need to do is, purchase and unlock code credit via an unlock distributor.
I don't do Sony Ericsson's but I know a good reliable company that does so I'll PM you the details.

DB

Well thanks to eBuyer I have a data cable! Orange is a bugger for this kind of stuff, Voda was much better abroad, but I fell out with them.:mad:

You will probably need a proper unlocking dongle, not just a data cable.

I just went through this unlocking and unbranding my SE T616 (610). I bought a Terminator dongle off eBay and d/l'd the necessary software. I suspect it is the same for the P900.

Edit: Forgot. Here's an excellent resource for any unlocking/flashing mobile questions...www.cellular-support.com

In a similar vein can you use a dual band in Tenerife?

DaB. do you know of a data cable and software that works for transferring Java games to a Nokia 3510i?

I have a cable and a copy of Oxygen Phone Manager but I can't get the damn thing to work!