Donald,

thanks for the helpful reply.

Eugene.

Donald Newcomb wrote:
> "eugene" <eugenefodor@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1122364388.931674.215010@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>  Does this mean it's possible to use
> > my plain old GSM handset in Osaka? Anyone who has done so, please let
> > me know.
>
> Been there, done that. So this is no gessing. There is no GSM in Japan.
> Period. Your plain old tri or quad-band GSM handset will not work. What they
> have in Japan is WCDMA-2100 3G (a.k.a. 3GSM) service from two carriers:
> (Vodafone & DoCoMo) which can support SIM roaming with GSM carriers. You
> will need a WCDMA-2100 handset to roam these carriers. You may be able to
> rent one from your carrier before you go but you can also rent one from the
> Vodafone Rental kiosk at the Osaka airport. It is on the top floor
> (international departures) on the right hand side at the rear. After you
> arrive (bottom floor) you will need to go all the way to the top floor and
> go past the check-in counters to find them. When I checked a couple of years
> ago they charged something like 1,000 Yen/day to rent a WCDMA handset. I
> don't know if they still charge that much, but clearly it's not a good idea
> for long-term roaming. I don't have the URL for Vodafone Rentals but if you
> check www.vodafone.com and follow the links to "Japan" you should be able to
> find it.
> 
> -- 
> Donald Newcomb
> DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net