This Is a Call
Someone emailed me yesterday to ask whether there's an easy way to make phone calls from Cambodia to the United States. I thought other people might be interested, so here's my (edited) response:
You could bring a cell phone, but it won't work in Cambodia unless it's unlocked, so it's probably easier to just buy one once you get there. Once you have a phone (an unlocked western one or one you bought there), to get a sim card you'll need some sort of official letter from a Cambodian employer or landlord or something to show to the Mobitel people. All Cambodian phones are paid in advance, as far as I can tell. You pop the sim card into your phone, dial Mobitel and type in the number of a scratch-off pre-paid card, and you're good. Note that for a while, 3-G phones were not permitted in Cambodia due to the government's concern that they could be used for pornography. The phones themselves are now legal, but video on a cell phone is still forbidden. (Video on the internet, television, DVDs, VHS tapes, zoetropes, and flip books remain legal, to the best of my knowledge. Biggest loophole ever.)
A few times people in the U.S. called my cell phone. It was enormously expensive and there wasn't a great signal. I never tried using my phone to call outside of Cambodia -- at $2/minute, it seemed a bit silly.
Everyone who has to make an international call uses an internet phone. Every internet cafe (and there are a bunch on every block in the foreigner neighborhoods) has a bunch of internet "phone booths" in the back. Calls to the United States are two or three cents/minute. The signal isn't great, but you can more or less hear what's being said and usually you can talk too. Actually, the signal was better than I get with my T-Mobile phone in Manhattan. Sadly, the booths are typically tiny, overheated (a lot of computer equipment in a small, enclosed space), and adjacent to another booth in which a Cambodian man is screaming some things you can't understand. Still, try out a few before picking a favorite -- some are more comfortable than others, some give you cold filtered water or sell you soft drinks, and some are filled with possibly malarial mosquitos. It pays to shop around.
You could bring a cell phone, but it won't work in Cambodia unless it's unlocked, so it's probably easier to just buy one once you get there. Once you have a phone (an unlocked western one or one you bought there), to get a sim card you'll need some sort of official letter from a Cambodian employer or landlord or something to show to the Mobitel people. All Cambodian phones are paid in advance, as far as I can tell. You pop the sim card into your phone, dial Mobitel and type in the number of a scratch-off pre-paid card, and you're good. Note that for a while, 3-G phones were not permitted in Cambodia due to the government's concern that they could be used for pornography. The phones themselves are now legal, but video on a cell phone is still forbidden. (Video on the internet, television, DVDs, VHS tapes, zoetropes, and flip books remain legal, to the best of my knowledge. Biggest loophole ever.)
A few times people in the U.S. called my cell phone. It was enormously expensive and there wasn't a great signal. I never tried using my phone to call outside of Cambodia -- at $2/minute, it seemed a bit silly.
Everyone who has to make an international call uses an internet phone. Every internet cafe (and there are a bunch on every block in the foreigner neighborhoods) has a bunch of internet "phone booths" in the back. Calls to the United States are two or three cents/minute. The signal isn't great, but you can more or less hear what's being said and usually you can talk too. Actually, the signal was better than I get with my T-Mobile phone in Manhattan. Sadly, the booths are typically tiny, overheated (a lot of computer equipment in a small, enclosed space), and adjacent to another booth in which a Cambodian man is screaming some things you can't understand. Still, try out a few before picking a favorite -- some are more comfortable than others, some give you cold filtered water or sell you soft drinks, and some are filled with possibly malarial mosquitos. It pays to shop around.
posted by arie at 6:21 PM
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