Driving to Ghana, need to ring the wife on route
Discussion
Decided to have a little adventure and am off to Ghana in a couple of 4x4 end of march.
The journey should take 3 weeks, and the wife is going to fly out and we will do a few charity projects whilst out there. Thing is I have never been away from her for 3 weeks ! going to miss her and would like to speak to her as much as possible whilst camping along the way.
What would be the best / Cheapest way of doing it via mobile phone ? I am happy to spend £50 on charges for the few weeks, I have a HTC and a basic nokia.
Thinking either buy sims as we drive round and use the nokia and run them down( does the credit work across the boarders of each country ? ie Mali credit in Ghana ? or do they companies rape the customer like they do with us when we travel to france ? or get some sort of data/ call package here from a company and use skype/ phone / email on the smart phone ?
Basically I haven;t got a clue, when we went round asia last year we just rang back every few weeks from a phone box and it was bliss, haven;t got that option now.
Mod note: No links to charity sites please.
The journey should take 3 weeks, and the wife is going to fly out and we will do a few charity projects whilst out there. Thing is I have never been away from her for 3 weeks ! going to miss her and would like to speak to her as much as possible whilst camping along the way.
What would be the best / Cheapest way of doing it via mobile phone ? I am happy to spend £50 on charges for the few weeks, I have a HTC and a basic nokia.
Thinking either buy sims as we drive round and use the nokia and run them down( does the credit work across the boarders of each country ? ie Mali credit in Ghana ? or do they companies rape the customer like they do with us when we travel to france ? or get some sort of data/ call package here from a company and use skype/ phone / email on the smart phone ?
Basically I haven;t got a clue, when we went round asia last year we just rang back every few weeks from a phone box and it was bliss, haven;t got that option now.
Mod note: No links to charity sites please.
Edited by Bill on Wednesday 11th January 21:58
Cheers boys, Sat Phones are a bit full on, we are sticking to the roads and I was figuring most areas have some signal ( or can be found within half and hour ) of some sort so planed on the usual mobile route.
Carinauk, roughly how much ? each country a different one ? or cross over with them and they still work ?
Thanks guys
Carinauk, roughly how much ? each country a different one ? or cross over with them and they still work ?
Thanks guys
MTN is the most common network in Africa. You can pick up a pay as you sim almost any where for next to nothing. The MTN sim should roam all across Africa but to cut charges just buy one in each country as you go. International call charges from Ghana are very cheap. Traffic there is mental and outside Accra roads are pretty pants! If you are looking for a decent 'home from home' type watering hole at the end of your journey got to Champs sports bar next to the Paloma hotel (up the road from the main rail station in Accra). Make sure your phones are 'sim free' as in unlocked or the only sim you can use is the one that came with the phone. If you intend to use 3G then you have to buy normal voice credit then convert it to data on your phone...thats not cheap. 1Gig is about 15 quid and its only valid for a month. Stick with MTN. Ghana is great. Proper nice people. One thing... In Ghana you will need stick on reflectors front and rear. White on the front, red on the back. If you get stopped by the fuzz they will bug you for ages. 5 Ghana cedi should keep them happy.... if they want more start taking photos and ask for their ID details...etc They will eventually fob you off. Have a pint of Star in Accra :-)
Shortbloke, that is brilliant, excellent first post and welcome to the club.
Think will get a few sims on the way down and play it by ear. Got stocked up on bribes, fake Man U caps and t shirts etc.
"leeeeeaving in a Nissan patrol....... don;t know when I will be back again" Doesn't rhyme but I am getting excited !!!!
Think will get a few sims on the way down and play it by ear. Got stocked up on bribes, fake Man U caps and t shirts etc.
"leeeeeaving in a Nissan patrol....... don;t know when I will be back again" Doesn't rhyme but I am getting excited !!!!
I worked in Ghana for over a year and then moved to Joburg for 6 months so I have first hand experience :-)
Mrmsport....What network are you on in UK???? southern africa has no where near the same quality of mobile telephone (and 3G) infrastructure and coverage than most of the UK. The amount of dropped calls and low data rate I experienced in S.A were unreal. And that was with MTN the number 1 op there.
Mrmsport....What network are you on in UK???? southern africa has no where near the same quality of mobile telephone (and 3G) infrastructure and coverage than most of the UK. The amount of dropped calls and low data rate I experienced in S.A were unreal. And that was with MTN the number 1 op there.
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