Israel tech news - good and bad

Posted by Harold (New York, NY, USA) on 05/13/15 12:53 AM

I'm now in Israel. The good tech news is that my US T-Mobile Simple Choice plan is working just as advertised. I'm getting 3G data and texts are working just fine (both are supposed to be free). I haven't tried voice calls yet.

The bad news is that I can't access my Verizon email. I've never had this problem before in any other country, but all the other places I used it were in Europe. Googling, I see that someone else who had this problem was sometimes able to get their email on an app. But although I can find the app on Google Play website, I can't get it on my phone here (tried two different ways).

Morals of the story:

If you have Verizon Fios, download the My Fios app before leaving home, just in case. Note this is different from the Fios Mobile app.

Never count 100% on any thing, even if it worked before. For something crucial, always have a Plan B.

T-Mobile travel plan really does work as advertised, at least in Israel.

Posted by Chani

Tel Aviv

05/13/15 05:19 AM

15582 posts

Can't help you with the tech stuff. Assuming you haven't got my emails, I'm going to PM you here with what I wrote you.

Just sent you a PM.

Posted by Terri Lynn

Nashville, TN, USA

05/13/15 07:34 AM

795 posts

That's bad. I wouldn't want to not have email access. If you had a service like Gmail you likely could.

Posted by Harold OP

New York, NY, USA

05/13/15 10:23 AM

11294 posts

I have a secondary Gmail account which has been working fine. And guess what? I'm now in Tel Aviv, and my Verizon email is working again!

Posted by Nigel

Northamptonshire, England

05/13/15 10:29 AM

32750 posts

Mozeltov

Now you should enjoy yourself.....

Have a fab holiday...

Posted by Harold OP

New York, NY, USA

05/13/15 04:51 PM

11294 posts

Aaargh! Turns out I spoke (typed) too soon. It worked briefly, but now is not working. Luckily, I was able to text everyone who was expecting an email from me.

Posted by Nigel

Northamptonshire, England

05/13/15 06:46 PM

32750 posts

grumble grumble grumble

Posted by Frank II

Freedonia

05/13/15 09:16 PM

15003 posts

What you can do, at least for your next trip, is set up an additional gmail or yahoo mail account and see if you can automatically forward a copy of incoming mail from your Verizon account to this new email account.

This way, if you can't access Verizon mail, you can get your mail, and respond from somewhere else.

Posted by Michael Schneider

New Paltz, NY

05/13/15 09:24 PM

9100 posts

I had the same problem with my email while I was in Nice last month. I couldn't access my Time Warner or Yahoo accounts via my Ipod Touch anywhere in the city; not at the hotel or any other hotspot I connected to. Via both direct POP email and web servers. It was very frustrating. After three days of this, I experimented by turning on a VPN app I already had installed on the device, and broke the blockade and I was finally able to get my email. At the time I suspected that TW and Yahoo were blocking email access outside the US. But a couple of days later when I arrived in Amsterdam, I was able to access email without the VPN, so the problem was specific to Nice. Still don't now why the ISPs in Nice were being so restrictive????

Posted by Harold OP

New York, NY, USA

05/14/15 04:32 PM

11294 posts

Thanks for all the messages of support (both on the Forum and in private messages). At this time, I've got Verizon e-mail working on my netbook (sometimes I have to log in a different way). But it only worked briefly on the e-mail app on my phone (for the record, a Samsung running Android 4.2.2 KitKat). And while I can log in on my phone using a web browser, Verizon's webmail pages are formatted for large screens; it's tough to use it on the 10" netbook screen, and totally impossible on a small phone screen.

Gmail continues to work without a hitch.

For the record, I've successfully used my Verizon e-mail from every city I tried in the following countries (possibly more; here's the list from the top of my head without checking my notes at home):

France
Italy
Germany
Spain
Hungary
Czech Republic
Poland
Russia
Switzerland
Austria
the Netherlands
and Canada

You see why it never even occurred to me that there could be a problem. But Michael's post shows that problems are not limited to any one e-mail provider, and that there may not be logical reasons why a problem exists in one place and not another.