Co-worker from Cairo is stuck here, wants to get in touch with folks back home
January 30, 2011 11:15 AM Subscribe
Co-worker from Cairo is stuck here with an Egyptian Blackberry that has no service due to the government shutdown of cellular providers; what's the best way to get him un-incommunicado while here in DC?
A guy from our Cairo office is stuck in DC currently with a Vodaphone Cairo Blackberry that isn't receiving calls or e-mails due to the Egyptian government's communications crackdown. Our DC office uses T-Mobile almost exclusively as our cellular service provider and when he comes in tomorrow I can set him up with a US SIM with a US phone number and data plan so he can access e-mails* or websites for updates on friends, family, co-workers, etc... but I have several questions relating to this and what services he'll likely be able to access over the next few days:
-Vodafone Egypt has currently suspended operations in "certain areas" in compliance with government orders- Since call forwarding is handled by the local service provider, I assume there's no way to have his calls forwarded from his Cairo #? Would there be any way to access voice mails? Can you get data from Vodaphone Egypt that are outside of the "certain areas" under the block?
-*E-mail/web servers based in Egypt or using Egyptian ISPs will be inaccessible for the most part so I assume he'll be using sites from neighboring countries or more "global" places. We run Lotus Notes with a Blackberry Enterprise Server and have a mail server in Cairo that normally "replicates" a copy of the mail to the DC server; Is there any way that his mail might actually replicate to the DC server (unless we use Noor as ISP, which I do not know)? Is the blackout fairly thorough or does stuff trickle through at times?
-Apparently our office phone lines cannot call or fax Cairo due to the fact that they're digital, but cell phones can(?). We can fax documents to our US Blackberries and then forward them to Egyptian land lines to get a fax across.
I've sent him an e-mail and am waiting on a response to find out which model Blackberry he has and if it has wifi or is unlocked. Currently his primary source of communication is via his laptop on the hotel's wifi. We have no idea how long he'll be in DC. Please let me know if there's anything I might have overlooked that might be helpful.
A guy from our Cairo office is stuck in DC currently with a Vodaphone Cairo Blackberry that isn't receiving calls or e-mails due to the Egyptian government's communications crackdown. Our DC office uses T-Mobile almost exclusively as our cellular service provider and when he comes in tomorrow I can set him up with a US SIM with a US phone number and data plan so he can access e-mails* or websites for updates on friends, family, co-workers, etc... but I have several questions relating to this and what services he'll likely be able to access over the next few days:
-Vodafone Egypt has currently suspended operations in "certain areas" in compliance with government orders- Since call forwarding is handled by the local service provider, I assume there's no way to have his calls forwarded from his Cairo #? Would there be any way to access voice mails? Can you get data from Vodaphone Egypt that are outside of the "certain areas" under the block?
-*E-mail/web servers based in Egypt or using Egyptian ISPs will be inaccessible for the most part so I assume he'll be using sites from neighboring countries or more "global" places. We run Lotus Notes with a Blackberry Enterprise Server and have a mail server in Cairo that normally "replicates" a copy of the mail to the DC server; Is there any way that his mail might actually replicate to the DC server (unless we use Noor as ISP, which I do not know)? Is the blackout fairly thorough or does stuff trickle through at times?
-Apparently our office phone lines cannot call or fax Cairo due to the fact that they're digital, but cell phones can(?). We can fax documents to our US Blackberries and then forward them to Egyptian land lines to get a fax across.
I've sent him an e-mail and am waiting on a response to find out which model Blackberry he has and if it has wifi or is unlocked. Currently his primary source of communication is via his laptop on the hotel's wifi. We have no idea how long he'll be in DC. Please let me know if there's anything I might have overlooked that might be helpful.
I have never seen a cell phone, iphone or blackberry in Egypt that was locked (and I lived there for 2.5 years) - the way the phone companies work is very different there and he should no problem with using an American sim card.
I can't really help with the other technical issues, but phone calls to cell phones are working sporadically (text messages are much harder to get through), so I would try and call him somehow if getting an answer is urgent.
posted by scrute at 2:25 PM on January 30, 2011
I can't really help with the other technical issues, but phone calls to cell phones are working sporadically (text messages are much harder to get through), so I would try and call him somehow if getting an answer is urgent.
posted by scrute at 2:25 PM on January 30, 2011
Vodaphone claims it has restored voice service to customers in Egypt.
Find out if his computer has a modem. A number of ISP's outside Egypt are offering free dialup service to people in Egypt. Some resources are here.
How far away are they from the American Embassy. I would expect they have ways to get communications in and out of the country.
posted by Ookseer at 7:56 PM on January 30, 2011
Find out if his computer has a modem. A number of ISP's outside Egypt are offering free dialup service to people in Egypt. Some resources are here.
How far away are they from the American Embassy. I would expect they have ways to get communications in and out of the country.
posted by Ookseer at 7:56 PM on January 30, 2011
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Also, I heard landlines are working. Does his family have a landline?
posted by bluedaisy at 12:12 PM on January 30, 2011