The news for today is that our mobile site became fully functional – now you can sign-up with m.arrivedok.mobi, edit records, update your personal profile etc – all the things you do at our main site. Also:

• If you go to the regular Arrivedok.mobi site from a mobile device, you’re redirected to the mobile version by default (there’s a link to the main website if you want it).
• It became simpler, faster, more lightweight, a true mobile resource for travelers.
• It looks good on iPhone.

ArrivedOK (both the web interface, the engine and the server) undergoes a major update.

You may notice that since yesterday (1) it became remarkably faster. (2) the interface changes comprise Groups in the address book and the option to add recipients from a list; (3) less javascript applied, which means less troubles for MSIE8 users; (4) mobile site redesigned for enhanced functionality (now you can register and do all the things on the go) and compatibility with older handsets (the interface needs further refurbishing though); (5) the tracking algorithm is greatly improved to provide better service quality when detecting arrivals in certain countries and mobile networks. (6) many other things. French and Japanese localizations are temporarily shut down due to full GUI backend re-writing; they will be added back later. It’s still beta, and it’s still free, so please send us your feedback!

Frequent flyers across the Atlantic know that flights from US to UK in the winter can often arrive 1hr+ early due to tailwinds. This is the case when ArrivedOK may think it is Right Place, Wrong Time situation as described here:

If you turn on your phone in the expected destination but 30+ minutes earlier than your scheduled time, ArrivedOKs will not be delivered and you’ll get an error message.

One of our users suggested a workaround for that issue: you just deliberately set your arrival time in ArrivedOK an hour earlier than your planned arrival. This way you can signal your recipients about your precise landing time.

Another thing you can do is postponing to turn on your mobile phone until your scheduled arrival time, though in that case your recipients will get their alerts later than you land. However, if you want to contact your driver automatically when you arrive, the first hint fits you better.

Here’s a nice piece about ArrivedOK in FOX 26 News, Houston: Auto-Text Friends When
Your Plane Lands / Website of the Day

Every time when I travel I’m thinking how to save money on roaming. Now when Russian MTS charges ridiculous $4 per minute for incoming calls I tend to think about cost savings. So before you go for your next trip do the following:

1) Check with your mobile operator if they provide some special packages or discounts. For example, MTS provides some special discount for traveling to certain countries in Eurasia during the summer period  (http://www.mts.ru/news/2009-04-27-1023958) Or Rogers/Canada has special voice roaming packages for travelers to the USA.

2) Check roaming prices for GPRS/3G data. Most likely your operator has crazy pricing like AT&T’s $20 per Megabyte or MTS 512 Rubles per Megabyte (about $16). I would recommend you to turn off your GPRS roaming before the trip. On iPhone you can do this easily via Settings->Network->Data Roaming->OFF. On Nokia smart phones you can just delete the settings (because otherwise some pre-installed apps like Nokia Maps may open GPRS without you even knowing it). Another approach is to switch off GPRS right through the self service system or call center of your mobile operator. Some people think that they can enjoy monthly GPRS/3G package when traveling. Sorry, you cannot, this is available only in your home country or even home region. Your operator has to charge you when you roam with another operator. Some operators provide special data roaming packages, e.g. AT&T (http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/affordable-world-packages.jsp) for $60/month provides 50Mb in 90 countries. Check the details of the special offers from your operator before you go.

3) When you travel please note that SMSes are not as cheap as they are in your home country. For example, MTS charges about $0.05 per SMS in home network, and $0.40 when you traveling. More than this, when you are home you can enjoy SMS packages included into your tariff. BUT, when you travel your operator will charge you for any SMS sent. For US travelers: please note that US operators charge even for incoming SMS. This means that when you are home you can enjoy your SMS package, but when you travel the operator starts charging you for all incoming SMSes about $0.20 per 160 byte message. So for example, if you use twitter with mobile updates, you are not charged at home, but once you get abroad every SMS update will cost you $0.20! Don’t forget to turn off all your mobile updates on Twitter! Or maybe better just switch off your phone and leave your SIM card home;-)

4) Everybody knows that voice is expensive in roaming. The most simple thing you can do is to buy a local prepaid SIM card. For example when you arrive to Beijing, China, even before the customs and border control you can buy local China Mobile prepaid SIM. The China Mobile girls who sell SIMs are very attentive and even speak English a little;-) In Indonesia I use either Telkomsel or Indosat. Indosat provides very good quality and pricing for GPRS of around $0.10 per Mb.

5) For sure you also can use ArrivedOK to save on SMS notifications about your arrival. If you inform 5 people about your arrival you can save with ArriivedOK around $1.

6) When you are going to another country you still can enjoy posting to Twitter for free (http://c2s.me). This is available for registered ArrivedOK users. The trick works for GSM phones, and is based on the fact that the users are not charged by the operators when the call is dropped. So when you dial the ArrivedOK C2S access number +442033550595 the system drops your call and sends you an interactive text menu (USSD). Another trick used here is that operators do not charge users for USSD (basically they cannot do this). Not all networks allow USSD at all, but most of them do. So if after calling ArrivedOK C2S number you receive the menu, you can post to your twitter account which should be bound to your ArrivedOK account. To use ArrivedOK C2S you have to register on arrivedok.mobi web site from your computer before first use. It’s better to do this even before your trip begins. In this case you also can enjoy ArrivedOK trial for sending free SMS notifications to your friends.

7) To save on voice calls you also can consider using some Voice-Over-IP services like Skype or SIP. I usually use Skype for iPhone over free WiFi networks in the airports and Starbucks. Other options are pre-installed SIP clients in Nokia Symbian phones. The good SIP VoIP service is provided by SIPNET (www.sipnet.ru). It’s a bit tricky to configure it. But when you need to talk a lot it really matters to figure out how to use VoIP.