Satellite phone?

[pagophilus]

Does anyone know if there are any issues bringing a satellite phone into Uzbekistan?

I'm planning to travel there next year and I carry one to keep communication costs down (yes, seriously!). Just wondering if customs etc will be interested in it.

[SPR11]

Don't know if there are actual rules about it, but customs will definitely be interested. I was questioned for 10 minutes about a good luck charm (little finger puppet) so imagine what a satellite phone will do

[steven]

First off, put it at the bottom of your bag. Denau-Tursunzade is the biggest hassle border but all others usually just havze a cursory glance at your bags, so you can avoid trying to explain what it is. I have never heard of a law outlawing satellite phones so it should be ok imo.

[pagophilus]

Thanks for the replies.

How interested are customs in laptop contents? I usually travel with a laptop and portable hard drive to copy photos from the camera's memory card. Whilst I don't have any objectionable material on my laptop, I do have religious material on there.

[steven]

Usually they dont check, but doesnt mean they can't occasionally go all out. If you put it in a hidden folder it is very very unlikely they would find it.

Here is a recent report from the (probably shittiest in Uzbekistan) border at Denau:

Watch out for the Uzbek border patrols. I do speak Russian so maybe the guards were being "overly" friendly. They checked my laptop and searched the words "porn" "sex" and ".mp4" on my search bar in my laptop.