Thanks for the updates....I realized that some of my info might be a bit
dated, given the fast growth of cellular technology (although what I did
post is still valid, you just pointed out that the pantheon of technologies
have grown). The gist of what I was trying to say holds true, though. The
U.S. cellular phone system (like our measurement system) does not follow the
standards followed by most of the world. You can't just take a European
phone and plug in your SIM card and expect it to work....too many variables.
But a phone purchased in, say, the Philippines is likely (and indeed has)
worked in Taiwan by merely buying and plugging in a SIM card.
Also, dual band and tri band phones will roam internationally....my wife and
I have done it many times (I have a motorola tri band and she has a Samsung
dual band). There are, however, a few places where they will not work
(i.e., Japan). They have served us well in the Bahamas, Canada, Belize,
Philippines, Cayman Islands, Taiwan and Mexico. When we bought our phones,
Cingular had not yet switched to GSM...glad to hear that other phone
companies are getting on board.
Craig
"SMS" wrote in message
news:45a93c14$0$68975$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> Craig wrote:
>> Also please keep in mind that the US uses a different set of protocols
>> and radio frequencies then most of the world. Here you will find GSM (as
>> in Europe), TDMA and CDMA networks. Additionally, phones purchased in
>> this country are usually "locked" via software to your service provider.
>> After your initial contract runs out, you can contact the company and
>> they will instruct you on how to unlock the phone so that you can use it
>> with other providers (provided they use a compatable network). My wife
>> and I subscribe to T-Mobile (owned by Deutsch Telecom). They use a GSM
>> network and both of our phones are multifrequency (dual band and tri band
>> to use their marketing language) which allows us to roam internationally.
>> When we upgraded her old phone, we had it unlocked and gave it to her
>> sister in the Philippines, who was then able to use it by purchasing a
>> SIM card (her old phone was a dual band). The GSM digital phone bands
>> used in the US is 1900Mhz...the rest of the world seems to use 900 and
>> 1800Mhz (except Japan...they've been switching to what I believe is a
>> 2400 Mhz band).
>
> A lot of incorrect information in that post.
>
> First of all, TDMA is no longer being sold in the U.S., though there are a
> few subscribers that haven't yet switched to something else. The prepaid
> companies that were selling TDMA have all stopped selling it as well.
>
> Second, if you want a GSM phone that roams internationally, you need to
> get a quad band phone, 800/900/1800/1900.
>
> Third, the largest GSM network in the U.S., Cingular, uses GSM 800 (also
> sometimes called GSM 850). T-Mobile uses GSM 1900, but it can roam onto
> Cingular's network in areas where T-Mobile has no network (which is a LOT
> of areas). Unfortunately, T-Mobile's prepaid service does NOT allow
> roaming onto 800 MHz networks.
>
> Fourth, the FRS radios aren't really usable in the theme parks, as they
> work best over open terrain (they are line-of-sight). If you do get them,
> get the new type that are GMRS/FRS, though technically the GMRS radios
> require an FCC license, I doubt if many people bother to obtain one.
>
> I saw that Wal-Mart sells Tracfones for about $15 in their stores. While
> Tracfone isn't the cheapest service in terms of airtime costs, it's the
> easiest to obtain for tourists visiting the U.S.. Just avoid Boost mobile,
> which is also sold in some discount stores.
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