Around the World
Will an 850/1800/1900 phone work in most of Europe?
I recently purchased an Ericsson T637 850/1800/1900 cell phone on EBAY. It is unlocked. I will be travelling to countries like the UK, France, and Germany. I notice that most service providers in these places list their frequency band as 900/1800. Does this mean a phone capable of EITHER will work, do does the phone need to have BOTH bands? I now wonder if I should have bought a 900/1800/1900 band phone instead.
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Most of the world uses 900, with 1800 used in some urban areas.
If you are on Cingular, you made the right decision of getting an 850/1800/1900 phone. With the conversion of the TDMA towers, most are being converted to GSM 850. You may get some international urban coverage, but if you want rural coverage, get a quadband.
If you are on T-Mobile, you should have bought a GSM 900/1800/1900 phone. GSM 850 is useless on T-Mobile.
If you are on Cingular, you made the right decision of getting an 850/1800/1900 phone. With the conversion of the TDMA towers, most are being converted to GSM 850. You may get some international urban coverage, but if you want rural coverage, get a quadband.
If you are on T-Mobile, you should have bought a GSM 900/1800/1900 phone. GSM 850 is useless on T-Mobile.
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I just got back yesterday from Europe (Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland) and had to make the same phone decision that you are facing. My previous Motorola Timeport global tri-band world phone finally broke (after 5 yrs of abuse).
I ended up going with the Motorola v600 QUAD-BAND 800/900/1800/1900. The advantage of this is that you are truly covered, no matter what. You should be ok with the phone you purchased, but I did notice a difference depending on the country I was in. I had quad-band coverage in most of Switzerland (except the rural drive between Geneva and Zurich).
Make sure you check that it is UNLOCKED before you leave. A lot of phones on EBAY say they are, but in reality they are not. Borrow a friend's SIM who is not...
(continues)
I ended up going with the Motorola v600 QUAD-BAND 800/900/1800/1900. The advantage of this is that you are truly covered, no matter what. You should be ok with the phone you purchased, but I did notice a difference depending on the country I was in. I had quad-band coverage in most of Switzerland (except the rural drive between Geneva and Zurich).
Make sure you check that it is UNLOCKED before you leave. A lot of phones on EBAY say they are, but in reality they are not. Borrow a friend's SIM who is not...
(continues)
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