Around the World
Japan/Europe/USA
Does anyone know what kind of cell phone is needed to work in Japan, USA, and Europe? It seems that GSM Quad Band would cover USA and Europe. What is needed in Japan? I've read that Japan uses 3G and there are some phones coming out soon which have 3G and GSM; would any 3G phone work in Japan? The Nokia E61 is 3G + Quad Band GSM. Wondering if this would work.
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@mitchmu
A quad band handset will certainly cover you for both America and Europe, however, Japan does not use GSM. You could buy a GSM/WCDMA handset such as the SE V800, which will work on GSM European triband and Vodafone's WCDMA network in Japan.
NTT DoCoMo use a verison of WCDMA called FOMA, which is incompatible with European WCDMA handsets although I hear that they are looking to chnage this.
As far as I am aware there are no quad band/WCDMA handsets available at the moment, but I could be wrong in that regard.
If you do need one handset for us ein all three regions then I would recommend a European triband/WCDMA handset. If you use such a ahndset with T-Mobile in the U.S. you shouldn't have too many problems as T-M...
(continues)
A quad band handset will certainly cover you for both America and Europe, however, Japan does not use GSM. You could buy a GSM/WCDMA handset such as the SE V800, which will work on GSM European triband and Vodafone's WCDMA network in Japan.
NTT DoCoMo use a verison of WCDMA called FOMA, which is incompatible with European WCDMA handsets although I hear that they are looking to chnage this.
As far as I am aware there are no quad band/WCDMA handsets available at the moment, but I could be wrong in that regard.
If you do need one handset for us ein all three regions then I would recommend a European triband/WCDMA handset. If you use such a ahndset with T-Mobile in the U.S. you shouldn't have too many problems as T-M...
(continues)
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I know it's a typo. Tmobile USA uses 1900.
scotsboyuk said:
@mitchmu
If you use such a ahndset with T-Mobile in the U.S. you shouldn't have too many problems as T-Mobile USA primarily uses the 1800 MHz band.
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The i830 is Samsung's 2nd CDMA+GSM hybrid world phone for the U.S., following the A790 currently offered by both Verizon and Sprint.
http://www.wirelessconsultant.net »
http://www.wirelessconsultant.net »
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1. GSM is nonexistant in Japan due to the laws implemented by their equivalent of the FCC. That means no GPRS or EDGE either.
2. Two of the carriers in Japan have implemented 3G on the UMTS (wCDMA) specification.
3. UMTS out of the US (Japan/Europe) runs on 2100Mhz.
4. UMTS in the US runs on 1900Mhz.
What does this mean for you?
In order to roam successfully in all three parts of the world, you would need a phone that operates on 850/900/1800/1900Mhz GSM/GPRS and 1900Mhz/2100Mhz UMTS. Such a phone unfortunately does not exist. You could however purchase a European 3G handset that would roam in japan on UMTS, and settle for only GSM/GPRS in the US.
Forget CDMA its not worth the trouble, roaming outside the US is practica...
(continues)
2. Two of the carriers in Japan have implemented 3G on the UMTS (wCDMA) specification.
3. UMTS out of the US (Japan/Europe) runs on 2100Mhz.
4. UMTS in the US runs on 1900Mhz.
What does this mean for you?
In order to roam successfully in all three parts of the world, you would need a phone that operates on 850/900/1800/1900Mhz GSM/GPRS and 1900Mhz/2100Mhz UMTS. Such a phone unfortunately does not exist. You could however purchase a European 3G handset that would roam in japan on UMTS, and settle for only GSM/GPRS in the US.
Forget CDMA its not worth the trouble, roaming outside the US is practica...
(continues)
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Only phones that will work in Japan, Europe, and Northamerica is a CDMA + GSM hybrid such as the Motorola A840. It will work in GSM in EU and CDMA in North america and company in Japan call KDDI runs a CDMA 800 network so it will work there...The big kicker is that KDDI will not let any other phones that arn't theirs use their network 😛 The UMTS that japan uses is not compatable with any other of the worlds standard UMTS networks. What really gets me is that DoMoCo which is a cell provider in Japan is who sold Cingular their version of UMTS (which DoMoCo doesn't use 😛).
So what you really need is to Move to Japan (super expensive unless you get a Japanese company to move you or your a tall leggy blond female (don't ask)) get a KDDI C...
(continues)
So what you really need is to Move to Japan (super expensive unless you get a Japanese company to move you or your a tall leggy blond female (don't ask)) get a KDDI C...
(continues)
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Vodafone operate a WCDMA network in Japan which is compatible with European WCDMA networks. DoCoMo's WCDMA network (FOMA) is supposedly being modifed to work with European WCDMA.
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No, actually KDDI's CDMA network operates on a completely different frequency band than the U.S., so no U.S. CDMA phone will work there.
DoCoMo is not the only carrier in Japan with a WCDMA network. Vodafone has it also, and it is standard WCDMA/UMTS 2100 just like Europe.
DoCoMo is not the only carrier in Japan with a WCDMA network. Vodafone has it also, and it is standard WCDMA/UMTS 2100 just like Europe.
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