Around the World
Shopping in Hong Kong
This April my gf and I will go to Hong Kong and we want to take the occasion to shop for phones.
We are from Canada and we don't know what we must look for to get a phone that will work when we'll come back...
Our friend, who live in HK and come back times to times to Canada, told us that we need GSM tri-band phones. With some research, i found the obvious: many service providers in Canada are GSM compatible and most phones are tri-band (or even quad-band).
Still, is there any other compatibility features i must look for ?
What's the difference between locked and unlocked in a phone ?
Thanks for helping a noob 🙂
We are from Canada and we don't know what we must look for to get a phone that will work when we'll come back...
Our friend, who live in HK and come back times to times to Canada, told us that we need GSM tri-band phones. With some research, i found the obvious: many service providers in Canada are GSM compatible and most phones are tri-band (or even quad-band).
Still, is there any other compatibility features i must look for ?
What's the difference between locked and unlocked in a phone ?
Thanks for helping a noob 🙂
...
The phone may have the frequency in gsm to work but it needs to be unlocked also.
Sometimes you may not be able to use data services unless it is provisioned right.
Sometimes you may not be able to use data services unless it is provisioned right.
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All phones you can get in the HK market, are unlocked, most have newer models than US, most cost more than US(by the time they are released in N. America). You are better off buying a unlocked phone in the US market,bring it over, buy a prepaid minutes SIM card for HK$100.
HTH
HTH
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In Asia, HK & Japan are the best places to purchase any type of high tech gadgets. However, don't expect prices to be lower in HK. High taxes and duties keep the prices high for export/import. Japan has lower prices due to yen. But, as I've learned the hard way, software and language interface may only be in kanji or mandarin. I've found that eBay has the best prices on new phones and a safe return for the traveler. However, don't purchase phones through US outlets such as Best Buy, CompUSA, etc. You will pay about 2 - 3 times more than you should. Also, most overseas phones use a SIM card. The US is trying to discourage this practice in order to keep prices high on phones. Good Luck - Design Guru
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If you want to use it with Fido, then you can choose from any GSM phone that is at least tri-band (900/1800/1900). That will include the vast majority of phones you see on sale.
If you want to use it with Rogers, however, you'll need a quad-band GSM phone (850/1900/1800/1900) which will limit your choices significantly.
You won't be able to use a GSM phone from Hong Kong with Bell or Telus since they are CDMA.
If you want to use it with Rogers, however, you'll need a quad-band GSM phone (850/1900/1800/1900) which will limit your choices significantly.
You won't be able to use a GSM phone from Hong Kong with Bell or Telus since they are CDMA.
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