International Cell Phone

[El Bucho]

I have Sprint right now, and they have a Samsung GSM phone which I'm looking into. Any other suggestions for international phones? I don't need to stay with sprint, my work cell (Nextel sucks) has a sim card which I can put into any GSM phone and calls will directly bill to the company. So, anybody have this Samsung Sprint phone, or suggest another good GSM international phone? Thanks.

EB

 

[flying_gringo]

I like T Mobile as they're owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, and thus the service internationally is great. Domestically it's as good as any.

for the phone - I like the blackberry. Great for email, decent basic internet access, and its a true quad band gsm/gprs phone with bluetooth voice capability.

T Mobile will also unlock the phone shortly after setting up - allowing you to use it with other companies sim cards... something most companies in the states don't do.

if you want another service provider - just get yourself a nokia phone and go use http://www.unlockme.co.uk/ to unlock it, then buy yourself a local sim card when in europe or where ever.

otherwise - just use the phone in the plane and bill it to the customers.

fg

 

[typhoonpilot]

Everybody in my part of the world has Nokia phones. When it comes to cell phone selection the U.S. is in the stone age. Next time you are out of the States, especially if you are in Europe or Asia you can find much better Nokia dual and tri-band phones.

The general consensus around here is that Samsungs are crap, at least the ones the company was giving out awhile ago.


TP

 

[banned username 2]

If you want a true "World Phone" you want a QUAD Band (850/1900 900/1800) GSM phone... I have a Motorola V551 on Cingular and have been very happy with it... The International coverage is very good and the domestic coverage far exceeds T-Mobile...

 

[indianboy7]

Sprint has GSM??? Did i miss something..I thought they were all PCS CDMA????/

 

[sky37d]

You could always buy a sat phone, and it will work almost anywhere.
They are a little more expensive, but you can use it in the plane, on the train, or anywhere you can see the sky. The downside, of course, is that you have to see the sky for it to work

 

[EuroWheenie]

Recently treated myself to a Sony Ericsson K750i. It's a triband and works flawlessly in most of the world, USA included. It's got a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, so doubles as a digicam too. Can even record up to 1 hour of video, if you so choose. Comes standard with a memory stick and around 150mb of memory, but additional sticks can of course be purchased. Will of course play mp3 ring phones and has an FM radio too. Also got a flight simulator (SAAB JAS-39 Gripen of course) as a game, and a neat little application with a globe and timezones. About the only thing it doesn't do is open my beer! Oh, unlike most US phones I've seen, there is no stupid antenna sticking out. Antennas are, like, sooo 90's!

It's the bee's knees and it was a bargain at 149 BHD in the Bahrain taxfree. You can find the same phone at a somewhat higher price most places in Europe.

Quick edit to add that a Nokia 6230 or 6250 will do the same as the Ericsson and at roughly the same price. I just prefer the design of the Ericsson and the graphic menu control over that of Nokia. Samsung make some pretty neat phones too.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

If you want a true "World Phone" you want a QUAD Band (850/1900 900/1800) GSM phone... I have a Motorola V551 on Cingular and have been very happy with it... The International coverage is very good and the domestic coverage far exceeds T-Mobile...

Ditto what FC says,

quad band and Cingular works everywhere I have been International...and the domestic coverage far exceeds T-Mobile. Plan Rates also seem comparable between the two. Motorola's quad bands have always held up real well for me.

FWIW I would not ditch a tri band to get a quad band...my tri band has always worked everywhere the quad does.

Also check into local sim chips. If you are somewhere for longer periods of time and may use it locally a lot (Like London for example) plug in a local chip and talk at local rates. good deal!

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Sprint has GSM??? Did i miss something..I thought they were all PCS CDMA????/

My guess is the Nextel merger has allowed then to advertise Intl capability as Nextel does...although its terrible coverage compared to Cingular/Tmobile.

 

[414Flyer]

http://www.mobalrental.com/gsm/handsets.asp

 

[El Bucho]

Sprint has GSM??? Did i miss something..I thought they were all PCS CDMA????/

They only have one phone that I know of. Good luck getting anybody to explain anything about their international service...

EB

 

[Unleaded]

sprint and verizon piggyback with a GSM provider to be able to offer international cell phones. It's a werid deal that's a billing nightmare.

Cingular and Tmo are true GSM providers that have an established international plan.

Of course Cingular has an excellent plan but i'm bias. You can pick up a cheap quadband phone like a moto v60 for dirt cheap on ebay. If you allready have the sim chip from your current provider.

 

[paulsalem]

www.gsmworld.com

has maps of GSM coverage oversea's.

I know NJA uses cingular on their blackberry phones with quadband.

 

[banned username 2]

You can pick up a cheap quadband phone like a moto v60 for dirt cheap on ebay. If you allready have the sim chip from your current provider.

The V60 is only Tri-Band, the V600 is Quad-Band...

 

[ActionJackson]

Cingular Nokia Tri Band Phones...

Like any other purchase, you gotta bust Cingular's cajones to get everything just right, but they offer great Nokia Tri Band Cells and a North American Package that allows you to call anywhere in North America at a discounted rate and a $5.99/month package that lets you call Europe at a discounted rate as well. Get a good rate on a data package for baseball and football scores and weather over the net.

The key is turning your phone off in flight and letting it reset itself to figure out "where" it is. Call customer service from the first country you get to and get them to tweak it right and get you all right for the next legs and trips. Expect goofs at first and be patient. You have to speak to a phone representative who's don this before: do not trust them to get it right the first time. Get it right and you'll be all set.

Learn how to dial other countries and the US. Usually the US is just a +1 (which is 2 strokes on the * sign and the number 1).

Good Luck and be persistent.

 

[El Bucho]

Anybody have the Motorloa Razr? How well does that thing work, both domestic and while abroad? Thanks.

EB

 

[Diesel]

Something you might want to get done if you plan on making any calls from one country to another country (NOT the USA)

Call up cingular and tell them you want your account released. It takes about 5 days and this way you'll be able to call from one country to another (not the US).

The reason they do this is so they block your sim chip from getting cloned and someone using it overseas calling from one country to another. If you know you're going to be doing calling like this or even if you don't I'd recommend having the block removed.

You might never know when you're at an FBO in one country and you want to call to make sure your hotels are set up for the next night.

 

[ActionJackson]

RAZR Phone

The RAZR from Cingular works great. It's a quad band.