[pan]

I know its off topic but I am looking for sage advice. In the next few months I have a series of international trips scheduled, Far East and Northern Europe. I currently use a CDMA Verizon phone which is not international. What do you recommend for international service and phones?

I would not object to a second phone from a different service even out of the USA. Thanks

 

[gbelton]

Cingular & T-Mobile

They have international coverage.

 

[Boxboss]

They have international coverage.

Will require a different phone unless you can put a different card in the phone. We were in France a few years ago and a friend of ours used his US phone (Verizon) but it was modified for the trip.

 

[Patrick]

Start a thread in the OT forum and I am sure that you will get a ton of advice on the subject - it has been discussed before.


.

 

[mullman]

In the past 8 months I have used my Razr in London/Paris/Munich with zero problems.
My carrier is Cingular.

You just need a quad-band GSM phone.
BTW, text messaging and photos work abroad just like you were at home.

 

[SmoothCruise]

Just make sure you have some sort of coverage and know the rates. When my friend recently started going out with his girl friend, she left for France, and wanted my friend to call her every night. He did so on his cell phone. At the end of the month his bill came out to over $2k.

 

[Spyder]

In the past 8 months I have used my Razr in London/Paris/Munich with zero problems.
My carrier is Cingular.

You just need a quad-band GSM phone.
BTW, text messaging and photos work abroad just like you were at home.

I suggest that you consider an UNLOCKED quad-band GSM phone, or have the phone unlocked after purchase. (Phones are generally sold locked so that the owner can't switch services by simply swapping sim cards, without buying a new phone.)

I currently have an unlocked Cingular Treo 600 soon to be replaced by a 650 or 700p so that I have Bluetooth before my 650 (the car!) arrives. I've used the 600 throughout SE Asia, Europe, and Latin America by popping in a local sim card as soon as I land in a new country. Advantage is that calls, both local and back to the US, are far less expensive than using the Cing card, and that all my Palm PDA functions are preserved.

Further, outside the US, incoming calls on a local sim card are generally not charged against your remaining minutes. Disadvantage is that the new sim card comes with a new cell number so that you have to inform folks back in the states (I use email) of your new number.

Hope that helps...

Spyder

 

[FrankMB]

I have T-Mobile with a tri-band 8800 unlocked phone. I've used it in Europe and Asia. I usually get a prepaid SIM card at the country I'm at as it's a lot cheaper. I do have international roaming on my phone and use it up until I get the local SIM card.

 

[HW]

you can pick up a pay-as-you-go phone for real cheap at say walmart from t-mobile. pick one w/ quad band. t-mobile is on GSM. go online and post the SN/IMEI of your phone requesting for the unlocking code. there is a site that have people providing these codes :thumbup:

then pick up a SIM card from the country that you are visiting. some eastern countries like china/korea uses CDMA as well but GSM is the way to go on this . ... even though i used to work on CDMA2000 :eeps:.

-- advice from a lowly 3er owner