Worldwide cell phones?

[Hugh R]

I need a cell phone that will work in Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand, China, etc. Verizon can't do it. Any suggestions? I've heard ATT can, any feedback. What type of phone should I get?

[jyl]

My work Blackberries have been w/ T-Mobile and work in China, Japan, Taiwan, France, Italy so far. Have to get roaming set up in each region, but the phone is capable.

[WolfeMacleod]

check out www.howardforums.com

Great cell phone resource.

[Rick Lee]

Verizon does have a GSM phone, made by Samsung, but it's expensive. For my last trip to China I got a Cingular Razr phone and just bough SIM cards wherever I needed them in China. Worked like a charm and didn't rack up a penny in fees in the US.

[Rick Lee]

Oh, you can just buy any beater GSM phone on eBay and it will work with the SIM cards bought in whatever country you visit.

[ErVikingo]

I've recently switched toa new BlackBerry Curve with ATT/Cingular service. It works !

[red-beard]

Both T-Mobile and AT&T (Cingular) use GSM. Get a 4 band phone. Look at the countries you are visiting and see what the $/min is for each. I have T-Mobile and in Romania, it is $1.99/min. Cingular is $3.49. In Mexico, Cingular is $.79/min and T-mobile is $1.49. So you need to look at the rates in each country.

You can usually get the phone unlocked so that you can use a "local" SIM card, but then you have a different phone number in each country.

You might want to consider T-mobile's new wifi phones. If you can find a free (or inexpensive) hotspot, you make VOIP calls which do not charge your plan and do not incur international charges. I know Orange in Europe charges about $.18/min for wifi usage, which is much cheaper than the cheapest cell air-time charge.

[fingpilot]

What Rick said. Buy a 4 band GSM beater. Get sim cards for the countries you are going to.

[jyl]

BTW, this is one reason I won't get the first iPhone. I want to be able to use it internationally, so waiting for the GSM/GPRS model.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
Verizon does have a GSM phone, made by Samsung, but it's expensive. For my last trip to China I got a Cingular Razr phone and just bough SIM cards wherever I needed them in China. Worked like a charm and didn't rack up a penny in fees in the US.

Oh, you can just buy any beater GSM phone on eBay and it will work with the SIM cards bought in whatever country you visit.

Yes and no. I was flying overseas recently and found out that the person next to me was a Verizon exec. We discussed the lack of international service with their company and he finally admitted that Verizon did not care about the overseas market and was pushing to sell only to North America.

The international phone that they are now producing is a stopgap measure to try to keep customers who need overseas service.

Partially right on the GSM phone. Make sure that its unlocked first! If its not unlocked then it will work only with the SIM chip that came from the maker, ie ATT, T-Mobile etc.

I have a Motorola Razr that was purchased overseas and works with any SIM chip. My Blackberry was unlocked by a company here in London and now works with any chip. If someone is looking for a descent price on a GSM phone, look on Ebay and find someone to unlock it, then have fun.

ATT/Cingular and T-Mobile are the only American companies that I know of whose networks work worldwide at this time.

Joe
(typing this from Nice France using my ATT phone with a UK SIM chip for a connection)

[Milu]

Check out hopmobile.

http://www.hopmobile.net/

Works in a lot of countries at a local rate.

[Rick Lee]

If you go to China, they have cell phone flea markets and retail stores there that dwarf Best Buy or Home Depot and most of them are in the same part of town. You can grab any kind of gsm phone there cheap and all the sim cards you want.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
If you go to China, they have cell phone flea markets and retail stores there that dwarf Best Buy or Home Depot and most of them are in the same part of town. You can grab any kind of gsm phone there cheap and all the sim cards you want.

99% of the GSM phones sold outside the US are like this and like Rick says, will work with ANY SIM chip.

If you want to buy one before you leave, look at www.ebay.ca, the Canadian Ebay site. Their phones are usually not locked. Its just the frigging US carriers who lock their phones.

[Hugh R]

Thanks for the advice. I'm in Prague right now and have a loaner. When my Verizon contract expires, I'll be looking for an unlocked, tri or quad band SIMS phone. Looking into GSM/GPRS right now.

[Joeaksa]

Hugh,

In Nice now and heading back to rainy frigging London tomorrow.

When are you going to be in London?

Joe

[motion]

I picked up a Motorola GSM unlocked phone on eBay. For you guys that are saying "just pick up a sim card in the country you are visiting", where does one pick one up? I'll be in Russia next week. Do I just go into an cell phone store in Moscow and buy a SIM? Are they pre-paid or do you need to sign up for local service? What about contracts?

[Rick Lee]

You can buy SIMM cards just about anywhere, probably in gas stations, certainly in other cell phone kiosks. In China they have cell phone "districts" that are almost the size of small towns, nothing but cell phone stores, each the size of Home Depot and then cell phone flea markets alongside them. Just find a teenage girl who speaks English and she'll program it for you. Guys might want some cigarettes for the help.

[motion]

Cool.... but I'm not clear on how you actually pay for your airtime.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Its just the frigging US carriers who lock their phones.

they lock phones in Europe just the same, if you buy em via the phone company in a package deal

if you buy em without anything else, they'll be unlocked

[Superman]

Standardization would cause costs to fall. That is why the American telecommunications industry has no standardization.