Question:
Any telephone that works on the GSM standard (used practically everywhere in the world, except the U.S.) will work in Europe. You’ll need a SIM card that references a provider accessible in Europe, though. Some U.S. companies support GSM and have reciprocal agreements with European telcos that can make this possible. If you want to use the phone in the U.S. as well, you’ll need a tri-band phone (the U.S. uses a different frequency for GSM, when it uses it at all), and a subscription with some company that provides service in both the U.S. (in your area) and Europe–or multiple phones/subscriptions. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe? Thanks TL3
Response:
I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe?
You need a tri-band GSM phone. Verizon isn’t a GSM system, an its phones won’t work in Europe. My recollection is that Cingular _is_ a GSM system, but you’d better confirm it with them. Note, too, (1) many GSM phones sold for use in the US are not tri-band, and (2) GSM coverage nationwide in the US is not as good as Verizon’s. Rather than hooking up with a service, here, just buy a tri-band GSM phone on ebay (I got one last year for $100 or so). Make sure that it is UNLOCKED before you buy it (many service providers lock their phones to their own system, and it can become quite involved trying to get it unlocked). If you buy your own phone, you’ve got a couple of choices. You can buy a local SIM card for each country you visit (not very expensive). You can also subscribe to service provider like Roadpost, that offers moderate rates but, essentially, world-wide coverage; you get a single UK-based wireless number which follows you wherever you go. I used Roadpost when I was in India this year and it was both reasonable and reliable. None of the American GSM service providers offer world-wide roaming at a reasonable rates. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks TL3
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe? You need a tri-band GSM phone. Verizon isn’t a GSM system, an its phones won’t work in Europe. My recollection is that Cingular _is_ a GSM system, but you’d better confirm it with them. Note, too, (1) many GSM phones sold for use in the US are not tri-band, and (2) GSM coverage nationwide in the US is not as good as Verizon’s. Rather than hooking up with a service, here, just buy a tri-band GSM phone on ebay (I got one last year for $100 or so). Make sure that it is UNLOCKED before you buy it (many service providers lock their phones to their own system, and it can become quite involved trying to get it unlocked). If you buy your own phone, you’ve got a couple of choices. You can buy a local SIM card for each country you visit (not very expensive). You can also subscribe to service provider like Roadpost, that offers moderate rates but, essentially, world-wide coverage; you get a single UK-based wireless number which follows you wherever you go. I used Roadpost when I was in India this year and it was both reasonable and reliable. None of the American GSM service providers offer world-wide roaming at a reasonable rates.
It is probably far cheaper to get pre-pay phone(s) in Europe and leave (a) forwarding number(s) on your US-based service than try to use European roaming (by buying or renting a GSM phone and getting a SIM card from your US provider). Because many or most users who do that are business-sponsored, the rates are sky-high. UK roaming with pre-pay is expensive too. With a subscription you can get cheaper roaming, but Cellnet for example isn’t much cheaper per minute than Roadpost: 28 pence/min roaming forwarded and 50 pence/min roaming originated. http://www.roadpost.com/ looks interesting, but at $99/year plus 79 cents/min it’s not cheap. On the other hand, using a GSM phone as a pager, and then ringing back from a pay phone with a phone card, keeps the cost down.
Response:
I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe?
The Motorola v60 should work in Europe. I think Cingular uses GSM but you’ll need to check. T-Mobile in the US uses GSM and offers world roaming if you get one of their "world class" phones (Sony-Ericsson T300, Samsung 105, several others). T-Mobile international roaming is US$0.99/min for western Europe. You won’t want to chat idly at that rate but it’s not too bad for occasional short calls. Since you’ll be there for 3 months you may want to buy a SIM for the country or countries you’ll be in. This requires an unlocked phone but word has it that T-Mobile will give you the unlock code after you’ve signed a contract. What do you mean when you say "Europe" – one country for most of the time, one country for an extended period then another for an extended period, or hopping around from week to week? This matters because country-to-country roaming within Europe can be nearly as expensive as T-Mobile roaming rates (sometimes even more expensive). For more details ask at alt.cellular.gsm.carriers.voicestream (T-Mobile used to be Voicestream).
Response:
Motorola V60: yes, it’s tri-band
I think the AT&T model has no SIM card; AT&T has Euro roaming but you need a separate phone and SIM card. OK, that’s a V60i, but for clarification… http://snurl.com/15o3
Response:
Rather than hooking up with a service, here, just buy a tri-band GSM phone on ebay (I got one last year for $100 or so). Make sure that it is UNLOCKED before you buy it (many service providers lock their phones to their own system, and it can become quite involved trying to get it unlocked).
http://www.phonerestricted.co.uk/ does most Nokia’s for just 9.95 GBP – it’s also not hard to find anywhere in the world IME, just ask in the local cell shops. Jim.
Response:
Any telephone that works on the GSM standard (used practically everywhere in the world, except the U.S.) will work in Europe. You’ll need a SIM card that references a provider accessible in Europe, though. Some U.S. companies support GSM and have reciprocal agreements with European telcos that can make this possible. If you want to use the phone in the U.S. as well, you’ll need a tri-band phone (the U.S. uses a different frequency for GSM, when it uses it at all), and a subscription with some company that provides service in both the U.S. (in your area) and Europe–or multiple phones/subscriptions. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe? Thanks TL3
Response:
I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe?
You need a tri-band GSM phone. Verizon isn’t a GSM system, an its phones won’t work in Europe. My recollection is that Cingular _is_ a GSM system, but you’d better confirm it with them. Note, too, (1) many GSM phones sold for use in the US are not tri-band, and (2) GSM coverage nationwide in the US is not as good as Verizon’s. Rather than hooking up with a service, here, just buy a tri-band GSM phone on ebay (I got one last year for $100 or so). Make sure that it is UNLOCKED before you buy it (many service providers lock their phones to their own system, and it can become quite involved trying to get it unlocked). If you buy your own phone, you’ve got a couple of choices. You can buy a local SIM card for each country you visit (not very expensive). You can also subscribe to service provider like Roadpost, that offers moderate rates but, essentially, world-wide coverage; you get a single UK-based wireless number which follows you wherever you go. I used Roadpost when I was in India this year and it was both reasonable and reliable. None of the American GSM service providers offer world-wide roaming at a reasonable rates. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Thanks TL3
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe? You need a tri-band GSM phone. Verizon isn’t a GSM system, an its phones won’t work in Europe. My recollection is that Cingular _is_ a GSM system, but you’d better confirm it with them. Note, too, (1) many GSM phones sold for use in the US are not tri-band, and (2) GSM coverage nationwide in the US is not as good as Verizon’s. Rather than hooking up with a service, here, just buy a tri-band GSM phone on ebay (I got one last year for $100 or so). Make sure that it is UNLOCKED before you buy it (many service providers lock their phones to their own system, and it can become quite involved trying to get it unlocked). If you buy your own phone, you’ve got a couple of choices. You can buy a local SIM card for each country you visit (not very expensive). You can also subscribe to service provider like Roadpost, that offers moderate rates but, essentially, world-wide coverage; you get a single UK-based wireless number which follows you wherever you go. I used Roadpost when I was in India this year and it was both reasonable and reliable. None of the American GSM service providers offer world-wide roaming at a reasonable rates.
It is probably far cheaper to get pre-pay phone(s) in Europe and leave (a) forwarding number(s) on your US-based service than try to use European roaming (by buying or renting a GSM phone and getting a SIM card from your US provider). Because many or most users who do that are business-sponsored, the rates are sky-high. UK roaming with pre-pay is expensive too. With a subscription you can get cheaper roaming, but Cellnet for example isn’t much cheaper per minute than Roadpost: 28 pence/min roaming forwarded and 50 pence/min roaming originated. http://www.roadpost.com/ looks interesting, but at $99/year plus 79 cents/min it’s not cheap. On the other hand, using a GSM phone as a pager, and then ringing back from a pay phone with a phone card, keeps the cost down.
Response:
I’m going to Europe this summer for 3 months and need to stay in contact with Los Angeles, I work freelance and need to keep in touch with possible job opportunities. I was wondering if I bought a world phone here at Cingular or Verizon does it really work in Europe? I have my doubt in that the models offered here seem like the lower end than what’s offered in for instance, Germany. I was thinking that maybe to save some money I could buy and unlocked Motorola v60, or Nokia 8890 on ebay, but again, will these work in Europe?
The Motorola v60 should work in Europe. I think Cingular uses GSM but you’ll need to check. T-Mobile in the US uses GSM and offers world roaming if you get one of their "world class" phones (Sony-Ericsson T300, Samsung 105, several others). T-Mobile international roaming is US$0.99/min for western Europe. You won’t want to chat idly at that rate but it’s not too bad for occasional short calls. Since you’ll be there for 3 months you may want to buy a SIM for the country or countries you’ll be in. This requires an unlocked phone but word has it that T-Mobile will give you the unlock code after you’ve signed a contract. What do you mean when you say "Europe" – one country for most of the time, one country for an extended period then another for an extended period, or hopping around from week to week? This matters because country-to-country roaming within Europe can be nearly as expensive as T-Mobile roaming rates (sometimes even more expensive). For more details ask at alt.cellular.gsm.carriers.voicestream (T-Mobile used to be Voicestream).
Response:
Motorola V60: yes, it’s tri-band
I think the AT&T model has no SIM card; AT&T has Euro roaming but you need a separate phone and SIM card. OK, that’s a V60i, but for clarification… http://snurl.com/15o3
Response:
Rather than hooking up with a service, here, just buy a tri-band GSM phone on ebay (I got one last year for $100 or so). Make sure that it is UNLOCKED before you buy it (many service providers lock their phones to their own system, and it can become quite involved trying to get it unlocked).
http://www.phonerestricted.co.uk/ does most Nokia’s for just 9.95 GBP – it’s also not hard to find anywhere in the world IME, just ask in the local cell shops. Jim.
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