Travel Technology - How To Use Nokia 6620 Cingular Phone In Europe (PRG and FRA)

I have a Nokia 6620 from Cingular Wireless. Does anyone know if this phone can be used in Europe? I will be traveling in FRA and PRG. Any suggestions as to companies, etc? Rates to call from Eurrope to USA, etc?

I also have a Verizon CDMA phone which is my main phone, but they only offer a service where you rent a GSM phone and rates are $1.30 plus long distance to call the USA.

The 6620 is tri-band and Cingular sells its tri-band and quad-band phones unlocked, so your phone will work in Europe. If you just turn it on with the Cingular sim card you now have installed, you will be able to receive calls to your US number and make calls but will pay ridiculous international long distance rates on all calls, received and made.

Instead of using the Cingular sim card, if you purchase a local prepaid sim card from a provider in the country you are in after you arrive and install it in your phone (takes 1 minute), you will immediately have a local number, be able to receive calls (even from the US) for free and pay more reasonable airtime rates when you make calls, especially local calls.

One more tip: If you are going to purchase a local sim card in Europe, I recommend not even turning your Cingular phone on with the original Cingular sim card installed once you leave the US, unless money doesn't matter to you. If you do, your Cingular sim will automatically register itself on the foreign network and calls to your phone from the US may then be routed from the US through the foreign network for a day or so after your Cingular sim registered on the foreign network resulting in international long distance charges to you even though you may have thereafter turned the phone off and the calls are just going to your Cingular voice mail.

Hi,
I did not know that the Cingular Nokia 6620 phone was unlocked by default? From what I have read so far, the only way to verify if it is locked is to put another sim card in it which I may not have until I get to Europe. I thought all the carriers in USA except Tmobile sold locked phones?

This is welcome news if they are unlocked by default. I have been doing research on unlocking codes on the net for the past 2 hours.

Yes, the only way to be absolutely sure is to pop another sim card from any other carrier in. Perhaps you have a friend who has AT&T or T-Mo service. You could borrow their sim for a minute to check it out. Or if you just go to any independent wireless store, they usually have a lot of sims sitting around and would probably let you borrow one for a minute to check.

Also, you could call Cingular customer service and just ask if the phone is sold unlocked, but personally I would prefer the sim card check.

Fwimbw, I have a Cingular branded Motorola V400 (quad band), and it was in fact sold by Cingular unlocked.

Wrt all US carriers selling locked phones, this is generally true, but apparently Cingular makes an exception for their tri-band and quad-band phones which are so called "world" phones. The main (perhaps the only) cool thing about Cingular imo.

Cellular Abroad (http://www.cellularabroad.com/) sells a variety of both country specific and sim cards designed for roaming. They also both rent and sell unlocked GSM phones.

A pricing example is a Czech Republic sim card cost approximately $75 with $15 worth of credit on it. I don't know if that is a typical mark up e.g. if you normally pay about $60 for the sim card itself not including air time? In the Czech Republic this company resells Tmobile Twist which is a prepaid service.

This company also has sim cards for a variety of countries and regions around the world.

The customer service seems good, they advise have been in business about 1.5 years. The only question about them I have is again how much of a premium is one paying for the convenience of getting the sim card in the states before arriving internationally?

I'll test the sim card tomorrow (Sat.) and report if it worked in my Nokia 6620.

Cellular Abroad (http://www.cellularabroad.com/) The only question about them I have is again how much of a premium is one paying for the convenience of getting the sim card in the states before arriving internationally?


A pretty hefty premium the last time I looked which admittedly was quite a while ago and I am generalizing from having researched the cost of a Thai sim. If you want to check yourself the premium, I just got back from Thailand where you can buy a Thai sim for about $5 to $8 depending on the provider. I wonder what it would cost you here? I'll bet more than double or triple. Of course you get the benefit of knowing what your foreign number will be before you leave so you can give it to associates and friends sooner.

Just checked myself and found the store you referenced wants $69 for a 1-2-Call Thai sim that comes with $10 of prepaid airtime that would at most cost $12 to $14 in Thailand.

By way of example, there are also other providers in Thailand that offer less expensive sims and better deals on airtime.

Btw, if you buy from this store, you should note carefully the GSM frequency which the sim card you are buying requires and make sure your phone can handle that frequency. In the Thai example above, the frequency the card required was GSM 900 and your particular tri-band phone does not handle that particular frequency, it only handles GSM-850/1800/1900 MHz.

If you just turn it on with the Cingular sim card you now have installed, you will be able to receive calls to your US number and make calls but will pay ridiculous international long distance rates on all calls, received and made.Does Cingular enable international roaming by default? A couple of years ago you used to have to ask for it on TMobile...

Just for closure, TMobile phones are locked when purchased but a customer in good standing may obtain the unlock code for free upon request.

Does Cingular enable international roaming by default? A couple of years ago you used to have to ask for it on TMobile...


That I don't know. Probably one has to activate it like with T-Mo (my current provider, but of course I wouldn't use either of them for international stuff anyway, as the local pre-paid sims are much more economical). Also there are cheaper ways to make international long distance calls with your cell phone from the US as well.

mongatu Is Right about Cingular having unlocked phones.... My friend has Cingular T310 and I put my ATT Sim in, and it worked..... So indeed the tri-modes are unlocked....

Well I am back from PRG, and thank god I rented a second phone as a backup.

For the most part, the Cingular Nokia 6620 would not pick up the Tmobile signal for my Tmobile Twist sim card. At one point, in the Tmobile shop, they got it to work briefly and I thought it was fixed, but then a few hours later it only would either bring up no signal or Oscar, etc. At the same time, there were 2 other people getting Tmobile signals from the same place without issue.

I did some checking on the Nokia site this afternoon, and the 6620 is shown to only work with ATT and Cingular. It also shows Nokia 6620 operates on 850/1800/1900 MHZ frequency range.

Other GSM phones operates on 900/1800/1900.

So was my issue perhaps that Tmobile in Czech Republic uses 900MHZ, but my phone only did 850MHZ? Is there anyway to see on a sim card or for a carrier which mhz range they use?

I'll need to figure out something again for the next Europe trip which actually may be in 2-3 weeks :).

Is there anyway to see on a sim card or for a carrier which mhz range they use?Not on a SIM card, but take a look at http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_cz.shtml