Travel Technology - T-Mobile or Cingular for US and International traveling

My contract with Verizon is going to expire soon. I'm thinking about signing up with a new carrier. I understand T-Mobile and Cingular have GSM phones. I'm hoping to use their phone while traveling by using local sim cards. I only travel overseas twice a year though.

Just wondering if anyone (especially ones in Denver,CO) have good experience with T-Mobile and Cingular, customer service and signal coverage and anything that you can think of. Will it be worth it to switch or is it better to buy a quad band or tri band phone just for traveling(since Verizon has the best coverage in the US) . But to buy a phone without a carrier is so expensive. And I only use a cell phone for making and receiving calls. That's why I'm thinking about switching.

Any advice will be appreciated!

A GSM phone without subsidy isn't expensive at all; Ebay is full of sub $30 triband GSM phones, Target sells prepaid T-mobile phones for $40 that can be unlocked and many online vendors sell brand new GSM phones for under $100.

I wouldn't switch just to get a GSM phone. If you like Verizon, then stick with them, it may not be worth the hassle of switching, especially just to get a phone.

While Scott's advice is sound, and he knows about what he speaks ;).....I have faced a similar situation in the past and decided differently. I was on Verizon and chose to switch to Cingular (AT&T) simply BECAUSE I wanted a tri-band that I could take overseas with me and not have to muck around with keeping phone books up to date, etc, etc. It worked out fine for me since the costs were the same (or less perhaps under AT&T), the coverage was comparable, customer service comparable, and now I have only 1 phone to fiddle with. YMMV
Best wishes, Dave

My contract with Verizon is going to expire soon. I'm thinking about signing up with a new carrier. I understand T-Mobile and Cingular have GSM phones. I'm hoping to use their phone while traveling by using local sim cards. I only travel overseas twice a year though.

Just wondering if anyone (especially ones in Denver,CO) have good experience with T-Mobile and Cingular, customer service and signal coverage and anything that you can think of. Will it be worth it to switch or is it better to buy a quad band or tri band phone just for traveling(since Verizon has the best coverage in the US) . But to buy a phone without a carrier is so expensive. And I only use a cell phone for making and receiving calls. That's why I'm thinking about switching.

Any advice will be appreciated!

From talking to friends in Denver, Cingular has decent coverage but Verizon is better. No one I know has T-mo. It all depends on where you use your phone and how... CO is especially tricky if you spend any time in the mountains... carriers that are fine in Denver may not have any coverage at all out there.

Short of buying a prepaid phone and checking out the areas where you need coverage the best thing to do is talk to friends and coworkers.

Regardless, I WOULD NOT use Verizon's int'l roaming service. You're better off having a second account with Cingular, etc or buying prepaid SIM cards while abroad. VZW int'l roaming is a ripoff and isn't an integrated solution. You get a UK Vodafone SIM and a UK number and must forward your VZW phone to the UK number. Thus, you pay airtime AND int'l LD for EVERY call that goes to voicemail or is answered in addition to airtime on the SIM which is billed separately.

If you do decide to switch to either Cingular or T-Mobile, keep in mind that a new phone purchase that uses their subsidy/phone discount will be SIM "locked" which means you cannot just go international and drop in a local SIM card until you have unlocked it.

My experience with T-Mobile has been 3 months into your contract before they give you the unlock code, wherease Cingular (from second hand information) requires a longer time before unlocking it. There are also enterprising individuals that you can find on the internet who will be able to circumvent these carrier locks, for a fee.

For the record, I had to make a similar decision over two years ago. I was tired of carrying a second unlocked GSM phone when I traveled and made the switch to T-Mobile (primarily because they had the phone I was looking for).

Good luck on your choice.

I was a Cingular (formerly ATT Wireless, formerly Honolulu Cellular) customer for 6+ years, but after Cingular axed the lower-priced plans ATT had available, I did some math and realized that I use few enough minutes to spend less on a prepaid plan, and T-Mobile had better (for me) prepaid plans, so I switched. I think Cingular has better coverage most places. T-Mobile is, of course, a European company, so those who travel to Europe may find it easier to deal with, but I'm not sure.

The tri-band phones everyone is going on about are all well and good many places, but since they're US tri-band, they're 850/1800/1900MHz, and 900Mhz is the primary international frequency, and in some countries (Kenya being a notable example) basically the only frequency. So if you want to keep the number of countries your phone's useless in low enough to count on one hand, you'll really need a quad-band. Motorola offers quite a few models, and various smartphones (I carry a Treo 600) are quad-band as well.

As far as Verizon phones, I think I could count the number of countries where they stand any chance of working without taking my shoes off. ;)

Just my 2 cents...

I live in Denver and switched from Verizon to T-Mobile purely because I travel extensively in the US and overseas and needed a GSM phone. I have been pleasantly surprised with the T-Mobile coverage as I have not found any major metro area where my T-Mobile phone hasn't worked just fine (and it even worked in my house, whereas my Verizon did NOT), plus it has worked just fine in Canada, Brazil, Germany, France and China.

I toyed with Cingular for a while but dumped them because their customer service was HORRIBLE (one time I waited an hour on hold!).

I do believe that call quality with Verizon was superior to T-Mobile, but T-mobile is cheaper, works overseas and call quality is acceptable.

Bottom line: based on about one year of use (data and voice), I would recommend T-Mobile.

We have Cingular and TMO in our house.

I love Cingular's GSM coverage.

I love (almost all of) TMO's customer service agents.

TMO's coverage is quite spotty in the USA.

Where do you hope to use the phone in the USA? Any places off the highway in lesser towns?

What other countries do you want to use it in?

How many incoming minutes in each other country?

How many ioutgoing minutes in each other country?

I'm currently a Cingular customer & I've had no problems with their service. I also have an older Nokia GSM phone that's unlocked so I can use a local SIM if I need to when I travel. I'd recommend Cingular because their overall domestic plans, IMHO, are much better than T-mobile, however, my old roommate has a T-mobile plan & when we've gone to Europe & he's on a T-mobile European network he claims he hasn't been charged for roaming. I've never actually seen his bills - so I can't verify that - but that's what he claims.

I've been with AT&T for 6 years and moved to Cingular in March 06. I have a tri-band Nokia 6682 that was supposedly locked to Cingular. After a month of service, two phone calls to customer support and 10 days of waiting got me the unlock code for the phone.

I have since tested the phone with a T-Mo SIM and it works fine.

I'll be testing it on an upcoming trip to SIN and India. I think the networks in India for example are 900 mhz predominantly. We'll see.

Another poster's comment on quad band phones is very valid. If possible, go for a quad band as it makes life a lot easier.

As a Denver T-Mobile customer, the coverage is okay, but not excellent. There are some dead spots here and there within the metro area, especially in and around Castle Rock. You can get somewhat decent coverage along I-70 going into the mountains--except for the few miles surrounding the Eisenhower Tunnel. Obviously, great coverage in and around the major ski resorts--but unreliable signals ON the mountains. I even get a decent signal in Blackhawk/Central City.

I have a 500-minute (free mobile-to-mobile, nights and weekends) family plan for $50/month, which is the cheapest type of plan I've seen. Plus, T-Mobile's customer service is top-notch.

when we've gone to Europe & he's on a T-mobile European network he claims he hasn't been charged for roaming. I've never actually seen his bills - so I can't verify that - but that's what he claims.
For some odd reason, it can sometimes take up to 3 billing cycles for European roaming charges to appear on a T-Mobile bill.

I have T mobile and even though the signal is very very weak inside my home, I keep it becuase it offers the best coverage in the rest of the World. If you look at the coverage maps in detail, T-mobile has more service providers within each country than any other company and this translates to more and better coverage.

If you only travel to the major captials in the World, either company will do the trick but if you go into the back roads or countries in Africa, South America or Asia, T mobile rocks.

My only beef with T mobile is they still do not offer coverage in Ethopia but neither does anyone else.

T-mobile is great.. I use them and their phones all over the place. As others have pointed out, they are happy to send you the unlock code after 3 months of service so you can get a pre-paid sim for those longer visits overseas :) Their roaming rates aren't bad, and I use my blackberry quite a bit while roaming. I do have local sims for the netherlands and france, since I do go there afew times a year, and having the unlocked phone makes that possible.

T-Mobile roaming rates outside of the US are a *lot* lower than Cingular's rates. These are lower than even Cingular's allegedly low rates that require a monthly plan. T-Mobile's built-in international long distance rates for calls from the US are lower than Cingular's international rates unless you have a monthly plan.

I've not had any problems with T-Mobile coverage outside the US and within the US it's been pretty good. It's at least as good as the AT&T coverage was until I dropped them a few years ago.

Thank you very much for all the helpful replies!!! I mostly use my cell phone in the metro area. Verizon doesn't have signal up in the mountains either. When travel it's nice to have something for emergency or just for communication. I also use my phone at the airports in the US. I travel with friends from another country and they all bring their cell phones which are GSM. :(

Any one knows if Verizon plans to add GSM to their network? I'm so torn between getting a separate phone and switch carrier. As for the phone, I've looked into all the sites mentioned, they are all over $100 if I want a quad phone, unless I was looking at the wrong place.

Thank you very much for all the helpful replies!!! I mostly use my cell phone in the metro area. Verizon doesn't have signal up in the mountains either. When travel it's nice to have something for emergency or just for communication. I also use my phone at the airports in the US. I travel with friends from another country and they all bring their cell phones which are GSM. :(

Any one knows if Verizon plans to add GSM to their network? I'm so torn between getting a separate phone and switch carrier. As for the phone, I've looked into all the sites mentioned, they are all over $100 if I want a quad phone, unless I was looking at the wrong place.

Verizon has no current public plans of switching to GSM.

You never told us WHERE you hope to use your phone. Why does this matter? TMO has HUGE service holes even on many interstates. And no service in the boonies.

BTW, where is "the metro area" anyway? Many have no TMO service. Many have pretty good service.

I plan to use the cell phone service mostly in Denver Colorado, at airports in the US and use local sim cards when travel internationally.

The tri-band phones everyone is going on about are all well and good many places, but since they're US tri-band, they're 850/1800/1900MHz, and 900Mhz is the primary international frequency

NOT TRUE! Most Cingular tri-bands are 850/1800/1900, but most (if not all) T-mobile tri-bands are 900/1800/1900! A very good reason to choose T-mobile over Cingular.

I have T-mobile, a T630, which replaced my T610. Both have been great phones. They work in Europe and Australia (everywhere I've been except japan). I don't use local sim cards, T-mobile has decent deals on international calls, and even better deals on international texting. I have unlimited internet on T-mobile (19.99/mo), which I use via bluetooth to have internet anywhere on my laptop or PDA. This even worked in Europe and Australia, with no additional charges! Although I may have gotten lucky on that one. ;)

Anyway, T-mobile has better international rates than Cingular, and the phones they use are 900 MHz, perfect for international travel. I think they are a clear winner, and I'm a satisfied customer (why else would I be with them 3 years after my contract expired? ;) )

After meeting FTer MrHalliday on the ATL-HNL trip a few weeks ago, I researched carriers and plans this morning and decided to switch from Cingular to T-Mobile. Great to see the positive reviews here.

Thanks for posting, OP. :)

For some odd reason, it can sometimes take up to 3 billing cycles for European roaming charges to appear on a T-Mobile bill.


A couple of years back, a friend of mine used the phone in UK and Bulgaria.
Amazingly, the charges never showed up. That was T-Mobile service aswell.

But these days, i see them very good with the billing ;)


Personally I think for US, T-Mobile is bit more reliable, but
for international Cingular is better. Seen some issues with T-Mobile
over and over again.. especially when it has to do with authentication
on a foreign network.

I plan to use the cell phone service mostly in Denver Colorado, at airports in the US and use local sim cards when travel internationally.

I travel very frequently, I've found it convenient and economical to
carry a domestic phone and an international phone.

Get a pre-paid SIM from the country you are most likely to visit.

Verizon I find is very economical for CDMA roaming in some countries
but outgoing international calls are bit unreliable
when you are in another country. If you think you need to have GSM
roaming at your destination, Verizon is not a good deal.

check out: www.gsmworld.com

I cant comment on TMobile specifically in Denver. However, I have had both Verizon and Tmobile for about 3 or 4 years. I frequently forward my Verizon number to my Tmobile phone and leave the Verizon one in my briefcase. Verizon has the best coverage but where I go, a lot of travelling in the US but mostly major highways, there is very little difference between TMobile and Verizon. As an anectdote, a couple years ago in Taos I had coverage in both the city and the Taos Ski Village in the mountains on my Verizon but only in the city on TMobile. ATT was very bad in the city and nonexistant in the mountains. Verizon was the only one in the mountains. A good friend and coworker has ATT and he is always borrowing one of my phone when we are travelling together. TMobile customer service is extremely good, they typically are rated first or occassionally second in surveys of customers. Cingular is usually near or at the bottom.

T-Mobile seems to have good coverage everywhere except at my house. :(

I cant comment on TMobile specifically in Denver. However, I have had both Verizon and Tmobile for about 3 or 4 years. I frequently forward my Verizon number to my Tmobile phone and leave the Verizon one in my briefcase. Verizon has the best coverage but where I go, a lot of travelling in the US but mostly major highways, there is very little difference between TMobile and Verizon. As an anectdote, a couple years ago in Taos I had coverage in both the city and the Taos Ski Village in the mountains on my Verizon but only in the city on TMobile. ATT was very bad in the city and nonexistant in the mountains. Verizon was the only one in the mountains. A good friend and coworker has ATT and he is always borrowing one of my phone when we are travelling together. TMobile customer service is extremely good, they typically are rated first or occassionally second in surveys of customers. Cingular is usually near or at the bottom.

Have to agree here. I am another of the Verizon/T-Mobile folks. The problem really occurs here in the states when you get away from the major metropolatian areas. For the most part in the cities and along the interstates both work quite well. However, as you get away from the interstates (say about 6 miles) T-Moble quite frequently drops off, whereas Verizon holds quite well. For example when I go to the town my mom is from in Iowa, the only service that works out there is Verizon or US Cellular (an old TDMA network) Everyone else just stares at the no service indicator on their phone. This is especially true in the rural areas of the Midwest and southwest. These gap areas makes it almost a necessity that you have two service providers if you are doing both rural USA and International.

As for phones myself, I just got an E61 and I now have Japan coverage ontop of a quad band all in one phone.

I guess in the end the question has to come down to. Are you willing to accept a number of service holes in order to have a "world phone"?

Have to agree here. I am another of the Verizon/T-Mobile folks. The problem really occurs here in the states when you get away from the major metropolatian areas. For the most part in the cities and along the interstates both work quite well. However, as you get away from the interstates (say about 6 miles) T-Moble quite frequently drops off, whereas Verizon holds quite well. For example when I go to the town my mom is from in Iowa, the only service that works out there is Verizon or US Cellular (an old TDMA network) Everyone else just stares at the no service indicator on their phone. This is especially true in the rural areas of the Midwest and southwest. These gap areas makes it almost a necessity that you have two service providers if you are doing both rural USA and International.

As for phones myself, I just got an E61 and I now have Japan coverage ontop of a quad band all in one phone.

I guess in the end the question has to come down to. Are you willing to accept a number of service holes in order to have a "world phone"?

Oh man, I didnt think of that. You can use WCDMA in Japan with a TMobile SIM???

For those seeking an all-in-one solution, Verizon's business division carries the Samsung i830 which is a combined CDMA/GSM phone. It is a PDA-phone so therefore fairly big but it works wonderfully in the US and abroad. Only downside is that it doesn't do high speed data on GSM networks (but does do EV-DO here in the US)

T-Mobile's coverage is a bit spotty outside major metro areas, but their customer service is far superior to every other carrier. I've roamed to a good number of countries with my T-Mobile service with very few problems; the only problems I've occasionally encountered were with GPRS not working when it should have. Re-registering or switching to a different provider has fixed that in the few times it happened. (And T-Mobile seems to have contracts with just about every GSM provider in most places I've been. In Australia right now I can roam onto Optus, Vodafone, or Telstra. And in the UK at times I had up to 5 networks to choose from! Not sure how Cingular compares as far as number of roaming partners.)

And which other carrier lets you switch plans mid-month when you're running out of minutes? :) That's saved me from having serious overage on more than one occasion. Like I said, great customer service. Every time I've had a problem, they've fixed it quickly, generally giving me a credit, free month, or bonus minutes for the inconvenience. I did a handset upgrade a few months ago when I was in India, and on top of negotating a nice price plan, they gave me 500 minutes timed to become active right around when I'd be back from India for 2 months before heading out of the US again (saving me from having to switch from the $20 90 min plan I'd gotten on.)

As for bands... both carriers will sell you quad-bands. T-Mobile was locking out 850MHz on some of the quad-band capable phones they were selling for a while, but apparently they've stopped this practice (some of their US roaming partners in rural areas are on 850, so that'd cause an issue there.) But you really don't need 850 outside the US other than in a few places where there's probably 900/1800/1900 available as well. I think a few South American countries use 850, as well as Canada. The vast majority of the world is 900/1800.

Of course, GSM roaming isn't cheap... $1.49/min here in Australia, $0.99/min for most of Western Europe. India was $2.99/min! Data roaming is pretty reasonably at 1.5c/kb anyways (I quit my regular IMAP mail client and ssh in to check my mail under those circumstances, which takes all of 20 - 30kb.) SMSes are a pretty good deal too (10c or SMS bucket pull to receive, 35c to send.)

So if I'm going to be somewhere for more than a few days, I'll pick up a local SIM card. As was mentioned, you can get a triband phone for next to nothing off eBay if you want to use that method. When I do pick up a SIM card, I stick it in my primary phone (Samsung T809 at the moment; contrary to what a few people have said, T-Mobile will unlock phones pretty quickly, 2 weeks if I'm not mistaken.) Then I stick my T-Mobile SIM in my backup phone (Motorola L6, which is actually quadband with the right software mod, despite being sold as triband.) This method works great since I can use the cheap SMSes, occasional Bluetoothed data, and see missed calls (then return them from my prepaid local SIM and not get charged outrageous voice roaming rates!) One caveat with the last bit there: on many networks, forwarding of unanswered calls back to the originating carrier isn't supported, so if your phone is on and you don't answer, the caller gets a no-answer message from the roaming provider rather than being sent to your home carrier's voicemail.

Oh man, I didnt think of that. You can use WCDMA in Japan with a TMobile SIM???

Supposed to be able to in Japan and South Korea! I'll be renting a WCDMA phone in Japan in a few weeks and trying it out myself with my T-Mobile SIM...

Of course, the US being backwards with cell technology, we haven't licensed the 2100MHz band out yet. The rest of the world uses 1900/2100 simultaneously for WCDMA/UMTS services, whereas US WCDMA devices operate just on 1900... so yet another incompability. (Apparently getting the 2100MHz band available for cellular use may happen...eventually.) Not that we even have WCDMA voice services working yet; just Cingular's HSDPA network so far.

So a real world phone will now have to be five-band (quint-band? that just sounds too strange) on 850/900/1800/1900/2100 as well as supporting both send/receive on WCDMA 1900 to cater to the US! Actually, they apparently use GSM 450 in Tanzania (nice wide low-density coverage for fewer towers.) So I guess you'd really need a six-band phone. So following the naming scheme, I guess that'd be a sex-band world phone! :)

So to be safe I should do a five or six band!!! :p

Called Cingular yesterday. They checked the coverage where I use the phone most. Turned out the signal at my house is only medium strength. They don't have any towers near by. They said I still can talk in my house and don't have to go outside to get signal. ouch!

Haven't talked to T-Mobile yet. A friend uses T-Mobile and told me she never had problem. She is traveling to Thailand and will use her T-Mobile phone there.

Supposed to be able to in Japan and South Korea! I'll be renting a WCDMA phone in Japan in a few weeks and trying it out myself with my T-Mobile SIM...

Of course, the US being backwards with cell technology, we haven't licensed the 2100MHz band out yet. The rest of the world uses 1900/2100 simultaneously for WCDMA/UMTS services, whereas US WCDMA devices operate just on 1900... so yet another incompability. (Apparently getting the 2100MHz band available for cellular use may happen...eventually.) Not that we even have WCDMA voice services working yet; just Cingular's HSDPA network so far.

So a real world phone will now have to be five-band (quint-band? that just sounds too strange) on 850/900/1800/1900/2100 as well as supporting both send/receive on WCDMA 1900 to cater to the US! Actually, they apparently use GSM 450 in Tanzania (nice wide low-density coverage for fewer towers.) So I guess you'd really need a six-band phone. So following the naming scheme, I guess that'd be a sex-band world phone! :)


The Nokia E61, now on sale, is WCDMA 2100. :)

So to be safe I should do a five or six band!!! :p

Called Cingular yesterday. They checked the coverage where I use the phone most. Turned out the signal at my house is only medium strength. They don't have any towers near by. They said I still can talk in my house and don't have to go outside to get signal. ouch!

Haven't talked to T-Mobile yet. A friend uses T-Mobile and told me she never had problem. She is traveling to Thailand and will use her T-Mobile phone there.

Quad is fine for now. :p

Check T-Mobile's website for coverage. They have VERY detailed coverage maps, down to street level detail. No need to call them.

The Nokia E61, now on sale, is WCDMA 2100. :)

Looking at the specs, I think it's only WCDMA 2100. I'm pretty sure it won't operate on WCDMA 1900 networks in the US; so no HSDPA data on Cingular now, and no WCDMA voice whenever that becomes available. I'm not sure anyone has a WCDMA 1900/2100 device that'll work both in the US and elsewhere yet. Of course when WCDMA voice becomes available, we'll see WCDMA 1900 handsets in the US (but who knows if they'll support 2100 for the rest of the world.)

Oh yeah, I forgot about 1700MHz being deployed eventually. So I guess we'll have to have sept-band phones, not sex-band. :(

Looking at the specs, I think it's only WCDMA 2100. I'm pretty sure it won't operate on WCDMA 1900 networks in the US; so no HSDPA data on Cingular now, and no WCDMA voice whenever that becomes available. I'm not sure anyone has a WCDMA 1900/2100 device that'll work both in the US and elsewhere yet. Of course when WCDMA voice becomes available, we'll see WCDMA 1900 handsets in the US (but who knows if they'll support 2100 for the rest of the world.)

Oh yeah, I forgot about 1700MHz being deployed eventually. So I guess we'll have to have sept-band phones, not sex-band. :(

Im not that concerned about it working with WDCMA here. I am jazzed about a phone that would work here and in Japan. :)

I have a Cingular plan in the US, with a Siemens "world phone". Cingular performs ok in Europe, but has very limited coverage in the South Pacific, and Asia. Despite numerous phone calls to their customer service, they have not been able to get my service going even in countries like HK and China. In some of these countries, I receive "Welcome" messages from local roaming partners (and sometimes Cingular charges $1 for these messages), but I can't place or receive calls. Whenever I encounter these problems, I try to use the same (unlocked) phone, with my German T-Mobile SIM card, and it usually works. I don't know, of course, whether you'd have similar results with T-Mobile US, but I'd assume so. In any case, I would not recommend Cingular for international roaming. The only reason why I use them is: US-Intl calls, with the $3.99 monthly plan; only $.18 to W European cellphones, an excellent deal indeed.

I have a Cingular plan in the US, with a Siemens "world phone". Cingular performs ok in Europe, but has very limited coverage in the South Pacific, and Asia. Despite numerous phone calls to their customer service, they have not been able to get my service going even in countries like HK and China. In some of these countries, I receive "Welcome" messages from local roaming partners (and sometimes Cingular charges $1 for these messages), but I can't place or receive calls. Whenever I encounter these problems, I try to use the same (unlocked) phone, with my German T-Mobile SIM card, and it usually works. I don't know, of course, whether you'd have similar results with T-Mobile US, but I'd assume so. In any case, I would not recommend Cingular for international roaming. The only reason why I use them is: US-Intl calls, with the $3.99 monthly plan; only $.18 to W European cellphones, an excellent deal indeed.

$1 for incoming messages? ouch! i thought they were free worldwide.

They aren't even free in the US for many plans!

But T-mobile has never charged me for the 'welcome to you network' texts I've gotten internationally.

Okay, stupid questions from a non-techie here...

I want to go prepaid. I think I want a Razr. Say I buy a phone from someone, not T-Mobile. Does the phone need to be prepaid-capable? Or are they all the same? TIA :)

Went to the mall store a few days ago to ask questions (and to buy), but the young punks were no help. :td:

Okay, stupid questions from a non-techie here...

I want to go prepaid. I think I want a Razr. Say I buy a phone from someone, not T-Mobile. Does the phone need to be prepaid-capable? Or are they all the same? TIA :)

Went to the mall store a few days ago to ask questions (and to buy), but the young punks were no help. :td:


For the GSM, regular and pre-paid phones are the same. In US, both of them
are locked to the network they are sold for (T-Mobile, Cingular etc.. )

If its sold by some other vendor, just make sure you buy the right phone
(For T-Mobile or Cingular)

If you buy an unlocked phone with tri or quad band, it should work on pretty much with any GSM vendor in US and you could even use it outside of the US
with a appropriate SIM and plan.

Just keep in mind, if you go with a pre-paid plan, the service provider will
not help you unlock the phone (thats from what i've heard)

Okay, stupid questions from a non-techie here...

I want to go prepaid. I think I want a Razr. Say I buy a phone from someone, not T-Mobile. Does the phone need to be prepaid-capable? Or are they all the same? TIA :)

Went to the mall store a few days ago to ask questions (and to buy), but the young punks were no help. :td:

There is no difference between a prepaid TMO phone and a postpaid TMO phone. The same go for Cingular phones.

However, if a phone is locked to a carrier, only that carrier's and that carrier's MVNO sims will work in that phone. The way around this restriction is to either procure a phone that was never locked or to get a phone that was unlocked or to unlock the phone yourself.

Oh, yes, a USA TMO locked phone will not work with varoius European TMO sims. Thet are considered to be "foriegn sims" to the phone since the carrier number isn't a match. These various TMO sims will work in an unlocked phone, though.

If you have a mobile handheld (Blackberry, Treo), do the best of both worlds.

Blackberry on T-mobile without voiceplan, 20 cents domestic and since they don't have Int'l calling plans you'll pay per minute overseas anyway ($1/min).

Keep cell phone as Verizon, since for voice clarity you really can't beat it.

Also, this way you have a "backup" phone in case you need it (separate network, phone, etc) -- Chances are one will work in an area you need it when the other one doesn't when traveling.

And if you get a RAZR and Blackberry they use the same charger.

Works very well for me.

Keep cell phone as Verizon, since for voice clarity you really can't beat it.

I beg to differ. As far as CLARITY goes, EFR on GSM is second-to-none in commercial cellphone voice quality as far as I'm concerned. Things go a bit downhill with AMR/half-rate, but I still find GSM to sound noticeably clearer and more natural than the CDMA 1x codecs that Verizon is using (which I assume is exclusively 8kbps EVRC and not whatever that 13kbps codec is.) I find GSM phones harder to distinguish from a landline as well. (Not to mention the artificial white noise and surpression in EVRC that often makes CDMA 1x calls sound strange and annoying.) You used to be able to force some CDMA 1x phones onto the 13kbps codec for a bit better sound quality, as well as force some GSM phones to only use EFR. Sadly you generally can't do that anymore. (There may even be some towers that require you to support AMR if I remember correctly.)

Maybe you meant coverage. Verizon wins there when you include all the analog roaming coverage in the middle-of-nowhere that hasn't been replaced yet (and new handsets aren't supporting analog much these days anyways.) It's more of a tossup between Verizon and Cingular for CDMA 1x coverage vs GSM/UMTS coverage, I do believe.

I'm quite happy with the coverage and voice clarity on my T-Mobile service, myself. :) (And the coverage map is a just a BIT bigger when you expand it beyond the US. :p)

I was speaking more about coverage and reliability. (Phone works in the country, elevators, etc).

GSM does provide better clarity, with some minor technical glitches. The other edge GSM has over CDMA is battery life. The CDMA phones have to be charged more frequently than the GSM ones.

GSM does provide better clarity, with some minor technical glitches. The other edge GSM has over CDMA is battery life. The CDMA phones have to be charged more frequently than the GSM ones.

Hmm, I was actually under the impression that CDMA 1x allowed for better transmit power control than GSM and ended up being more battery-friendly in that respect... And that WCDMA/UMTS is even better than either of those. Of course CDMA 1x has the phone communicating with several towers at once... (Though you do get the nice benefit of seamless handoffs rather than the hard handoffs of GSM.) Any real cellphone techies have a proper explanation as to which ends up using less power in standby and while in use?

Though it seems like all cellphones are just going DOWN in battery life these days. :( More room for the camera, stereo speakers, and other things I don't want when you reduce battery size by 20%! (I like small phones myself... so that's a particularly bad problem there. Let's hope for some actual production fuel cell handsets sooner rather than later.)

My Samsung T809 gets down to low battery after 2 days of low to moderate use sometimes (such as in an area of marginal reception)... it's ridiculous. Although my Motorola L6 lasts surprisingly long on standby for being as small as it is.

Hmm, I was actually under the impression that CDMA 1x allowed for better transmit power control than GSM and ended up being more battery-friendly in that respect... And that WCDMA/UMTS is even better than either of those. Of course CDMA 1x has the phone communicating with several towers at once... (Though you do get the nice benefit of seamless handoffs rather than the hard handoffs of GSM.) Any real cellphone techies have a proper explanation as to which ends up using less power in standby and while in use?

Though it seems like all cellphones are just going DOWN in battery life these days. :( More room for the camera, stereo speakers, and other things I don't want when you reduce battery size by 20%! (I like small phones myself... so that's a particularly bad problem there. Let's hope for some actual production fuel cell handsets sooner rather than later.)

My Samsung T809 gets down to low battery after 2 days of low to moderate use sometimes (such as in an area of marginal reception)... it's ridiculous. Although my Motorola L6 lasts surprisingly long on standby for being as small as it is.

It is hard to compare with different phones but I get about 1 day (or less) with minimal use on a Verizon Moto E815 and about 4 days on a TMobile Nokia 6230 with similar usage. It is a huge difference in my experience.

It is hard to compare with different phones but I get about 1 day (or less) with minimal use on a Verizon Moto E815 and about 4 days on a TMobile Nokia 6230 with similar usage. It is a huge difference in my experience.

Ah, but the 6230 was designed with form following function, whereas the E815 was designed by first having marketing tell engineering to cram in more megapixels into the camera that doesn't have the optics to take advantage of even a measly 1.3MP, then trying to making it look shiny and pretty, then cramming it full of HELLO MOTO! and related junk, and then finally figuring out how to fit a battery into the remaining cubic millimeter. :)

Nokias do tend to have superior battery life though... (And superior RF performance, all without a hideous external antenna! I've never owned a Nokia though, as I've never liked their generally-bricklike form factors.) I'd love to see a comparison of battery life on, say, a GSM V3 vs a CDMA V3c side-by-side in various scenarios.

(No offense intended to HELLO MOTO! It makes for a great backup alarm clock! :))

I used to have (1998/99 i think) a Nokia for Verizon and a Nokia for T-mobile.
Very similar models and with similar use. Actually T-Mobile was used
a little more. and Samsung with a Sprint service.

Battery life back then for CDMA was barely 1 day. while
the GSM one lasted for about 3-4 days. I also had a similar TDMA phone
that retained the battery for 3-4 days.

I've owned Sony/Ericsson, Samsung, LG, Nokia and Motorola and in my openion
nothing comes close to Nokia for overall performance.

Motorola seems to have better background noise cancellation, but
overall I prefer Nokia. Now I travel with a 6610 on my international
trips and I dont have to worry about charging it often. Lasts over
a week with light use and 3-4 days with moderate use.
Continous use is about 4-5 hours.

Verizon Blackberry, about 2-3 days tops on battery. T-mobile GSM at least 6 days... it's quite helpful!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a quad band phone that is pretty basic? No need for camera, MP3 player, etc. Or do they all have these bells and whistles these days?

And a recommendation for a reputable online store to buy an unlocked phone?

Thanks!

Does anyone have a recommendation for a quad band phone that is pretty basic? No need for camera, MP3 player, etc. Or do they all have these bells and whistles these days?

And a recommendation for a reputable online store to buy an unlocked phone?

Thanks!


I cant comment on any specific model, but I general I like Nokia.
Expansys.us (I think its mobileplanet) would sell unlocked phones.
You can also try your luck at www.newegg.com (In past they had a few
at a very reasonable price) and there is always ebay!

anyone know what the T-mobile term for international roaming was before "world class" rates?

They keep trying to switch me and I just keep telling them "pre-world class rates"

also anyone know where the rate page is? I am afraid I may be in another fight with them...

anyone know what the T-mobile term for international roaming was before "world class" rates?

They keep trying to switch me and I just keep telling them "pre-world class rates"

also anyone know where the rate page is? I am afraid I may be in another fight with them...
I think it was $0.69/min for Western Europe, $0.99 for Asia/Australia/South America, and $1.29 for most everywhere else.

Unfortunately, I don't think anyone was "grandfathered" in for the lower rates.

anyone know what the T-mobile term for international roaming was before "world class" rates?

They keep trying to switch me and I just keep telling them "pre-world class rates"

also anyone know where the rate page is? I am afraid I may be in another fight with them...

FWIW, I was shopping rates with T-Mobile (expiring Cingular contract next month, thank you), and here's what I learned.

9 cents a minute for Canada
15 cents a minute in the UK
34 cents a minute in Germany
69 cents a minute in Portgual
69 cents a minute from South Africa
(those are rates to or from the US, provided you pay the $4.99 monthly fee)

Within those countries, it's mostly 99 cents a minute. Within South Africa, $1.49 a minute.

Also, many thanks for everyone's take on T-Mo. This thread hit the spot with what I'm considering.

FWIW, I was shopping rates with T-Mobile (expiring Cingular contract next month, thank you), and here's what I learned.

9 cents a minute for Canada
15 cents a minute in the UK
34 cents a minute in Germany
69 cents a minute in Portgual
69 cents a minute from South Africa
(those are rates to or from the US, provided you pay the $4.99 monthly fee)

Within those countries, it's mostly 99 cents a minute. Within South Africa, $1.49 a minute.

Also, many thanks for everyone's take on T-Mo. This thread hit the spot with what I'm considering.

The "within" rates vary greatly. Canada, for example is $.49/min.

The "within" rates vary greatly. Canada, for example is $.49/min.

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out.

I just found out today that Cingular is 59 cents a minute within Canada.

It sucks, because my AT&T contract is expiring. Only had to pay a flat $20 a month with no additional charges for Canada.