mrdini

Yo,

I will shortly be travelling round the world, and as a result was debating which phone to take - a Nokia 8310, or a SE T68i. The former is dual-band, whilst the latter is tri-band. Ideally, I'd prefer to take the Nokia (it's tiny).

However, I just would like to confirm... (I checked GSMworld, but wanted to check with actual users). The Nokia will work ok in the following countries/areas?

Fiji
NZ
Australia
HK & China
SE Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia)

Or should I ideally take the SE triband phone? Suggestions for picking between the two phones would be appreciated!

kanebear

You're good with the 8310 in all the above places. Thailand does have a 1900Mhz GSM network but it's in addition to their standard GSM banded networks. The others are all on world standard bands.

fuzz

There are four main GSM frequencies. The US uses 850 and 1900 MHz (T-mobile only uses the 1900 MHz). Most of the rest of the world uses 900 and 1800 MHz. You can look online http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml
to check which frequencies are used where you are going.

Be careful about which frequencies your phone has. Dual band phones in the US have 850 and 1900 MHz, while triband may have 900/1800/1900 if it is T-mobile, or 850/1900 and either 900 or 1800 if Cingular (which, it seems will once again change names to ATT!). Triband phones sold in the rest of the world have 900/1800 and either 850 or 1900 MHz. Just be careful so you are not left without service.

For traveling, I think it's nice to have both 900 and 1800, if it is not the phone you will use in the US. Otherwise, you are safest with a quad band phone, which will have 850/900/1800/1900 MHz.

I did not have time to check each of the places you were going, but it should be easy enough to look at that website.

If you are planning on using a local chip, make sure the phone is unlocked (very easy to do with Nokia).

fuzz
-------
So I checked out some frequencies for you:
Fiji: Vodafone 900 MHz
NZ: Vodafone has 900, 1800, 3G
Australia: Multiple companies with 900/1800/3G
China: 900 MHz
HK: 900/1800/3G
Cambodia: 900/1800
Thailand: 900/1800/1900/3G
Malaysia: 900/1800/3G

Look at the website to check specific areas you're going.

Good luck!

P.S. Sorry if you knew lots of this an only were checking specifically about the phone.

cpx

You would be fine with a dual band phone in these countries, but I'd
suggest using a tri or a quad band phone anyway.

I use Nokia 6610 and an Ericsson, I;ve also used samsung/lg/sanyo.
the best performing phones were nokia. they have excellent battery
life and very good reception. Try to pick a small nokia with tri or quad band.

My 6610 works just fine on all 4 bands (even though its a tri band phone)


here is one nokia: (quad band)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16875209008

here is another one: (tri band)
http://www.mobileplanet.com/product.asp?code=116753

themicah

Huh?

According to the link, that phone is triband (it lacks the 900Mhz frequency).

cpx

oops! my bad. My cousine brought this over from Australia when he visited.
It worked very well in Australia, Parts of Asia and much of Europe.
Also worked well in US.

(they use 900 in Australia)

I agree.. I find it weird that my 6610 work on all bands.
but It does work. Currently its locked on to Cingular which
is 850Mhz here.
while the phone is rated for 900/1800/1900

I have an Ericsson, but it never locks onto Cingular here..
Its a tri-band phone too.

vincom

That is not physcially possible.

-Vincent

vincom

The Nokia 6170 is TriBand; it does come in two models:

-6170 = 900/1800/1900
-6170b = 850/1800/1900 (aka the US Version)

-Vincent

cpx

How would you explain why one tri band would work on Cingular
and the other would not.

Anybody else out there with Nokia 6610 unlocked?

vincom

Were you in the exact same area? In some places the controlling band may be 1900, in other areas it may be 850. If it is a triband phone 900/1800/1900 it is physcially impossible for it to use 850 signal. The same if it is 850/1800/1900, it is physcially impossible fo rit to use the 900 band. What is the EXACT model of your phone? Often can be found under the bettery - any "triband phone" from Nikai with a "b" after the model number is the US Version with 850 instead of 900.

Also - you may have been roaming on TMobile. If you are in California - prior to the Cingular / AT&T Wireless Merger, TMO/CING shared a 1900 only network, AT&T had a combo of 850/1900. Now that Cingular and AT&T Wireless are just Cingular - they have offically sold the 1900 only network to TMO (per contractual agreeements) and are slowly moving people from that network.

-Vincent

kanebear

You're not picking up Cingular. Since about 2004, Cingular SIMs have overridden the phone's internal mcc-mnc network name database for MCC (Mobile Country Code) 310 which is the US. Outside the US, this does not take place and you can see which networks you're roaming on. But, while you're here, EVERY network will show up as Cingular. If you could do a network search (which you can't, as Cingular suppresses this option via the SIM), you'd see multiple 'Cingular' entries. While they may both be owned by Cingular, they're separate networks. It will also do this to T-mobile. So, say you did a scan in Las Vegas, you'd see three networks. One would be Cingular's legacy network. One would be the former AT&T network, and one would be T-mobile. Yet, they'd all say Cingular. Not all phones respect this naming override which is why one phone shows Cingular whereas the other shows T-mobile/Voicestream/AT&T Wireless/what have you.

cpx

ITs not a Cingular SIM and its not any US based service.
I have about 4 instruments, and services from about 7 different mobile
providers.

The nokia I have (6610) was originally a T-Mobile equipment, I got it unlocked
and now I use it as my international phone.

Here is works on Cingular as well as T-Mobile (New York 850/1900)
used it on Orange/T-Mobile(uk)/Vodafon in UK (900/1800)
Used it on optus/telstra/vodafon(AU)
also used it in GR/CY/FR/NL/AE/IN/ and soon in CN.

I think its a quad band phone, but sold as tri-band.

Other ericsson I have is T300. I havent seen it work on Cingular (New York)
but works on everything else.. and everywhere else.
This was also a t-mobile phone before it was unlocked.

vincom

Nokia does not sell any quad band phone thats is marketed as triband. I will stake my Nokia 8801 on it, you can verify with Nokia the 6610 was made in one version ONLY 900/1800/1900 - since it has 1900 it will work where ever there is a 1900 signal (anywhere TMobile has service and most Cingular markets).

-Vincent

roberto99

To the OP:

What country is home?

Do you expect/hope to use the phone in the USA or Canada?

Do you have to buy these phones or are they loaners for the upcoming trip?

drjazz

The T68i is pretty tiny too! It used to be my primary world phone.
-Dr.