WEST U.S. -- Phone options

[bbranigin]

Hello all, seeking some guidance on a new phone.

My contract with at&t is expiring soon and I will be spending a year abroad in Japan starting Sept 2010. Seeing as I won't be hear for a full two years I don't want to get contracted into another at&t phone until I come back from Japan. I also will be in Japan too long for phone renting or international roaming to be a viable option but I wont be there long enough to contract a phone.

That leaves me with the option of buying an unlocked phone that will work in both America and Japan. As far as I can find though, the only phone that supports the necessary 850/1900 UMTS for at&t as well as the necessary 2100 WCDMA for japan is the iPhone 3g.

I tried using the phone finder from gsmarena but there results weren't accurate, almost everything listed had multiple versions, one which supported 850/1900 and maybe a European frequency, or a few European frequency's and 2100, nothing I found except the iPhone has 850/1900/2100 in the same device.

Please advise, do I have any other phone options besides the iPhone (which can't be legally purchased unlocked in the US anyways)?


*edit*
I'm looking for 3g in both japan and US, I don't want to drop hundreds on a phone that only gets GSM in the US

[Charlyee]

Hello there, the one device that I highly recommend is the the Treo Pro (ofcourse I am a tad bit biased )

You can get it at Palm and sometimes Dell and other places have it for less price. Palm has a 30 days, no penalty return policy so you can thoroughly try it out before making up your mind.

It has WiFi which has come in very useful during my travels.

The other option would be a Treo 750, which I think is still available from Palm.

Another would be to get the Tilt, Blackjack II, Epix etc from AT&T at no contract price and then getting them unlocked through AT&T .

Here is some information on the Treo 750 and the Treo Pro.


Hope this helps.

[mframe]

If you don't need a PDA, you could also try the SonyEricsson Z750.

[bbranigin]

Thanks for the info, I actually already have a blackjack 2 on the family plan -- didn't realize it was an 850/1900/2100. It should be off contract by the time I leave so I can ask at&t to unlock it for me.

Now i need to find out if kddi or docomo will contract with me on a non-pre-approved device or if I will have to go with prepaid sim.

Thanks for the suggestions Charlyee and mframe

[Charlyee]

You are welcome & I am glad it was that simple. You don't have to wait for your contract to be over before you ask for the unlock code. A customer for 90 days & in good standing is all they require & sometimes they make exceptions on the 90 days.

My last locked phone was the Treo 750 & the first call I made from it was to AT&T asking for the unlock code
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