I want a phone that works everywhere...

[mattflaherty]

I have been a loyal Sprint customer for 8 years. I now have a job that takes me to over 45 countries a year, traveling for 5-7 months out of the year. I just don’t think sprint has the capability to give me what I want anymore, and since my service agreement is up in August, I figured I should start looking.

1) I would like the ability to use my phone everywhere (understanding that wont necessarily work with some Asian countries i.e. Japan).

2) The problem I'm seeing with Sprint and Verizon is that they don’t have SIM card capabilities.... right? I want to have the ability to pop a sim card in overseas and take advantage of cheap (in-country) calls with a local pre-paid provider.

3) I also want cheap international calls from the US.

4) I'm also looking for a Pocket PC type phone but NOT a Blackberry.

5) I'm looking to spend around $500 on the phone and no more than $100 a month for the service.

I'm thinking of buying something in Thailand this summer, but I'm afraid ill get back the US and be screwed.

WHY IS THE US MOBILE PHONE INDUSTRY SO RESTRICTIVE???

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

[Scrumhalf]

First of all, the US phone industry is not restrictive. It is the nature of the beast - if you are with a CDMA carrier, your phone is unlikely to work in too many countries outside North America. If international roaming is important to you, you should consider GSM.

That being said, what you need to look for is an unlocked GSM phone that is quad band, i.e it can work on all the 4 GSM frequencies - 850/1900 for North America and 900/1800 for most of the rest of the world.

Here is a list of phones that might meet your requirements - don't know if anyone of them floats your boat.

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/fin...=y&wor=r&g8r=r

The HP iPAQ 6515 may be what you are looking for. Read this thread:

http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/wi...-cingular.html

The successor this this one - the 6940 is coming this summer - don't know if Cingular is getting it.

I haven't researched international call rates from cell phones but personally, I would call a local calling card number - I don't think you can beat their international rates with direct dialing. I use onesuite.com.

[COtech]

Originally Posted by mattflaherty

I have been a loyal Sprint customer for 8 years. I now have a job that takes me to over 45 countries a year, traveling for 5-7 months out of the year. I just don’t think sprint has the capability to give me what I want anymore, and since my service agreement is up in August, I figured I should start looking.

1) I would like the ability to use my phone everywhere (understanding that wont necessarily work with some Asian countries i.e. Japan).

A quad-band GSM phone with Cingular or T-Mobile will have some service available in all countries except Japan and Korea.

Originally Posted by mattflaherty

2) The problem I'm seeing with Sprint and Verizon is that they don’t have SIM card capabilities.... right? I want to have the ability to pop a sim card in overseas and take advantage of cheap (in country) calls with a local pre-paid provider.

Verizon has two models of 850/1900 MHz CDMA, 900/1800 MHz GSM phones available for worldwide use (gets Korea with 850 MHz CDMA). However, I am not sure about the possiblities of undoing the GSM subsidy lock to permit using any other SIM.

Originally Posted by mattflaherty

3) I also want cheap international calls from the US.

All the wireless companies have a good markup on international calls. Instead, visit abtolls.com, and find a calling plan with a USA number you can reach (at no extra charge) with your nationwide long distance (included). Then you'll have a second dial tone at cents per minute, and your phone can authorized by Caller ID.

Originally Posted by mattflaherty

4) I'm also looking for a Pocket PC type phone but NOT a Blackberry.

Visit Phone Scoop and study the phones manufactured by HTC, and other Windows CE phones.

Originally Posted by mattflaherty

5) I'm looking to spend around $500 on the phone and no more than $100 a month for the service.

You're doing things in reverse here, by picking the phone and then the service provider. After you've seen a few phones and a few plans, you'll have a good idea of what's most important to you.

Good reading, then hunting.

COtech

[Jay2TheRescue]

Your best bet is a quad band GSM phone, but there is no phone that will absolutely work everywhere. Such a beast does not exist.

-Jay

[Andy]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Your best bet is a quad band GSM phone, but there is no phone that will absolutely work everywhere. Such a beast does not exist.

-Jay

What about one of those CDMA/GSM phones Verizon offers???

[Scrumhalf]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

What about one of those CDMA/GSM phones Verizon offers???

Will those come unlocked, since the OP wanted to use it with local sims? I am guessing that they would be locked to GSM networks that Verizon has roaming agreements with.

[scotsboyuk]

@mattflaherty

A quadband GSM handset will certainly cover you for most of the world, but, as has been mentioned, there are some gaps. It all depends upon what countries you will be visiting, how often and for what length of time.

On the subject of Japan, NTT DoCoMo is moving to allow its FOMA network to support European UMTS and Vodafone KK uses the same UMTS as is used in Europe already. In theory you could buy a UMTS handset and be able to roam in Japan, but since Japanese networks don't use SIM cards the network you are with at home would need to have a roaming agreement in place with a Japanese network, which isn't likely at the moment because none of their handsets will work on Japanese networks.

If the U.S. adopts the same UMTS frequencies as Europe and Japan then it should be possible to get a UMTS handset that will allow roaming on both GSM networks and UMTS networks in Japan.

[ShoresGuy]

Originally Posted by Scrumhalf

Will those come unlocked, since the OP wanted to use it with local sims? I am guessing that they would be locked to GSM networks that Verizon has roaming agreements with.

Even so, the data capabilities of some CDMA/GSM handsets such as the SGH-A790 were limited to BREW and that won't do you any good in countries where you need access to GPRS:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=406

[scotsboyuk]

I rather wonder whether it might be an idea to use a Wi-Fi enabled PDA in addition to a mobile. The PDA could be used to access the internet independent of the handset's abilities, which might be a boon if one has to rent a handset in some countries e.g. Japan and thus not be able to use one's own handset.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

What about one of those CDMA/GSM phones Verizon offers???

Even those still won't work everywhere.

-Jay

[Andy]

Okay fine. I guess I was just kidding.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by scotsboyuk

@mattflaherty

A quadband GSM handset will certainly cover you for most of the world, but, as has been mentioned, there are some gaps. It all depends upon what countries you will be visiting, how often and for what length of time.

On the subject of Japan, NTT DoCoMo is moving to allow its FOMA network to support European UMTS and Vodafone KK uses the same UMTS as is used in Europe already. In theory you could buy a UMTS handset and be able to roam in Japan, but since Japanese networks don't use SIM cards the network you are with at home would need to have a roaming agreement in place with a Japanese network, which isn't likely at the moment because none of their handsets will work on Japanese networks.

If the U.S. adopts the same UMTS frequencies as Europe and Japan then it should be possible to get a UMTS handset that will allow roaming on both GSM networks and UMTS networks in Japan.

Roaming agreements are in place with US carriers and European carriers on DoMoCo and Vodaphone UMTS networks in Japan. The coverage is very good.
Last January, I rented a Moto UMTS phone at the Narita Airport from DoMoCo, they popped in my Cingular SIM, and minutes later I was roaming in Japan with my Cingular USA phone number. The phone was $5 a day. Worked very well. SMS too.

[scotsboyuk]

Originally Posted by viewfly

Roaming agreements are in place with US carriers and European carriers on DoMoCo and Vodaphone UMTS networks in Japan. The coverage is very good.
Last January, I rented a Moto UMTS phone at the Narita Airport from DoMoCo, they popped in my Cingular SIM, and minutes later I was roaming in Japan with my Cingular USA phone number. The phone was $5 a day. Worked very well. SMS too.

Perhaps that was a special handset intended for tourists? I'm not sure I have heard of any Motorola handsets being sold by DoCoMo to their Japanese customers.

For the purposes of having a single handset that can work anywhere there will still need to be U.S. handsets that support the UMTS frequencies used in Japan, and which are available to U.S. customers in America, not just for rental in Japan.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by scotsboyuk

Perhaps that was a special handset intended for tourists? I'm not sure I have heard of any Motorola handsets being sold by DoCoMo to their Japanese customers.

For the purposes of having a single handset that can work anywhere there will still need to be U.S. handsets that support the UMTS frequencies used in Japan, and which are available to U.S. customers in America, not just for rental in Japan.

I mean that it is no longer in theory, but in fact if you have a euro WCDMA phone, it will work in Japan's on DoMoCo and Vodaphones WCDMA network. DoMoCo has roaming agreements in place with many euro carriers, plus Cingular and Tmobile in the USA. The SIM card is recognized when roaming agreements are in place.

The following handsets have been confirmed to work on DoCoMo's W-CDMA network.

Motorola :
all 3G handsets since A835, A1000, E1000, C975/980, V975/980

NOKIA :
all 3G handsets since 7600, 6630, 6650, 6680

Others :
LG U8138C, Sony Ericsson Z800i


See http://roaming.nttdocomo.co.jp/service/index.html

[scotsboyuk]

Originally Posted by viewfly

I mean that it is no longer in theory, but in fact if you have a euro WCDMA phone, it will work in Japan's on DoMoCo and Vodaphones WCDMA network. DoMoCo has roaming agreements in place with many euro carriers, plus Cingular and Tmobile in the USA. The SIM card is recognized when roaming agreements are in place.

I understand what you're saying now. My main point was that there isn't a U.S. UMTS handset available yet that you can buy for use on an American UMTS network and use in Japan. Am I wrong in that? I don't really keep up to date with the U.S. mobile market as well as I should?

I think we could roam in Japan on Vodafone KK from early on here. The exciting thing that some of us have been wondering about is the adoption of GSM support in future DoCoMo handsets. I have been informed that we will be unable to import these because one has to buy them directly from DoCoMo, but I am still hoping there will be a way.