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Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile phone
in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?

thanks, mila

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On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 13:43:11 +0100, Milena <Mila@traveling.ch> wrote:

>Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile phone
>in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?

If you have a tri-band GSM phone, you can use it in the US. You can
either use international roaming or buy a prepaid SIM card in the US.
I have tried both methods, and I prefer the international roaming,
because the costs of the prepaid SIM cards in the US is very high, and
you pay for both incoming and outgoing calls.

I use my mobile phone only for brief calls and so that my husband can
contact me when I'm travelling. For outgoing calls, whenever possible,
I use a prepaid phone card from a land-line phone, which is much
cheaper.
--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

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Milena <Mila@traveling.ch> wrote in news:41bedb60@idnews.unizh.ch:

> Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile phone
> in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?
>
> thanks, mila

Barbara's answer is good, but there are more littlethings to look at like
the high cost of over seas calls using mobile phones. Use a calling card
and have your contacts call, or better yet text you that they need you to
call and then you can call back from a pay phone (hotel in room phones make
overseas roaming look cheap most of the time, but soetimtimes the toll free
numbers are cheap it depends on the hotel policy.)

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On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 14:19:21 +0100, B Vaughan <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>On Tue, 14 Dec 2004 13:43:11 +0100, Milena <Mila@traveling.ch> wrote:

>>Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile phone
>>in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?

>If you have a tri-band GSM phone, you can use it in the US. You can
>either use international roaming or buy a prepaid SIM card in the US.

Even if you have a phone that works on every system on the planet,
it won't do much good if your carrier doesn't have an
arrangement that lets you use it.

That sure was my experience when I had AT&T. 10% of the time it would be out
of the digital coverage area of the nearby metropolis and AT&T would have no
analog coverage.

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"Milena" <Mila@traveling.ch> wrote in message
news:41bedb60@idnews.unizh.ch...
> Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile phone
> in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?
>
> thanks, mila

I won't get to technical, because I can't, but Europe and N America use
different systems for mobile telephone transmission. Unless your phone is
designed to operate using these multiple systems, you can't use it here.
They sell phones here that are "world" phones and they are not much more
than the "local" ones, so you could get one before you come over.

Roaming charges are pretty high - about $1 per minute for local use in
Europe, and another $1 for each long distance minute.

Check with DT, or whoever you are with and ask them about your specific
phone's capabilities.

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"Claim Guy" <porthos_jbNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:eo6dnfFDmZkOniLcRVn-ug@rogers.com:

>
> "Milena" <Mila@traveling.ch> wrote in message
> news:41bedb60@idnews.unizh.ch...
>> Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile
phone
>> in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?
>>
>> thanks, mila
>
> I won't get to technical, because I can't, but Europe and N America
use
> different systems for mobile telephone transmission.
Att Cingular and IIRC T-mobile use the same technology, GSM, in their
newest phones, These systems work in Europe where GSM is everywhere. My
experience going US to Europe is that I had coverage even in remote
areas in Norway the roaming will eat you alive, but world phones do work
on the GSM networks

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"jcoulter" <225stellarDROPTHIS@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Xns95BF80B451BC225stellar@216.196.97.136...
> "Claim Guy" <porthos_jbNOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in
> news:eo6dnfFDmZkOniLcRVn-ug@rogers.com:
>
>>
>> "Milena" <Mila@traveling.ch> wrote in message
>> news:41bedb60@idnews.unizh.ch...
>>> Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile
> phone
>>> in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?
>>>
>>> thanks, mila
>>
>> I won't get to technical, because I can't, but Europe and N America
> use
>> different systems for mobile telephone transmission.
> Att Cingular and IIRC T-mobile use the same technology, GSM, in their
> newest phones, These systems work in Europe where GSM is everywhere. My
> experience going US to Europe is that I had coverage even in remote
> areas in Norway the roaming will eat you alive, but world phones do work
> on the GSM networks

Its a little more complicated than that.

The GSM system uses 3 main frequency bands

In Europe, Asia and Australasia they are typically
GSM 900 880 - 915 MHz paired with 925 - 960 MHz
GSM1800 1710 - 1785 MHz paired with 1805 - 1880 MHz

The USA typically operates using the frequencies

GSM 850 824 - 849 MHz paired with 869 - 894 MHz
GSM1900 1850 - 1910 MHz paired with 1930 - 1990 MHz

Tri-band phones aka World phones typically cover 900/1800/1900
but not the 850 band and are still comparatively rare in Europe.
Most European phones are dual band covering 900/1800

Keith

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"Keith Willshaw" <keithspam@kwillshaw.demon.co.uk> wrote in
news:41c01026_1@127.0.0.1:

>
> "jcoulter" <225stellarDROPTHIS@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:Xns95BF80B451BC225stellar@216.196.97.136...
>>
> Its a little more complicated than that.
>
> The GSM system uses 3 main frequency bands
>
> In Europe, Asia and Australasia they are typically
> GSM 900 880 - 915 MHz paired with 925 - 960 MHz
> GSM1800 1710 - 1785 MHz paired with 1805 - 1880 MHz
>
> The USA typically operates using the frequencies
>
> GSM 850 824 - 849 MHz paired with 869 - 894 MHz
> GSM1900 1850 - 1910 MHz paired with 1930 - 1990 MHz
>
> Tri-band phones aka World phones typically cover 900/1800/1900
> but not the 850 band and are still comparatively rare in Europe.
> Most European phones are dual band covering 900/1800
>
> Keith
Then get a quad band phone like my Motorola 505 or my old NEC 515. I
didn't mean to imply that all phones would work. somewhere up the line
someone had mentioned multiband phones, I was just commenting that there
is a way to communinicate in almost every country without buying a of
phones.

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"jcoulter" <225stellarDROPTHIS@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Xns95C0479EC9364225stellar@216.196.97.136...
> "Keith Willshaw" <keithspam@kwillshaw.demon.co.uk> wrote in
> news:41c01026_1@127.0.0.1:
>
>>
>> "jcoulter" <225stellarDROPTHIS@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:Xns95BF80B451BC225stellar@216.196.97.136...
>>>
>> Its a little more complicated than that.
>>
>> The GSM system uses 3 main frequency bands
>>
>> In Europe, Asia and Australasia they are typically
>> GSM 900 880 - 915 MHz paired with 925 - 960 MHz
>> GSM1800 1710 - 1785 MHz paired with 1805 - 1880 MHz
>>
>> The USA typically operates using the frequencies
>>
>> GSM 850 824 - 849 MHz paired with 869 - 894 MHz
>> GSM1900 1850 - 1910 MHz paired with 1930 - 1990 MHz
>>
>> Tri-band phones aka World phones typically cover 900/1800/1900
>> but not the 850 band and are still comparatively rare in Europe.
>> Most European phones are dual band covering 900/1800
>>
>> Keith
> Then get a quad band phone like my Motorola 505 or my old NEC 515. I
> didn't mean to imply that all phones would work. somewhere up the line
> someone had mentioned multiband phones, I was just commenting that there
> is a way to communinicate in almost every country without buying a of
> phones.

Personally I buy a phone card in a 7-11 and use the cell phone
for emergencies only - its a hell of a lot cheaper.

Keith

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Milena wrote:
> Hi, I´m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile phone
> in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?
>
> thanks, mila

At a minimum you'll need a tri-band (900/1800/1900), but a quad-band
will be much better (850/900/1800/1900) since the coverage is better
with the 850 Mhz, especially indoors.

Once you have the right phone, you can either roam (expensive), or buy a
prepaid SIM card. Prepaid SIM cards in the U.S. are NOT cheap, and not
sold in a lot of places. Not only do they have a high initial cost, the
per-minute cost is also high.

You will actually be much better off buying a CDMA or TDMA prepaid phone
in the U.S.. You can find these at stores like Target, Wal-Mart, Office
Depot, 7-11, and many supermarkets. I just started to see pre-paid GSM
phones as well, though these are not recommended.

The GSM network in the U.S. is not great. No coverage outside of urban
and suburban areas, and some places (i.e. Alaska) have almost no GSM
coverage at all yet. Even in many urban areas, the GSM network is still
not ready for prime time. In rural areas, and places like some National
Parks (i.e. Yosemite), you’ll usually get analog coverage ONLY.

Your best bet is a CDMA/Analog prepaid phone or a TDMA/Analog prepaid
phone. These cost about $50-80 (TracFone is the carrier) for a new
phone, and as little as $30 for a used phone. When you're done with it
you can sell it to someone else visiting the U.S., or save it for the
next trip.

In analog-only areas, a phone with analog capability will switch to
analog automatically and quickly run down the battery, so when it’s not
on a car charger or AC charger, you may want to switch it off.

http://www.tracfone.com

A cheaper option than TracFone, but more complex for you, is using
CallPlus, see:
http://www.pharosint.com/CallPlus_p..._cellrates.html for rates.
You’ll need an old TDMA/AMPS phone, which are easily available in the
U.S. for virtually nothing from people that have unwisely switched from
TDMA/AMPS to GSM.

As others have pointed out, for calling back to Germany, a pre-paid
calling card is the best choice, and these are very, very, cheap
depending on where you buy them. Check out http://onesuite.com/ , you
can do the whole thing on-line. Calling Germany is between .03 and .04
cents per minute (depending on whether you use their toll-free access or
their local access). 55 cent surcharge for using a pay phone and calling
their toll-free number, since the pay phone operator gets paid by the
called party for pay phone calls to toll-free numbers. OneSuite isn’t
even the cheapest, but it is the most convenient I’ve found. In San
Francisco you can buy very cheap calling cards in Chinese stores, which
will cost you about 2 cents per minute internationally (you have to be
Chinese to get this rate though).

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On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 10:26:49 -0000, "Keith Willshaw"
<keithspam@kwillshaw.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Tri-band phones aka World phones typically cover 900/1800/1900
>but not the 850 band and are still comparatively rare in Europe.
>Most European phones are dual band covering 900/1800

I see quite a lot of tri-band phones for sale in Italy. My phone,
which I bought two years ago, is tri-band and I have used it in the
US, both with international roaming and with a T-mobile sim card.
--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

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On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:44:01 GMT, "Steven M. Scharf"
<scharf.steven@linkearth.net> wrote:

>Once you have the right phone, you can either roam (expensive), or buy a
> prepaid SIM card. Prepaid SIM cards in the U.S. are NOT cheap, and not
>sold in a lot of places. Not only do they have a high initial cost, the
>per-minute cost is also high.

I have tried both and find that I spend a lot less with roaming than
with a prepaid sim card in the US.


--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

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B Vaughan<me@privacy.net> wrote in
news:qo04s010ot3kurv7tshvkiou4nlef99u2f@4ax.com:

> On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:44:01 GMT, "Steven M. Scharf"
> <scharf.steven@linkearth.net> wrote:
>
>>Once you have the right phone, you can either roam (expensive), or buy
a
>> prepaid SIM card. Prepaid SIM cards in the U.S. are NOT cheap, and
not
>>sold in a lot of places. Not only do they have a high initial cost,
the
>>per-minute cost is also high.
>
> I have tried both and find that I spend a lot less with roaming than
> with a prepaid sim card in the US.
>
>

On the other hand calling a pre paid sim cell in europe is attractive
since the call is free to the cell phone. I generally text home that I
would like to talk or give a time when I will be available and they
call, wheee its free.

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Hmm...
You might as well also check the coverage maps for
different service providers as well even though you have
the right celluar phone and SIM cards.

The following link is with a collection of links about
cellular phones -- probably not directly for your question,
but you can look around to get some idea:

http://www.ScienceOxygen.com/gadget1.html


Milena wrote:
> Hi, I=B4m travelling from germany to the States. Can I use my mobile
phone
> in USA? Or how can I generally use mobile phones there?
>=20
> thanks, mila

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