Asian Cell phones in US???

[xx1116xx]

ok
so i will be going to asia soon
and they have some nice a** phones
can i bring one back here to use??

for example
i'm on verizon network which uses CDMA technology
so if i can find a phone in asia that uses CDMA
can i bring it back and activate it here???

and will this also work on sprint pcs network!!

PLEASE HELP!!

each time i call CS -- they give me different anzwers

 

[AndyHui]

Generally the answer is no.

Around the SE Asia region we all use GSM, with some places offering CDMA; Japan uses its own proprietary G3 protocols.

You will need to buy the correct models to support the US networks. It pays to do a bit of research first. For example, here in Hong Kong, we have the Nokia 8310, but the model used in the US is something like the 8390.

 

[pillage2001]

Asia and European hand phones cannot be used in the States unless they're Tri band. They generally use the 900/1800 band while the States are mostly 1900. Correct me if I'm wrong. There are a few world phones though. The t28 World by Ericsson in one of them and the Nokia 8890 is another.

 

[Topher]

Asia and European hand phones cannot be used in the States unless they're Tri band.

This is correct, but only if you plan to use GSM. CDMA phones are another story, and trust me, it won't be worth the hassle to make them work.

They generally use the 900/1800 band while the States are mostly 1900. Correct me if I'm wrong. There are a few world phones though. The t28 World by Ericsson in one of them and the Nokia 8890 is another.

The Nokia 8890 is only found in North America (and maybe South America), it's only dual band, but its an odd combo of 900 and 1900. The T28 world, I think, is the same.

and will this also work on sprint pcs network!!

PCS is 1900MHz GSM, so a triband phone would work in this case.

Phones to look for though are the T68, T68i and T39 from (Sony)Ericsson, all Triband. Also the Motorola V60 is triband.

I have heard that there are some phones in Hong Kong, made by some little known company that are 6-way phones, they are triband GSM as well as a combination of CDMA, TDMA or some other weird combo. I know nothing more than those rumours though, I cannot confirm any of that.

Where in Asia will you be going? I hear that Vietnam and Thailand have cheap phones. Singapore isn't as cheap as you'd think.

Oh yeah, I work for the largest telecommunications company in Australia , so I do know what I'm talking about here. Feel free to PM me if you have other questions.

 

[xx1116xx]

ok sorry im really slow
i still dont get it

ok so
i know for sure that korea has CDMA phones
so why can't i get a CDMA phone to just work here???
and lets assume that i can get a phone using the same CDMA frequency that they use in US...

forget about GSM...
i know GSM is used by cingular and voicestream
and that service sucks here in nyc

 

[Topher]

CDMA phones are used without a sim card, and as such are distinguished on the networks by their ESN (Electronic Serial Number). In order to use one from Aisa in the US, here is what you would have to do:

1. Make sure the phone is compatible with your network. (proper frequency, etc.)
2. Make sure the phone is not ESN locked to the Asian network.
3. Make sure your network in the US will accept the Asian phone's ESN. (Not all CDMA phones are compatible with all networks. For example, a CDMA phone from our competitor's network cannot be used on Telstra's, even within the same country). Your network provider may charge you a fee to "import" the ESN into their database to allow you to use it, or they may just not allow it at all. When you ask, speak to someone knowledgable. Most people wouldn't have a clue and end up giving you wrong information anyway.

All of this would need to be researched before you even go overseas, thus, I would say it is not worth the effort.

With CDMA you will get better coverage because you can go farther from the network towers than with GSM. The downsides (other than the above), is that you tend to have less features. For example, CDMA phones finally got SMS (text messaging) well after GSM phones did. (I'm not sure how big SMS is in the US, but in Australia, over 1 billion text messages were sent last year, and that's only with 8 million or so users!) Also, WAP enabled CMDA phones are faily new to the market. I also have yet to see one CDMA phone with infrared. With GSM phones now enabling GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), they also now have data transfer speeds of up to 4x that of CDMA, and can have a voice call going on at the same time.

Trust me, getting a CDMA phone from Asia is probably not worth the hassle, but the decision is yours to make.

 

[xx1116xx]

thanks for the help everyone

the phones sold in asia (or more specifically in korea) are LOCKED
=(
so forget it
too bad
those phones look so nice!

 

[matsuhisa]

i want an asian phone too. they're sooo much cooler than the us phones. get me one too 1116... hehe.

 

[Rakkis]

i read somewhere that US providers were going to start implementing G3 later this year. can anyone confirm this?
i'm holding out from getting a cell phone until this happens

 

[Aceshigh]

Sprint PCS is already offering 3g service nationwide. Its called Sprint PCS Vision. I bought the Samsung A500 (an awesome phone) to take advantage of the new capabilities. Unfortunately a large number of subscribers are still having trouble connecting to the 3g data service (myself among them). It appears to be massive account configuration problems on Sprint's part. Hope they get it sorted soon cause the features really do look cool.

 

[andylawcc]

whao... now I know who to talk to when I need a phone


darn AndyHui, we are beaten by the Aussie ! HK people are only good at two things: Sing K and being hella updated on the latest cell phones technobabble and cars (only if you are rich)


anyway, just to pretend that I actually know something, Nokia's 6310i is available in USA (for Cingular) and is triband too.

 

[AndyHui]

Originally posted by: andylawcc
whao... now I know who to talk to when I need a phone

darn AndyHui, we are beaten by the Aussie ! HK people are only good at two things: Sing K and being hella updated on the latest cell phones technobabble and cars (only if you are rich)

Eh? I'm Australian too....well, kinda. I also have friends working in Telstra, but they are with the BigPond Customer Service Division in Melbourne.

 

[Topher]

darn AndyHui, we are beaten by the Aussie

Actually, I'm not an Aussie, (although I forget sometimes). I'm an expat American who just happens to be over here for a while.

And andylawcc is right, the Nokia 6310i is triband (the 6310 should have been!), we just don't have it over here yet. The Nokia 7210 will also be triband, but it also hasn't been released in Aus yet, but is probably out elsewhere in the world.