International cell phone ?

[polm]

I would like to have a cellular phone that works here in U.S.A , but that can also work in Israel.

Anyone know if I can do this ?

 

[isekii]

get a world phone

all you would need to do is purchase a sim card from whereever you are and pop it in the phone and it should work.

make sure the phone is unlocked.

I recently sold my Ericsson T28 world phone on ebay for 50+ shipping

 

[gopunk]

wouldn't a satellite phone work for this purpose? i dunno i thought i heard something about it somewhere...

 

[polm]

sounds like I need to buy an Unlocked phone with SIM Card capability.

I am about to call T-Mobile and see what they can do for me.

 

[dolph]

Originally posted by: gopunk
wouldn't a satellite phone work for this purpose? i dunno i thought i heard something about it somewhere...

yeah, but for a staggering cost.

i think my nokia 6310i might do the trick.

 

[conjur]

Aren't most phones w/GSM that way?

Friend of mine has a cell/PDA (runs Pocket PC) thru T-Mobile and he uses that same phone in India as well as Ohio (just switches the chip)

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: polm
sounds like I need to buy an Unlocked phone with SIM Card capability.

I am about to call T-Mobile and see what they can do for me.

why would you purchase one from T-mobile ?

an Ericcson T28 W unlocked can be had for like 35-50 bucks on ebay. If you go through th T-mobile they'll charge you an arm and a leg.
Just purchase a phone on ebay, make sure it's unlocked and a world phone, and go out of the country, purchase a sim card and then make calls.

btw. most of the world uses GSM

 

[polm]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: polm
sounds like I need to buy an Unlocked phone with SIM Card capability.

I am about to call T-Mobile and see what they can do for me.

why would you purchase one from T-mobile ?

an Ericcson T28 W unlocked can be had for like 35-50 bucks on ebay. If you go through th T-mobile they'll charge you an arm and a leg.
Just purchase a phone on ebay, make sure it's unlocked and a world phone, and go out of the country, purchase a sim card and then make calls.

btw. most of the world uses GSM

but don't I need to talk to a Service Provider to get the service ? I mean...what company would you suggest hooking up with ?

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: conjur
Aren't most phones w/GSM that way?

Friend of mine has a cell/PDA (runs Pocket PC) thru T-Mobile and he uses that same phone in India as well as Ohio (just switches the chip)

If that phone is locked to a specific provider, it wont work with another providers sim card. It has to be unlocked. It must be able to utilize the gsm frequency. I'm not quite sure what the standards are in different countries.

 

[conjur]

ah...that's what's meant by 'unlocked'.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: polm

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: polm
sounds like I need to buy an Unlocked phone with SIM Card capability.

I am about to call T-Mobile and see what they can do for me.

why would you purchase one from T-mobile ?

an Ericcson T28 W unlocked can be had for like 35-50 bucks on ebay. If you go through th T-mobile they'll charge you an arm and a leg.
Just purchase a phone on ebay, make sure it's unlocked and a world phone, and go out of the country, purchase a sim card and then make calls.

btw. most of the world uses GSM

but don't I need to talk to a Service Provider to get the service ? I mean...what company would you suggest hooking up with ?

YOu don't need to sign up for a service to get the phone.
You can purchase the phone seperately. If you do plan on getting a provider, you can just purchase a sim card and get service that way through any GSM service. They'll prolly lock you into a contract, but I do believe providers also have pre-paid options.

Why go through a provider and buy a phone for mucho $$$$ when you don't need to.

 

[Macro2]

REF:"why would you purchase one from T-mobile?"

I think T-mobile is all GSM?

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: Macro2
REF:"why would you purchase one from T-mobile?"

I think T-mobile is all GSM?

that's not the point. they'll charge you an arm, a leg, and a part of your balls for a world phone.
Not to mention it'll be locked. I did hear that they are more than happy to pass you the unlock code for the phone, but he still has to purchase a world phone.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: Macro2
REF:"why would you purchase one from T-mobile?"

I think T-mobile is all GSM?

that's not the point. they'll charge you an arm, a leg, and a part of your balls for a world phone.
Not to mention it'll be locked. I did hear that they are more than happy to pass you the unlock code for the phone, but he still has to purchase a world phone.

No they dont...

I purchased a Samsung R225 World Phone for $50 from T-Mobile and they unlocked it for me for free in 3 days... Worked fine all over Europe.

EDIT: Just checked... Its free to new customers.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: Macro2
REF:"why would you purchase one from T-mobile?"

I think T-mobile is all GSM?

that's not the point. they'll charge you an arm, a leg, and a part of your balls for a world phone.
Not to mention it'll be locked. I did hear that they are more than happy to pass you the unlock code for the phone, but he still has to purchase a world phone.

No they dont...

I purchased a Samsung R225 World Phone for $50 from T-Mobile and they unlocked it for me for free in 3 days... Worked fine all over Europe.

EDIT: Just checked... Its free to new customers.

that's sweet then ^_^ pics ?

 

[HiTek21]

My friend has a Samsung S105 on Tmobile and he told the CSR that he was going out of the country and they gave him the code to unlock his phone free.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: Macro2
REF:"why would you purchase one from T-mobile?"

I think T-mobile is all GSM?

that's not the point. they'll charge you an arm, a leg, and a part of your balls for a world phone.
Not to mention it'll be locked. I did hear that they are more than happy to pass you the unlock code for the phone, but he still has to purchase a world phone.

No they dont...

I purchased a Samsung R225 World Phone for $50 from T-Mobile and they unlocked it for me for free in 3 days... Worked fine all over Europe.

EDIT: Just checked... Its free to new customers.

that's sweet then ^_^ pics ?

http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/prod/hhcommerce/telecommunications/sgh_r225m_features.jsp

Its actually a VERY solid little phone... I loved it...

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: Macro2
REF:"why would you purchase one from T-mobile?"

I think T-mobile is all GSM?

that's not the point. they'll charge you an arm, a leg, and a part of your balls for a world phone.
Not to mention it'll be locked. I did hear that they are more than happy to pass you the unlock code for the phone, but he still has to purchase a world phone.

No they dont...

I purchased a Samsung R225 World Phone for $50 from T-Mobile and they unlocked it for me for free in 3 days... Worked fine all over Europe.

EDIT: Just checked... Its free to new customers.

that's sweet then ^_^ pics ?

http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/prod/hhcommerce/telecommunications/sgh_r225m_features.jsp

Its actually a VERY solid little phone... I loved it...

did you use the Tmobile sim card while you were in Europe ?
or did you purchase a Sim card from one of the European providers ?

 

[aphex]

Also,

Here are two pictures of my Samsung R225 roaming on foreign networks when i went to Switzerland...

Swiss GSM

diAx Swiss

 

[aphex]

did you use the Tmobile sim card while you were in Europe ?
or did you purchase a Sim card from one of the European providers ?

I bought cards in any country i was staying in for longer than 3 days (it ended up being MUCH cheaper that way)... Its kinda a neat souvinier to have telephone numbers from 4 countries

Mostly i used my KPN card (Netherlands) since i was living there for 4 months, or my T-Mobile card between countries...

 

[elanarchist]

Just make sure that the phone uses GSM (T-Mobile, Cingular, and AT&T all use this) and that it can do 900 or 1800 mHz. 1900 is the standard in the US, not all phones here will do 900 or 1800 which is what they use in every other country. Make sure its unlocked and then buy a pre paid SIM when you arrive in your destination country.