 cell phones and rates from U.S. |
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wormouroboros David B Post Count: 3 Msg: #1 3 years ago, February 13th 2006 | Do U.S. cell phones usually work overseas? A friend came back from France and his couldn’t get through. I’ll be going to France in May and would like to figure it out. If yes, what are the rates like? All the same in the E.U. or depends on the country? | DB  Gus_Granada_Spain Jose Luis Esteban Post Count: 40 Msg: #2 3 years ago, February 14th 2006 | Unless you own a multiband cell phone (probably not) ,your phone wont work here since system is different. | Europe's standard is GSM. Rates depend on the company and country. more info (font: Wikipedia) The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM service is used by over 1.5 billion people across more than 210 countries and territories [1]. The ubiquity of the GSM standard makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs significantly from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are digital, which means that it is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This fact has also meant that data communication was built into the system from very early on. GSM is an open standard which is currently developed by the 3GPP. From the point of view of the consumer, the key advantage of GSM systems has been higher digital voice quality and low cost alternatives to making calls such as text messaging. The advantage for network operators has been the ability to deploy equipment from different vendors because the open standard allows easy inter-operability. Also, the standards have allowed network operators to offer roaming services which mean subscribers can use their phone all over the world. [...] More than 1.6 billion people use GSM phones as of 2005, making GSM the dominant mobile phone system worldwide with about 70% of the world's market. The countries of the European Union passed legislation mandating the use of the European-originated GSM (and its 3G successors) as the single mobile phone system in their countries in order to maximize interoperability. This gave the system a solid base for expansion to other countries, as users in other countries who wish to roam in Europe have to use GSM. GSM dominates across Europe, Russia, Africa, and the Middle East, and has a presence in nearly every country. GSM's main competitor, cdmaOne, is used primarily in North America, South America, and Asia. CdmaOne also benefited from increased radio spectrum efficiencies as compared to the more common GSM networks. Roaming with GSM phones is a major advantage over the competing technology as roaming across CDMA networks from different operators can be difficult or impossible, if the operators lack a roaming agreement or work on different frequency bands. Another major reason for the growth in GSM usage, particularly between 1998 to 2002, was the availability of prepaid calling from mobile phone operators. This allows people who are either unable or unwilling to enter into a contract with an operator to have mobile phones. For example, students and teenagers can get a prepaid account which they can manage themselves without needing a parent to manage and sign for a contracted account. GSM was also the first to have SMS text messaging which proved extremely popular with the teenage market. The largest North American GSM carrier is Cingular Wireless & AT&T which have merged together. Other North American GSM carriers include T-Mobile USA and Cincinnati Bell Wireless. Gus_Granada_Spain Jose Luis Esteban Post Count: 40 Msg: #3 3 years ago, February 14th 2006 | even more info: | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators [Edited: 11:14 - Gus_Granada_Spain ] Gus_Granada_Spain Jose Luis Esteban Post Count: 40 Msg: #4 3 years ago, February 14th 2006 | [Edited: 11:13 - Gus_Granada_Spain ] vincethedrummer Vincent Post Count: 4 Msg: #5 3 years ago, February 14th 2006 | You could always add international calling to your current plan. The problem is you run the risk of racking up bigger charges than you expect. When I travel outside of the U.S., I leave my phone at home and try to use Internet cafes for email. Another idea from my friend, who just got back from Sydney, is that he got a Onesuite prepaid account before his trip. They use international access numbers. He called me once and the reception sounded all right. | monaco alli Post Count: 1 Msg: #6 3 years ago, May 6th 2006 | I made the mistake of adding International calling to my CIngular plan and going to Europe for 3 weeks. My bill jumped from $40.00 to $1,400.00!!!!! So I made a little change. The GSM phone that I purchased in the U.S., I purchased the software and cables to have it unlocked, meaning I removed the company proprietary (Cingular, TMobile, AT&T) information from the phone. Now when I go to France, I purchased one new SIM card and prepaid minutes. Now, I just pop out my U.S. SIM card and pop in the France SIM card. You can then purchase minutes (carte recharge cost 10, 15, 25 & 50 Euros) for the France SIM ( I use SFR). The recharge card costs more than a phone contract, but no where near the rip off the US cell phone companies try on the international calling plans. | Number of Users: 4 | Number of Posts: 6 | |||||||||||||||
