On Fri, Sep 03, 2004 at 10:47:43AM +1200, Randy Bush wrote: > strongly recommended. or, as here in fiji, one can get a phone > unlocked for a few bucks (couple of guys on a bench in a street > stall).
Triband phones mostly operate on 900/1800/1900 frequencies. There is a major US deployment of GSM on the "cellular" GSM 850 band. So if you are with a triband phone on anyone other than Tmobile (which uses only 1900gsm in the US), you will not get adequately covered. You want either a US centric triband for use in the US with ATT/cingular that operates on GSM 850/1800/1900 and then get a world triband on GSM 900/1800/1900 and swap sims in and out (trivially easy to get most gsm phones unlocked), OR you want a quadband like the moto v600 or treo 600 GSM which operate on 850/900/1800/1900. > voicestream is t-mobile. telephant stupidity and error rate are > proportional to size. hence, coverage and intl roaming with clue > and good billing are not likely. Verizon now has a worldphone that will roam onto vodafone GSM internationally. Their rates don't appear to be too prohibitive. Though if you are going to be calling a lot while abroad, I suggest picking up an unlocked nokia 6310i and prepaid sims as you fly into airports. Put up a web page with your current phone number of choice. Also note due to fraud mitigation, most phones only allow you to call within the country you are in or back to the home country, all the while charging you an exhorbitant price. If you _really_ need to be connected at all times, get a sat phone. Some mobile gsm roaming charges are more expensive than a globalstar. /vijay
