North American Cell Phone Question

Flight Attendant,

For a Cell phone that will operate both in N.A. and Europe, you'll need a quad-band, GSM Phone. When reading the spec's, look for frequencies 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. After you have the phone, you'll need either a PAYG or a monthly plan with Rogers or Fido to operate in Canada. One point to consider when choosing plans, is that so far it's been difficult for PAYG customers to roam in Europe (or elsewhere).

Could you clarify a few other points.

• would you prefer a PAYG plan or a monthly plan?

• does it matter if the phone is a "3G" model or Smartphone, such as the I-Phone or Blackberry? Keep in mind that data roaming can be VERY expensive!

• do you require the capabilty to use the Phone with European or "travel" SIM's such as those offered by Cellular Abroad or others? If so, the phone will have to be unlocked. This can be done after purchase if necessary (usually a cost for unlocking).

If you're planning to use a monthly plan, my suggestion would be to choose a shorter term (1 or 2 years), as new Cell LTE technology will be rolled out possibly in the latter part of 2010 (AFAIK the tech. standards haven't been confirmed yet, so the timing is a bit uncertain). Telus, Bell, Verizon and others will also be adopting this new technology.

A few options to consider: you might "scope out" which Phones you might want and which plan you want (if any), so that your "Santa" knows which one to buy from the dealer. There are also LOTS of unlocked quad-band GSM Phones on E-Bay, but of course "caveat emptor".

I've been travelling with my (Rogers) GSM Phone using roaming for several years, and so far it's worked extremely well! Voice calls can be very expensive, so I normally use text to keep in touch with family back home as it's much cheaper.

Good luck & Merry Christmas!

To get a phone that works in North America and Europe (and everywhere else) you want a Quad band GSM phone. Make sure you get a quad band phone, not just any old GSM device. If the specs list individual frequencies 900 and 1800 MHz are the world-wide frequencies and 850 and 1900MHz are used in North America.

An advantage of GSM technology is that your "service" (i.e. your number, billing plan etc.) isn't linked to the phone but to a SIM card, which is a small chip that is inserted into the phone. What this means in practice is that when you abroad you have the choice of either using your normal plan (and paying whatever roaming rates apply) or temporarily swapping the SIM for a local one. This lets you have local phone service using your handset, you get a local number and local rates. When you get home just put your Canadian SIM back in and you are back to normal.

Edited to add: I cross posted with Ken, I'd just like to add that I wouldn't worry about LTE for now. 3G UMTS still hasn't got full coverage yet and GSM will be around for quite a few years yet.

Peter,

Yes, I suspect it's going to be awhile before LTE is "up to speed" and widely available. You'll probably see it in Europe before those of us in North America (we always seem to be a few years behind). Once the technical standards are finalized, I suspect mid-late 2010 for the first installations.

I don't plan on upgrading to any expensive smart phones or other Cell phones in the near future. I'm using a quad-band/EDGE flip model now, and it's working well so no reason for anything new at this point.

WoW!! Did I ask this question at the right place, or what?! Thanks guys, you've given me some great information!

I'm currently on Bell monthly and can get a good incentive toward a newer phone should I renew the contract. Decisions, decisions...

I could try Rogers if Bell can't offer this service in Canada yet.
I just want a basic phone for personal use abroad. Can anyone suggest any models that they like? I'd probably text rather than take a lot of calls. Just want it for safety and emergency contact back home.

Ken, can I ask what model you have? I can Google it and have a look.

What about buying a cell phone across the Pond to take when I travel? Anyone had any sucess with that? PAYGO?

Since you're with Bell, the only hope is to upgrade to one of the three true "Worldphones" they offer....BlackBerry 8830, Samsung Ace or Motorola A840....to take advantage of the GSM/3G system common to most of the rest of the world. These likely won't come for free even if you re-sign for a three year term. Text messages abroad will cost you 60 cents each. Phone calls, incoming, outgoing, and local, will cost you $1.99/minute. If it's just for emergency purposes, then you should be OK with that. If you want it to make and receive calls, purchase an inexpensive GSM phone off EBay or similar...one that's been UNLOCKED...and you can use any of the national SIMS or go for a worldwide-wide SIM like united-mobile.com

Flight Attendant, as Norm mentioned you won't be able to use your Bell phone overseas. Telus and Bell use CDMA technology, while Europe (and much of the rest of the world) use GSM technology. However, as Norm mentioned there are a few models that incorporate both formats. Those probably wouldn't be my choice as they will undoubtedly be "locked", requiring Bell customers to use a roaming plan and rates as dictated by Bell (therefore you wouldn't be able to use a Euro PAYG SIM card in them).

As I mentioned earlier, the technology will be changing in a few years and both Telus and Bell have announced plans to switch so I wouldn't purchase an expensive phone at this point. If you buy a quad-band GSM phone now, it should still be useable for at least four-five years.

The model I'm currently using is a Motorola V551 "flip" model, and it's been very reliable so far. Although the V551 has been discontinued, it's still possible to find them on E-Bay (I've found brand new 551 models on E-Bay, but these are becoming increasingly rare). I've found that it's better to buy a model that was configured for a Canadian network (Rogers, Fido) as some of the US models have specific software settings for their networks. As with anything on E-Bay, one has to be a bit careful with the vendors, but I've been fortunate so far.

I tend to prefer "flip" models rather than the "candy bar" style, but you could also look at some of the Nokia models. I'm not too familiar with Sony or Samsung models, so can't offer any advice on those.

I'll do a bit of browsing to see what other models might be available. Nokia will be introducing a new model to compete directly with the I-Phone 3G and the new Blackberry Storm, but that won't be available until next year sometime. The Storm will only available on CDMA networks initially, but I suspect a GSM model is in the works (they can't afford to ignore such a large market segment).

Good luck!

With regards to getting a PAYG phone in Europe; I don't see any issues. My normal phone is a UK PAYG, it suits my usage and has successfully roamed over Europe and the US.

In the UK you can get a dual-band (the European ones) phone for £20 in every phone shop. If you are not too fussy about brands I often see end of line offers as low as £10.

Some issues you may like to think about:

Receiving calls are free in the phones 'home' country. You will pay to receive calls when roaming.

Even though European roaming rates are capped they are not cheap (although a lot better then NA roaming fees.)

Practically ever phone will be locked to a provider, if you want to buy a SIM for a different country. Rules and availability for unlocking services differ from country to country.

If you attend to use it only in Europe a dual band is the way to go, they are cheap. But if you want to use it also in North America then the quad band is better as Tmobile has 900 Mhz and ATT has 850, depends on the carrier in the US, I don't know in Canada sorry

I don't want to confuse the issue, but have you considered a "netbook" computer, which is relatively cheap combined with a Skype telephone accout, which is free?

I assume, as a flight attendant, that they put you up in hotels which have WiFi. Then you could both send emails at inconvenient calling times, or call.

Netbooks weigh as little as one kilo, and the ipodTouch, which is even lighter, just came out with a (free) calling feature.

Hi, I have the Blackberry 8830 with a Bell plan under a corporate rate, I'm a teacher, so maybe your airline has a similar arrangement. It worked in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy when I was there this past summer. I use it here in Ontario.