Cell Phones Across The Pond

I looked into whether or not my cell phone would work in Spain and here’s what I came up with. I am seriously cell-phone retarded so all this may be common knowledge:

1. A GSM phone is required. The two main carriers in the USA that use the GSM network are Cingular and T-Mobile.
2. There are 4 commonly used GSM frequencies in the world. 850 Mhz and 1900 Mhz are used in the USA and Canada while 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz are used in Europe. Phones designated as quad-band support all of them and are the most desirable. There are tri-band phones out there but I think that these tend to support ⁸⁵⁰⁄₁₉₀₀ and only one of the European frequencies.
3. My carrier, T-Mobile, charges a rather steep $0.99/minute roaming charge to use the phone in Europe.
4. However, you can purchase a new SIM card in Europe which has a local number and much lower rates. Thankfully, the pay-as-you-go model seems to be popular there and it is easy to purchase minutes as you need them without having to sign up for a contract.
5. But, in order to use a different SIM card with your phone you need to unlock it. US carriers will lock the phone which prevents it from working with any SIM card from a different company. Thankfully, T-Mobile will provide you with an unlock code if you have been with the company for a few months. I think Cingular has a much more draconian policy about providing unlock codes. If your carrier won’t do it, there are a ton of 3rd party companies that will unlock phones for a fee.

Handy dandy links:

• http://www.slowtrav.com/europe/cell_phones.htm
• http://www.howardforums.com