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European phone working in US?

  • 03-11-2008 5:14pm
    #1
    ScumLord
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭


    I have a friend that bought a mobile (Motorola SLVR) in Germany and wants to bring it back to the US. I'm sure he can unlock it but apparently the phone companies are very restrictive in the US, you can't even buy a sim card separately. He will have to sign up for a contract phone and swap the sims but he's not sure if this will work.


    Is it possible to get a European phone to work in the US?


Comments

  • #2
    Rsaeire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,888 ✭✭✭Rsaeire


    ScumLord wrote: »
    I have a friend that bought a mobile (Motorola SLVR) in Germany and wants to bring it back to the US. I'm sure he can unlock it but apparently the phone companies are very restrictive in the US, you can't even buy a sim card separately. He will have to sign up for a contract phone and swap the sims but he's not sure if this will work.


    Is it possible to get a European phone to work in the US?

    The handset itself should work if it supports the GSM band(s) the network uses in the part of the USA your friend is going to. For a comparison between some of the US networks and Irish networks, please see below:

    US Networks

    Cingular = 850/1900
    T-Mobile = 1900

    Irish networks

    Meteor = 900/1800
    O2 = 900/1800
    Vodafone = 900/1800

    Generally European tri-band handsets are GSM 900/1800/1900, whereas US tri-band handsets are 850/900/1900.

    If the handset is quad-band then there should be no issue at all as it would cover all GSM bands i.e. 850/900/1800/1900.


  • #3
    towel401
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,917 ✭✭✭towel401


    ScumLord wrote: »
    I have a friend that bought a mobile (Motorola SLVR) in Germany and wants to bring it back to the US. I'm sure he can unlock it but apparently the phone companies are very restrictive in the US, you can't even buy a sim card separately. He will have to sign up for a contract phone and swap the sims but he's not sure if this will work.


    Is it possible to get a European phone to work in the US?

    you can buy sim cards in america. t-mobile sims on ebay for a few dollars often with credit. at&t sims cost $35 without credit. but they are very much into the "our phone, our network" thing but if you insist they should sell you the SIM


  • #4
    Solair
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,230 ✭✭✭Solair


    Basically check the specs on the phone and make sure that it covers *ALL* the frequencies that you want to access in the US. If your phone only supports some of the frequencies, it's fine for roaming but it's going to give you a sub-optimal experience i.e. you won't have access to the 850Mhz coverage etc in some areas so might not have the best reception always.

    3G frequencies are different too, European 3GSM (UMTS) uses 2100mhz and 1900mhz simultaniously, one for uploading and one for downloading.

    Other than the frequencies, US GSM/3GSM networks are using exactly the same technology as their European counterparts.

    Finally, buy a local US charger rather than using the German one with an adaptor. It just becomes a pain having to carry a Euro-US pin adaptor everywhere and they have a habit of falling out of the wall sockets too!


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