GSM Phone question

[DubbDesigns 10+ year member]

I have a plan through Cellular One (Only local provider) called Evo. It is sort of like a prepaid sort of plan, but still have monthly payments, just no contract or whatever.

The phone that I got with it is a Motorola V180, which is a crappy phone I might add, and everyone around here has one becuase with Cellone's newer plans, they are free.

Anyways, the phone has a SIM card and when I was workin on my friends V555 I put my SIM card in it just to see if it worked which it did. So I am wanting to buy a camera phone ( see wtb thread http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150165&page=2 ) and put my SIM card in it.

My question: Will any GSM phone that has the same Quad Band or Tri Band as the V180 work, or will some phone that have the same bands only work with a certain provider?

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[sumone 10+ year member]

Do you travel (outside of the US)? If the answer is no, you have no use for Tri- or Quad-band phones. Dual-band is all you need. The 'bands' refer to the frequency-bands that the phone operates on.

It goes like this (somebody correct me if I'm wrong):

In the US, a single-band 1900MHz is the minimum requirement as this was the first implementation. Then the 850MHz band came out because it has better range. So a dual-band phone with 1900 & 850 is all you will ever need if you stay inside the US (a single-band 1900MHz phone at very minimum).

Internationally, (most) countries don't use US frequencies (850 & 1900MHz). The international frequencies are 900MHz, and 1800MHz, which go the same way like the US - 1800MHz is a must-have while a phone supporting the 900MHz band is not necessary, but may give you better coverage. In these cases, a dual-band phone supporting the 900MHz & 1800MHz bands is all you need (or a single-band 1800MHz at very minimum), that is if you are located internationally.

So, if you are in the US, but do a lot of travelling, that's where Tri- and Quad- band phones come in. A Quad-band phone supports all four bands (US' 850 & 1900, internat'l 900 & 1800MHz) so that you have nothing to worry about. A Tri-band phone usually supports the 2 standard bands (for that particular area), and one band of either the international or US band-designations.

For example, a Tri-Band US phone would have the standard US (850 & 1900), but will also have the standard international 1800MHz band. A Tri-Band international phone would have the standard international frequencies (900 & 1800MHz), and usually the 1900MHz US band.

Remember where I said: (most) countries don't use US frequencies? There are some countries out there that do, so that if you had a standard dual-band US phone (850 & 1900MHz) you would be able to access the GSM network in that particular country.

So all in all, if you don't travel outside of the US, you have no reason to have a Tri- or Quad-band phone. Certain (US) cellular providers do not support the (newer) 850MHz band in all areas, but that has nothing to do with the phone. I would guess most phones are at least dual-band supporting both US bands.

 

[liar2 10+ year member]

It doesn't really matter how many bands you have. Just make sure that whatever GSM phone you get, it is unlocked.