cell phones world wide

There are many places to buy unlocked cell phones on the Web. I’ve bought from overstock.com, but do a search for “unlocked cell phone” and you won’t be short of choices.

This too might help: http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/unlockingfaq.htm

allen

I bought a cell phone in Vienna, Austria at a store which happens to be on the same block as my rented apartment was located. Therefore I cannot speak for the US purchase, but before I made a jump (about 89 Euros on this phone), I did an online study of the subject. The phone was originally locked, but I had it unlocked at the time of my purchase. I believe you can unlock it yourself through an online service.

Therefore what you need is a GSM phone which accepts the SIM card, and not necessarily an unlocked cell phone.

I’ll post later where I got my info since I have to redo my search. It is good, though, I have to do this because I have yet to exchange the SIM card for one suitable for the US.

Justin,

Since you are moving to South America, you will need to pay particular attention to whether the GSM phone you buy has a frequency that is being used in those countries. Here is the FAQ on the GSM phone which I find it useful even though it is on a commercial site:
www.planetomni.com/FAQ_gsm.shtml


It looks like you might need to have a quad-band GSM phone because of the frequency common in South America. The quad-band phones are most expensive. The phone I mentioned above is a tri-band phone from Nokia. It will be worthwhile for you to find out the frequency being used in a country in South America you are planning to move.

Because I did not know much about the SIM card and did not communicate well with the sales person at the neighborhood store in Vienna, I ended up going through two SIM cards. The first card (T-Mobile) had an advantage of cheap rates within Austria and the second card was advantageous to call outside of Austria. Since I was calling Japan many times, the second card was better.

Speaking of Japan, they operate a different technology, and your GSM phones would not work there, so a global SIM card is a misnomer as far as Japan is concerned.

Here is a FAQ on the Japanese cell phones.
euc.jp/misc/cellphones.en.html#sim

Happy calling.

Tomoko
P.S. In my opinion I was able to buy a cell phone in Austria because I did not make a monthly contract with a network, but just purchased a card. I did show my US driver’s license. I don’t think I bought the phone with the SIM card with my temporary Vienna address.

The better thing is unlock your cellphone and buy a GSM Chip. I did it with a Motorolla. I have GSM from Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, etc

Hugo,

I think you meant a GSM SIM chip, rather than just the GSM chip since the GSM chip would be the central brain of the cellphone itself, but the (GSM) SIM chip is interchangeable from one to another. I looked at mine and the chip itself is attached to a holder which is about 2cm by 3cm, a little bit smaller than one frame of the 35mm film. This holder is held on a credit-card size card.

Here is some info on the SIM card with a picture.
Tomoko

I see. I meaned the GSM SIM chip.

Hugo,

Do you know the specs of your Motorolla phone? What is/are the frequencies available there? I think Justin needs to make sure whichever phone he buys has the needed frequencies for South America.

Tomoko

Tomoko:
Here in Chile (and most of the SouthAmerican countries) companies operate between 800 and 1900 MHZ. With a Motorola C115 (is a cheap phone) you are done.

just look at this website and see all the frequencies and information about gsm-service around the world: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml you’ll don’t need a quad-band here, dont worry. 900/1800/1900 and all done!

Thanks All!