Slashdot Mirror
How (and how well) do Wireless "Worldphones" Work?
Milo_Mindbender asks: "I've seen a number of new phones (like the Sony T616) advertised as 'worldphones' that handle three or four GSM bands. As someone who travels to Japan and Europe occasionally I'm wondering how (and how well) these actually work. Can you get a temporary or prepaid SIM with a local carrier and just swap it or are the US carriers 'service locking' phones so you have to do international roaming with them even in foreign countries?"
GPRS definitely works in Europe. It is an extension to GSM that uses free time slots to transmit packet data. It has nothing to do with making telephone calls.
One killer app with GSM is that it roams seamlessly between operators that have mutual agreements. Hence, as long as you use a reliable operator, there is no need to swap SIM cards when you travel abroad.
While in Norway last week I discovered that even GPRS roams perfectly, much to my surprise. I was able to use my cell phone for internet service through my Swedish operator, without changing any settings. Talk about mobile internet!
This is why it will take many years before GSM will lose its position as king of cell phone services - it just works, and is _reliable_ as hell. Audio quality is not optimal, but it's good enough. Data throughput is limited, at least without EDGE, but it's good enough for email, and it's _reliable_.
This is not true, I took my t-mobile phone to India and used a pre-paid sim there. I simply had to email sim-unlock@tmobile.com to get instructions to unlock my phone, and tell them I was going on a trip.
I travel (not as frequently as I would like) to Europe and have lately been taking a Motorola P7389 tri-band GSM phone on my travels. The phone, while not the latest model, works great. I purchased it, unlocked, on eBay for short money.
On my latest trip, I purchased a Vodaphone NL from the cell phone kiosk at Schipol airport (the Netherlands) for about 20 Euro. It came with a number that is good for at least a year, and included 5 euros of credit. To top up the service, I only had to go to any of a number of outlets wherever I was in Holland, or if I could read and write Nederlands a little better, could refill the service from the internet site. Oh yes; all incoming calls (including international ones) were free. The in-country rate was less than I pay for my contracted Alltel phone here in the states.
I had the same experience in Greece and Beligum with different carriers.
I like the GSM system because it doesn't because of the flexibility it offers. If my phone dies, I can simply remove the SIM card from it and put it in another phone. I haven't verified this, but heard while I was in Europe that the EU has mandated that all phones sold in EU countries are requried to be unlocked.
GSM is a standard throughout the world (except for the US, Iraq, Afganistan and I believe, Argentina). An excellent site for finding out about prepaid GSM services is http://www.prepaidgsm.net/,
Don't be fooled by "word phones" offered by various US carriers. These phones are locked tri-band phones that roam on European GSM networks, but which are charged at outrageous rates by the US company.
wherever I go, there I am.