Sim Cards

RE: [spiers] Sim Cards

Thank you, Dave. I think that explains why. I looked up online to find out what
bands the phone that I brought to China has. It turned out that it's only a
dual band phone (900/1800). But I've since updated my phone to a phone with
four bands (850/900/1800/1900 and EDGE). I don't understand the terminology,
but I hope this time my phone will work with a Chinese sim card when i travel
to China in a couple of days.
Lily

--- dave toland wrote:

> Yes, you do need the right GSM band phone for the
> country of use. Here is a listing of the bands used
> by different countries:
>
> http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml
>
> Here is an explanation of band usage:
>
> http://www.thetravelinsider.com/roadwarriorcontent/quadbandphones.htm
>
>
> --- sourcesf wrote:
>
> > I have several friends who have unlocked their
> > phones and successfully
> > used them with new sim cards. The only bad
> > experience I had over there
> > was one time I tried to unlock an AT&T cell phone
> > (before they became
> > part of Cingular) and they said it was impossible to
> > truly unlock AT&T
> > carrier phones. Other than that, I've never heard
> > of any other issues
> > at all.
> >
> > If your phone doesn't work there, then the first
> > thing that comes to
> > mind that I would ask is whether the phone you used
> > is a tri-band phone
> > (supports 900/1800/1900 MHz bands). If the phone
> > doesn't support the
> > band of the country then it won't work regardless of
> > whether it's
> > unlocked.
> >
> >
> > So, hopefully there's a cell phone expert out there
> > in our group who
> > can give their definitive two cents on the matter.
> >
> > It's no fun to find out (when you're already in your
> > destination) that
> > something won't work. By the way, the time I
> > brought my AT&T phone to
> > China and couldn't get it unlocked I ended up buying
> > a second hand
> > phone for convenience. As many I'm sure know, cell
> > phones (even or
> > especially used phones) are more expensive over
> > there than they are
> > here due to the nature of the cost structure
> > differences for phone and
> > service. Because of the differences in price, you
> > would be better off
> > buying a used phone here in the US (in other words,
> > you can find a good
> > quality used phone very cheap here). The used phone
> > I bought over
> > there had problems and I didn't have much recourse
> > with the vendor I
> > purchased the phone from. All in all, it ended up
> > being more
> > troublesome than a convenience. Therefore, the next
> > time I just
> > brought a nice working phone with me from the US and
> > unlocked it when I
> > got there. Problem solved.
> >
> > Victor
> >
> >
> > --- Lily Yuan wrote:
> >
> > > I paid to unlock my phone, and then tried to use
> > the phone in China
> > > with a new
> > > sim card. NO, it didn't work. The sim card worked
> > in my Chinese
> > > friend's
> > > cellphone. I think the American wireless phone
> > companies must have
> > > put a
> > > special code in the phones so that you can't just
> > switch out a sim
> > > card to use
> > > the phone....
> > > Lily
> > >
> > > --- LINDA HALL wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi,
> > > > I just returned from 3 weeks in China and tried
> > to get a new sim
> > > card to cut
> > > > phone expences while there. The store put one
> > in and it was locked
> > > and
> > > > needed a password to unlock it. So I couldnt do
> > it.
> > > > So checkout Skype, it works great, and sound it
> > great.
> > > >
> > > > Linda Hall
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Compete on Design!
> > > >
> > > > www.johnspiers.com

Bookmark this post --- Email this post