| Mike DePaulo on 10 Nov 2015 03:57:05 -0800 |
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| Re: [PLUG] OT: Unlocked Cell Phones |
Hi Bhaskar, That is very good advice for feature phones. However, those 4 bands are the 2G bands. Over the last 5 years or so, I have found that nearly every smartphone supports all 4 bands for 2G. Definitely all new smartphones worth $150 USD+ nowadays support all 4 bands for 2G. It's the bands for 3G (HSPA) and 3.5G (HSPA+) where your $150 to $300 smartphone is likely to not support all the bands. There are 5 commonly used international bands instead of 4. Some of them overlap with the 2G bands. And in terms of 4G (LTE), there are even more bands. If all you care about is making and receiving calls, sending and receiving text messages, doing emails (either plaintext or html with little to no images) and doing web browsing (with little images), then 2G service will suffice. You can send and receive texts with Google Voice also; because GV texts are merely tiny amounts of data. I am speaking from experience using a 3.5G android phone (Motorola Moto G 1st gen) with only 2G service abroad. -Mike On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 8:21 PM, K.S. Bhaskar <bhaskar@bhaskars.com> wrote: > If you plan to travel, make sure that you get not just a GSM phone but a > quad band GSM phone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands). > > Regards > -- Bhaskar > > On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 6:03 PM, Casey Bralla <MailList@nerdworld.org> wrote: >> >> I'm planning to replace my smartphone, and I want to get one that is >> unlocked. >> >> AS far as I know the only potential pitfalls to purchasing my own unlocked >> phone are compatibility with the 2 competing network standards, and a >> potential lack of warranty for some unlocked phones (at least, for the >> android >> ones sold by Amazon) >> >> >> Are there other issues I should be aware of before spending $300 - $500 >> for a >> new phone? >> -- >> Casey Bralla >> >> Chief Nerd in Residence >> The NerdWorld Organisation >> >> ___________________________________________________________________________ >> Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- >> http://www.phillylinux.org >> Announcements - >> http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce >> General Discussion -- >> http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ > Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org > Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce > General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > ___________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug