Mobile phone for US and Thailand

[chaplin]

I am interested in buying cell phone online. But I do not know the phone can be used compatible with our mobile service. I am from USA.

Tri band phone is ok? I am freshman of this. I hope anyone can help me. And please kindly let me know the difference among qual band, triband and quad band. Thanks

[STEVE G]

The US uses 850 MHz and 1900 MHz for GSM and 3G, so make sure you are at least getting those frequencies.
If you want to be really sure, go for quad-band which gives you GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and will work anywhere.
Some tri-band phones only have GSM 900/1800/1900 and they won’t work everywhere in the US.
I hope that’s of some help to you.

[PeteC]

The US uses 850 MHz and 1900 MHz for GSM and 3G, so make sure you are at least getting those frequencies.
If you want to be really sure, go for quad-band which gives you GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and will work anywhere.
Some tri-band phones only have GSM 900/1800/1900 and they won’t work everywhere in the US.
I hope that’s of some help to you.

I'm up tp speed on some of this as the wife just bought a huge Thai magazine named "first mobile" which has tons of phones listed. It seems that the phones made by companies I don't recognize at all, and Samsung mostly do not have either 850 or 1900, whereas Nokia, Sony Erickson and Motorola mostly do have all four bands in their mid to high ranges. No one seems to offer quad bands on their low range phones, meaning less than about 6 thousand baht. The magizine web site is www.firstmobilemags.com but haven't looked at it yet and don't know if they have the full content on there. Pete

[STEVE G]

That website you linked to above is good for pricing on phones in Thailand Pete, and I’m glad you posted it because I bought a Nokia phone in Europe last week, taking the chance that it would be cheaper than Thailand and it was.

[MURF]

Don't know the answer to your quistion but a friend in Samui has bought from this site before www.nvtrd.com.They sell allsorts very cheap,when you make an inquire they email you with answers to questions and quote total costs and delivery dates etc.

[merena]

tri-band cell phone works well in USA,
but quad-band cell phone works in the worldwide.
(850/900/1800/1900)
so you'd better buy the quad-band cell phone.
if you are free, i recommend you a website,then you can find a quad-band cell phone.

[crazy88]

I have no idea what any of you are talking about .Please explain .I have a Samsung j700 .In what parts of the world will it not work ?

Crazy 88

[PeteC]

I have no idea what any of you are talking about .Please explain .I have a Samsung j700 .In what parts of the world will it not work ?

Crazy 88

Per my book here, your phone has 900, 1800 and 1900 mhz bands. 850 per Steve above is used in some parts of the USA, so apparently you could hit dead spots there. Don't know if 850 is used in other countries also? Over to Steve or others in the know. Pete

[STEVE G]

As you can imagine I don’t keep this sort of information in my head, but I’ve just had a look and you need GSM 850 mhz for many rural areas of the US and South America such as Brazil and Venezuela.
The only countries where you won’t be able to use your Samsung phone at all are Ecuador and Panama, but they should be easy to avoid if you’re based in Thailand!

[PeteC]

As you can imagine I don’t keep this sort of information in my head.......

I thought all wing nuts had things like this memorized. Pete

[crazy88]

Thanks

Crazy 88

[STEVE G]

I hope you haven’t had to cancel your holiday in Panama!

[Francois]

Don't know the answer to your quistion but a friend in Samui has bought from this site before www.nvtrd.com.They sell allsorts very cheap,when you make an inquire they email you with answers to questions and quote total costs and delivery dates etc.

Prices seems to be so incredibly low that I wonder if it is not scam ???

[cookmanchef]

Bugger!!! I was planning next years holiday in Ecuador but will have to change my plans now.

[LaughTilIDie]

I am interested in the same type phone that can be used in the US and Thailand. The link above is dead. Can anyone recommend another site selling reasonably priced phones please?