GaiaGeek

Most of us have gotten used to having a phone with us where ever we go, and having a working phone when traveling abroad can allow loved ones to contact us in an emergency or simply provide a way for us to call a cab or meet up with a new friend. Here’s what you need to know to find out whether your phone will work in another country.

Geek Talk: GSM

The service standard offered in almost every country in the world is known as GSM. People often think this acronym stands for Global Satellite Mobile or something similar, perhaps confusing it with GPS, which actually does work using satellites, but GSM actually stands for Global System for Mobile Communications. GSM phones are not satellite phones – which, I might add, is what you should be looking for if you want a truly global phone that works even in the middle of the ocean (but they’re expensive and only work outdoors). In the United States, the GSM service providers are AT&T and T-Mobile, plus smaller regional providers. If you have a phone on one of these providers, it’s a GSM phone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can use your phone in Europe or elsewhere.

There are four different radio frequency bands used by GSM. Outside of North America, most GSM services are using the 850Mhz and 1900Mhz, whereas in the United States and Canada, GSM service is on the 900Mhz and 1800Mhz bands. Think of these bands as radio stations, and for you to make a call, you phone must be able to tune-in to the right station. Since there are four bands used world-wide, if you want a phone which works with all of them, you need a quad-band GSM phone. Most older or cheaper phones sold in the US are dual-band, covering only the frequencies used here. Some phones are tri-band, usually 850/1800/1900 band phones (if purchased in the US) giving you full coverage here plus the 1800Mhz band coverage used elsewhere. This means you could use one of these phones in a country that has 1800Mhz coverage – and many countries do! In the UK, for example, the Orange network and the T-Mobile UK network use 1800Mhz – meaning you could use your tri-band phone on their networks. Many providers, however, use both the 1800 and 900 bands, and in places like Australia, you really need both if you want fully working phone service. I speak from experience on this, having used my tri-band phone in Perth, only to find out that it was pretty much worthless when I jumped to Brisbane on the other coast. The provider I was with was obviously using the 900 band a lot in Brisbane – the one band my phone was missing.

So, for a truly international phone, you want a quad-band phone. Fortunately these phones are becoming more and more common. A majority of the phones made by Motorola are in fact quad-band phones, and other cell phone makers like Samsung, Nokia and Sony Ericsson are following suit. To find out if your phone is quad-band or not, go to phonescoop.com and search for your phone model. If under “Modes” is says “GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900″ then it’s a quad-band.

Current Conditions

Something to keep in mind in your search for an international phone is that, if you’re going to take your phone to other countries, you need to be able to charge the phone in those countries. Most quad-band phones should come with chargers that work on electrical current ranging from 100V to 240V – what’s known as auto-sensing or switchable voltage. If the charger only takes 120V, plugging it into an outlet in Europe or Asia will likely fry it. You can determine what voltage your charger accepts by looking at the small print on the charger itself. If it says “INPUT: 100-240V” it is auto-sensing and you can use it anywhere. If it says “INPUT: 120V” or “INPUT: 100-120V” you can check this World Electric Guide to see if the country you’re headed to is using 100-120V electrical current. You can also use this guide to determine the type of electrical outlet plugs used in each country, since there’s a good chance you’ll need a plug adapter.

Roaming

Assuming you get your hands on a quad-band cell phone with an auto-sensing charger, you are set to use your phone overseas as long as your service provider has international roaming in the country you’re traveling to. If your a business traveler only visiting for a few days and your company is fitting the bill for your phone use, or if you absolutely need people to be able to reach you through your cell phone number back home, this option will do – though at a hefty price: the cost for making and receiving calls while roaming abroad is usually in excess of $1.00 per minute, which is not exactly economical, especially if you’re going to be there for any length of time. The alternative to this is using easy to setup pre-paid phone service with phone, but to do this, there’s one more hurdle to consider.

SIM Cards and Unlocked Phones

One of the coolest things about GSM phones is that they use what are known as SIM cards: little data cards about half the size of a stamp which are tucked behind the phone’s battery. These SIM cards hold all the information about your phone number and service, and can hold your contact list and text messages as well. Why is this so cool: has your phone battery ever died because you forgot to charge it, rendering it useless? With GSM phones, if someone with you has another GSM phone, you can power it off and swap out their SIM card for yours. Power it on and presto: their phone is now using your phone number, allowing you to receive your messages and call whoever you need using your account. (Note: many newer phones store the contacts on the phone itself by default, but there is often an option to copy contacts to the SIM card.)

This also means that you can put another SIM card in your phone, such as a pre-paid SIM card purchased in another country. This is where the final hurdle comes in: the service providers don’t like the idea that you could buy a phone from them and then switch to another provider using that same phone. They want to keep you on their service, so they often lock the phone to their network so that only one of their SIM cards will work in the phone – something known as SIM-locking. There’s a good chance that if you have a GSM phone, it is SIM-locked to whatever provider you bought it from. You can still do the SIM swap trick if your friend is using the same service provider, but a SIM-locked phone won’t work if you put in a SIM from a different provider. The good news is that GSM phones can be purchased unlocked or unlocked after the fact – sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee, depending on the phone.

Before looking into getting your phone unlocked, it makes sense to first check that it’s actually locked by putting a SIM card from a different service provider into the phone and powering it up. If it’s locked, you should receive an error. If so, the next best step is contact your provider about getting the phone unlocked. T-Mobile or AT&T have been known to do this for free if you tell them you’re traveling to another country, though they may only do it after you’ve had your phone for a certain period of time. If they refuse to do it after multiple requests (it never hurts to call back and ask someone else), then search Google with “unlock” and your phone’s brand and model. There are several places that will unlock your phone for a fee, but some phones can easily be unlocked for free. The other options is to take it to a phone shop in the country you’re going to and ask them to unlock it. If you’re buying a pre-paid SIM card from them, you might convince them to do it for free.

Pre-Paid SIM Cards

We have arrived at the holy grail of international cell phones: the unlocked quad-band GSM phone. Any unlocked quad-band cell phone will allow you to go to another country, insert a pre-paid SIM card from any service provider in that country and enjoy the same rates that the locals pay (no roaming fees). Plus, if you meet any of those locals, they’ll easily be able to call or text you because you’ll have a local number. (It’s impolite to expect someone to make an expensive international call to reach you.) What makes pre-paid SIM cards more economical is that cell phone service outside of North America works on a slightly different billing model: you are charged for outgoing calls and text messages, which comes out of your pre-paid phone credit, but all incoming calls and text messages are free (yes, free). The caller or texter pays the bill; you pay nothing. This means that if you just want a phone with you so that people can reach you while you’re abroad, you can buy a pre-paid SIM card, put it in your phone, give your number to whoever needs it and talk as long as you want when they call. (Note that for the calling party, calls made to foreign cell phones are often more expensive than calls to traditional land lines.) You can keep making and receiving calls day after day until your credit expires, which is anywhere from 30 days to a year, depending on the service provider’s terms. To extend your expiration date, just add more credit.

Exceptions: Japan and South Korea

These two countries are the only ones have no GSM service coverage, and so even a quad-band GSM phone won’t work there unless it happens to also have 3G on the 2100Mhz band (a.k.a. HSDPA 2100 or UMTS 2100). If your phone is 3G capable and especially if it’s a PDA style device, it may have this feature, allowing you to roam internationally in Japan or South Korea - the recommended option since getting a pre-paid SIM card doesn’t seem possible (at least in Japan). Alternatively, you could use an international SIM card, such as one from Mobal or Travelsim,