Lookie my new phone! I'm happy :)

it's nice, too bad it's not quadband

 

haha nice!

I'll need a new one too soon... Fell out of my pocket at 50mph while I was on my bike, and actually survived (although it's scratched to hell, though)!

 

Nice. hows the bluetooth functionality?

 

GSM cell phones use frequencies within four different frequency bands :

850 MHz (824.2 - 848.8 MHz Tx; 869.2 - 893.8 MHz Rx)

900 MHz (880-2 - 914.8 MHz Tx; 925.2 - 959.8 MHz Rx)

1800 MHz (1710.2 - 1784.8 MHz Tx; 1805.2 - 1879.8 MHz Rx)

1900 MHz (1850.2 - 1909.8 MHz Tx; 1930.2 - 1989.8 MHz Rx)

that is in case you want to use your phone around the world, except of Japan (that's like being on another planet as far as the cell phones go )

 

1900: used in most of US matro areas
850: used in US rural areas (for longer range due to lower frequency - longer wavelength....)
i.e. if your phone can't handle 850, it can't function in rural areas. The coverage is limited to matro areas.

The other two are used in foreign countries.

Therefore, if you travel abroad a lot, a quad-band phone is great for you.
If you stay in US mostly, a tri-band or dual band is good enough for you.

 

...actually, serious world travelers benefit more via satellite phones...

h34r:

 

A few years back, satellite phones did not work well when they are inside buildings. Are they any better now... It was bulky, expensive and didn't work in buildings. Go figure. If you would like to venture into no-man lands (where cellular networks have never gone before), that is an entirely different scenario.

 

Satellite phones are great if you want to use them for specific broad location, but if you are mobile and your destinations are all over the world they fall short, as each provider uses different satellites and satellites have different coverage. I am talking about commercially available satellite phones from companies such as Thuraya, Iridium and others. Each provider has exclusive rights to use certain satellites therefore if you are not within the satellite coverage of your provider then your satellite phone is pretty useless. You would need at least 4 different phones if you are going to move around the world and would like to be able to make a phone call 24 hrs a day. The satellite phone is far inconvinient in reality and the costs are still prohibitive and not to mention the bulkiness of the phone. You also need to wait for the satellite alignment, so in many instances you can't make a phone call. I've tried a few and it was a pain, and not to mention that you become a center of attention when you unfold your antenna. Regular unlocked quadband with a local SIM card works pretty good, unless you are in the middle of Kalahari and your nearest antenna is 600km away. In such cases most people use CB radio for communication purposes anyway.

 

I have a relative that has a sat phone. He finds it to be quite limited, many countries where there is simply no coverage (out of the sat footprint) and in cities, the buildings block the signal unless the sat is almost overhead. As a result he also carries a quad band GSM phone for use in those cases.

Maggie has the best idea, quad band with a local SIM. I have a Treo 650 and collection of SIM's, works great.

 

i had a satelite phone and never again... rather have nothing. global phones work in 70% of the world and 90% of the civilized world so who needs sat?

 

that's a good looking phone. Since I picked up my new baby 3 days ago I am on a lookout for a new phone. My current phone doesn't have BT. I need to dig out a list of phone compatible with Prius

 

ya know, there is a BT adapter that works for ANY non-BT phone that has a mic jack. its a unit that plugs in and transmits the info via the BT comm protocol.

 

...and when was this?

It's come a loooooong way since the late 90's...

 

2003...in Oregon. walkie talkies wouldnt work...some sort of magnetic interference thing with the area. using satelite phones. i could visually see the person i was talking to most of the time. signal was awesome but the delay was a pain. i would NEVER pay for it, but my employer was picking up the tab. they were EXPENSIVE

 

Have you ever used one? And if you did, where exactly did you travel with it? I just got back from two locations and a satellite phone was a joke. I agree with the previous posters 100% that a quad phone is the way to go.
Could you tell me the name of the provider you used and the model of the phone?

 

I have no idea how I found this site, but it has quite the collection of cell phones