Annam

My daughter will be going to Madrid for World Youth day in August. I have an older T-Mobile dual-band phone that is supposed to work in both the US and Europe (I believe it is 900/1900). I have recently read that the 900 band is used mostly in rural areas in Spain and the 1800 band is used in bigger cities. Would she be able to use this phone in Madrid or should I find a 900/1800 European phone or a quad band phone for her?

greg

You can find discussions on GSM frequencies in Wiki.

The frequencies mentioned does not seem to make sense.
If your phone was meant for US, it would be 850/1900. If this is the case, the phone is totally useless in Europe. Google your phone model and find the spec.

In Europe, they use 900/1800. Even if your phone has the correct frequencies, it has to be unlocked to accept SIM other than the T-mobile U.S.A. SIM.

Annam

Yes, I know all that. It is an older model Samsung phone that was once touted as being able to be used overseas and in the US. I have contacted Samsung and they have assured me that it will work in Madrid. And yes, it is unlocked. I got the unlock code from T-Mobile and unlocked it.

Robert2533

What is the Samsung model you're referring to? As noted, if it is a dual band from T-Mobile, it will not work in Europe, but will in Mexico. You can pick up an inexpensive world phone or quad band phone on eBay for under $50.

As far as purchasing a sim card in Madrid, your daughter can pick one up in any MoviStar, Vodafone or Orange mobile phone store. There will be a minimum charge for the card, depending on the program, but the sim can be recharged as needed.

Annam

As I said, it is an older dual band phone that DOES have the 900 band on it. Samsung SGH r225

greg

Here is the map of frequency coverage in Spain:

http://mobileworldlive.com/maps/netw...50&cname=Spain

Most people would probably not know the differences between 900/1800 demarcations because the locals would use 900/1800 and U.S. tourists would probably be carrying a 850/900/1800/1900 phone.

900 transmits further than the 1800. I found 900 used more in rural areas in general, but it is a generality and may not apply to a particular places she is visiting. The downside of the 900 is that it has less channels, so in big cities the carriers would deploy 1800. However, there are exceptions I found. In Istanbul, the only place I could get 1800 was at the Ataturk airport. Once in the city, I could only get 900, at least using the SIM available to me.

After several trips to Europe, I realized that a single frequency phone signal/channel availability is unreliable. Now, I only carry phones that can do both 900 and 1800. I presume that the mobile operators deploy 900/1800 based on their business need. I think the explicit assumption is that most users will be carrying 900/1800 phones and the nationwide availability goal is based on this assumption.

Robert2533

Yes, the SGH r225 is a little old, doesn't have good stand-by time, but should work without any problems as long as it's in good condition.

mrcamp

900/1900 phones, as already mentioned, are the early GSM phones before Europe started deploying on the 1800 and the US on the 850. So, yes, those frequencies DO make sense for an older GSM world phone. From the link above, 3 carriers in Spain use the 900/1800 frequencies, and the phone should work on any sim from those carriers. How well it works will depend on where you will be using it and what frequencies are in the area. Having said that, a basic phone that has 900/1800 bands and more, can be had even here in the US for about $20. So, it may just be better to get one that has both bands.

Annam

She has arrived in Madrid with my old Samsung stick phone and it works great! We got the SIM card from telestial.com and they have been very good with customer service (the call-back system and the fact that the global number is actually a UK number were a little bit confusing at first).
We have not actually talked because it is cheaper to text, but she was able to let me know of her safe arrival at each point in her journey to Madrid.
Thank you all for the info.

StCirq

It was cheaper to text? That doesn't sound right.

Robert2533

Telestial is fine if traveling to several different countries and you only want to bother with one sim card, but it can be a lot more expensive than using a local (Spanish) mobile phone service provider.

Annam

I know, but since she was traveling though two countries and needed to link up with two other travelers in Germany on her way to Spain, I went with the Passport SIM. 49 cents per minute to call a landline, 84 cents per minute to call another cell. 35 cents connect fee either way. Incoming calls free (though it costs us 34 cents a minute to call her UK cell number using Vonage). Texts 69 cents each outgoing, free incoming. Now that she is there, she will only be using it if she and her cousins get separated for any reason, or to call home in an emergency. It also gives her a US phone number that we can call and she will be charged 19 cents a minute on the account.

I just didn't want her to have to juggle more than one SIM or find a place to buy one once she got there. Her cousins are using their AT&T phones. One of them is not working, and they will pay $1.39 a minute on the one that is working, so this is better.

Annam

Just checked her telestial account and the charges are just as they said. 69 cents outgoing, free incoming texts. They also gave us $10 of free talk time for writing a review. I wrote a review of the ordering process and my stateside test of the US number that came with the card, and they did indeed credit our account before she left.