drchris

I want to buy an inexpensive (under $150) unlocked smartphone to use while we are traveling in France and also for later trips to other countries. I'll buy a SIM card in whatever country we are visiting. If my understanding is correct, I need a phone that operates on 900/1800 frequencies, plus 2100 for 3G. I have searched many unlocked cell phones that say they are quad band and operate in "most networks when roaming outside the US." However, when I can find information on the frequencies on which they operate, most say they operate on 850/1700/1900 so I assume they would not work in France. I have seen a BLU studio 5.0 C HD smartphone that includes the 2100 frequency (850/1900/2100). Will it work even though it doesn't have 900/1800 frequencies?

I would like to buy the phone in the US so that I can get used to it before traveling. Please help me to understand better exactly what I MUST have in terms of frequencies. Offers of specific, well rated phones in my price range that I can get quickly (in 7-10 days) would be appreciated.

drchris

Here are the specific specs on the BLU Studio 5.0 C HD model 534L - available on Amazon for $119.

GSM Quad Band 4G HSPA+ (850/1900/2100): US Compatibility: AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket, MetroPCS, and others, including most 3G UMTS/HSPA+ Networks when roaming outside the US

drchris

When I think I've found all the information I need, I find more! Here are full specifications. It looks like this might work. Am I missing anything?

SIM Card Support
: Dual, (Mini SIM)
Network Band
: GSM
GSM 2G Bands
: GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
GSM 3G Bands
: HSDPA 850, HSDPA 1700, HSDPA 1900, HSDPA 2100
Operating System
: Android
OS Version
: Android 4.4 KitKat
Chipset
: MediaTek, MT6582
Processor
: Quad Core Processor
Processor Speed
: 1.3 GHz
GPU
: Mali 400
Flight Mode
: Yes

greg

Your time frame would be an issue as these kind of phones require buying off the internet.

No GSM 900mhz/1800mhz = no voice over cell voice network.
The 2100mhz is 3G HSDPA and is relevant for Data only. The BLU phone mentioned will do data and voice-over-ip with a valid SIM.
The "850/1700/1900" you mentioned is probably HSPA+ = data.
If you are looking at http://www.amazon.com/BLU-Dual-Core-.../dp/B00NIEMJY0, try to find the corresponding GSM voice info at http://www.gsmarena.com/blu_neo_4_5-6277.php There are many variations due to builds suitable for different markets. The particular BLU mentioned is gsmarena can do 900/1800, but what you are looking at is likely to be different model.

While I no longer have a need for these kind of cheap phones for traveling, I have a refurbished t-mobile branded Galaxy Lite at home to park an old phone number while providing t-mobile Smartphone and Google voice functionality. It is very slow compared to my S5, but can do wifi calling which is a must at home as I don't get good mobile reception from any providers. Also, refurbished phones are hit and misses as it is up to the vendors to decide what can be reused. I got lucky and my refurbished phone was practically new. If you read online reviews of second hand phone, you realized that you might have to go through several toads before you find a prince. You don't have time for this.

Robert2533

Any iPhone 3GS or newer will work (ones from AT&T or T-Mobile).

If you had T-Mobile as a service provider, you would already have a smartphone that would work without having to purchase another sim card.

drchris

Greg - Thanks for your suggestion. I am pretty clueless about the technical aspects of phones. I had checked gdmarena and a similar site and they gave the specs on the phone I am most highly considering as using 900/1800 as well as the American frequencies but since it doesn't give the same information on the BLU website or on Amazon, I am hesitant to trust it.

Robert2533 - I do have an iPhone 4s that my daughter passed on to me and am in the process of trying to get it unlocked, so perhaps I can use that if I can ever get through the entire process. (I did get permission form AT&T to unlock it).

I had hoped to have a smartphone but my a friend in England suggested that I might be able to just buy one of the cheap phones in a grocery store since I primarily need it to make reservations at restaurants, call our B&B's to let them know what time we'll be arriving, etc. Does anyone know how much a cheap "regular" (not smartphone) would be in France? If I bought one at a place like Orange, would they set it up for me in English?

Thanks again to all who respond for your help and reassurance!

AlysonRR

We used our T-mobile phones in France and England. We didn't get data everywhere (we traveled quite a bit in rural England, so didn't expect it), but we used the free wifi calling feature extensively.

We also use T-mobile at home because we are rural and have little coverage and it is the only network with free wifi calling. We've been happy with it as a carrier, particularly with their customer service which is excellent.

My kids have Galaxy Avants that are relatively inexpensive and seem to be perfectly adequate for talking/texting/data.

tomboy

need it to make reservations at restaurants, call our B&B's to let them know what time we'll be arriving,"

You don't need a smartphone for just that; my cheap little Nokia 2285, or my Nokia 5110, are adequate for that. I'd sell either for $10.

Robert2533

As long as AT&T has unlocked the iPhone 4s, I'd go with it. You can pick up a sim at any phone store and they would normally help you set it up.

Overall, T-Moblie works for those who travel once or twice a year. The savings and convenience are hare to beat.

I switched back to T-Mobile when they started supporting the iPhone, after being with AT&T for a couple of years, and paying for all that data while roaming. My bill after being in Spain for a month was the same as being at home. All of the calls I made or received where when I was on WiFi, so there was no additional charge. We used the data roaming everyday, either when driving or walking around, search the web for information and sent and received emails.

One App you need to get for the iPhone is the WhatsApp. Great for texting friends, family and the restaurant to let them know you're on your way, as WhatsApp seems to be use by just about everyone in Europe. I know all of our friends use it.

Tulips

Isn't it easier to buy a cheap phone with a prepaid card once you get to France? You can use these throughout Europe, just get another prepaid sim when you move on to another country and put it in the Orange phone.

For texting with Whatsapp, calling using Viber etc use your own smartphone with wifi, which is widely available in France (perhaps not in rural areas).

You're overthinking this, you don't need to know all these technical specifications.

happytourist

Look at the smartphone by Mobal.
https://www.mobal.com/international-cell-phones/

The phone costs $199 but you never have to buy a SIM card. The phone works with a UK phone number and you are charged by the minute. There is no contract or monthly fee of any sort.

I've had the basic Mobal phone for about seven years and have used it in many countries. The only place it didn't work was Ecuador because they apparently have a strange phone system.

bvlenci

This is not a very economical idea. SIM cards are free in many countries, and never cost more than €10 in any European country I've come across. In Italy, where I live, they cost €10 but come with €5 of credit pre-loaded. The cost per minute is also a lot higher than you'd spend if you had a local SIM card. $0.99 cents a minute is about five times what a local call should cost. It also charges for incoming calls (at the same rate) which is not the case with any European SIM card. If you use it in another country than the one you bought it for, the cost goes up to $1.99 a minute.

The cost for data with this phone is really exorbitant. $0.39 for 1 mb is about 20 times the cost of data with the typical EU SIM card.

If you buy a European SIM card, you can use it in any other European country, and the roaming costs will be much less than the cost with this Mobal phone.

bvlenci

I don't want to pan the idea of getting the phone in the US. You can get plenty of suitable phones, including the one you described above. However, it pays to get a local SIM card.

For your later trips to other countries, you may need a new SIM card, unless you can find a provider that lets you top up online with a foreign credit card. Several French providers allow this. If you plan to use the card in other countries, be sure to find one that has low roaming costs, especially for data. There are strict limits in the EU for roaming costs, and those for calls are supposed to go away altogether this July. Data roaming is still allowed though and the cost varies from provider to provider. Often a SIM card expires if it's idle for a certain amount of time, so you may need to make a periodic call and/or a top-up to keep the card active.

Robert2533

I guess some people are stuck in the past, before T-Mobile upset the mobile phone business in the States. We've dumped our Spanish phones and only use T-Mobile when traveling. It's cheaper ($0.20/minute for local and international calls), free WiFi calling (incoming and outgoing to everywhere), and free data (all the time).

Most of our friends use WhatsApp and message whenever we need to meet, or have lunch.

bvlenci

Many people don't use T-Mobile, not because they're stuck in the past, but because T-Mobile coverage is spotty where they live. Other people may use a different provider for other reasons, such as family plans. Unless one travels frequently, service abroad shouldn't be the main reason for choosing a provider.

My daughter switched to T-Mobile because she travels often to Europe. However, she found their coverage much less universal than Verizon coverage. She could never get a signal inside her office, for example. The final straw was when she couldn't connect at all on a trip to London. She went back to Verizon, and now, when she visits me in Italy, she uses a local SIM card. She has an inter-Europe roaming plan on the SIM card which allows her to use it in other countries as well.

I believe T-Mobile guarantees only 2G data service when abroad, although in many places you get 3G. 2G would be sufficient for reading your email, but not for mapping or VOIP service.

AlysonRR

I agree that T-Mobile won't meet everyone's needs. The only thing going for it as a US carrier is that is the only carrier that has wi-fi calling as a feature. That means we can actually use our phones for calling and texting when we're in the house, which was not the case with any other carrier.

I used to do customer and technical support for one of the carriers (not T-Mobile) and when people phoned with coverage issues I would empathize by telling them that in my rural area you can tell who has which carrier by how far out on the beach (or into the water!) they had to walk in order to get signal, lol. Not too much comfort for people frustrated by inconsistent cell coverage, but at least they knew they weren't alone...

It was a happy bonus for us that T-Mobile started their worldwide program before we left so that we didn't have to worry about switching phones in Europe. I'm happy that it will work for our trip to Japan next year, too.

nanabee

It is understanding that all the new Smart Phones are unlocked by a law passed in Jan 2015. I used my Smart Phone (Verizon) in Europe without a SIM CARD. Ask about this at a local phone store. There should not be any additional charges (we had none). There may be an additional $5+- fee for Data Usage. Not sure what that allows you to have, as I didn't use it.

drchris

Thanks to everyone for your expertise and advice. In the end, I decided to forego the expense of another phone I don't really need and did an online chat with AT&T support. The very helpful representative walked me through the multiple steps needed to unlock my iPhone 4s and checked at the end to see that it was unlocked. As added insurance, two days later I went to the IMEI site to check the phone's status myself and saw that it was unlocked. When I get to Paris, I'll get a new SIM card and pray that everything works! If not, I'll just buy a cheap phone there to make calls. For future trips, we'll just buy a new SIM card for the country we are visiting.

To those who recommended T-Mobile - we have used AT&T for many years as the coverage is excellent where we live and in the places in the US that we visit most often. Last year when we went to Italy for 19 days, we paid for the AT&T international plan. As it turned out, the trip spanned two different billing cycles and we ended up paying about $150 to make a few phone calls and texts with our son who was on his first trip alone in Portugal and Spain at the same time. We used Skype and Viber for video calls with our daughter in the US and will use those and/or FaceTime on this trip. (We found that sometimes we could get a connection through one of those but not the others so it was handy having multiple possibilities.) We also do messaging on Facebook when we have a WiFi connection.

When using a local SIM card in France, are incoming calls for the U.S. free also, or only calls within France? I think I read that family can call us on our US mobile number (my husband will have his phone, too) while we are in France and those would be free to us although there would be a charge to the caller. Am I remembering correctly?

Again, thanks to all who took the time and effort to respond.

Robert2533

If you have a French sim card, then all incoming calls, from anywhere in the world, are free. The issue is that those calling you will be paying the going international rate through their service provider.

They may want to check with their service provider to see if they have an international calling plan. T-Mobile's international calling plans are $10 and $15/month for unlimited calls to land lines and mobile numbers, depending on the country. AT&T should have something similar, or at least they used to.

Being able to use WiFi calling, at home or when traveling, is a great selling point for some. T-Mobile is the only service provider currently offering the feature with the new iPhone 6 and some Android models.

I guess we're lucky that we're in an area with good coverage and have had no problems traveling in Portugal, Spain or France, especailly in Paris and Normandy. There was also no signal problems in Dublin last fall.

Of course there are dead zones when in the countryside, something you have to expect no matter where you travel.

bvlenci

Since I have many friends and family members in the US and like to get calls from them, I got a US Skype number. Anyone can call this number, even if they're not Skype users, and it will ring on my computer or smart phone or wherever I happen to be logged into Skype. If I'm not logged into Skype, I have it set up to forward to my Italian cell phone (which isn't usually logged into Skype). That way I can be reached wherever I am in the world, and my caller pays just the cost of a national call in the US. If I'm signed into Skype, I pay nothing at all to receive the call. If I'm not signed in, and it transfers to my Italian cell phone, I pay something like 30 cents a minute for the call. My caller never pays more than what they'd pay for a call to the US number.

The main advantage of this is that it's so easy for people like my elderly aunt, who could never figure out how to dial an international call. (It's hard enough for her to remember whether I'm six hours ahead of her or six hours behind.) In fact, even my friends and relatives who are Skype users find it more convenient just to dial this number instead of signing into Skype and looking to see if I'm on Skype at the at the same time. I believe this number costs either $15 a quarter or $60 a year. I know I get it half price because I also have a subscription for unlimited calls to the US. If you just want it for one trip, you can get it for one quarter and drop it when you get home.

Another advantage is that you can give the Skype number to people at home before you leave. When you get your French SIM card, log into your Skype account and set up the call forwarding. You have to indicate the French cell phone number, preceded by a + sign and the country code for France, which is 33.

By the way, before you leave, I suggest you edit your most important phone numbers to place "+01" in front of them. That's the international code plus the country code for the US. The numbers will work anywhere in the world if they're recorded in this international form. I enter all phone numbers in international form, and I never have to fiddle around with them when I'm traveling. My husband never does, and he's always trying to insert a "+39" in front of his numbers when he needs to call someone back home while we're traveling.