OT Re: Cell phone opinions/options

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Ward Vandewege <ward at pong.be> challenged me:
> Ah, but avoiding the $2/min roaming charges when abroad is just a matter of:
>
> a) unlocking the phone (or buying a phone _without_ a plan, which means it
> won't be locked into a specific provider)
> b) getting a local (prepaid) SIM card

This did NOT work for me.  Specifically, taking an American phone to Japan
won't work because Japan doesn't have the GSM network.  Taking it to Singapore
or Thailand won't work because the frequency range is wrong.   Taking my Thai
phone to Peru similarly didn't work.  Even with an unlocked phone, often
you'll get the runaround at the local phone providers' shops, because they
want to sell you a new phone and because your Spanish|Thai|Mandarin|Portuguese
language capabilities can't match theirs.

You get the idea.  It's not just a matter of unlocking a GSM phone.  You have
to  have a super-duper quad-band phone (850-900-1800-1900 MHz, all four
frequencies, only 2 of which are used in the USA) and choose your travel
destinations carefully.

-rich