Regardless of who it's for, we've rounded up your best possible choices (and in some cases only choices) for buying the right mobile phone and plan for keeping in touch while abroad.
If you're a T-Mobile or Cingular customer you can take advantage of the extensive roaming partnerships both have all over the globe. Keep in mind that you'll likely be paying relatively high per minute charges to 'roam' abroad, but you'll be able to continue using your . number.
T-Mobile rates start at $.99 per minute in Western Europe, rising to as much as $ per minute in out of the way countries like Kyrgyzstan. Cingular's rates start at $ per minute for Western Europe (or $.99 per minute plus a flat $ per month), rising to $ per minute in more obscure locales.
Sprint just added seven new countries that support roaming with its CDMA phones, bringing the total to 40. The vast majority of these countries are in the Americas, with a few Asian countries and New Zealand thrown in for good measure. Sprint customers traveling to Europe and Africa will still need a GSM phone, such as the Sprint Samsung IP-A790.
And that's a nice segue into discussing GSM, which is by far the dominant mobile phone technology in the rest of the world. If you haven't purchased a mobile phone or are thinking of making a change, here's what to consider in terms of GSM.
Basically, cell phones are radios, with frequency bands just like the AM, FM, VHF or UHF bands on your radio and TV. You don't see what frequency your cell phone is on at any given time; it's all controlled by computer chips in the phone. Different governments choose different radio bands to reserve for cell phones. In the . and Canada, most phones transmit on frequencies around 850 and 1900 MHz. Europe and Africa, on the other hand, use the 900- and 1800-MHz frequencies. Latin America, Oceania and Asia relay on a crazy mix of three or even four bands. There are even more bands used for phones in some countries, like 450 MHz and 2100 MHz, but the aforementioned four are the most popular.
If you want the best coverage in the ., you need a phone with the two .-supported bands. If you want the best coverage in the rest of the world, the two foreign bands are important. You'll be fine with a phone that relies on just one of an area's bands, but a phone supporting both is a best case scenario.
Global roaming phones usually work over three bands (tri-band phones): they're either 850/1800/1900, with better coverage in the ., or 900/1800/1900, with better coverage abroad. It's difficult to make phones with all four bands because the 850- and 900-MHz bands are very close together, but the number of quad-band phones is growing. They provide the best coverage of all.
Even better than a tri-band or quad-band GSM phone is something that's difficult to come buy in the .—an unlocked phone. These phones use foreign SIM cards to get very low calling rates when you're abroad (though at the cost of losing your . phone number for the duration of your trip).
Listed below are a selection of travel-friendly phones and devices from Cingular, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Sprint's offering, the IP-A790 by Samsung, is special because it's one of those rare unlocked phones available in the . Our two Motorola phones—the sleek Motorola V600 and the feature-rich V551—are both worldwide quad-band GSM phones. The quad-band Treo 650 from Cingular lets you get your e-mail while overseas: Cingular has GPRS data roaming agreements in 75 countries, and it uses the faster EDGE data network in 18 of those countries. And if you're a Blackberry fan (and even if you aren't—yet), T-Mobile's 7100t is the first of the Blackberry line to look, feel, and work like a phone. It, too, is a quad-band GSM phone that you can use overseas.
Sprint PCS International Phone IP-A790 by Samsung: Sprint's only world phone is superior to its Verizon cousin, because you can keep your Sprint number when abroad, or trade it in for a foreign number with much lower calling rates.
Motorola V600 The Motorola V600 is a sleek, simple quad-band GSM phone. Its easy-to-follow menus, Blue-tooth technology, and basic multimedia functions make it ideal for both consumer and business use, and its quad-band capability will serve globetrotters well.
RIM BlackBerry 7100t This is the first BlackBerry device to work equally well for e-mail, IM, Web browsing, and as a quad-band phone.
palmOne Treo 650 (Cingular/GSM) Our Editor's Choice for phone/e-mail devices, the PalmOne Treo 650, performs better on Cingular's network than on Sprint's, but you'll pay more for the added speed.
Motorola V551 For making calls, sending picture messages, and occasional laptop Internet access on the Cingular network, the Motorola V551 is your best choice.
Check out the phones mentioned here side by side
You can find more travel calling tips from Lead Analyst Sascha Segan here.
