Jeff, that was an excellent link! Thanks.

This is a phone that fall's into my category of unacceptable phones. They advertise it as being really slim, which it is, but this phone is soo much longer and wider than anything phone that I'm considering.

Right now, I think I'm going to end up with the Nokia 6230 , for the lack of a better option. There are some nice Sony Ericsson's out there, but I can't justify spending more than $150-170 since these prices drop so quickly. At the end of the day, I need to make/receive calls and not many companies do it better than Nokia.

Nope your not. It depends on where your located that decides which band you will access. If you live in Northern California it's 1900. If you arrive somewhere else your GSM phone will chose another band.

How do you find out what part of the country uses what?

Go to http://www.wirelessadvisor.com./ and enter a zip code.

If you have a phone that doesn't support 850Mhz then how is going to choose another band? :dunno:

The 850 MHz band is preferred as it has better signal penetration as compared to the 1900 MHz frequencies. T-Mobile is primarily 1900 MHz; Cingular is primarily 850MHz. AT&T Wireless had some of both bands. Cingular had roaming agreements with both companies, since Cingular bought AT&T Wireless; they only have a roaming agreement with T-Mobile now. Having a phone that supports 850 MHz will typically allow better coverage. Some rural areas do not have any 1900 MHz coverage, so your phone wouldn’t work there.

If I were you, I would wait a few more months to get a new phone. Nokia will have some quad bands phones coming out. The biggest factor in coverage is the phone.

As for how it’s going to choose another band. In the use the two bands are Cellular (800 MHz) and PCS (1900 MHz). A control channel is used; if you phone doesn’t see the control channel it will try another band. In the case of a Tri-band phone from Europe, it only has one band it could possibly see a control channel on. If it’s a tri-band for the North American continent, it can access two potential bands. It will try the lower frequency first and then the higher ones.

Thanks. you beat me to it. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone12.htm

thanks jeff! I totally forgot about howardforums ... I love browsing that site! :thumbup: :D