Cingular GSM Frequency
 

Guys, I'm in the market for a cellphone. I'm also looking at European market phones. My concern is that some of them are GSM900/1800/1900 . I have Cingular service; would I be ok with a phone that operated on those frequencies? Is my knowledge accurate in that Cingular primarily operates on 1900?

yes... just make sure your phone is unlocked so you can put in a different carrier's sim chip while traveling...

Yep. Thanks.

I'm only looking at candy-bar phones. What sucks is that there are very few phones that strike a balance in the three dimensions. If it's really thin, then its much longer and wider, etc.

NO!!!!! Cingular's primary frequency is 850Mhz. If you don't get a phone that works in that frequency then you are going to have really crappy service in many many areas!!!

1900 Mhz is a secondary frequency and is used only as a last resort by Cingular where it doesn't have an 850Mhz license.

Heres a phone that is compatible in GSM networks in most North American, European, and Asian GSM markets, provided the phone unlocked.http://www.mobiledia.com/reviews/mot...-l7/page2.html

OOps sorry about that. The phone does not need to be unlocked in order for you to use it while traveling. I used my cheap earlier model Samsung in italy. Just had to ask the provider to turn on international calling. I could have bought a sim card while there but for the few calles I was going to make the rates were good enough that I chose not to go that route.

i had a nokia and needed to be unlocked so i can use it overseas with International roaming enabled with Tmobile.

Really? my tri-band 900/1800/1900 works fine with cingular .... maybe I'm missing out on some reception.. :confused: :dunno:

See this post on HowardForums for more info on this topic - http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=660124