I am planning on purchasing a GSM cell phone to use next semester in spain. I have done a search on this topic and found great info, but I still have one question. On the webpages it says that for spain, I need a GSM phone that functions at a 900/1800 frequency. This may be a silly question (but I know NOTHING about all this technical stuff ).... does that mean the cell phone has to function at both 900/1800 frequency, or just one of the two???

You know, I have no idea, BUT... I bought a cell phone in Spain that I use when I'm there. Its no good in the US, and I keep it charged with a transformer and adaptor plug I bought in the Corte Ingles ( I had bought a previous phone that died on me because I didn't keep it charged!) So, I'd say, go buy a phone over there, what you pay for the phone is pretty cheap, since it already comes with a pre-paid card that has a good deal of $$ on it, however, I would suggest against you calling home on it, since it'll eat up your money quickly! Also, if you buy a phone, when you leave spain, if you're not a frequent visitor like I am, you could always sell it or give it to a friend

Another alternative, I forget which company... but the commercial with caterina zeta jones, they're advertising a world-wide phone... check it out and their rates.

I have a friend who is half italian and because he travels to and from so much, he also had a phone that is good world-wide... I think his contract is with Verizon. Of course, it all depends on if you want a pre-paid phone or contract...

Kelar your phone should work at 900 MHz and/or at 1800 MHz, though I'm not sure if the phones working only at 900 MHz are still usable.

It is very important that the phone you buy is a GSM (any mobile phone that you may buy here is GSM), because USA has a radically different standard for phones (CDMA2000 I think is called) which doesn't work in european GSM networks.

Regards.

Fernando

My daughter is in Madrid right now and she spent several weeks and lots of $$ on a GSM phone here in the states that would work in Europe. Now that she has been there a couple months,though, she said it would be wiser to wait and pick a phone up in Madrid. The phones are cheaper and Telefonica has some reasonable plans.

OK, I actually sold them for a time. So, here goes.

WAIT until you get to Madrid.
You can buy a phone here in the states that will work for you in Spain, but if you're not planning on using it here, it's worthless to you.

They are so much cheaper there and you can just buy a phone with time on a card that's ready to go.

Thanks so much for the advice...maybe I will just wait until I am in Granada to buy the phone. So if I buy the phone while in spain, it will work in a similar way to if I bought the same phone here in the states? With the prepaid SIM card and free incoming calls? Any ideas on about how much it will cost, or where I could buy one in Granada? Thanks again!!

Dual band cell phones are able to work at either 900 MHz or 1800 MHz.

Current GSM networks in Europe (including Spain) are working at 1800 MHz. It may happen that Movistar or Vodafone still have some areas covered with the old 900 MHz band. Anyway, all cell phones you can buy in Spain now are dual ones (as far as I know), so you won't have to worry about that.

Fernando is right. There in the US they use a different system. However, I heard that some operators have deployed GSM networks for compatibility reasons with Europeans traveling there. Unfortunately, these networks work at 1900 MHz and therefore a dual band phone won't work.

There it comes the tri-band phones able to work at 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz. Few phones are tri-band. I think Motorola is one of the manufacturers which have them. My suggestion is that you should try to buy one of the tri-band phones (as long as they are not much more expensive than a dual one). Then, you may find that you can use it in the US.

Note that it's very likely that the phone you buy in Spain is locked to work only with one operator. Make sure you have it unlocked before you return to the US. (At Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza, 177 they do it for just 6 euros ).

After all the explanation above, you have to bear in mind that in a few years the new UMTS technology should be available. Perphaps it's not worth to spend a lot of money on a GSM phone if you don't plan to use it much in Europe.

By the way, the "U" in UMTS stands for "universal". Let's hope it's really universal and you can use your phone world wide. And hope these telecommunications guys manage to make it work (are you reading this Fernando? :p ). (UMTS was supposed to be working in Spain by August 2001)

Just to echo what most people have said Kelar, wait until you get here to buy your phone. Antonio is correct, you can buy a triband GSM in the States, but they run, if I am not mistaken, upwards of $300 for the phone without a plan. I don´t think you want to lock yourself into an American plan if most of the calls you make in Spain will be local calls. For international calls back home, a phone card is still your best bet. Mobile phone calls, particularly prepaid, are extremely expensive.

Don´t buy a GSM triband in the States with the expectation that UMTS will come through. As Antonio mentioned they are already a year and a half behind schedule in Europe, and the last time I checked, it wasn´t given much more consideration in the States. By the time UMTS is here, the phone that you bought will be antiquated!

Antonio, I have a Motorola Timeport triband. Is it really true that I can get it unlocked for only 6€?? Every place that I have been wants to charge me at least 10 times that amount since the phone itself is expensive. I suppose their theory is that if you can afford such a phone, you can afford to pay more to unlock it.

Chica, the reason why they charge so much to unlock expensive phones is that the risk to lock it or even damage it in a way that they have to replace it with a new one. Furthermore, unlocking them can be more difficult than with a cheaper phone.

I unlocked a cheap Siemens C-25 for 10 euros in a shop at Gaztambide, 52. The 6 euros offer is advertised at Metro Directo newspaper. However, I guess this is just the typical catchy ad "...FROM 6 euros". I don't think someone will unlock and expensive and complicated phone for that.

Bummer....you had me all hopeful for a moment!!!