vB Easy Archive - Questions Regarding trip to Israel and buying an unlocked phone

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Questions Regarding trip to Israel and buying an unlocked phone
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Posted by: rsd317

Hello all,

i was unsure of where to post my questions, but here goes:

i am going to israel for ten days in the middle of december. i was thinking about purchasing a gsm phone on ebay for cheap and having it unlocked so that when i go over there i can purchase a sim card from an israeli carrier and use it to call the USA.

is there any problem with that?

can i buy a phone on ebay, not activate it on tmobile or cingy and still have it work overseas?

am i better off buying a calling card and using my cdma phone (if israle uses cdma)?

any help would be much appreciated

Posted by: misterbear

We "recycled" an unlocked USA T-Mobile GSM phone with an Orange BigTalk prepaid SIM chip we purchased in the US. Once we got to Israel we set up the phone to work there.

Warning that it can be a bit tricky to get to it working at first since instructions are not in English but with some help it can be done without to much difficulty.

One warning: I have been told that you need to purchase a separate international calling card to make international calls on the phone. Otherwise you can not call out of Israel on phone.

Also make sure the phone has the correct GSM bands for Israel. Not all US phones do.

Think CDMA is US only.

Have a safe trip.

Posted by: kcphaeton

I sent my son with a phone that I purchased unlocked from www.israelsims.com site. the phone was 50.00 and the phone number was known prior to him arriving in Israel. Plane landed and he turned on the phone and I called him as I was watching a site that told me when the plane arrived.

They are in Boston and shipped out by FedX to me in KC.

My son can call me using the 018 system which I preprogramed into the phone.

Posted by: Bugwart

Quote:

Originally Posted by misterbear

We "recycled" an unlocked USA T-Mobile GSM phone with an Orange BigTalk prepaid SIM chip we purchased in the US. Once we got to Israel we set up the phone to work there.

Warning that it can be a bit tricky to get to it working at first since instructions are not in English but with some help it can be done without to much difficulty.

One warning: I have been told that you need to purchase a separate international calling card to make international calls on the phone. Otherwise you can not call out of Israel on phone.

Also make sure the phone has the correct GSM bands for Israel. Not all US phones do.

Think CDMA is US only.

Have a safe trip.

I didn't have any trouble getting my phones to work in Isreal.

Isreal has all the systems that the US has:
Cellcom: GSM 1800 MHz (and some legacy 800 MHzTDMA)
Pelephone: CDMA 800 MHz (EV-DO)
Amigo: iDEN
Orange: GSM 900 MHz (HSDPA)

Posted by: Bugwart

Quote:

Originally Posted by misterbear

Think CDMA is US only.

Regionally speaking, only Western Europe is bereft of CDMA.
I am not claiming that CDMA is as widespread as GSM, but it is certainly not "US only".