vB Easy Archive - Repost: Question on international use of Treo 650 and Sony P910a

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Repost: Question on international use of Treo 650 and Sony P910a
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Posted by: JonClay

I don't know very much about this stuff but if anyone can send any helpful information my way, I would appreciate it. I'm planning on buying either the PalmOne Treo 650 or the Sony Ericsson P910a. But I'm doing this only because I'll be in eastern europe for 5 months and need a machine like this.
First of all, I want to buy one unlocked and I guess it is more expensive this way but I was also advised to buy a "quad band GSM phone" (I have no idea what that means anyway), in order for the phone to function in this part of the world. Do the handhelds I mentioned above have that capability and if they do what comes with that anyway?
Although I understand the phone's I mentioned above are extremely expensive, money is a holdback. I don't want to pay outrageous roaming fees, so I guess I'll have to get a SIM card (right?).
My main point in this is to figure out the process. If I were to buy one of these phones soon, could I work out the international details with the phone company after I bought the phone, without getting screwed? Or, should I modify the type of handheld I should choose to get in advance? I'm kind of running out of time on this and I want to figure it out within the next week or two. BTW, I currently have a cingular account and a phone I'm about to toss out, but it's not a problem to change companies as I was actually planning on having to do that anyway. Thank you in advance if you are able to add some guidance for me.

Posted by: CarlGalgano

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonClay

I don't know very much about this stuff but if anyone can send any helpful information my way, I would appreciate it. I'm planning on buying either the PalmOne Treo 650 or the Sony Ericsson P910a. But I'm doing this only because I'll be in eastern europe for 5 months and need a machine like this.
First of all, I want to buy one unlocked and I guess it is more expensive this way but I was also advised to buy a "quad band GSM phone" (I have no idea what that means anyway), in order for the phone to function in this part of the world. Do the handhelds I mentioned above have that capability and if they do what comes with that anyway?
Although I understand the phone's I mentioned above are extremely expensive, money is a holdback. I don't want to pay outrageous roaming fees, so I guess I'll have to get a SIM card (right?).
My main point in this is to figure out the process. If I were to buy one of these phones soon, could I work out the international details with the phone company after I bought the phone, without getting screwed? Or, should I modify the type of handheld I should choose to get in advance? I'm kind of running out of time on this and I want to figure it out within the next week or two. BTW, I currently have a cingular account and a phone I'm about to toss out, but it's not a problem to change companies as I was actually planning on having to do that anyway. Thank you in advance if you are able to add some guidance for me.

Basically the quad band will do best, here is why.

In the US, the 850 and 1900 mHz bands are used for cellular and PCS. In most of Europe and Asia, 900 and 1800 are the frequency used. A quad band phone will cover all 4 freq mentioned above, so you will have the best possible coverage on both sides of the Atlantic. The p910a is a tri band, it does not support GSM900, but does support the other 3 freq. Sony also has a "i" version of the p910 that is also triband, but has GSM900 and not 850. So with the p910, your phone will work in both the US and Europe, but you may not have the best coverage. You may want to try to find out if the country/city you will be visiting has 900 or 1800 (or both, which would make this discussion moot).

One side note regarding you question.... I'd get the Treo. I currently own the p910a, and got a Treo650 yesterday. IMO, most things are implemented better on the Treo, and there is SO much more software out there for Palm OS devices. The one very strong point for the p910a is the Symbian OS is VERY stable. If you have any specific questions regarding the two devices feel free to post them.

The p910a (along with my old Treo600) are going on eBay today. Yeah, I know this is a disease.

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