Tri-band Without 900 Useless?

[Effendi]

GSM 850/1800/1900 has sense because Brazil is 1800 only and also several little central American countries are using 1800 as well. That's the reason why Cingular has this kind of triband phones.

Anyway I agree with my Polish friend, I fear she could have some problems in Europe with a 1800 only phone.

- London: no problems using Orange or T-Mobile
- Paris: there can be some problems, she must use Bouygues (probably weak coverage on the rail between London and Paris)
- South of France: she must use Bouygues, can have problems wit that too
- Rome, Florence, Venice: she must use Wind, coverage should be good. Probably no coverage (or weak) moving from one city to another
- Switzerland: she must use Orange, it should work well
- Berlin: no problems with E-Plus or O2
- Amsterdam: no problems with Telfort, Orange and T-Mobile

Generally speaking there should be no or little problems in big cities. France and Italy haven't a 1800-only operator, but Wind and Bouygues have mostly 1800 and usually 900 is on the EGSM band configured to be used when you don't have 1800 (so the opposite which Przemolog wrote, which applies to mainly 900MHz operators, with 1800 in cities). Something similar should happen in Switzerland. No problems in UK, DE, NL.

If she buys an international sim-card she has to check, first, if it has roaming agreements with the 1800 only (or mainly) operators. Which are usually 1 or (seldom) 2 per country (only NL has 3).