Phone Suggestion for Unlimited Data in Germany

[lizzie1955]

I was just in Munich and had a not so great experience using an unlocked LG Cookie with a Blau.de SIM card. Voice was great. Internet was terrible-- very slow and couldn't get or send e-mail. If I tried to send, I'd get waiting, waiting, waiting...failed.

I have a feeling it was a combination of phone and provider. I'm going back to Germany in September and need a better system.

I'm thinking of switching to Fonic. If anyone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it I would also appreciate a suggestion of a low to medium end smartphone that would be more effective. Would I be better off waiting and buying a phone in Germany? I don't care if it can't be used in the US; however, I would like to be able to use it throughout Europe and the UK.

I have an iPhone with AT&T but the international data plan is expensive and limited.



Thanks

[inquisitor]

As I mentioned earlier, the eplus network, which blau uses, is total crap. Fonic or any other provider on the O2 network (e.g. Fonic) will provide data rates comparable to your broadband connection at home.
Which iPhone do you own? The first one or an iPhone 3G?

[lizzie1955]

I have the iPhone 3GS with the upgrade to OS4 and it is locked to AT&T.

[inquisitor]

Since there is already an unlocking method for the iPhone OS4 (Sn0wbreeze), why don't you get your iPhone unlocked and use it in Germany?
Except for the first iPhone, which didn't support 3G at all, all following iPhones support the 3G band used in Germany (2100 MHz), so your iPhone would be perfect.

If you prefer getting a separate phone for Europe, I would recommend the T-Mobile Pulse (aka Huawei 8220), which will get an update to Android 2.1 (the almost latest version of Google's operating system) and which is currently sold for just € 150 (in mint condition).

For the same price you could also get a used Nokia E71 from eBay (don't buy the US-version, which doesn't support the European 3G frequency!), which is great for eMailing due to it's QWERTY-keyboard. However web browsing is a pain on this handset.

[lizzie1955]

Thank you so much!

[inquisitor]

There's a guy on eBay selling the "T-Mobile Pulse" (brandnew with warranty) for € 150 again: ex-824-lp Angebote - attraktive Preise für Handy Organizer Artikel bei eBay.de (he is permanently offering just one piece, but keeps relisting new offers after each sale)
After easily updating this phone to Android 2.1 it's great value for money, I think.

[lizzie1955]

I saw that. Thank you. I've found lots of great phones on ebay.de and ebay.uk. The problem is people don't want to ship to the United States.

I've also been looking at the Nokia e72. Unless I'm reading it wrong even the US version will get decent coverage in Europe-- HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 - American version vs 900 / 1900 / 2100 for the European version.

[inquisitor]

That's right. Even the US version of the E72 will work on European 3G networks, as it supports the 2100 MHz-frequency band.
The E72 is quite interesting, as it comes with a free copy of Ovi Maps, Nokia's navigation software. With Ovi Suite on your PC you can even download and store all the map data to the E72 and so you won't need internet connectivity for navigation afterwards, which is great to avoid high roaming charges when travelling abroad.

[petkow]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

The E72 is quite interesting, as it comes with a free copy of Ovi Maps, Nokia's navigation software. With Ovi Suite on your PC you can even download and store all the map data to the E72 and so you won't need internet connectivity for navigation afterwards, which is great to avoid high roaming charges when travelling abroad.

Yes, I am making use of this quite a bit at the moment even on my E71. It's a very nice application indeed, which even has a useful 'pedestrian mode'. Loading the maps of a country that you intend to visit onto the device is very easy and uses surprisingly little memory.

[lizzie1955]

Thanks everyone! I finally got a phone. I was able to get an Nokia E71 from an eBay seller in the UK who was willing to ship to the US.