Sicily And Europe Question

[HazelGirl]

I am from America, but will be spending 5 weeks in Syracuse, Sicily this summer. I also plan to make several return trips to Europe within the next few years. Here, triband GSM phones are sold with bands 850/1800/1900.....................I have seen some others online that have 900/1800/1900. If I just get the standard one (unlocked, of course) that is sold here in the US, will I be at a disadvantage for not having 900 in Europe in general but also in Syracuse? I'm just wondering, is it absolutely necessary to have 900.....could I survive off of just 1800/1900 in Europe? Btw, in Syracuse, I will be using TIM for my mobile service.

[snaimon]

Your best bet is both 900/1800. There ARE quad bands. IMO you would be better off with the 900 rather than 1800. TIM uses both, but I don't know WHERE. Our Italian friends probably have more info on Sicily.

1900 and 850 are useless in Europe; those or N American frequemcies.

I can think of any # of good tribands for USA - Nokia 6610 (got one - actually, I had a total of 3 of these and replaced them with, Moto V-300 (got one), Moto V-330 (got one). The Moto V-188 is a quand band and my son has one. Those are just a few you could by. I have had a Moto P280 which was a solid phone - a bit old, of course, by now.

Stan

[Effendi]

With TIM and 1800 only you almost won't be able to phone, except in big city-centers.
Go for a quad-band so you don't have any problem anywhere in the World where there's GSM, or buy a "real standard" triband, i.e. 900/1800/1900 if you want to use it in Europe, Asia, Africa and Pacific.

[Triband81]

I must say that my coverage experience between TIM and Vodafone has pretty much always been equal. WIND performs well too but their coverage isn't as well built out.

[Effendi]

Yeah, that's true, but if you have 1800 only Wind is usually better since they have more spectrum at that frequency. Also in several parts of Italy Wind is at the same level of the competitors, but it's cheaper and offers better tariffs, expecially for data. Wind also has the weakest UMTS coverage in Italy.

[HazelGirl]

thanks for the input...I thought they used 1900 in Europe...good thing I checked on that.

would love to get a quadband but can't afford one...not even on ebay. I can get a new triband thats 1800/900/1900 online for about 100 bucks brand new, unlocked with 10 dollar shipping, so I may have to go with that one.

Thanks a bunch.

[Bossman]

As long as the phone is mainly for international use and your carrier is not Cingular (they use a lot of 850), you should be fine with the Eurasian triband 900/1800/1900.

[HazelGirl]

excellent...here in the sates, I use Verizon, so I wouldnt need 850 anyway.

I did go ahead and purchase the triband I wanted for $69 on ebay...unlocked and with 900/1800/1900. Also came with accessories.

I bought my TIM sim card online for $48 (the same one was selling for $90 on another site!).

I am all set...I leave at the end of June and my orders should arrive at my house well in time for my departure. WHOOPEE!!!!! Sicilia, here I come!

Edit: :ranting2: :ranting2: :ranting2: :ranting2: Well, I ordered my SIM card without incient, but my eBay order fell through because the seller was advertising something that wasn't accurate.....the seller was selling the version of the phone with 850 instead of 900 due to a mistake on the part of the vender where they got the phone from . I was offered my money back, so I am back to the drawing board with getting another phone....its too bad too because that ebay phone was just at the edge of my budget. Oh wel....here's to continuing my search.