[Gocamino] - Ultreya rental cell phones

[Grant Spangler]

Richard reiterates a salient point. I had in my first post referred to a quad-band Nokia 5230 which would fit the bill at a reasonable cost. I have always had a propensity for high end phones due to their utility and flexibility. I omitted the quad-band prerequisite in post #2. Thanks for the good addendum Richard.

Previously, on As The World Turns .. " ... I do recommend getting an unlocked GSM phone in the USA, getting all your ducks in a row in the comfort of your home, then making passage. Buying too cheap of an unlocked phone is not a good idea. Some of the cheapos you find on eBay are a dual band phone, you need a quad band for it to work outside of North America. I recommend a Nokia 5230 straight from the Nokia USA Website, see http://www.nokiausa.com/find-products/phones/nokia-5230 ...."

In North America our GSM/EDGE is on 850 & 1900 MHz, whilst in Europe GSM/EDGE is on 900 & 1800 MHz. Interestingly the Europeans have a dedicated band for their 3G network (aka WCDMA) on 2100 MHz. That's in addition to their original 900 MHz band .. they wisely chose to not do a 3G overlay on 1800 MHz. We Norteamericanos get by with a completely overlaid system, 2G and 3G must somehow coexist, and not always peacefully, on our 850 & 1900 MHz bands. Dropped calls are an unavoidable product of this congestion, which will only be exacerbated as they attempt to roll out 4G. Worldwide, all countries have a GSM 2G compatibility except Japan and South Korea, who are 3G exclusively and are beginning to implement 4G.

TMI, I know. It's part of the disease.

Buen Camino,

Grant

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