 One
of the greatest things about GSM mobile phones is that they were designed
from outset to be used world-wide. Unfortunately not all countries adopted
GSM as their mobile service. However, as long as you have a compatible
phone, and your network has roaming agreement in place you can roam in
over well over 100 countries world-wide. Please remember that you always pay for receiving incoming calls whilst roaming. If you would rather avoid this take a look at our Riiing international roaming SIM card which offers free incoming calls!
The main 4 roaming services are:
GSM 900 (mainly Europe, Africa & Asia Pacific)
GSM 1800 (mainly Europe, Africa & Asia Pacific)
GSM 1900 (parts of North & South America & Caribbean)
GSM 850 (enhanced coverage in the Americas & Caribbean)
N.B. essential for roaming in Columbia, Ecuador, Panama and some Caribbean islands
Others available, to enhance coverage in certain specific situations:
3G/UMTS (usually built on top of existing GSM networks, but essential if you want to roam in Japan)
GSM 400 (replacement for old analogue networks in parts of Northern and
Eastern Europe)
iDen (a service operating in the USA from a company called Nextel)
Satellite networks such as Globalstar and Thuraya (for coverage in remote
areas where traditional land based networks do not cover)
The more networks you can choose from the better your coverage will be
and you can sometimes save money by choosing a cheaper network to make
your phone calls with.
Handsets:
Single band phones are now no longer produced, dual
or tri-band models are now standard, normally operating either on GSM900/1800 or GSM900/1800/1900. The more bands your phone has the more countries and networks become available to you. The World's
first quadband GSM phones are now available, operating additionally on the GSM850 band giving superior coverage in North & South America and the Caribbean. For regular visitors in those regions it will be worthwhile upgrading so you can benefit from this, especially as there are a few countries only offering GSM at 850MHz.
Specialist handsets must be bought or hired
and used with your own SIM card for accessing services like Nextel, Globalstar
or Thuraya. (But check first with your network operator about roaming agreements). |
Rental phones:
Handset
Hire
Networks & Tariffs:
O2
Orange
T-Mobile
Vodafone
Roaming Explained:
Our guide to roaming
Links:
gsm.org
gsmroaming.co.uk
gsmcoverage.co.uk
cellular-news.com |
