tlvp wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:59:07 -0400, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com>
> wrote, in part:
>
>> --- [snip] ---
>>
>> ... Of course any AT&T or Verizon customer that cared about roaming
>> costs, would be using a 900/1800 MHz phone with a prepaid SIM card
>> when they leave North America.
>>
>> --- [snip] ---
>
> Actually, you need 850 MHz in parts of South America, as my wife and I
> learned in Ecuador, where here quad-band T-Mo RAZR roamed successfully
> while my mere tri-band (900/1800/1900) T-Mo Nokia was dead in the water.

Technically it's 800 MHz, not 850 MHz. It's the same 800 MHz as the old
TDMA and the current CDMA cellular bands.

I didn't realize that there were areas outside North America using 800
MHz for GSM, though 800 MHz CDMA is common.

> But tell me: does any carrier offer -- or does any manufacturer make
> -- a cell phone that does *both* quad-band GSM *and* the Korean/Japanese
> sort of WCDMA? (And, preferably, double as a tetherable GPRS/EDGE/HSDPA
> data modem in both GSM-land and Korea/Japan?) If so, details, please!

I've not seen such an animal. Verizon sells their 800/1900 CDMA with
900/1800 GSM which covers Korea's regular CDMA network, but not Japan's.

Actually I'd like a phone with 800/1900 CDMA for the U.S., Korea, and
other countries with 800/1900 MHz CDMA networks (China, Taiwan, Israel,
etc), quad band GSM, and W-CDMA. But I don't think we'll see that any
time soon.

I wonder what the iPhone for Verizon will have next year. Maybe it'll be
the current iPhone with CDMA added, which would be about what you want
if you unlock it to make it tetherable.