subject: World Roaming Phones: Quad Band Gsm [print this page] When you travel a lot overseas and all over the world you need a cell phone that can keep up with you. In order to find one, you should consider getting a quad band. This is a phone that works on all four of the available cell phone bands that adhere to an international standard called GSM. If you buy a GSM phone, you are essentially getting a quad band phone. Make sure you know that the two terms are basically interchangeable so you can be sure of what youre buying. Not all cell phone companies call these phones by the same term, and its good to know what you can decipher from what the salesperson has to say. Some people like to buy quad band phones just because they think theyll get better service, but you only really need them if youre traveling a lot.
However, several companies offer them in the US as well as in Europe if you want to purchase one. Buying a phone like that in the US means you can take your phone to Europe and get a frequency that you can use. Any GSM network, anywhere, will handle your phone. Of course, that doesnt mean you can always use your quad band phone. There are places in the world where there is simply no reception for cell phones, and there are places where GSM isnt used. If you find yourself there, it wont matter what type of phone you have, because you wont have much luck calling out. For most travel to most countries, though, a quad band phone is the way to go.
