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My wife is going to England the end of this month. She is looking for a company that rents cell phones with international calling range. I know there is the potential of scams, so if there are any business travelers out there who may know where such a phone can be rented at a reasonable rate (including) deposit. Let me know.

Thanks.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), October 06, 2001

Answers

FS,

I posed your question to friend who travels to Europe several times and year and has friends there. He passed the question on to those in his group. Here is the first respose, in part, I received back:

"If your friend already has a US cell phone, the company may be able to provide a rental phone that works overseas with the same number. I know AT&T provides this service http://www.attws.com/personal/intl_calling/details/tdma_gsm.jhtml. Otherwise, the one company I know of is http://www.cellhire.com/ . My wife has used them on her business trips to Europe with great satisfaction."

I will let you know if I get any more leads. I wish your wife safe journey. I hope this helps.

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), October 06, 2001.


Thanks, Bee. you are always so good to me!

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), October 06, 2001.

FS, so glad to be of service! I got another response from an easterner:

"On my trips to Europe I always rented a phone for use over there. I used both WorldCell in Bethesda, MD and also got one through American Express."

So at least you have some more options!

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), October 08, 2001.


FS, here is the third response I recieved:

I have the Nokia 8890, which is marketed as the "world phone". I will try to explain without too much techno-babble.

Most European and South American countries use a frequency band called GSM. This band operates in the 800 GHZ (I think) range. The US has GSM as well along with TDMA and another band I forget the name. Anyway, the GSM band marketed in the US operates at 900 GHZ, which would render a US phone useless there or a European/South American phone useless here. Unless you have a dual-band phone, like my Nokia. I believe Ericsson has a phone that has a dual band as well.

To sum it up, you can purchase either an Ericsson or Nokia dual-band phone here, sign up with a GSM carrier (Voice Stream wireless is mine) and travel anywhere in the world that has cellular service without worry of service not working. Here's the catch: you will be charged overseas roaming rates, which are $2/min plus! So unless you like the convenience of someone calling you from the States to your cell phone while in Milan and it is a local call to the caller (and you get reamed with fees), don't waste your money and call from the hotel phone.

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), October 08, 2001.


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