I'm trying to find a cell phone and cell provider with the best coverage in the UK, Germapy, and NYC area in America. While over seas, the phone needs to have local access and calls home; without costing a fortune. The phone needs to be a fancy data-enabled one (ie: Treo, Samsung i830, Blackberry, Nokia 9300?, or the many Windows Mobile models) with data access in DE and UK.

First thought was Cingular. After checking some coverage maps, T-Mobile looks like it has a strong presence in Germany, and I think it's a decent player in the US.

Any ideas for cellular voice/data access in UK and DE? Prepaid SIM cards (suggested by T-Mobile)? Prepaid data access??? Verizon's right out, eh? Thanks.

Just because T-Mobile operates service in other countries doesn't mean anything. Naturally, it's very likely that your US T-Mobile SIM card will roam on T-Mobile abroad, but so will Cingular (depending on the area). I've been to the UK and NL (empeg meets) with Cingular and the reception is as good or better than at home.

You and I live in roughly the same area. I used to have T-Mobile. Cingular beats T-Mobile hands-down in the metro NY area. A lot of rural GSM providers seem to use 850MHz which T-Mobile doesn't go out of their way to support. Since this is one of the bands Cingular operates on (as well as 1900MHz in the US), rural providers really fill-in the gaps nicely. I'm roaming on CellularOne right now at home. Something I couldn't do with T-Mobile because their phones generally omit 850MHz and they seem to have no roaming agreements with 850MHz providers.

As far as Cingular knows, I have a Sony Ericsson T637. Being a "standard" mobile phone, they give me unmetered data for $19.99 per month. Tethering my laptop to that phone was never a problem. Since that phone, I have moved-on to the Motorola A780 and now have the Qtek 8310. Both of those are PDA-type phones. I still have the $19.99 unmetered data plan. At the time I moved to Cingular, their unlimited data plan for PDA phones was like $80!

Cingular is also rolling-out their HSDPA data service now with an all you can eat plan for $20 (so I heard). HSDPA is based on UMTS and is backward compatible. So, your phone will work on UMTS, Edge, and GPRS data networks abroad.

My commitment to Cingular is up and I'm still with them. That should say something. I've gone from Bell Atlantic Analog to Verizon CDMA to T-Mobile to Nextel to T-Mobile to Cingular and I'm happy where I am right now.

Verizon is out of the question. No GSM = your phone number doesn't leave North America. Get even as far as Aruba, and you're SOL.

I'll second Cingular. Their reception is far better then T-Mobile. I can get uninterrupted GPRS data access from Colorado Springs to Dallas on Cingular, while a T-Mobile phone would struggle to even have signal for 50% of the trip. 850mhz support makes all the difference here in the US now.

However, keep in mind 900mhz is used over in Europe, and most tri-band phones that do 850 cut out 900. The phone would still work in Europe on 1800/1900mhz, but not as well if you get into a 900 area. I got the Razr not for the style, but because it is a quad band phone.

When I went to Europe, I had a T-Mobile phone. I told them ahead of time I'd be traveling there, and so they set my account to an international status to be able to roam onto the networks over there and have my phone number. It wasn't cheep though per minute, so I went with a prepaid SIM for my time instead. Ended up working out well.

Oh yeah, the phone I have now (Qtek 8310) has 802.11b. With WiFi hotspots becoming more and more common, it's another way to get data service on your phone. There is also a Skype client compatible with Windows Mobile 5... WiFi phone + Skype client = VoIP cellphone.

As far as I know, international roaming is all about convenience and not about price. If you're paying for your own phone calls abroad, get your phone unlocked and buy a prepaid sim card. I have had a GSM phone and was a loyal SIM card avocate since AT&T rolled them out, but I recently switched to sprint, as the A900 with their "sero" plan was a far better deal than anything out there. Of course, shortly after they switched they disabled "tethering" for their EVDO phones, but that always happens as soon as I start using a carrier. (well, T-Mobile is the only precedent for this, but they did the exact same thing). EVDO is amazing, certainly worth giving up GSM and cingular's edge service. Of course, I live in an area where I could get UMTS at&cingular service, but the two phones they'd make you buy are overpriced and massive..

I guess the point of all the above is that unless you need to have the same number work abroad or unless you travel internationally every month, chose the US Carrier of your choice and buy an unlocked quad band GSM phone to use when you travel if you have to.

Matthew

The best deal for europe-wide roaming is the Wind MEGA No Limit card, which I think is available in various pre-pad tarrifs, but all are very cheap. Unfortunately I don't think they are sold any more except but there are a few on ebay, search for "wind sim" and there are a few available, albeit listed in german and italian.

For the UK only the best is Orange pay-as-you-go but with the "Orange World add-on" which gives unlimited access for £1 a day - it isn't published widely but it gives unmetered GPRS internet access too.

Gareth

Problem is, the voice Skype client isn't officially supported on this phone yet - the CPU is allegedly not fast enough (! for a voice codec?!). I've got an SP5 - same phone - and even when the binary was hacked onto the phone, the lag was abysmal.

If you want to skype sensibly you need one of the higher up HTC devices (like the qtek 9000) with a 400MHz CPU and touchscreen interface - these *are* officially supported.

An unlocked phone and local pay as you go SIM is the cheapest way, really, but a heap of hassle!

Hugo

My empeg says to wish Hugo a HBD!
Where's the cake?

Mine says the same. Happy Birthday Hugo.

Thanks to both of you! Pity I didn't notice that one myself

Hugo

Happy birthday Hugo

Thanks for the tips, all. Luckily, this is less of a pressing issue than I initially thought. I will probably get prepaid SIM cards. Rob, thanks for confirming my suspicion regarding the lack of T-Mobile stores in our area; clearly it's not their town. Cingular will likely get the contract, though I'll probably keep my domestic phones on Verizon. ... did I mention this is for the cell phones I manage at work?

Just so I'm sure you know... If you buy a phone from Cingular, it will need to be unlocked before you can put another provider's SIM in there. Motorolas are apparently easy, but I've never unlocked one. I have the equipment for older Sony phones, but I don't think it works for the newer models.

If you take a stroll in chinatown in NY, you will find a bunch of shops willing to unlock just about any phone for like $20.

I haven't tried with Cingular yet, but all it took with T-Mobile for them to provide you an unlock code for their phones was to ask after your account had been opened for 90 days in good standing. That ended up being much easier with my Sony phone then ordering the needed cable and such,