Mobile Bands

[jjoz58]

G'day all

Looking at the phone solution for the states next year and it's very confusing. The best coverage of the AT is by Verizon but it's a different band to here. I was going to upgrade to an Aussie Galaxy s5 and then buy a cheap phone in the states BUT.

Verizon now have an international ready phone that works on the following bands.

LTE: Bands 4/13; -- CDMA 1x/EVDO Rev.A: 800/1900MHz; -- HSPA+/UMTS: 850/900/1900/2100MHz; -- GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz )

It obviously works on the Verizon CDMA network but do any of those other bands cover Australia, 2g, 3g, 4g?

Thanks

[johnw]

G'day all

Looking at the phone solution for the states next year and it's very confusing. The best coverage of the AT is by Verizon but it's a different band to here. I was going to upgrade to an Aussie Galaxy s5 and then buy a cheap phone in the states BUT.

Verizon now have an international ready phone that works on the following bands.

LTE: Bands 4/13; -- CDMA 1x/EVDO Rev.A: 800/1900MHz; -- HSPA+/UMTS: 850/900/1900/2100MHz; -- GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz )

It obviously works on the Verizon CDMA network but do any of those other bands cover Australia, 2g, 3g, 4g?

Thanks

We recently spent 5 weeks touring western USA with a sprinkling of day hiking. I bought a couple of real cheap ($20) dual SIM phones for the trip thinking they may be useful here as well. These are only 2g GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz. They do work here but pretty ordinary quality, although I really haven't fully explored their performance in Oz; happy to run a test if it helps. The phones worked in the US using AT&T GSM network. In major cities no problem, but poor coverage in regional areas. May be partly due to cheap phone performance but we had similar issues with our mini iPad where there was no wi-fi. In hindsight I'd definitely consider going with Verizon despite it being CDMA, and maybe buying throw away phones. AT&T doesn't seem to have sufficient regional coverage although they claim to be improving their network.

[jjoz58]

Right I think I have this sorted without having to buy another phone. This is my son's brilliant suggestion and it seems, after I ran it past Verizon, to be the solution. Means carrying an extra 93 grams but what the heck, 1 less chocolate.

His solution is this:
1. Buy a Verizon mobile hotspot like this one http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/d...mobile-hotspot or similar and get a prepaid plan. 10gb $70
2. I have Skype USA and Australian phone numbers already.
3. Make all my calls over skype using either my Australian Galaxy Note 3 or the 8.4 Tab, whichever I decide to take. Use the USA number for ringing local numbers and the aussie one to ring home, both then would be local calls. I could also send text through skype and get email via webmail.

Not sure on how much data I would need but except for ringing ahead for accommodation or to get a shuttle I don't think there would be many local calls. Keeping in touch with home and keeping a journal may use a bit but 10gb seems to be enough. It's only $15 for every extra 3gb anyway. My kids who are the experts with this stuff say they use nowhere near that in a month. I've been told to prepare emails and journal entries in advance then just cut and paste them in so I'm not on a long time and reloading pages all the time.

Big problem people won't be able to ring me unless I'm logged on, but if I bought a phone I was planning to turn it off or have it in airplane mode anyway unless I wanted to use it, to save power.

How's this plan look to the tech savvy people on here?

[norts]

I had real issues when I first got to the US to do the AT. I had been informed,wrongly that I could put a zVerizon sim in my Oz phone.
Long story short I ended up with an AT&T phone.
Verizon users had much better coverage than me.
I only made a few local calls on the trail. Nearly all hostels have WiFi and it is usually free.
Don't forget to get some sort of battery backup for your devices. Skype really drags power.
Remember electronics are heavy, compromise if possible . most hikers were carrying a phone and iPod. Didn't see many tablets. Too big and easy to damage. I was walking for awhile with a.bloke who knelt on his kindle in his tent. That was the end of that.
I have used this small phone for email, music , internet and Kindle. I carried a Sony 3800 battery recharger. It is heavier than my phone.
Hikers get very adept at finding outlets to charge phones.

Taz



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[Strider]

One good trick I've seen for charging phones where no power points exist is to make an adapter that fits in a light bayonet fitting. Not sure if the US uses the same fitting as us though? The example was from Nepal.

[GPSGuided]

Since they introduced Edison screw fitting along with all other lower energy bulbs on our shores, I'm lost as to what "our fitting" is. In the US, Edison screw or variety of that is the norm.

[Aztec]

Australia is a bayonet style fitting usually - well that's what most houses have...

Cheers,
Richard

[GPSGuided]

Australia is a bayonet style fitting usually - well that's what most houses have...

Historically. New dwelling are fitted with a variety. The supermarket shelf can reflect the proportion of the bayonet and screw fittings out there. In inner Sydney, it's about 50/50.