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Originally Posted by linicx
I wouldn't. First of all it is either just been bought out or it is negotiations to sell. My friend in Tx near Dallas has one and half the time it doesn't work and the other half it drops calls. I do not know why. If I were in your position I would buy a TracFone because they work well all over the US. It is no contract and if you do not talk a lot you may find the $30 works well.
The best piece of advice is to find out whether GMS or the DMSA technology works best where you will use it. TracFone has phones for both. The other option is a military grade flip phone with both chips. In theory I can call 122 countries and it will work if I travel internationally. I got it from Verizon. I was told I could go on the $50 no contract plan with this phone when my current plan expires.
TracFone just bought T-Mobile Simple Phone. The beauty of this is if you have an unlocked phone and a SIM card you can switch into TracFone plan at any time. What you will lose, however, is your phone number; it doesn't port numbers.
Cellphones are craps shoot because they are evolving so quickly.
The iPhone uses HSPA. With it and the military grade you have all the bands covered all the time for today.
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linicx,
While its true that cell service can be spotty just about anywhere, the MVNOs (like Virgin, Metro or Cricket) lease air time from the either Sprint or Verizon, so inherently you are using one of those networks depending on regional roaming agreements. Sprint and VZ are CDMA not "DMSA", there is not such thing
As far as GSM (not GMS) these are all SIM card enabled devices and networks.
LTE ALSO uses SIM cards for CDMA and GSM carriers. So in the case of Verizon or Sprint or the MVNOs, while they are natively CDMA, but they still require a SIM card if they are going to be used for the LTE network.
The 'military grade' phone is completely inaccurate. While there are military grade components used for the phone itself as in some of the Verizon Casio G series lineup, they are not actually military grade. In other words just because a phone is made of aircraft aluminum, doesnt make it military grade. There are 'military grade' memory wipes on some devices like Blackberrys.
The military typically uses satellite or hybrid technologies for their radio systems, this is for reasons of security depending on application.
What I think is confusing is that the 'military grade' phone you are talking about is actually a hybrid radio device. Blackberrys have them and some of the newer phones or 'global' buisness phones.
They are actually a single chip hybrid capable of utilizing quad band frequencies for both CDMA and GSM technologies. Yes you can use it for ~122 countries. But Verizon really is the big player in that arena.
As far as the iPhone, yes the 4S uses HSPA+ which is a 3G technology on steroids. They have been trying to sell it as a 'true' 4G device which it isnt. As a matter of fact LTE really isnt even 4G its more like 3.5G. 4G is still in development and they are working on a global standard for it.
I hope this clears things up for anyone that is looking at plans. Its incredibly confusing out there with all of the deals and networks.