16 Sep
2012
16 Sep
'12
12:48 p.m.
On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 06:16:55PM +0000, Alexey Toptygin wrote:
On Sun, 16 Sep 2012, Liam Proven wrote:
Frequency band allocation is not identical the world over, surprise,
surprise. That being the case, the only way to deal with it is to allocate
multiple frequency bands depending on location.
The whole rest of the world has one mobile phone
system, GSM, whereas
the USA has its own weird one and competing telcos in every city and
state meant that phones could not be used from one place to the next
/in the same country./
Incorrect. First, GSM is one set of standards (mostly; telco
standards are a special kind of hell), but it operates on no less
than 14 frequency bands:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands Good luck finding a phone that supports all of them!
Never had a problem. My GSM phones in the last 10+ years all have been
multiband phones and they worked just fine in Germany, Switzerland, Italy,
Portugal, Spain and in the US (although coverage in the US leaves a bit
to be desired). And multi-band has been standard for GSM phones for quite
a few years now - only rock bottom throw-away phones didn't have it and
by now you can get even those with multiband GSM.
But wait,there's 3G now:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands
3G phone aquired in .ch for use in .ch and .de, fed it a US SIM card
and got 3G service in the US just fine. Bit pricey, but hey, US telcos,
'nuf said.
Kind regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison