Cheap 850Mhz phone?

Forums › Mobile handsets › Cheap 850Mhz phone?

allstarnz

1720 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 24

Trusted

#19764 29-Feb-2008 15:44

Is there such a thing as a cheap 850Mhz GSM phone? If so, what models?

I am after a phone that makes use of the NextG network in Australia, don't need any bells and whistles. It's just that the NextG has much better coverage than 2G in the 'bush'. It's only needed for making calls and sending text messages.

inquisitor

135 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#113854 29-Feb-2008 22:05

Be careful! The Australian NextG network is not GSM 850 (2G), but UMTS 850 (3G), so a GSM 850 phone will not work on NextG.
UMTS 850 phones are quite rare at this time - to get an overview of some models see Telstra's online shop (http://shop.telstra.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=11651&categoryId=32951).
Anyway when buying a phone you should make sure it really supports UMTS 850, as a lot of phones come in different versions for different markets. E.g. the European version of the Motorola V3xx doesn't support UMTS850 but only UMTS2100, whereas the Australian version does.
Btw. if you want that phone to work in NZ later, it must support GSM 900 + GSM 1800 + UMTS 2100 for Vodafone or GSM 850 + UMTS 2100 for Telecom's new network.

router: AVM Fritz!Box Fon 7390 with Huawei K3765 USB modem attached as GSM voice gateway
VoIP-providers: intervoip.com | sipgate.de (German DID) | sipgate.co.uk (British DID) | sipcall.ch (Swiss DID)
connection: 100/5 MBit/s (DOCSIS 3.0)
mobile devices: Huawei P6 | Nokia Lumia 630 Dual SIM | Huawei: E5832, E1762, K3715, K3765 | Qualcomm Gobi 2000 in Sony VAIO VPC-Z12X9E/X

allstarnz

1720 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 24

Trusted

#113857 29-Feb-2008 22:47

ok, thanks for the info, it all seems a bit hard. I guess we'll just lump crap coverage in the outback/bush

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2526
Inactive user

#113871 1-Mar-2008 07:19

allstarnz: ok, thanks for the info, it all seems a bit hard. I guess we'll just lump crap coverage in the outback/bush

Can you hire a handset when you get to OZ

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9996

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#113873 1-Mar-2008 07:59

My advice would be to check out a pawn shop/2nd hand shop when you arrive in oz. They are normally overflowing with phones that are literally worthless these days.

Just be aware that most phones sold in Oz are SIM locked to the providers network.