Is there a definitive reference guide to cell phone standards by country?
I have an AT&T iPhone 3GS, and am wondering if I should switch to something else for use when visiting other countries.
Best Answer
The USA is a special case here. In nearly every other country, GSM & SIM cards are the only type of mobile phone network used. Most mobile phones you buy are 'locked' so they only work with SIM cards from that mobile phone network. You can 'unlock' phones.
Make sure your GSM phone is unlocked so you can put another SIM card into it, and you can use your phone almost anywhere.
In some territories, phone companies are legally obliged to unlock your phone so you can use it on different networks within that country, or abroad. Some phone companies will do it by custom X years/months after you got the phone. Some independent phone repair shops will unlock a phone for about €10. The older or more popular a phone is the more likely you are to find a place that can unlock it.
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What protocol do cell phones use?
Sprint, Verizon and many smaller carriers use CDMA - a protocol developed by Qualcomm, and used primarily for newer cell phone networks in the Americas and East Asia (Korea, Japan, etc). Cingular and T-Mobile use GSM - which began in Europe and is the most popular protocol worldwide.What is the difference between CDMA and GSM phones?
GSM vs CDMA: Main differencesGSM handsets came with a SIM card slot, while CDMA phones did not. In other words, CDMA is a handset-based standard, with a phone number linked to a particular device.What is a Mobile standard?
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is a standard to describe the protocols for second-generation digital cellular networks. Developed in the early 1990s in Europe it became a global standard by the mid-2010s.Is TDMA and GSM same?
GSM uses TDMA and FDMA for user and cell separation. UMTS, IS-95 and CDMA-2000 use CDMA. WiMAX and LTE use OFDM.Top Countries by Cell Phone Users 1980 - 2020
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