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The most important thing is to make sure you are buying a phone for the right network.
If you are using cingular, tmobile, or at&t you want:
Either a carrier specific phone made for your phone company or:
an UNLOCKED quad or tri band phone for GSM carriers
if it is a tri band make sure it works on 850/1800/1900 . The 900mhz is ONLY for europe and is useless here
If you are buying for sprint or verizon you MUST buy a phone made for that company. They operate on the CDMA network
If you are buying for NEXTEl, make sure you are buying a nextel carrier branded phone which operates on the iDEN network
If you can also find boost unlocked that will work for nextel, but be aware you cannot activate the phone. You can ONLY insert your SIM card and use the phone like you normally would.
If you are using cingular, tmobile, or at&t you want:
Either a carrier specific phone made for your phone company or:
an UNLOCKED quad or tri band phone for GSM carriers
if it is a tri band make sure it works on 850/1800/1900 . The 900mhz is ONLY for europe and is useless here
If you are buying for sprint or verizon you MUST buy a phone made for that company. They operate on the CDMA network
If you are buying for NEXTEl, make sure you are buying a nextel carrier branded phone which operates on the iDEN network
If you can also find boost unlocked that will work for nextel, but be aware you cannot activate the phone. You can ONLY insert your SIM card and use the phone like you normally would.
Guide created: 12/06/06 (updated 04/08/08)
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