Would these two unlocked GSM cell phones work in Germany?

[Danny D'Amico]

A friend with an iPhone 4, on Verizon, asked me what to use as a cellphone
in Germany where she is traveling for the Christmas vacation.

I suggested buying an unlocked inexpensive phone at Target for this purpose.

Do you think either of these will work in Germany with a German SIM card?
(Which frequencies matter in Europe anyway?)

LG GT365 (850/900/1900 MHz)
http://www.target.com/p/lg-gt365-neon-unlocked-cell-phone-for-gsm-compatible-black/-/A-13723640

Blu Samba TV Q170T (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
http://www.target.com/p/blu-samba-tv-q170t-unlocked-cell-phone/-/A-14829603

[n***@nada.com]

On Fri, 13 Dec 2013 03:11:56 +0000 (UTC), Danny D'Amico
<***@is.invalid> wrote:

>A friend with an iPhone 4, on Verizon, asked me what to use as a cellphone
>in Germany where she is traveling for the Christmas vacation.
>
>I suggested buying an unlocked inexpensive phone at Target for this purpose.
>
>Do you think either of these will work in Germany with a German SIM card?
>(Which frequencies matter in Europe anyway?)
>
>LG GT365 (850/900/1900 MHz)
>http://www.target.com/p/lg-gt365-neon-unlocked-cell-phone-for-gsm-compatible-black/-/A-13723640
>
>Blu Samba TV Q170T (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
>http://www.target.com/p/blu-samba-tv-q170t-unlocked-cell-phone/-/A-14829603

http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html

[Danny D'Amico]

On Thu, 12 Dec 2013 21:45:52 -0800, nobody wrote:

>>LG GT365 (850/900/1900 MHz)
>>Blu Samba TV Q170T (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
>
> http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html

Nice. I like the teach a man to fish approach!

Looking at that URL, it seems that Germany does not use
1900MHz or 850MHz, but they do use the 900MHz & 1800MHz.

That means the LG GT365 can only talk on 900 MHz; while
the Blu Samba TV Q170T can talk on both 900MHz & 1800MHz.

Will having only one frequency (as in the case of the LG)
have any detrimental effects?

Or is one frequency good enough for a country?

[Andeas Wenzel]

Am 13.12.2013 06:55, schrieb Danny D'Amico:
> [...]
> Will having only one frequency (as in the case of the LG)
> have any detrimental effects?
>
> Or is one frequency good enough for a country?

Depends on what network she chooses. All four operators run both 900 and
1800MHz but Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) and Vodafone started with GSM
900 back in the 1990s and still have most of their GSM cells on this
band. E-Plus (and their MVNOs like Base and Aldi Talk) and O2 started on
1800MHz and are still stronger on 1800 than on 900.

If she alrady owned a 900MHz only phone, I'd suggest to get a Telekom
SIM and she should be fine in 90% of locations. But since she needs to
buy a new phone anyhow, it's probably better to get one that does both
bands.

[Evan Platt]

On Fri, 13 Dec 2013 05:55:56 +0000 (UTC), Danny D'Amico
<***@is.invalid> wrote:

>Looking at that URL, it seems that Germany does not use
>1900MHz or 850MHz, but they do use the 900MHz & 1800MHz.
>
>That means the LG GT365 can only talk on 900 MHz; while
>the Blu Samba TV Q170T can talk on both 900MHz & 1800MHz.
>
>Will having only one frequency (as in the case of the LG)
>have any detrimental effects?
>
>Or is one frequency good enough for a country?

Not to nitpick, but it's not one frequency, it's a frequency range.

One frequency would be say 951.4375. When they say 1900 mhz, that's a
frequency range (even though they don't express it).

:)
--
To reply via e-mail, remove The Obvious and .invalid from my e-mail address.

[cameo]

On 12/12/2013 7:11 PM, Danny D'Amico wrote:
> A friend with an iPhone 4, on Verizon, asked me what to use as a cellphone
> in Germany where she is traveling for the Christmas vacation.
>
> I suggested buying an unlocked inexpensive phone at Target for this purpose.
>
> Do you think either of these will work in Germany with a German SIM card?
> (Which frequencies matter in Europe anyway?)
>
> LG GT365 (850/900/1900 MHz)
> http://www.target.com/p/lg-gt365-neon-unlocked-cell-phone-for-gsm-compatible-black/-/A-13723640
>
> Blu Samba TV Q170T (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
> http://www.target.com/p/blu-samba-tv-q170t-unlocked-cell-phone/-/A-14829603
>
For just talking and texting either phone should work as at least on of
the GSM frequencies of the phone will match a carrier freq. in any
location. But if the friend also wants to use 3G/4G data, neither of
those phones will do.

[Danny D'Amico]

On Fri, 13 Dec 2013 15:25:50 -0800, cameo wrote:

> For just talking and texting either phone should work as at least on of
> the GSM frequencies of the phone will match a carrier freq. in any
> location. But if the friend also wants to use 3G/4G data, neither of
> those phones will do.

Thanks. I didn't realize each carrier uses all the frequencies, so,
that makes a difference since one of the phones only has one frequency
that Germany uses, while the other has two frequencies.

Since this is only for a short period, they won't be doing data,
so it's only for voice & text.

Thanks.