Bringing cell phone from Russia

[BTalley 0]

Svetlana brought her Samsung SGH-E620 dual band cell phone with her from Russia, and she wants to be able to use it in the United States.

We have been to three providers (Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T), and they are of no help. They say she cannot use the phone with their service.

Why not? The phone likely is not locked, because she was able to change providers in Russia simply by changing her SIM card.

Is there any provider here that she can use . . . and what (if anything) may be necessary to do to the phone?

The phone has two bands: GSM 900/1800, and GSM 1900

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Basically, the technologies behind European (also Asian) and North American cellphones is different and quite incompatible.

So, Svetlana will not be able to use the Russian cell in the US.

[spikeyflip 0]

You should try inserting a t-mobile or at&t sim card and see if it will work. If it's unlocked, you should be able to use it. I'm pretty sure t-mobile or at&t sell the sims by themselves.

Edited February 7, 2009 by spikeyflip

[Nikita2Charles 32]

Check those kioks at the mall, out here on Craigslist there are folks who can unlock the phones. pop in the sim card like someone mentioned earlier and see.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

My husband is using his UK phone. He got a cheap T-mobile pay as you go phone and used the sim card out of it. I think that was cheaper than buying a sim card outright. When he wakes up I can get technology details because that was part of his IT job, so he knows phone talk.

He wanted to use his phone, so getting T-mobile was his only option in the US, I think. And the pay as you go was cheaper than adding a line to my Verizon plan and changing phones for the little calling he does. Funny how now that we are together, out phone minutes have dropped considerably.

[M.O 6]

No she wont be able to use her cellphone in US...European phones are made different from US phones, even the electricity is different so the phone might not work after a while...and every provider has their business and they dont really care to make her cellphone work, you have to buy their phone...And comon make her a present for Valentine's day and get her a new phone ...Just use the old one when she goes to Russia, insert a sim card and use it when you are there...

Olesea..

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Svetlana brought her Samsung SGH-E620 dual band cell phone with her from Russia, and she wants to be able to use it in the United States.

We have been to three providers (Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T), and they are of no help. They say she cannot use the phone with their service.

Why not? The phone likely is not locked, because she was able to change providers in Russia simply by changing her SIM card.

Is there any provider here that she can use . . . and what (if anything) may be necessary to do to the phone?

The phone has two bands: GSM 900/1800, and GSM 1900

Nick says it's a tri-band phone and will work anywhere in the world except Japan. If she changed providers before he agrees it should be unlocked. You need a sim card from T-mobile or ATT. He chose T-Mobile because they had a better review on JD Power and Assoc. Sim cards are available online only, but he walked into Walmart and bought a cheap Nokia for under $20 including the T-Mobile Sim card. He also purchased the $100 pre-paid card because it's good for a year and gives you the cheapest rate of 10 cents a minute. Adding him to my plan would cost me a monthly charge plus I would have to move to a higher prices level of service on Verizon which I don't need. Don't use all my minutes anymore now that I don't have a fiance overseas.

About the "electricity" referred to by the previous poster. Cell phone chargers are dual voltage normally. You could use a plug adapter to fit the outlet or buy a US charger for the Samsung SGH-E620 for $7 according to a Google search he just did. He said it doesn't look like a particularly brilliant phone, but if she likes it then it should work here. So much has changed for her, that maybe having something familiar is a good thing. Oh, but it has a silver Nano coating known to sterilize germs. (He's reading about the phone as I type.) Hope that helps answer your question.

[BTalley 0]

We went to T-Mobile store today, got a SIM card and a prepaid plan.

Bought an adapter for her European charger at Radio Shack.

Everything seems to be working fine. Thanks everyone.

[Angela & Paul 12]

We went to T-Mobile store today, got a SIM card and a prepaid plan.

Bought an adapter for her European charger at Radio Shack.

Everything seems to be working fine. Thanks everyone.

I know it's late, but your phone is missing the 850MHz band.

What does it means?

"This really depends on the areas in which you use your cell phone. If you're in a major metropolitan area, you probably won't need the 850 MHz band, but if you travel to secondary areas regularly, you will find the extra coverage of the 850 MHz band to be valuable.

Looking into the future, it is probable we'll see increased use of 850 MHz to expand GSM's overall coverage into more of the country."

http://thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorco...dbandphones.htm

Additionally, AT&T is the sole provider of the 850 MHz band service, which explains why the T-Mobile coverage map is poorer than AT&T's. IT happens whenever T-Mobile does not have a roaming agreement with AT&T on the 850 MHz network.

I just ordered a quad-band Motorola V195 PrePaid from the T-Mobile web site for $29.99 free shipping. It includes a SIM card, 10 minutes of airtime and a free $25 recharge (130 minutes). Basically that makes for a free phone with SIM card.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx

My fiancee... sorry, wife since yesterday ... will use the T-Mobile SIM card in her Motorola Razr and I will get to use the V195 phone when I travel to Europe (once unlocked). Since it's quad-band, I also know I can use AT&T as the service provider in the US.

Incidentally, the T-Mobile SIM card is $6.99 online.

[Lyuba 0]

T-Mobile is fine. I take my American phone to Russia, put a Russian SIM card and it works. It should be the same the other way around.

[anka 1]

My husband was using his Nokia from Russia with his AT&T SIM card for awhile. That worked fine. Actually, the problem he ran into was with charging the battery while using a converter. His phone would take forever to "fully" charge, and even then, the phone's battery would die really shortly thereafter. He tried a few different converters and methods, all with similar results, and finally just gave up and bought a U.S. Nokia.

However, this could 've just been bad luck on his part and doesn't normally happen to most when charging a phone battery with a converter...