Buying in a foreign country

Hello all,
I'm not entirely sure this is in the right forum, but seeing as the cell phone I may be getting will probably be a Nokia, I'm putting it here. Anyway, onto the main issue. Next summer I'm going to Finland. Now, just out of curiousity, would it be possible to buy one there and bring it back here (USA) and have it still work? Is this even a reasonable thing to do or is it way more trouble than it's worth? This is pretty much just out curiosity, but I'm interested in how hard it would be to actually make this work out. Thanks to all who take the time to help!

that really depends on how long u plan on staying in these places. something like a few months, just keep swapping sim cards, that will do plenty. if u plan to live here for a year, maybe u'd prefer something more sermi permanant like a pay as u go phone or or a 1-year contract with a certian provider. sounds to me like a sim card would do you well.

If you mean you're looking to purchase a phone which will work back in the states when you get back, make sure it's

1. unlocked (or take the chance and try to unlock it yourself)
2. capable of operating on the North American networks

I think the two frequencies here in North America are 850mhz and 1900mhz, so check out the phone's operation bands. If they match then you're probably set.

On that note, I had a question myself about phones which support 900mhz, 1800mhz and 1900mhz only. I was told by a friend that the phone will work, but because the phone doesn't support both of the North American frequencies, the reception might be shotty in buildings and such. I'm looking for confirmation of this in this thread.

Alright, thanks for the info! That is more toward what I was asking about. Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by "unlocked"?

Usually when you purchase a phone while signing up for a provider's contract, you can get the phone cheap. The reason is that they a) have you signed on for 2 years and b) you can use their phone only with their SIM card in it. So for instance say you buy a phone with T-Mobile and then try to put your friend's Verizon SIM card, you will see a message like "Restricted" or something. This means the phone is locked onto T-Mobile and Verizon SIM cards simply won't work.

An unlocked phone simply means it is not locked onto any particular provider, and you can use it with any SIM card worldwide.

Okay, thanks again for the help! And so a SIM card is basically something that stores all of your personal information on the cellphone? How would you go about unlocking a cellphone? Sorry about all the questions, but I'm rather clueless.

A SIM card is a little chip that you can put in your phone and it stores your phone number in it and identifies with a provider. So no matter which cellphone you're using, if I dial your phone number, the cellphone with your SIM card in it will ring You can also store a certain number of contacts (name and number) on your SIM card so if your phone dies on you one day and you backed up your phonebook on your SIM card, you can recover everything when you get your new phone. But its main role is to identify your phone number on the networks.

Unlocking a cellphone... well, you could try to purchase an unlocked phone from a provider, though that will usually be quite expensive. Look into it, it's the easiest Otherwise if you end up with a locked phone there are ways to unlock it by typing in a code, which depends on your individual cellphone handset unit itself. Basically you put your phone's make, model, serial number and service provider from whom you obtained the phone and plug into a 'calculator' of sorts and it gives you a code to plug into your phone. I don't have much experience with this, but there is a thread atop this forum which might help you out (for Nokia phones at least).

I'm not sure of the legality of unlocking your phone either. Anyone?

Thanks once again! I really appreciate the info. One last question, do cell phones automatically have a "SIM" card in them? Or do you have to buy one and then put it in?

well, as long as it's a tri-band or quad band phone and it is UNLOCKED it will sure do work in the states. Not only that , you can actually use it when you travel around the globe! hope that helps

Thanks so much! I'll be sure to look into that.

Your service provider will issue you a SIM card with all your info when you sign up for service.

Alright, I have no more questions at the moment. ^_^ I'm glad you guys could help.