Tri-band vs. Quad-band

Hi, I am kind of new to the GSM world and I am looking to buy a Siemens phone; however, I just wanted to know since I will be traveling a lot throughout France, Italy, and Germany (while I live in Missouri) is it necessary to have a quad band phone, because most of the phones I am interested in are only tri-band. The two phones I am looking at are the BenQ-Siemens C81 and the BenQ-Siemens EL71--any feedback on these phones and the tri-band/quad-band thing would be great. Thanks, Stefan

There are two major types of tri-band GSM phones: European and Americas.

European tri-band phones support the 900, 1800, and 1900 frequency bands. They provide complete coverage in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and work on at least one network in most countries in the Americas.

Americas tri-band phones support the 800/850, 1800, and 1900 frequency bands. They provide complete coverage in the Americas, and will work on at least one network in most countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia.


As for quadband phones:

The four bands include the 850 and 1900 MHz bands - used in the Americas - and 900 / 1800, used in most other parts of the world.

Compared to a tri-band phone supporting the 900 / 1800 / 1900 bands, a quad-band phone adds support for GSM 850 for full coverage in the Americas.

Compared to a tri-band phone supporting the 850 / 1800 / 1900 bands, a quad-band phone adds support for GSM 900 for full coverage in Europe and Asia.

BTW, both handsets you are looking at only have the 900,1800,1900 mHz bands which i'm sure you are aware of, not having the 850 mHz band on your phone here in the US can create signal problems for you especially if you use Cingular or even as a T-Mobile user since they also roam on 850 mHz in some places.

I really like that Siemens EL71.