Best cell phone from U.S. that works in Medellin?

panthdave says on Aug 24, 2007, 04:06:

AT&T GSM or T-Mobile GSM...Phone has to be unlocked so you can put a Comcel Chip in..if you want a local number. Roaming Service with a US Number all work I think..as long as they have a roaming agreement in Colombia...but you will get nailed probably at a 1.99 a minute incoming and outgoing..

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Brians says on Aug 24, 2007, 04:31:

Panthdave is correct. Need to unlock phone. I think with the price of phones in Medellin just buy a cell for Colombia if you plan to come back regularly. They cost about $45-$60 USD and makes you life a lot easier. As far as roaming even with the ATT International plan which I have they hit me for $2.29 a minute so I exclusivily use my Colombian Comcel while there and keep my ATT phone on only for emergency calls from the USA.

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calipro says on Aug 24, 2007, 04:47:

Panthdave is right....the only U.S. cell service providers the use SIM cards is AT&T and T-Mobile....but you have to get the code to unlock the phone before you can use it in Colombia with a Comcel SIM card. -

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droble77 says on Aug 24, 2007, 08:45:

First of all, Colombia and the USA use the exact same GSM frequencies so almost any GSM phone that is meant for use in the states will work in Colombia, as long as the phone is unlocked.

You can look for unlocked phones on eBay, in fact you can even buy an unlock code for a few bucks for many models though not all. There was one T-Mobile phone I bought on eBay that could only be unlocked by requesting it directly from them, but I've been a customer of theirs for years so it's no problem, although the rep will always try to sell you their roaming option.

I have Comcel and it's the most expensive option in Colombia. They supposedly have the best coverage. If you buy a $30K or $50K COP refill card, you will get a lot of free minutes between Comcel phones. So think about what kinds of phones the people you will be calling have (Comcel, Movistar, Tigo/Hola) before deciding on Comcel as I believe the other providers have similar deals when calls are within the same provider/network.

I have a Nokia E61 quad-band smartphone (quad band means it works in Europe too) that I usally bring with me to Colombia, but when I go out in the evening, I switch to a smaller, cheapo phone for the obvious reasons.

This time I will bring a Motorola L2 SLVR (not available in the USA, but you can get it on eBay) which is like the popular RAZR except less bells and whistles and a Nokia 2610. The L2 came already unlocked and I just got the 2610 yesterday so I will figure out later today how to unlock it. . .

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danronian says on Aug 25, 2007, 10:41:

I think the v3 razr is a great phone to have here. I have the cingular one (at&t now) and it works perfect here after getting the software unlocked for about $3 in Bogota.

Though the best version of the razr, v3xx, I have had NO luck getting it unlocked in Bogota or Bucaramanga as of yet...though I think there is a version of the phone that does work here since I have seen one person with it on the street once. (This is the gunmetal colored razr that is a little bigger than the original razr...though with about the same exact features at the slivr)

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panthdave says on Aug 25, 2007, 13:03:

If that Razr is CDMA and not GSM that phone will not work..UNLESS that CDMA phone is activated for international roaming with Sprint and Verizon in which you will get nailed a 1.99 a minute and Comcel only provides CDMA Signal for that purpose otherwise the CDMA Razr will not work..has to be a GSM Razr which all Razr's have quad technology all 4 GSM Signals..

GSM Razr's are from AT&T or old Cingular or T-Mobile......or buy the GSM Razr with no service and unlocked...

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junkyak says on Aug 25, 2007, 15:00:

aw man I have verizon. I guess ill have to get one there =(

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panthdave says on Aug 26, 2007, 05:53:

Junkyak buy on ebay unlocked and they get the chip down there you will get a nicer phone for the price...

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