Unlocked or locked?

[redbourn]

Hi,

my first time here and although I'm pretty computer literate, what I know about smart phones could be written on the bank of a postage stamp; and that will now become very quickly apparent ;-)

I live in Israel and my cellphone provider is Orange.

I travel a little, but mostly only to Europe and the UK (the UK is not sure if it's in Europe or not).

Will probably buy a Galaxy 3

And now for the questions.

Should I buy an unlocked phone?; I can get one sent from either the US or the UK.

If I buy an unlocked phone, please explain what I would then have to do to get it working in Israel.

And what I would have to do to get it working if I'm in Spain? - for example.

If I get a locked phone from Orange or whoever in Israel then what happens when I travel.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Michael

 

[Hadron]

To use an unlocked phone with a network you just put a SIM from that network in it.

A locked phone will only accept one network's SIM.

So if you would keep your home network's SIM in when travelling and pay the roaming charges then it may not make much difference to you. If you prefer to use a local SIM when abroad you want an unlocked phone (or to get your locked one unlocked).

 

[redbourn]

To use an unlocked phone with a network you just put a SIM from that network in it.

A locked phone will only accept one network's SIM.

So if you would keep your home network's SIM in when travelling and pay the roaming charges then it may not make much difference to you. If you prefer to use a local SIM when abroad you want an unlocked phone (or to get your locked one unlocked).

Thanks for the reply!

So if I go somewhere outside of Orange Israel for a couple of weeks, I'd buy a local SIM?

Right now, I'm not connected to the Internet via Orange, so would my present SIM work, and I'd just tell them to change my package?

If I'm abroad and buy a local SIM card; why would it connect to the Internet.

Sorry for the moron questions :-(

I could talk to Orange here of course but they'd most likely recommend the best package for them ;-)

Thanks again,

Michael

 

[Hadron]

You can always enable international roaming and use your Orange SIM. Of course that will cost more - I don't know the Israeli tarrifs, but it's commonly data use when roaming that you really need to watch, as that easily runs up a huge bill. Remember that if you get a data bundle set up on Orange in Israel that inclusive allowance only works on your home network - any data you use abroad will be charge extra, and at a much higher rate.

If you visit a particular country regularly, or will be there for a while, then obtaining a local pay as you go SIM is almost certainly more cost-effective than roaming with your home SIM. The drawback is that your phone number changes (because it is the SIM, not the phone, which determines the phone number), so anyone you want to be able to call you needs to be told the number (which you won't know until you've bought the SIM). You can get data with PAYG SIMs - you should be able to look up the prices etc on the web in advance.

 

[redbourn]

Thanks for all the detailed info!

I'll probably get the Galaxy 3 locked to Orange.

I assume it works world-wide and that technology has moved beyond the dual-band, tri-band issues.

Somebody just sent me a review of the HTC One X which sounds very nice too.

tinyurl.com/culcxeh

 

[!on]

Android is good because if you have a phone that was meant for a different part of the world & data isn't working, you can usually flash a baseband changer app to rectify this.

 

[redbourn]

Thanks for all the help.

There will be more questions of course once I get the phone ;-)