New phone to *hopefully use abroad.

[ibanez173]

Hello everyone. I have been ready for an upgrade since August and I am finally looking to get a phone. I by far prefer the Galaxy Nexus to any other phone on Verizon, and want that as my top choice. I will, however, be studying abroad at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands from February through June of 2012. I would like to get a phone that is GSM capable so I can get a prepaid service there, however it is looking like the LTE version of the Gnex will not have GSM capabilities. First of all, can anyone confirm this, and secondly if so, what GSM capable phones are options?

Also will it be worth getting a prepaid service in europe, or should I just get the Gnex and bring that with me without using service and only connect to wi-fi when available. During this time I will also be traveling around other parts of Europe somewhat.

 

[Jman42028]

tough question. all the stuff about the nexus is just speculation until it actually lands in stores with the actual hardware. It would definitely surprise me if the nexus wasn't global ready, seeing as how most newer phones are. My inc2 for instance, is global ready. Now the real question is how that would work with the prepay services over there, and again, I honestly have no idea. I somehow doubt its as easy as putting in a prepaid simcard and your good to go. but I'll be totally honest with you, in my area I do not deal with a ton of traveling questions, so I haven't had to deal with that stuff much personally.

I would say your best bet would be to get a phone over there, just something basic and use your nexus on wifi. Seems like that would be the easiest thing to do. I think with the vzw "global" phones, they will work on a network abroad but you still have to pay vzw. Thats the impression I get, as these phones are not "unlocked".

Hope that helped a tad.

 

[JWellington]

Yea I think the fellow above me is right. having a spare GSM phone is always handy in case you travel abroad. I myself have the G1 for that very purpose =)

 

[ibanez173]

Yeah I may have a spare GSM phone around I could use. See I know a couple of my European friends brought phones they have from home which they use on T-mobile pre-paid here, which is where I got this idea. So basically even if the phone supports the right GSM bands it needs to be unlocked to work on a network other than its native one?

Also I recently read that the new iPhone 4s is a single model on all carriers. Does this mean the VZW version should support the right GSM bands, and if so, would I still need an unlocked one to work abroad.

Also, I know you can purchase unlocked phones online and from other places, but I want to get this phone on contract because I have an upgrade and its much cheaper. Is there a way to unlock a phone that I have bought from VZW?