I need a new cellphone from Verizon. The digital ones are slicker, but the tri-mode phones might be better in an emergency since they can access the analog network as well as the digital CDMA network. Has anybody compared the coverage? Is anybody happy with a digital cellphone such that you feel safe depending on it for emergencies? Sometimes I go out into Loudoun or Prince William a bit, and also i worry about hilly areas. What should I do?

They still have analog?

for a little while longer. Once the FCC mandated period for analog coverage is over, the telcos have said they will ditch analog the next day.

I did not know that. Quad band is the way to go anyway, 20 cent text messages in europe are a great way to stay in touch. That's my take.

Quad band usually refers to GSM, but Verizon is a CDMA carrier. If you are going to Europe you want to bring a quad-band GSM phone, get it carrier-unlocked, and buy prepaid phone cards over there.

On the Verizon/CDMA side, I used to worry about making sure I had dual-mode (proper term for digital/analog) tri-band (850/1900/AMPS) phones but I stopped using them about three years ago and have yet to regret it. Your typical dual-band digital (850/1900) on Verizon is going to be fine. Go to their Web site and check out their coverage maps for the places you travel in Loudoun and Prince William.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2007 10:35PM by pgens.

Yes, they still have a few trimode phones. Wikipedia says February 2008 is when they don't have to support analog anymore.

Does anyone have any actual experience with the differences between the two? Has CDMA taken over even in rural areas, in case I go on a road trip sometime? I wonder if there might be rural areas where they will in fact continue analog for longer. In any case, I'm most interested in Northern Virginia, and whether any of you have used all-digital phones, whether they've been dependable for emergencies and things.

Sorry, pgens beat me while I was writing. Thanks for the info, just reiterating.

You really only need a tri-band GSM phone for Europe, unless you want to use it in the USA too and get full coverage. In my case I already had a dual-band GSM phone that works fine, so I went on Ebay and bought a $30 unlocked tri-band GSM phone for use in Germany.

The quad-band GSM phones were a lot more expensive than that when I looked...

I'm strictly in the US, if I go to Europe it will be a different part of my life and I'm sure I'll have money. I'm sticking with Verizon which uses CDMA technology, not GSM.

... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You really only need a tri-band GSM phone for
> Europe, unless you want to use it in the USA too
> and get full coverage. In my case I already had a
> dual-band GSM phone that works fine, so I went on
> Ebay and bought a $30 unlocked tri-band GSM phone
> for use in Germany.
>
> The quad-band GSM phones were a lot more expensive
> than that when I looked...

Cool. The problem with buying a tri-band GSM phone for both US/Europe purposes is that the frequency that is often not included on units you'll see on eBay is 850MHz, which you really need if you are a Cingular customer. T-Mobile is more 1900MHz -oriented (though they have started some 850MHz roaming) so you will have fewer issues,. Cingular customers need to make sure any non-quad-band phone they buy from sources other than Cingular have both 850MHz and 1900MHz. Someone can list a phone as working on Cingular even if it is missing 850MHz because there are some Cingular 1900MHz areas, but you really want 850MHz too.

.