What mobile phone to get for travel?

April 16, 2009 8:34 AM

My cellphone just died. I'm only going to be in the US for the next 8 months and then traveling to Argentina. Any suggestions on what phone and what carrier I should use?

A cheap phone is fine. I just want it to work while I'm in the US (without a contract) and then be able to use it in South America.

posted by batboy to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

Get an unlockable phone.
posted by kldickson at 8:47 AM on April 16, 2009

Argentina is GSM 900/1900, US GSM is 850/1900, and you ideally want at least a 2G quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900) because triband ones don't usually cover 850/900/1900.

So yeah, get a cheap unlockable one. A cast-off Moto RAZR would do the job.
posted by holgate at 8:59 AM on April 16, 2009

I'm partial to Nokias myself. Pick any (unlocked) one you like, they don't have many duds. The E51 is a pretty good middle ground between cheap and powerful, runs a hair over 200.
posted by ConstantineXVI at 9:06 AM on April 16, 2009

If you're looking for just a short term solution, a pay-as-you-go phone might do the trick. You can get them pretty much anywhere. Try Best Buy, Wal-Mart or a cell phone store.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 9:11 AM on April 16, 2009

Best answer: Any unlocked quad-band GSM phone will work fine, but European tri-band phones (900 & 1800 & 1900 MHz) won't support some providers well, notably AT&T.

You may also check out the pre-paid GSM providers for the US and Argentina. AT&T and T-mobile both offer $1 per day in-network calling plans. So see if your friends all use either one. You might even survive on one or two $100 top ups if you're conservative, but smaller top ups expire quickly.
posted by jeffburdges at 9:14 AM on April 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm partial to Nokias too, though there aren't many unlocked or easily unlockable quad-band models on the US market for prices I'd call "cheap" (sub-$100), so cast-offs from upgraders (craigslist?) are a good bet.
posted by holgate at 9:16 AM on April 16, 2009

I use a gsm nokia phone and have a sim card from airvoice wireless. It's pretty cheap (10c per minute / 10 per call) but there is a 30c charge per day that you use the phone. It's cheaper than tracphone though.

I think the sim was 15 or 20 dollars to purchase.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 9:50 AM on April 16, 2009

Pay as you go with T-Mobile worked out to 10 cents a minute (nationwide) when you bought the phone cards in $100 increments. If you have T-mobile in your area, I recommend this. Then if it works in Argentina, fine, if not, you don't have the strings of a long-term contract tying you down. You can get a cheap pay-as-you-go phone at Wal-Mart for around $40, and it comes with a phone card for a few hundred minutes as well.
posted by Happydaz at 10:08 AM on April 16, 2009

Best answer: I'm going to correct myself: Argentina's GSM 850/1900, so any cheapo dual-band GSM phone intended solely for the US market should work.
posted by holgate at 11:28 AM on April 16, 2009

As far as a provider, I would go with t-mobile flexpay. It's as good as a postpaid plan, but no commitment.
posted by Salamandrous at 7:06 PM on April 16, 2009