Website design By BotEap.comAs of today, there are more than 690 GSM mobile networks in 213 countries, accounting for 82.4% of all global mobile connections. According to the available statistics, there are more than 2 billion GSM mobile users in the world, with China having the largest users with more than 370 million and Russia next with 145 million users. While the US has 78 million, India has 83 million using GSM service.

Website design By BotEap.comA mobile phone can be a perplexing matter for a traveler. It is mainly incompatibility with your visiting country’s network, as each country in the world has a different operating frequency band.

Website design By BotEap.comAlmost all parts of the world operate on GSM technology, except for the US and Canada. Originally, GSM operated at a frequency of 900 MHz, which is continually updated and now runs on 1800 MHz service. With a GSM phone, you can access the service in 212 different countries. Some of the cell phones available in the United States and Canada work with GSM, but most of them have a different frequency band. The GSM service available in North America is on a totally different frequency of 1900 MHz and sometimes 850 MHz, which is different from the 1800 MHz standard. Not all countries in the world use the 900/1800 MHz GSM standard. The exceptions are Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea and some countries in Central and South America, with limited coverage of standard GSM networks.

Website design By BotEap.comToday, mobile phones have become a part of daily life. We often wonder how we ever lived without them. Whether you are traveling for business or vacation, mobile phones offer amazing services during your trip. However, they also present some challenges, when you wonder if that mobile phone you have will work while you travel from one place to another.

Website design By BotEap.comThere are three bands that mobile broadcasting is based on, with different countries operating on a different frequency found on different bands. Today, quad band mobile phones take away your fear and free you from that worry, whether your mobile phone will work in the UK.

Website design By BotEap.comThe obvious convenience of having a mobile phone makes you feel safe wherever you are, with the ease of quickly accessing help when you need it and talking to the people who matter to you. It is one of the most affordable and essential lifetime products in anyone’s life today. Think back to those old days when you had to make a call from your hotel room. Think about the bill you paid, just for your phone calls. Now you have a mobile phone, a companion for your daily life. You can already feel the difference. Today, many of these phones are offered with exceptional plans that can include free airtime, cheaper long distance charges and, in some cases, cheaper international roaming charges. In India, for example, service providers have started offering lifetime incoming calls on prepaid SIM cards for your mobile phone. Realizing such a benefit, you feel comfortable that it is at least available on your mobile phone. Prices are falling every month, which started with a huge investment when mobile phones were first introduced.

Website design By BotEap.comLet’s see why all mobile phones are not supported.

Website design By BotEap.comThere are two explanations for this reason. The first is that all the service providers in this world do not operate in the same radio frequency band and encryption services. Therefore, when you travel to the UK, your phone may not be compatible with the type of frequencies offered by service providers.

Website design By BotEap.comThe second point is a bit tricky. To allow a US mobile phone to work in the UK, service providers in the UK, or vice versa, must have a cross-billing agreement with one or more service providers in the other country. This cross-billing agreement is a commercial agreement between the service providers of the two countries, which results in allowing roaming on your mobile phone. In some cases, the roaming feature on your phone must be activated by your service provider in the US If this is the case, you must have roaming enabled before you leave the country. This arrangement falls under International Roaming. The same happens with National Roaming. So, you must have such a phone, which would accept all three bands that service providers operate on in this word, and such a phone is the one that has quad band features. Dual-band phones, on the other hand, would work anywhere in the world except the United States.

Website design By BotEap.comLet’s look at some of the problems with cell phones in the United States. If you are in the US and have a mobile phone that you would like to have international roaming capability, your best option would be to sign up with a service provider that provides GSM. The two main providers of GSM services in the US are T-Mobile and Cingular, with the consideration that AT&T has now merged with Cingular.

Website design By BotEap.comThis sounds like a perfect solution. Now you have a phone that works all over the world. If you have decided on such an arrangement, it must be what you want. But you should keep in mind that GSM service is pretty limited in the US. That sets you back a bit. No, there is no solution for that. To get away with it, you’ll need to maintain two cell phones, one with a major US-based network and a second; have GSM service with roaming functions.

Website design By BotEap.comGSM is a state-of-the-art technology that offers fax capability and Short Message Service (SMS). Most of the service providers offer the email to SMS feature, which makes it possible to receive important announcements and information via your mobile phone, ie receive flight updates and breaking news alerts. Many offer fast connectivity to ISDN services, allowing fast data transmission. The latest generation offers Global Packet Radio Service (GPRS), which allows you to connect to a high-speed data communication channel, faster than 9600 bps.

Website design By BotEap.comWe have discussed the limitation of available GSM services in the US versus roaming. We have also said that to overcome this limitation and also take advantage of international roaming, you need to maintain two mobile phones, one with a major network established in the US and the second; have GSM service with roaming features. Instead of keeping a second phone, mobile phone rental service is also available. There are many outlets that would rent you these phones with perhaps certain terms, ie you would need to get your matching SIM card from them. To see the mobile phone rental possibilities, you can visit this website http://www.planetomni.com/RENT_INFO.shtml which provides you with the details you would need.

Website design By BotEap.comGSM has made roaming between operators a very common affair, making it easy for users to take their mobile almost anywhere in the world. GSM is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system.