Quote:
Originally Posted by New Englander
While looking on Ebay at new unlocked cell phones I noticed many are listed as "international Versions". Could someone explain what this means?
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There are/were basically four high frequencies cellphone bands that are used worldwide in different areas of the world. They are 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 or derivatives thereof. Two of these are GSM (with Sim card) and the others are CDMA. Most cellphones use only two bands in a particular country. International phones are able to work on any of the four bands and usually cost more. So you do not have to buy a different phone to use in another country. If you live in the US you could step off a plane with your same phone in Europe and make a call. This is the reason one carrier's issued phone even here in the US may not work with another carrier. As 4G and 5G showed up things are a little more complicated now with smart phones and such; but this is the basic reason for the difference.