Do American cellphones work in Europe?

8/2/2011 10:41:21 AM

If your phone is not GSM it won’t work. You could buy a cheap prepaid phone over there for about €50→€100 or so (I’m guessing here) and use that. Might be cheaper/easier than sorting out a phone in the USA.

6/29/2013 1:02:43 PM

Not that phone. Virgin, in the USA, uses Sprint’s network. Sprint uses the CDMA standard. Europe uses a different standard, GSM.

The only US phones which can work in Europe are:

  • GSM phones from AT&T and/or T-Mobile, the two GSM providers in the US, as long as the phone supports the same bands as the country you’re going to (most phones in the last couple of years are multi-band and will).
  • The newer “world phones” from Verizon, Sprint, and other CDMA carriers, (including the iPhones 4S and 5) which support both CDMA and GSM.

The phone should also be carrier-unlocked. Then you can buy foreign carrier SIM cards and pop them in your phone. It’s cheap to use. However, unlocked phones are generally a few hundred dollars more than locked ones. If you buy a phone without a contract, it’s probably unlocked.

A locked phone would still use the American phone plan. It’s expensive to use abroad. But locked phones are cheaper to buy. If you buy a phone with a contract (i.e. for two years), it’s probably locked.

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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