# Buying a phone in the UK and using it in the US?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-phone-in-the-uk-and-using-it-in-the-us/214959>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 24, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-phone-in-the-uk-and-using-it-in-the-us/214959 "2003-11-24T05:57:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DJScherr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DJScherr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJScherr)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-phone-in-the-uk-and-using-it-in-the-us/214959/1 "2003-11-24T05:57:43Z")

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Okay so I bought a Sagem MW3020 when I was in the UK on vacation in January… I recently stumbled across it and was wondering if I could use it as my mobile phone over here in the United States. I currently have a mobile phone with TMobile and have a sim card I can swap between the two. I would simply swap the two cards and check it but my Sagem has no charge left in it and I’d like to know if it has a chance of working before I buy a converter so I can charge it. Will this work?

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**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-phone-in-the-uk-and-using-it-in-the-us/214959/2 "2003-11-24T08:41:24Z")

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Looking at the specifications, the phone is only Dual Band which will work only in Europe. Phones from the UK must be Tri-Band to work in the US due to the different network used over there, so no, unfortunately the phone will not work in the US.

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**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-phone-in-the-uk-and-using-it-in-the-us/214959/3 "2003-11-24T10:29:27Z")

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Mobile phones in the US use 800 MHz (“cellular”) and 1900 MHz (“PCS”). In Europe, they use 900 and 1800 instead.

A European tri-band phone that can work with 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz should work in the US, but only in areas where GSM service is available on the 1900 MHz band.

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**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-phone-in-the-uk-and-using-it-in-the-us/214959/4 "2003-11-24T14:06:23Z")

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Even within the US, phones from one provider frequently will not work if you change to a different provider, due to differences in encoding/decoding schemes, etc.

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**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-phone-in-the-uk-and-using-it-in-the-us/214959/5 "2003-11-24T14:51:55Z")

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Dudes, if you’re buying a phone in the UK to use here, you’ve got to [go retro!](http://www.robertopiecollection.com/Application/Products/Teleph/tel2GB.asp)

(and they’re guaranteed to work in the USA…now as for mobility…)