Does anyone here have experience with this? I'm tired of the limited offerings we have in the US, and I want to explore the available cell phone technology that the rest of the world enjoys.

I really need to know what's involved in making it work. I know people are doing it already, I just don't have a stitch of experience in this area.

Any help is appreciated.

(could someone with Special Powers move this thread to OT?)

If you want to get into international phones, switch to a GSM provider, either TMobile or AT&Cingular.

Yes, there are CDMA regions overseas, and yes you can occasionally get verizon to activate a foreign phone, but AFAIK you have to trick them into it. YMMV.

Matthew

There are a handful of Samsung phones that support both CDMA (when you're in the U.S.) and GSM (when elsewhere). In theory, you could get one from Verizon or Sprint.

In practice, the roaming rates they'll charge you are insane. Unless you're a business traveller who must have the same number, everywhere you go, it's probably much more effective to borrow somebody else's GSM phone when you travel internationally and get some kind of local pre-paid card to use with it. Of course, pre-paid card prices and such vary radically from one country to the next.