How do I know if my mobile will work in the countries I am travelling to?

Quick Version

  • Most of the world (including Australia)uses GSM 900 / GSM 1800.
  • This means that if your phone works in Australia, it will work almost anywhere.
  • USA & the Americas
    • You will need a Quad band phone (you may get away with a tri-band, but it won't be as good)
  • Japan & South Korea
    • You will need a 3G phone that uses WCDMA

General Guide

Step 1. Work out which frequencies your mobile phone handset can use?

  • Mobile handsets can work with any combination of four GSM frequency bands and two 3G fequency bands
  • Look at the TravelSIM Coverage page
  • The network type will be GSM900 / GSM1800/ GSM1900 / GSM850 or some combination of these
  • Japan and South Korea are WCDMA

Step 2. Work out what frequencies are used by the mobile phone networks in the countries you are travelling in?

  • Search Google for Make Model specification (e.g. Nokia 6230i specification)
  • See here for more info on this topic

Step 3. Your phone must work on the same frequency(s) as the country(s) you will be travelling in