Can my wife bring her cellphone?

[Bricksmith]

Has anyone been able to bring their cellphone from a cellular network in Asia (in this case the Philippines) and have it
work here? Even if the cellphone is unlocked, are not the cellular frequencies that are used different there than here?

 

[jag21]

If the phone is unlocked and quadband you can use it here.

 

[Aquakitty]

Not necessarily different, it depends on the phone. Lots of the better Asian phones support Canadian frequencies.

CANADA

2G capabilities
GSM 850, GSM 1900

3G capabilities
UMTS 850, UMTS 1700, UMTS 1900

4G capabilities
LTE 1700, LTE 2600

 

[Bricksmith]

" Quad band is a device feature that supports four different frequency bands used in communication: 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 1,900 MHz.
In the context of mobile phones, a quad band feature gives the user wider roaming capabilities. A quad band phone running on the global system
for mobile communications (GSM) network will be able to roam anywhere in the world where GSM service is available. This is an important feature
because each GSM network uses different frequency bands. "

So is this the same thing as saying that a cellphone has international roaming capability?

 

[Bricksmith]

Not necessarily different, it depends on the phone. Lots of the better Asian phones support Canadian frequencies.
CANADA
2G capabilities GSM 850, GSM 1900
3G capabilities UMTS 850, UMTS 1700, UMTS 1900
4G capabilities LTE 1700, LTE 2600

So the main/common GSM network is what we refer to as 2G ?
My cellphone here uses LTE I think, so that means it is 4G ?

The phone my wife wants to buy (Samsung Galaxy J7) specs say:
2G GSM - GSM850, GSM900, DCS1800, PCS1900
3G UMTS - B1(2100), B2(1900), B5(850), B8(900)
4G FDD LTE - B1(2100), B3(1800), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B20(800)
4G TDD LTE - B40(2300)

Does that means the the LTE 2600 frequency will allow it to work here? Should I check with Rogers or whomever?

Sorry for getting all technical. I am a former computer tech. that has very little experience with cellphones.

 

[Aquakitty]

The only downside is you might not get full coverage if you don't have 1700, if you hit a tower that is 1700 only. In that case it would just go down to 2G or 3G frequencies. I used to have a phone with "Asian"{ frequencies and I never had a coverage issue though. FTR, Telus is 1700 LTE which you don't have, and Rogers uses 2600/1700. Telus MIGHT also use 2100 for LTE but I'm not sure, so you should confirm with them before using Telus if you want LTE for sure.

 

[Bricksmith]

The only downside is you might not get full coverage if you don't have 1700, if you hit a tower that is 1700 only. In that case it would just go down to 2G or 3G frequencies. I used to have a phone with "Asian"{ frequencies and I never had a coverage issue though. FTR, Telus is 1700 LTE which you don't have, and Rogers uses 2600/1700. Telus MIGHT also use 2100 for LTE but I'm not sure, so you should confirm with them before using Telus if you want LTE for sure.

Thank you for the information. It sounds like you work in the cellphone industry. Do you work on cellphones or the towers or something? 8)