ATTN: PHONE THAT WORKS IN USA & PHILIPPINES

You are correct about what frequencies T-mobile uses, but what you missed is that the phones they sell support more than the frequencies that their system uses. For example, an D851 is the LG G3 version they sell. Notice the specs on the 2G band that the device supports. With any non-quad band phone you definitely need to check, but with modern smart phones 2G quad band is pretty much a given. 3G and 4G are another matter.

 

Agreed. Most Huawei brand phones that were not domestic China market, have a lot of frequencies they will work on so you generally get at least 3G if not 4G or LTE wherever you are. My old Huawei Honor Glory 2 was pentaband in 3G, that is 5 different frequencies. The only other phone I know of that was also pentaband was a Nokia.

My Microsoft/AT&T Gophone 640 won't have any problems in the Philippines.

 

You can get just about any Huawei phone in the US. Amazon.com is an accredited dealer but their vendors probably aren't.

 

If you like a big screen Sony makes a phone that supports a lot of frequencies and has large screen 6.4" screen.

 

Well thank God Sony finally started putting a flash on their big phablet phones and quit saying you don't need a flash (the reviews I read all said the camera still sucked).It reminded me of Iphone telling people you are holding your phone wrong. The Z4 Ultra doesn't grab me with it being square cornered and the huge bezels top and bottom (something else all reviews said). I wouldn't want to pocket that. But then it may be a moot point for someone who carries a purse/bag.

This thing does have all the frequencies you could want though.

 

Get a galaxy s7, when you get off the airplane in manila hand it to the free tourist sim card booth from globe, have them root it and install a sim card and number. When you get done with them walk to the same free tourist sim card booth from smart, repeat except they install sim card in second slot. Personally I like the galaxy s5 because I can carry a spare battery in my pocket and change them anytime I need to. My galaxy s5 here in the us is a verizon phone and had no problem using a globe sim card this past February. I also have an iPhone 6 from verizon which is my work phone and it worked well with a smart sim card.

 

Thanks for this information Midway!

V/R,
nwlivewire

 

I forgot to mention that you will be offered some substantial data package with the SIM cards. Take them for the longest period of time that you can get them for. You will need the, while you are trying to get your affairs in order. On an android phone you will need to restrict background data in your settings to keep usage to anything resembling reasonable.

 

I did the same thing with my Samsung S5 from Verizon when I got to Cebu yesterday No problems so far other than the phone recognizes it is using a non Verizon Sim card

 

I didn't realize that Verizon CDMA network used sim cards, sounds like the LTE network is driving it. I learn something new everyday.

Many Sprint and Verizon phones now have SIM cards, but that isn't because of CDMA. The SIM cards are generally there for Sprint's and Verizon's 4G LTE networks, because the LTE standard also uses SIM cards. The phones may also have SIM slots to support foreign GSM networks as "world phones."