Getting PDAs up and running in Argentina

[AngelinBA]

Does anyone have experience getting a foreign bought (ie not in Argentina) PDA up and running on the Argentine cellphone networks? We are looking at getting one for work but it must be purchased in New Zealand, and I'm fairly sure it won't be just a case of putting in an Argentine SIM card and away we go.

Any information is most gratefully received, the telephone companies are not all that helpful about what will be required and we need an idea of costs of any work done on the PDA for our budget.

 

[Guillo]

If by PDA you mean smartphone, you need 850/1900 as frequencies to be able to use the 3g network in Argentina

 

[AngelinBA]

Thanks for your reply Guillo
The two options we have are an HTC Diamond 2 PDA or an HTC Touch Pro 2. I can't see them called smartphones anywhere in the brochure, but I guess that's what they are. (Telephone technology is definitely not my thing. My own cellphone doesn't even have MP3 capacity or a camera!)

 

[TrevorCito]

The HTC touch pro 2 should be compatible here according to the nz HTC website. http://www.htc.com/nz/product/touchpro2/specification.html

The diamond is also quad band and should work.

Make sure the phone isn't locked to a nz carrier.

Phone calls will work here without configuring the phone, just insert the sim and you'll be right to go.

Internet won't work off the bat so you'll need to consult your carrier for their 3g settings. Not complicated.

 

[Guillo]

From the site htc pro2 page:

Europe/Asia: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

• (Band frequency, HSPA availability, and data speed are operator dependent.)>

Usually, there are several different versions of the phone, be sure to get the 850/1900 version (some call it American version), otherwise you'll get voice and SMS but data speeds only up to Edge. This is separate from the quad band deal, its either 900/2100 (euro) or 850/1900 (Latam, canada, China, AT&T, and several others).

Edit:
According to http://www.mobileworldlive.com/maps/network.php?cid=208&cname=New Zealand , NZ can use 850/900/2100for 3g (depending on provider).

If you can get a phone that supports 850, it can be used here, but I'm not sure how prevalent 850 is everywhere, you might get good coverage in some areas and nothing in other, and that might even happen at urban areas.

 

[Tremelune]

A phone will usually be "locked" if you buy it from the carrier. In the US, for example, most iPhones can only be used on AT&T's network. You have to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to use it with a different carrier. Most other countries are better about this lock-in than the US, but Oceania has a few of its own draconian rules, so...

If you're buying it through some kind of work account, check with IT. They probably have some kind of a deal struck with a NZ carrier, and that may torpedo your efforts. Most phones are heavily discounted by the carrier when purchased through them. To use the iPhone example again, it's about $200 for the device if you sign up for a two-year contract, and something like $800 if you do not.

It will be better to have the phone unlocked and ready to go before you leave in case something goes awry.