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How useful will my EVO be in Europe?

M

MagneticNorth

Lurker
I know this is a topic that has been discussed in various places on this forum, but thank you for humoring my specific questions.

I will be traveling to Europe (the Netherlands and Sweden) for 6 weeks and am wondering what use my EVO will be during that time. I understand the GSM/CDMA thing means that calls/texts and pre-paid sim cards are out. But what about WiFi?

I will be in Utrecht and Stockholm for the majority of my time, which are large and well connected cities where I imagine I will be able to find WiFi connections fairly easily. The things I have read on this forum lead me to believe that I will be able to connect to and use these networks (perhaps this is my misunderstanding). I just got off of a chat with a Sprint rep, however, that said the EVO 'will not work at all' in Europe, including WiFi.

Is this true? If not, what are the important things to know about connecting to WiFi networks outside the country (i.e. roaming charges, etc.). Additionally, I will have my laptop with me, and am wondering if this in anyway changes the way I can use the EVO while abroad. I do not think I will need constant internet access on the phone, but I would like to be able to use and sync certain apps (Evernote mainly), and use some sort of map application for traveling in unfamiliar cities.

Thank you for humoring my ignorance, and providing your advice on this issue.
 
Thats not true. Wifi will work just fine in europe, for free with no issues. You will be able to access almost all data services while on wifi anywhere in the world, which probably includes things like fring and qik.
 
Thats what the good people of these forums have led me to believe. It is surprising to me that the sprint rep would say this then:

Agent (Pearl K): "Unfortunately, HTC EVO 4G is not a world phone so it will not work in GSM countries.

Agent (Pearl K): "Let me check whether it will work in Netherlands and Sweden or not."

ROSE: "The GSM/CDMA thing means that it will not make phone calls, correct?"

Agent (Pearl K): "I am sorry; it means that it will not work completely."

Agent (Pearl K): "I have checked that this phone will not work in Netherlands and Sweden."

ROSE: "By 'not work' does that mean I will by unable to connect to wifi networks there as well?"

Agent (Pearl K): "You are right, you will not be able to connect to WI-fi network also there."

At least she said she was sorry.
 
LOLwhat?

Thank bob I get to work with SERO people, they seem to be a bit brighter than the average helpdesk employee.

Ive traveled a lot and have been able to get signal in various places around the world. If you check sprint's international travel page you can see what nations have some sort of CDMA support, it will also tell you how far to bend over if you make a call.
 
The majority of Customer Service Reps (regardless of the company) I've dealt with have no real understanding of their products, let alone how technology works. I'm not trying to put them down, but phone-based customer service jobs are totally thankless, not well-paying, and filled with frustration (imagine having to deal with an angry/frustrated public demanding special concessions all day long).

Your cell service will likely not work in Europe (CDMA not being a heavily utilized standard). This would include using any 3g or 4g internet on your phone. Like you've surmised, wifi SHOULD work without a problem. Go to SETTINGS>WIRELESS & NETWORKS>AIRPLANE MODE. Then, from the same screen, WI-FI. Turning on Airplane Mode will keep your phone from searching for a CDMA signal that isn't there (which would kill your battery).
 
Wifi is an international standard that works on the same frequencies you use in the US, with the exception of Japan having an additional channel. Your bluetooth and GPS will also work. No CDMA/3G/4G/Phone.
 
Braaainz said:
The majority of Customer Service Reps (regardless of the company) I've dealt with have no real understanding of their products, let alone how technology works. I'm not trying to put them down, but phone-based customer service jobs are totally thankless, not well-paying, and filled with frustration (imagine having to deal with an angry/frustrated public demanding special concessions all day long).

Your cell service will likely not work in Europe (CDMA not being a heavily utilized standard). This would include using any 3g or 4g internet on your phone. Like you've surmised, wifi SHOULD work without a problem. Go to SETTINGS>WIRELESS & NETWORKS>AIRPLANE MODE. Then, from the same screen, WI-FI. Turning on Airplane Mode will keep your phone from searching for a CDMA signal that isn't there (which would kill your battery).
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Doing exactly this method WILL work anywhere in the world. It was mentioned also about fring and qik. Those will work great over wifi.

Being a former CS agent i kind of understand why they said what was said.

More then likely they are clueless of the technology. I worked some pretty big morons over the years. Also Its easier to say no and have you give up then say yes, have it work but get a ton of charges added to your bill that they didnt tell you about.
Then when you call up you say well you said yes and never mentioned additional fees then you have a battle.

Its a CYA business. No means No and if it works its your fault, but if they say yes and it doesnt work or they say yes and you get 2k in fees and what not then your screwed..

But going into Airplane mode and using just WiFi will work. VoIP/ WiFi has a world wide standard. So you should be safe.
 
I traveled Europe last year for a month and used my old iPhone 2g's wifi to make skype calls back to the states. All I had to do was pay the 2.99 a month to skype for calls to land line phones and then find a wifi hotspot. Wifi was available in most restaurants and bars. Some required you to purchase something but I found it to be a good place to stop and rest. I could then search the internet and/or call home without being charged a cent to my service. I have the evo now and don't see why this wouldn't work for you. Just make sure you turn airplane mode and wifi on and you should be set.
 
LOL.

I just had tea come out of my nose.

Time for history lesson. Anyone care to guess where wifi was invented? Anyone, anyone...

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery...222&dekey=Nieuwegein&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc01bNieuwegein, Netherlands in 1991.

Your 802.11g/n will work fine, with a few exceptions. If you have to connect to the 5ghz spectrum, you are going to run into some problems. And if the router forces you to use channels 5, 9, or 13 on the 2.4ghz, just keep trying until it allows you on. It is there also may be handshake problems when connecting to non fcc standard routers. For the most part you should be able to use it. Just remember to disable the connection and re-enable it. Everyone once in a while I run into a router that is just evil and just does not like USA antennas.
 
WiMAX should actually work in Europe since that's pretty much the mobile data standard over there. I wouldn't use it though as you'd probably get hit pretty hard with international data usage.
 
ekt8750 said:
WiMAX should actually work in Europe since that's pretty much the mobile data standard over there. I wouldn't use it though as you'd probably get hit pretty hard with international data usage.
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Short answer no.

Europe is still fighting out spectrum. Most of europe will run lte and wimax at 800mhz, 5.8ghz, 3.5ghz.

It gives you a headache trying to figure it out. But for the most part the 2.5ghz has been selected for other, except for uk, germany, demark and parts of spain which may or may not use it for wimax.

In demark, the 2.5ghz as been selected for lte, which is a kicker.

Europe needs to get it together.
 
I brought my Moment to Europe this Spring, because I needed it at each end of the trip (I'd borrowed a GSM Android-capable handset from the office and stuck a local Swedish SIM card in it for the time I was there; what's nice about Android is all my calendars and contacts transferred over).

While you can use WiFi for most things, the system gets its time from the CDMA system, and while you could set it manually, IIRC, there was that (and one other problem I can't recall right now) that made it not optimally useful.

Also, the Market does a reverse-DNS lookup and knows you're not in the US; you might not be able to get updates for some programs.

If you're gonna be there for any amount of time, I'd look into getting a used G1 off Craigslist or the like and buying a prepaid SIM once there.
 
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