Will a cell phone from Mexico work in the US?

Reply to topic
10 posts
I just bought an unlocked GSM cell phone (Nokia C3) from Amazon Marketplace. When it arrived it turned out the box was in Spanish and is marked (from what I can tell) for sale in Mexico. We use AT&T. Will this phone work in the US on AT&T?

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003V4AJSU/

(I'm hoping the company will swap for free, but I'm trying to be prepared.)
WTF? That sucks. It explicitly says US market on Amazon. I'd ask for a refund and send it back. :(

OTOH if you need to keep it, the ad does say unlocked, and:

Says it's quad-band including the 850mzh band, so it should work on AT&T...
The Seller (Wireless Everything) writes back wrote:
The warranty is valid in the US
Its an unlocked phone so it will work anywhere in the world

I'm going to guess that this is not an FCC approved cell phone. Is there anyway that can bite me in the future?

I'm split, it's for my wife as her phone got stolen last Friday. Living without a phone is a royal pain. So, since I feel more confident that it'll work now, I don't know what else might bite me once we open the box. (All menus in Spanish only or something, w/ no English language pack....)

Anybody ever bought a phone in Mexico to use in the US w/ a US carrier?
This phone will make the calls American phones refuse to make.
the spanish part would kill it for me.

but the phone will work fine on those frequencies with AT&T. they use 850/1900 for 2G and 3G
JHS wrote:
This phone will make the calls American phones refuse to make.

But you'll have to press "1" for English every time you want to use it. ;)
I decided to open the box and give it a go; it just finished charging and I turned it on.

The manuals are all in Spanish, and only Spanish. (Why the heck do the manuals I get always have 15 languages?! I always assumed this was because it was cheaper....)

The menus are in English, thank goodness!
It should work if you buy the card from AT&T for it. I think they're the only US provider to do GSM.

Do keep in mind, though, that most US carriers use the other service (CDMA) so roaming within the US may be difficult since other carriers can borrow outside networks while AT&T cannot.

That said, I'm with AT&T as they cover all areas that I need. :-)
T-Mobile also uses GSM in the US.
Of course it'll work, and you could download the manual in English from the w3.
10 posts