In the USA I have a Sprint that I'm quite happy with. But things are quite different here than in Thailand. I pay a fixed price every month that I find quite reasonable but it has no space for a Sim card, and I don't believe it is a Quad band, therefore I might as well leave it home.

I asked a friend how much would a used (a good working but older model) or renovated phone would cost. She told me that I did not want to buy a renovated or used phone but rather pay 3000 baht for a new one.

3k baht for a phone that I'll use for a few months? No thanks. I could care less about apps or Androids or Iphones, or "look" and "flash appeal" and just want a phone to call rental agents and friends.

Sometimes I see Quad band phones here on sale very cheaply (~600 baht/$20US) that have Sim card slots. But once I purchased one of these for a friend in the Philippines and was told that it did not work. Apparently there was some difference so that only one or two bars showed, when everyone else's bars showed 5 bars.

Can someone please tell me what the specs are so that I can buy a phone here in the US and then buy a Sim card and load it in Thailand.

It seems that all quad-band phones are not equal.

Any suggestions would be helpful, thank you,

Bought a cheapy phone for the mom-in-law last night. No bells and whistles, just makes and takes calls. Tesco - 600B

Any unlocked GSM phone that uses the 900 Mhz band will be fine. Your reception issues in the Philippines was probably more the carriers fault then the phone.

My advise:

Since you have to buy a Simcard, buy the phone over here. It's a phone shoppers paradise here, cellphone are sold everywhere. Unlocked phones are expensive in the U.S. My preference for a basic phone is any Nokia brand and they can be had for as low as 600 baht. It'll work everywhere in the world and you'll have a travel phone to start your Simcard collection. .