Thanks for the info. The single charger makes sense eceonomically

At the risk of taking this thread in an entirely new direction, doesn't it make sense to combine the 4 different GSM bands onto a single chip as well? Or is there a technical reason for separating them.

How do the quad band phones differ? Are there 2 separate RF chips, one for NA and one for non-NA bands, or are all 4 bands combined on one chip?

Seems weird they would provide a 110/220V charger and make two dual band phones...

AFAIK all phones, including the locked CDMA models that Bell and Telus sell, come with 110/220VAC adapters even though the phones themselves are useless outside Canada and US. It's probably cheaper to make one type of adapter for all phone models than have separate ones for 110 and 220VAC. It probably also saves a lot of 110VAC-only chargers from getting fried when people take them overseas.

makes sense when the 1600 a / b is added to the equation.

unfortunately, the manual doesn't distinguish between the a and b models.

Next trip I take the 1600 along to verify. Seems weird they would provide a 110/220V charger and make two dual band phones...

the Nokia 1600 users guide says that it operates on the following GSM bands;

GSM 850
GSM 1900

GSM 900
GSM 1800

You've misinterpreted the manual. It's either/or, not both. The 1600b works on 850/1900 only while the 1600(a?) works on 900/1800 only.

AFAIK Nokia does not make a quadband version of the 1600. If you need a quadband phone you will have to obtain one from other sources.

Been with Fido since their early days and just bought a Speak Out 1600 with the intent of porting the number over and relasing FIDO back into the wild...

Since I travel extensively (have close to a dozen SIM cards in my travel pouch - all using the non North American GSM bands), I need a phone which is 'global' and unlocked.

Doing my research on 7-11, the Nokia 1600 users guide says that it operates on the following GSM bands;

GSM 850
GSM 1900

GSM 900
GSM 1800

Can anyone confirm that they have actually used a 1600 outside of North America?

The previous post says that the phone is set to NA bands. Does this mean my phone is a newer model which is quad band, or has Nokia 'locked' the transmitter to only operate on the 2 bands used in NA? If that is even possible.

thanks.

Have you put your mom's Fido SIM into the 1600b and tried it?

I live in North Vancouver, BC.

Thanks!