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Find Out Which Carriers Are Compatible with Your Smartphone

Feb 12, 2015 09:58 PM

Woman using a smartphone with a world map in the background.

For those who have never traveled abroad, you may not know that different carriers around the world use different bands of frequency to provide service to their customers. This means that a phone bought in the U.S. may be unable to acquire signal from a carrier in Europe.

Up until now, you had to rely on word of mouth or by cross-checking carrier and device compatibility, but with the creation of Will My Phone Work, the entire process has turned into just a couple of mouse clicks.

By inputing your phone's brand and model into the website, Will My Phone Work checks whether your device is compatible with the 2G, 3G, and 4G frequency bands of your target carrier.

Form fields for device assistance inquiry.

After clicking "Search," your results will be displayed as either a check or an "X" mark. A check means that your device will work on the carrier's network, while an X means you are out of luck.

Network performance results showing 20 MHz, 30 MHz, and 40 MHz with corresponding frequencies.

However, this is just the first step in moving to a new carrier, since you will still have to make sure your device is not locked into the original carrier's network.

More carriers and devices are added all the time, so if you do not find your specific combination at first, be sure to check back.

Were you results accurate? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.

Cover image via Shutterstock

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