Realizing my phone is useless
My first introduction to the city was not without hiccups. As soon as we landed, I realized that my Airtel international roaming was not working. I tried switching the phone off and on, removing the SIM, and trying on different handsets we already had within our family, but unfortunately, none of these worked. What I realized was that the frequency bands in the U.S. are quite different from those in India, and U.S. networks have stopped supporting 2G and 3G frameworks, which meant that our handsets were pretty much useless in the U.S. environment, and we had to buy a new one. The question was where I could find one and how expensive it would be
The phone adventure begins
As soon as we reached the hotel, I started my adventure of finding shops where I could buy a handset. I realized that carrier-locked handsets, which meant they could be used only with that carrier in the U.S., came at around $50, while carrier-unlocked Android handsets cost about $150. If I had to use it back in India, then it had to be carrier unlocked. So I decided to part with $150, which was not much compared to the prices in India.
Most of the shops in the U.S. would close by 7 p.m. I hurried towards Target, which seemed like the most reasonable option. I entered the supermarket, which had a big floor, and looked around for mobile phones. I found all kinds of accessories, like phone covers and gaming sets, but there were no handsets, and I hardly got any response when I asked the support staff there. I then realized that mobile phones were sold at a completely different location just next door, but that had already closed by 6 p.m. by the time I got there. So I hurried towards another location nearby.
The small shop seemed legitimate, but when I asked for an unlocked Android phone, the person mentioned that he had only one available, a Motorola handset priced at $150. There was also a homeless man trying to buy a phone, which made the situation feel a little uncomfortable. It was surprising to see that he had the money to buy a phone, although he did not have a home.
I tried my SIM in the new phone, and the data started working, which was quite a relief. When I asked him further whether it was a new phone, he mentioned that it had only been used to test SIMs. I started realizing that it could be a scam. It was probably a three-year-old phone that they had been using for testing, and it had lots of messages from other people who had used their SIMs in it. But I didn’t have an alternative, so I decided to buy the phone.
I didn’t get any receipt for it; there was only the credit card transaction slip, which further made it clear that it was not a legitimate sale. I also got a different box for a Moto Play handset, which had nothing to do with the phone I had bought.
Phone debugging saga
Another problem I realized only two days down the line was that this phone didn’t work for calling. I tried all kinds of debugging using ChatGPT and Gemini, which put me into debugging mode and developer mode, trying to get things working. After all the circus, I realized that the problem probably lay in the handshake between Airtel and the carrier, with different frequencies and handset configurations. It looked like Airtel didn’t have a way to make it work with this handset and the carrier, whether AT&T or T-Mobile.
My complaints to Airtel, as usual, were not answered in time. They took two sweet weeks to come back and tell me that my handset was the problem, which was definitely not the case, because all the specifications clearly said that it was VoLTE-enabled.
Enabling 5G data was also a big problem. It never showed an option for 5G, which made me think that I had been scammed again. But after making a lot of changes, I found an option to enable only 5G, and it did work. However, I preferred switching back to 4G, which would work in almost any location, even in remote national parks.
Once I came back to India, I tested the phone and found that 5G didn’t work here either, because of the different frequency bands used in the U.S. and India. So, this phone is probably going to help me only with 4G data and 4G calling in India, and potentially with 4G/ sometimes 5G data in the U.S.
Check your phone specs before you leave
- Have a 5G-enabled handset. This gives you a much better chance of working across U.S. networks and avoiding compatibility problems.
- Preferably have an eSIM-enabled handset. That way, you can get something like Airalo and need not worry as much about roaming issues, local SIMs, or frequency-band disconnects.
- Consider buying a temporary U.S. phone. It is okay even if it is carrier locked, because you can get one for under $50, use it during the trip, discard it, and move on rather than spending much more on an unlocked handset.
- Never trust Airtel to come back on time when something goes wrong. While international roaming works seamlessly when everything is fine, getting timely customer support when there is a problem can be horrendously difficult