Re-reading Mrs. Moose's post, I see you mention Bell. That's the problem--Bell Mobility does not do GSM (they are supposed to provide some kind of limited service fairly soon.)

My friend says that your version of the Razr is CDMA only, and there's not much you can do about it. (He has a GSM version that he bought in Europe, but he can't use it with Bell!)

I intend to move to Rogers/Fido when my current phone dies, they are GSM.

He says that most phones sold in N.A. are crippled, as well as "locked". The providers then make it very difficult for you to sync your phone numbers, your photos or ringtones with your computer. The freedom to use the data on your phone any way you like is restricted on phones in the North American market, not so in Europe.

As for locking, locking ties you to a particular provider. He says you can get any GSM phone unlocked fairly easily and cheaply (something that's basically just reprogramming the chip).

He says that whatever phone you buy in europe, you'll be able to do more with it.... and, dollar for dollar, you'll pay less in the UK, e.g., if you were to buy a RAZR from Rogers without a contract, you'd pay probably $300. That's more than the same, uncrippled phone from england.

A footnote: I noticed onboard Navigator in the Caribbean that the onboard cell coverage did not cover Bell (can't remember what it did cover, silly me, but I believe Rogers was in there.) Again, it's the GSM thing.