Planning to visit our daughter in Canada with a side trip to the USA. Have a new passport so needed new visas. ETA for Canada no problem . ESTA for the USA a nightmare. Official web site does not accept my selfie. Phone call to the States does not resolve it. Told to try the App. App will not load onto my phone.
Does anyone have any advice?
Don’t bother. They’ll want to see all your social media history as well probably.
1 Like
Wait 24 hours and try again.
It took me several tries but then they accepted the picture. Just try again?
On second thought- buy a cheap burner phone. Load the app on that and then use that phone while you are in US. Leave your phone with your daughter.
if you go the cheap phone route, make sure it is rated to work in the US. Generally, it’s been my experience that phones sold in europe and rest of the world do not work in the US because US uses a different set of frequency range for cell service.
It is entirely possible that this has changed ‘recently’. I would love to know if this is the case now. Thanks!
Swiss phones operate on GSM networks, matching T-Mobile and AT&T, but Verizon uses CDMA, so compatibility there is limited unless the phone supports GSM fallback. Check frequency bands (e.g., LTE bands 2, 4, 12, 66 for good coverage) using tools like Kimovil’s compatibility checker or the manufacturer’s specs.
I’ve used my Swiss phones in Canada over recent years. No problems.
2 Likes
Thanks Bowlie!
I’d be curious about US specific experiences also.
AFAIK, CDMA is a thing of the past. By 2010-2012 it was sold as the new thing to replace GSM 2G/3G. It never happened and this network was shut down.
So, CDMA and GSM are both outdated tech. There’s been talk, if it hasn’t already been done, about shutting down the 3g networks. What you want to check is, as Bowlie said, if your phone supports the radio frequency bands used by major networks in Canada and USA. If your phone works in Canada, it will probably work in the US.
For what it’s worth, my Canadian phone had lte and 5g in Switzerland.