Unlocked Cross Network Cell Phones - Help

[phoenixx]

Hi! I have a cell phone question. I have tried to search for the answer online, only to find pages and pages of people asking the same questions about various providers and getting snarked at by techies instead of answered. then I thought "EA! EA people are smart! They will know!"

A little background: I have an unlocked TMobile cell phone that I use happily on our Cingular/AT&T network. Honey had an unlocked RAZR he was using on it happily that he broke. Honey does NOT want another RAZR. Or any currently offered Cingular, AT&T or TMobile phone, really. He is in construction and they aren't rugged enough. We also hate Nextel/Sprint. So while they have the i530 he loved when we had them, they have the network he hates - no dice. Not to mention the fact that we still have a contract with Cingular AT&T, and their network works EVERYWHERE here - unusual for the toolies.

So. Here is my question:

The ONLY phones on the market that currently offer the ruggedness he needs are the Nextel Motorla i530 or the Verizon Casio GZ'One Type V.

Nextel is an IDEN only phone AFAIK. Verizon is a combo CDMA/800/1900 phone.

I know Cingular offers 800/1900 service here in addition to GSM (currently both of our phones draw the GSM band, but when we leave the GSM area we get routed to 800/1900)

Is it possible to unlock a Verizon GZ'ONE Type V and expect it to work on the 800/1900 Cingular band??

Help! If Verizon had more reliable network service here in the middle of nowhere, I'd actually pay the nut and switch, because after his breaking THREE phones this year it would be cost effective to do so. But they don't. So I want to stay on Cingular, they just have fragile phones for a guy in construction.

[magenta321]

I can't answer your question, but, can't honey get insurance on whatever phone he does get, so when it does break, he is not buying a new phone?

[phoenixx]

No. the things he does to his phones are never covered.