That used to be an issue with phones 5 years ago (like the M600i, which I bought purely because it looked cool), but these days with most phones being Quad-band

That used to be an issue with phones 5 years ago (like the M600i, which I bought purely because it looked cool), but these days with most phones being Quad-band 2G / Tri-band 3G (or better) it's pretty easy to get a phone that will work on most freq. here in the US. Howardforums is full of people that do this all the time. Obviously you're stuck if Verizon is your choice of network... I mostly just hop around on T-Mobile / AT&T depending on who has the towers that support the phone I want. I think the Galaxy S2 may be the last phone I import early though, like I said the only real disadvantage to the US markets these days is launch lag time... We're getting all the best hardware now. Sometimes it's even good to wait, because there's always bugs that are worked out with any first release.