Not only N.America uses CDMA. In S.America (Brazil in my case) my mobile was TDMA but my provider wasn't the best so I changed to one that worked with CDMA (oh and the old analog system still works too there!)Also check your phone in the US because I think they work with TDMA too.
Here in Holland I bought one tri-band , but wasn't exactly because of the choice of using it in the US ,it was really the price.Very cheap phone with good capabilitys (not W@P).