I just got my Qtek 9000 and I am so impressed with it! It's a great convergence device. However i have a question for those in the US with T-mobile.
I'm in the CA SF area and have a plan with T-mobile. I noticed that I only have the options of EGSM+DCS1800 and PCS1900 under the Phone settings>>band>>GSM Band. So i'm assuming that I'm not able to access the 850 band that T-mobile uses. I noticed that when I use the phone, it says Cingular instead of T-mobile. Is there any way that I can access the 850 band? Do I have to get a new SIM card or is there another way? Thanks ahead for your replies!
Have you read the specs? The Universal only supports 900, 1800, and 1900 bands.
Just want to check, it does still work doesn't it? TMobile arn't the most accurate company in their specs, and they sold this phone to me as being 100% campatible with their US networks.
Tmobile uses the 1900 band on their own network, but based on roaming agreements their phones can use other companies' 850 band, mostly in rural areas. As long as you are in a major Tmobile area, you will receive a 1900 signal, but if you are out in the country away from any major city that Tmobile has towers in, you may not get a signal because the Universal does not support the 850 band. This is the same for Cingular subscribers that use the Universal in the US.
I'm waiting for HTC to release a version of the Universal that supports 1900 UMTS since Cingular rolled that out in the US. The Universal is stuck with GPRS for those in the US.
Duh! I guess I didn't read the specs close enough. I swear it said 850 instead of 900. Oh well. Is anyone in the SF bay area getting any decent connection to T-mobile's GPRS? Mine's slow as sin. If I can't get it to improve, I think I'll pass on the $5.99 T-zone plan.
Related
The universal may come to a point of not working at all in the US market. This is for information use only....
1. Cingular is launching their 3G network by the end of the year which looks like will only run on umts 1900, but there are talks that it might also run on umts 850. The universal only supports umts 2100. Currently in the us 2100 is reserved for military satellites, but the fcc has said that it will try to open the band. But to me that means even if the open the band cingular isn't going to change thier network. They'd rather people buy phones from them.
2. ATT ran on mostly 1900, and Cingular mostly 850, now the universal is a tri band phone 900/1800/1900. Cingular is moving most of its phone network to 850 wich the universal doesn't support. But some areas will have 1900 support
So just a warning, If you want the universal you may be limited. And you won't get the highspeed 3G which was the main reason i wanted the phone. Plus you loose out on reception.
hope that helps people who thought about buying the phone.
Hello All,
I recently bought a 3G Cingular service plan with unlimited data. I have a Qtek 9000. Do you think I can use it in markets where cingular offer 3G to make use of video calls/ high speed internet etc?
Thanks,
Gilbert
The Universal only supports UMTS 2100 Mhz not the Cingular 1900Mhz based system.
Bummer. This is a sad day in the history of sad days :evil: Ok but I can still use my unlimited GPRS to surf the net, right?
With the new devices planned for this year, are they planning multi UMTS bands along with GSM quad/ multi bands?
Thanks,
Gilbert
You can only use GPRS on the 1900 network. If you're outta luck there are no 1900 masts in your area (only 850) and it will be a really, really sad day and you wished you had bought a quad band device etc...
There is also some rumour that US UMTS will not use the 2100 band - that would be a real bummer.
I remember in the US when the Jam came out there was two radio versions. One for the US, I cannot remember the bands and another for the rest of the world. But I clearly remember that it was a software issue and not a hardware as the software could change the frequency to match your requirements.
Does this exist for UMTS?
Regards,
Gilbert
this depends more on the antenna design, and how far away the bands are. The radio tuner should not be the issue.
Thanks for the reply. Does a software band switcher exist to do the switch to 1900 UMTS from 2100 UMTS?
Thanks,
Gilbert
The Truth
USA uses the 2100 frequency for US satalites this is why Cingular does not support the 2100 frequency. They will never have 3G on 2100, FCC crap the only thing we can only hope for is a hardware upgrade for the antenna but I doubt it. GPRS only works on 1900 so who ever told you the 850 crap doesn't know. this is why you can get voice calls in certain area but no data + if you only had an 850 towers you wouldn't beable to make a call scince you don't have that band on your device. I don't think there would be a way to hack it to use the 1900 mhz frequency because it would take a really smart developer that can do a lot more than registry tweeks to wirte a relay to the 1900mhz antenna. sorry guys.
I did a lot of reading on this last night. Rumor is Cingular is to start using the 1900 band for incoming and outgoing and then add the 850 band latter since the 2100 band is not available.
just a rumor
It is just a rumor. They already have 3G on 1900 and that's it, 850 is old technology if anything the 1900 tower are going to be eventually replace the 850 tower. Trust me, I live in LV where 3G is all over, GPRS, and 3G is only on 1900mhz if you look at the coverage maps for gprs vs the cellular coverage map you'll see what I'm saying.
I live in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
We have AT&T wireless 850 band 3g.
I want to buy this phone but the idea of not being able to get 3g on it is scaring me.
I heard it has 850 band 3g built in but it is turned off by htc.
Is this true?
Do it have a crack?
Can you tell me what i can do?
There are 2 versions of this phone:
1) The T8282, which doesn't not have the 850 capability at all (not even crippled). This phone will not work at 3G speeds down there, if you're only on 850.
2) The T8285 (Telstra - Australia) version, which does have the 850 capability. You can find them on eBay - and they're generally a little more expensive. I live in the US - and own this version. The only problem I have in Chicago though is that AT&T also uses their 1900 frequency in many areas downtown. I only get Edge speeds down there, but as soon as I'm outside that area and close to an 850 tower, I get 3G speeds again.
Good luck!
It would not be the first time HTC did that.
Remember the touch diamond.
I have just taken a job in the states and brought my phone with me. I was expecting to be able to get 3g when I insert an AT&T or T-Mobile sim card. Unfortauntely the best that the phone seems to be able to get is Edge.
After doing a bit of research it seems that in the US they are using differnt frequencies.
Does anyone know of a fix which would allow my phone to get 3g in the states?
kdrover said:
I have just taken a job in the states and brought my phone with me. I was expecting to be able to get 3g when I insert an AT&T or T-Mobile sim card. Unfortauntely the best that the phone seems to be able to get is Edge.
After doing a bit of research it seems that in the US they are using differnt frequencies.
Does anyone know of a fix which would allow my phone to get 3g in the states?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile are, I think, UMTS 900 / 2100 (perhaps like Vodafone in the UK and elsewhere, which is why we can all use T-Mobile-based rooted HTC ROMs in our phones).
AT&T is UMTS 850 and 1900.
At the moment no phone on earth can do both UMTS 850 *and* UMTS 900. These frequencies are used to provide longer range coverage in low-density service areas - in other words, most city-edge and countryside places.
UMTS 1900, 2100 and other higher numbered frequencies are used in higher-density areas to provide more calling / data capacity, but with the downside of more limited range.
It seems (googling) that AT&T do 850/1900 and T-Mobile do 1700 (as of May '08 sez Wikipedia), though the T-Mobile MyTouch3G does 1700 and 2100....so maybe T-Mobile now do 2100 as well (at least in some places). There doesn't appear to be much, if any overlap on 3G frequencies between carriers and users must be EDGE only on the telco that doesn't match their phone. Everyone does EDGE.
In New Zealand, where I am, one carrier does 850 and the other 900...but they both support 2100....and a 3rd carrier will soon be offering 2100 later this year.....so you do get *some* 3G on just one phone in built up areas where telcos need more capacity and use 2100....but you get nothing in the countryside and have to used EDGE/GPRS.
There are about 7 UMTS frequency bands all up (Wikipedia).....so any single device is going to be seriously challenged to support all those well.....and what telco would want their phones to do that anyway? Frequency incompatibilities prevent their customers from leaving.......which explains why there aren't any phones that do all 7.
linuxluver said:
T-Mobile are, I think, UMTS 900 / 2100 (perhaps like Vodafone in the UK and elsewhere, which is why we can all use T-Mobile-based rooted HTC ROMs in our phones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If Vodafone (UK) & T-Mobile (US) are using the same UMTS frequencies, does this mean that I should be able to get 3g in the states? I am currently using a T-mobile (US) sim card but the phone is only getting an Edge connection. Maybe I need a ROM update??
maybe your in a area with no 3g coverage?
go to t mobiles website or better yet go here
http://coverage.t-mobile.com/default.aspx?pageType=idealer
and press the data coverage tab....are you in a purple place?
glendawg619 said:
maybe your in a area with no 3g coverage?
go to t mobiles website or better yet go here
http://coverage.t-mobile.com/default.aspx?pageType=idealer
and press the data coverage tab....are you in a purple place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I checked on the t-mobile site and Tampa, FL appears to be all purple.
Have you checked your settings?
Settings -> Wireless controls -> Mobile networks -> Make sure 2G only is "Un-ticked"
If it doesn't work, maybe you would like to consider selling your one on ebay and buying a Magic {or other handset} from the US
I have a tmobile vibrant phone (hardware only). According to the phone specs i SHOULD be able to get 3g signal with my fido sim card since the phone seems to support all the same frequencies as the Canadian i9000.... but i only get edge.
If you guys are getting 3G with fido or rogers sim cards, did you have to set anything special in the phone settings?
Thanks!
Vibrant T-mobile 3G runs on 1700
that is why you only get EDGE (2G)
Fido, Rogers & Bell runs on 850 & 1900 for 3G
On my way to work today this is what i saw in the network box.
inside my house - EDGE
Outside my house - 3G
back country roads to work - i saw just G or no signal (normal i loose signal with my iphone and blackberry on there)
at work - back on edge
So i DO get 3g somehow! or is it just teasing me by showing 3G?
i read somewhere that the t-mo vibrant does have 1900 as one of its 3g bands, so this is why your phone has been able to pick up 3g at times. the problem for you is that rogers/fido mainly use the 850 band. i had the nokia n97 mini that had the 1900 but no 850 and while driving around most of the gta i would get 3g, but when i went into buildings, houses, etc, it would drop to edge.
Maybe your phone supports 1900 and not 850 MHz? Or the oposite? That would explain why you would get bad UMTS coverage.
@hondaguy you were faster than me
boravr6 said:
I have a tmobile vibrant phone (hardware only). According to the phone specs i SHOULD be able to get 3g signal with my fido sim card since the phone seems to support all the same frequencies as the Canadian i9000.... but i only get edge.
If you guys are getting 3G with fido or rogers sim cards, did you have to set anything special in the phone settings?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my knowledge the T-Mobile Vibrant does not support the major Canadian 3g bands. It is quad band 2g, which is why you are able to get edge but it is only 2 band 3g, at least according to this spec sheet:
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=2439&c=samsung_sgh-t959_galaxy_s_vibrant
T-mobile uses the 1700 and 2100 UMTS bands for 3g, Bell/Rogers/Telus/Virgin/Fido use 850/1900 UMTS bands for 3g. Therefore the 3g radio on the Vibrant is not compatible with these networks.
However, WIND mobile uses the 1700/2100 UMTS bands for 3g and you can use unlocked T-Mobile phones to their full ability on Wind's network. Wind is only in major urban centres though so this may not help you if you're not in the city. Hopefully you are as Wind has a pretty sweet unlimited data plan!
http://shop.windmobile.ca/
On the other hand according this this article from Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/22/confirmed-galaxy-s-unlock-codes-are-stored-in-your-phone-vibra/
If they're right that the Vibrant is somehow capable of AT&T 3g, it would mean the phone has to be tri-band UMTS: 850, 1700, 2100 (or 1700,1900,2100) as AT&T uses the 850/1900 bands like Rogers/Bell/Telus.
This doesn't make sense to me why T-Mobile would do this. The 850/1900 bands are really only used in North America on competing carriers, so it doesn't give the phone "world" capabilities, the 2100 band does that. Why they would add a feature who's only purpose is to make the phone work on competitors' networks is a mystery to me but Engadget seems to have a picture that confirms it. If this is true than an unlocked Vibrant should technically be able to work on Rogers/Bell/Telus/Fido/Virgin 3g, but only if it is unlocked. I'm pretty sure that T-Mobile sells their phones SIM locked to their network, have you unlocked yours?
~Edit if it does have 1900 as the third band the above posters are correct in that you will get minimal 3g coverage as 850 is the primary in Canada.
yeah i wanted to switch to Wind Mobile for the $35 true unlimited data plan, until i found out they don't work with normal 850/1900/2100 phones
only 1700 / 2100