Database Users

Why Cant I Get Edge Data? (Cingular)

Over the last few weeks Ive noticed that I can no longer get Edge data on my 8125. It seemingly happened overnight. Ive been in Florida and Chicago and both coverage maps show Edge as being available and Ive used it in the past. Therefore, Im thinking its some type of internal issue with my device. I can only receive GPRS. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Please help.

hayseed said:
Over the last few weeks Ive noticed that I can no longer get Edge data on my 8125. It seemingly happened overnight. Ive been in Florida and Chicago and both coverage maps show Edge as being available and Ive used it in the past. Therefore, Im thinking its some type of internal issue with my device. I can only receive GPRS. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Please help.
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I have had loss of Data entirely with some of the new radio/wm6 combos
it is usually solved by soft reset.
what GSM version do you have 2.19, 2.25, 2.47, 2.61, something else?
I have had dataproblems with 2.47 and 2.61 but then again i got wm6 at the same time so it could be that.
Post the rom version you are using also.

Im using ROM version 2.25.11.1 WWE. Not sure what GSM version. How can I tell?

hayseed said:
Im using ROM version 2.25.11.1 WWE. Not sure what GSM version. How can I tell?
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when it loads up
IPL x.xxxx
SPL x.xxx
GSM x.xxx
OS x.xxx
Just so you know the GSM = Rodio version
The thing i have noticed is that things get messed up on WM phones just like they do on windows computers. Flashing a phone can make problems go away. I am addicted to flashing my phones. recently I have been doing it at least once a day. If you have wireless active sync and a big storage card flashing your phone doesn't slow you down a bit.
I guess what I am saying is try reflashing your phone, or changing the radio only or a simple hard reset, then see if you get your edge back.

I lost my Edge data too
Around the first of February, my phone quit receiving edge data in my home town. icould receive it fine in other areas, but it just went away at home.
four calls to cingular all said the same thing. "We don't offer edge in your area". This despite the fact that I've been using it and paying $45 per month for the past 5 months.
I think I must have been getting a signal from a third party and that party no longer plays nice with ATT.

zanda61 said:
Around the first of February, my phone quit receiving edge data in my home town. icould receive it fine in other areas, but it just went away at home.
four calls to cingular all said the same thing. "We don't offer edge in your area". This despite the fact that I've been using it and paying $45 per month for the past 5 months.
I think I must have been getting a signal from a third party and that party no longer plays nice with ATT.
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How can you tell the difference aside from the speed of it. If you have the reghack to make the "E" icon appear does it change to "G" when you have no EDGE?
I don't think I have ever not gotten EDGE anywhere I have been. I am just kind of curious how you know that you aren't getting it.

I'm curious too
My phone always showed an "E" for edge data just about everywhere I went (I live in SE Kansas). Around the first of February, the "E" changed to a "G" and the data rate slowed to the range called "unusable". I bought the "unlimited" data package and was using the phone to stream xm radio for about 30 minutes a day.
After the "E" went away where I live, I took the phone to Kansas City and the "E" returned, so I don't think the phone was having problems. According the Cingular's service maps, my town is in their "extended" area, meaning I'm probably roaming on someone elses tower (probably Alltel). I noticed that Sprint and Alltell recently inked a deal to share their towers and I notice that both Sprint and Alltell offer their 70k bandwidth data in my area. My guess is Cingular decided I was being a little too "unlimited" so the gave me the axe. I called and cancelled the $40 per month charge.
I've talked to people in Rural SE Kansas who have been called by Cingular and told they are being dropped as a customer because they are making a high percentage of their calls from towers that aren't owned by Cingular.
I've made a big investment in phones with Cingular and will stay on as a customer. My hope is that they'll roll out the data carpet here again soon. If not, I'll switch to Sprint or Alltel....I just hate that little antenna though.

alltel and Cingular
Say what. Altell and Sprint run off of a diffrent network technologies than GSM. I'm sure this might have been do to some roaming agreements expiring. I know that some T-mobile roaming agreements have expired with Cingular and they probably arn't going to renew them. You were probably roaming on another providers network but I can guarantee that it wasn't sprint, verizon or alltell they are not gsm

sandrobber said:
Say what. Altell and Sprint run off of a diffrent network technologies than GSM. I'm sure this might have been do to some roaming agreements expiring. I know that some T-mobile roaming agreements have expired with Cingular and they probably arn't going to renew them. You were probably roaming on another providers network but I can guarantee that it wasn't sprint, verizon or alltell they are not gsm
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An interesting topic, I knew that the formentioned companies were not GSM, however I just got thinking about roaming and coverage with GSM. Does anyone have definative list of what GSM companies have roaming agreements with what other companies and how that works?
I use a company called UNICEL they have the lock down in my area, Vermont, being that vermont and other areas that UNICEL covers are heavily trafficed by tourists that use Cingular or T-Mobile I know that UNICEL has gotten good roaming agreements with them. In fact I have even gotten access credits when my data didn't work on Long Island, NY for an afternoon (I thought that was pretty cool that UNICEL gave me money back on my nation wide data when I was on Cingular's network)
Anyway I wonder if little old UNICEL has such nice arangements in place with other little providers. Perhaps I try to get that info and start a thread about it so others can give info about there networks. It could be a pretty good or at least interesting network.
zanda61 the other thing I find interesting is that your "home area" is not in the Cingular network, I have known quite a few people that have been dropped for doing this. How are you able to maintain your plan? Do you frenquent an area that has Cingular coverage and make calls there?

Phone Home
When I signed up over the telephone, the sales rep said nothing about me not being in their "home" area. I simply made the assumption that they wanted the business so they were offering phones nationwide. We have a family plan with rollover and rarely use our monthly allotment of minutes. Also, my daughter lives in KC so she makes all of her calls on the home network.
We've been customers for about 4 years now and they've never said a word about our usage habits.
I know Sprint and Alltel use cdma phones, but they are the only other carriers in this area. I don't know that much about the radios other than they use a different frequency. But don't they both offer phones with radios that will work at different frequencies?
By the way, thanks for writing back. I hope I haven't hijacked this thread but this stuff is fascinating to me.

New Sim card

So after having problems with the new Radio i called up t mobile to just give them BS and they were like maybe it is your 7 year old SIM card causing you the problems. I didn't think it mattered that much at all. So they told me to go get a new SIM card in the store. Free of charge. After getting the new SIM card, i have full 3G all the time no matter where i am at in the twin cities in MN. Not sure why the new SIM card fixed it but it did.

Thats cool. I had the same problem with my g1 the sim just died 2 nights ago. I went into the store they told me $20. But I had 2 old sim cards at home. I called them up actived it and it was free

Wow, that is one old sim card...I didn't even know tmobile has been in the usa that long. Mine is 3 years old and has not had any 3G issues.

well i have been with t-mobile since they were called voicestream. which if i remember right means i have been with them for over 7 years now.

Prod1702 said:
So after having problems with the new Radio i called up t mobile to just give them BS and they were like maybe it is your 7 year old SIM card causing you the problems. I didn't think it mattered that much at all. So they told me to go get a new SIM card in the store. Free of charge. After getting the new SIM card, i have full 3G all the time no matter where i am at in the twin cities in MN. Not sure why the new SIM card fixed it but it did.
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In general, the SIM card does very little, but it does have some info on it, and so forth. ie, AT&T 3G only works if you have an AT&T 3G sim card... I do not know the technical reasons behind it, but old sim cards can cause issues, especially with 3G.

I too have been with them for 7 years now, and I get 3G. But now I am wondering if I'm not getting it in certain areas, or getting less than perfect connection because of my old sim card?

Prod1702 said:
well i have been with t-mobile since they were called voicestream. which if i remember right means i have been with them for over 7 years now.
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I have been, too. And it's really annoying that it says "Vstream" in the carrier field on the lock screen...
Does yours do that?
My last two phones (SE P900 and SE P1i) both were smart enough to pull the actual carrier information and displayed T-Mobile (or whoever I was roaming on)... how can this phone not see that?
I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what file in the ROM translates the carrier info to the text.. where the hell does it pull that from?
I'm assuming if I go over to Tmobile I can get a new SIM that will have the proper carrier info, but... hell... I'm lazy and I'm not having any 3G issues... and I dont' want them to charge me.
Any ideas? So far you're the only other person I've seen that's also been a Vstream member.
Oh and.. yes... I started with Voice Stream by importing the very first color phone (AFAIK).. the SE T68i. I bought it in spring 2002 right when it came out http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=116
So... I've had this sim card for just shy of 8 years.

mikebeatrice said:
I have been, too. And it's really annoying that it says "Vstream" in the carrier field on the lock screen...
Does yours do that?
My last two phones (SE P900 and SE P1i) both were smart enough to pull the actual carrier information and displayed T-Mobile (or whoever I was roaming on)... how can this phone not see that?
I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what file in the ROM translates the carrier info to the text.. where the hell does it pull that from?
I'm assuming if I go over to Tmobile I can get a new SIM that will have the proper carrier info, but... hell... I'm lazy and I'm not having any 3G issues... and I dont' want them to charge me.
Any ideas? So far you're the only other person I've seen that's also been a Vstream member.
Oh and.. yes... I started with Voice Stream by importing the very first color phone (AFAIK).. the SE T68i. I bought it in spring 2002 right when it came out http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=116
So... I've had this sim card for just shy of 8 years.
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Holy Crap I remember that phone!

pjcforpres said:
In general, the SIM card does very little, but it does have some info on it, and so forth. ie, AT&T 3G only works if you have an AT&T 3G sim card... I do not know the technical reasons behind it, but old sim cards can cause issues, especially with 3G.
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Click to collapse
I can tell you that you don't need a "3G" USIM to use the AT&T UMTS network. They way you're supposed to build a 3g network is by requiring 64K or better encryption on SIM cards. 2G Sims are 32K. AT&T, being the lazy cheapskates they are hacked it into their deployment so that they didn't have to give everyone new cards. It's stupid because they tell all their front line staff to give people new cards anyway.
In my years working for them, I can count on one hand the number of people who have had 3G issues "caused" by a 2G card. In all of those cases it was probably a coincidence. I. Fact I never had any reception issue fixed by a new card. OTA updates? Yes, of course. You don't need to waste your time fetching a new card. Just a phone call and it's done.
So if you're concerned, have a customer service agent update your SIM profile. A new card is a waste of time, the only time you might see a benefit is when changing a card triggers the OTA sim update.

ATnTdude said:
I can tell you that you don't need a "3G" USIM to use the AT&T UMTS network. They way you're supposed to build a 3g network is by requiring 64K or better encryption on SIM cards. 2G Sims are 32K. AT&T, being the lazy cheapskates they are hacked it into their deployment so that they didn't have to give everyone new cards. It's stupid because they tell all their front line staff to give people new cards anyway.
In my years working for them, I can count on one hand the number of people who have had 3G issues "caused" by a 2G card. In all of those cases it was probably a coincidence. I. Fact I never had any reception issue fixed by a new card. OTA updates? Yes, of course. You don't need to waste your time fetching a new card. Just a phone call and it's done.
So if you're concerned, have a customer service agent update your SIM profile. A new card is a waste of time, the only time you might see a benefit is when changing a card triggers the OTA sim update.
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Interesting... I know that SIMs very rarely are the true source, and the only time I had heard of it being so was when people had a 2G SIM when using a 3G device; ie the 32K versus 64K encryption. I thought there was no way around it, for technical reasons beyond my knowledge base. My limited understanding was that the 32K SIMs were missing certain technical protocol for a 3G network to recognize them as part of the 3G network, essentially.
I work for a carrier, btw, and am one of the few sales agents in my area that even knows how to refresh services and what not... actually, I used to have to call up CS and explain to them what needed to be done until my manager gave me the power to do it myself.

pjcforpres said:
Interesting... I know that SIMs very rarely are the true source, and the only time I had heard of it being so was when people had a 2G SIM when using a 3G device; ie the 32K versus 64K encryption. I thought there was no way around it, for technical reasons beyond my knowledge base. My limited understanding was that the 32K SIMs were missing certain technical protocol for a 3G network to recognize them as part of the 3G network, essentially.
I work for a carrier, btw, and am one of the few sales agents in my area that even knows how to refresh services and what not... actually, I used to have to call up CS and explain to them what needed to be done until my manager gave me the power to do it myself.
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I stopped in Tmobile today and they replaced my SIM for free since it was nearly 8 years old (and was saying Vstream, which was annoying). Pretty sure it was a 32k sim. I didn't think I was having 3G/2G connectivity issues, but I'm pretty sure after I got the new SIM in there it started locking onto 3G signals faster and stays there steadily. I noticed it mainly on my train ride home where I would regularly drop to 2G... seemed like it didn't happen nearly as much.

mikebeatrice said:
... Oh and.. yes... I started with Voice Stream by importing the very first color phone (AFAIK).. the SE T68i. I bought it in spring 2002 right when it came out http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=116
So... I've had this sim card for just shy of 8 years.
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Click to collapse
Off-topic but LOL. SE T68i... I still have mine as a "backup" phone (SIM unlocked). It's small and it still works... Was actually a great phone.
Cheers,
Kermee

Kermee said:
Off-topic but LOL. SE T68i... I still have mine as a "backup" phone (SIM unlocked). It's small and it still works... Was actually a great phone.
Cheers,
Kermee
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I gave mine to my friend when I picked up the P900. He's gone through another phone since then (treo 650... he managed to put it in the clothes washer within 6 months of getting it) and is now back on the T68i.
Those SE phones are REALLY solid. I've always had a great experience with them, I just got sick of importing them to the US (and in the case of the P1i, not working on Tmob's 3G network.. bastard)... of course they announce the X10 coming to the US on Tmob like a week after I get the Nexus... ah well.
But.. yea.. T68i... one tough little bastard of a phone. The original battery is finally starting to not hold as good of a charge. Not too shabby for an 8 year old phone that's been used almost every day.

HD2 (T9193) & AT&T Microcell anyone?

Hi all,
I have an HD2, T9193 (Telstra model), running Artemis v9.0 & radio 2.09. It works nicely with AT&T here in the US (including 3G), except for coverage in my house (I know - you're all shocked that AT&T has coverage issues ). Anyway, I decided to buy an AT&T Microcell to improve things here at home, but my HD2 doesn't seem to want to connect to it. Since the HD2 isn't an official AT&T phone I had to use my wife's phone (my old AT&T Fuze/HTC TouchPro) to set up the account. The Fuze seems to be able to connect fine (5 3G bars all over the house). I added my HD2 cell number to the Microcell whitelist and went through all the resets etc. that they recommend for troubleshooting, but nothing seems to work.
The only thing I can think of is that AT&T isn't licensed for 850MHz where I live (west of Boston), so the Microcell is only configured for 1900MHz on 3G, which isn't supported on the T9193. As I understand it AT&T uses the GPS location data they get over the network connection to configure the microcell.
Has anyone else had any experience with this setup?
Thanx.
John

same problem
Ive had my HD2 (T9193) for a few days and have no luck connecting to the 3g microcell, let me know if you haveany luck.
I am in california btw

Ditto
Im in PA and spent over an hour with tech support yesterday trying to get it to work. I'm returning the unit today and exchanging it for a new one per their advice. If the new one doesn't work I'll be giving up.

It wont work
Ok, I got a new one last night and again spent 2 hours with support and I couldn't get it it to work. I don't know why it wont. I'm giving up till someone can post some sort of voodoo to make this work.

Is ATT broadcasting on 3G 850 where you are?

I also just spent a long time on the phone with AT&T enterprise care. They couldn't get my HD2 to work with a micro cell. Their thought was that the micro cell was using 1900 because this market is an 850 market and the micro cell might be configured to avoid causing interference with other users. Of course, this was conjecture. I'm going to test the micro cell at the office tomorrow where I have access to other phones to test with.

If you're able to test with other phones, read up on the various test apps that are out there so you can clearly read what the microcell is broadcasting on. E.g. the fieldtest mode of the iphone, theres an old network details app for winmo, etc.

Att Razor, Att Samsung Eternity both work on Microcell but not my HTC Telstra HD2
IME not registered with ATT could be the culprit but ATT would slap $40 data plan to register it.
A listing exclusive for HD2 for now until work around.
Kokkos

I tested with an old Samsung BlackJack and it saw the microcell immediately when using my SIM, even though AT&T still had my HD2's IMEI registered. I moved the SIM back to the HD2 and cannot associate with the microcell.
Kokkos said:
A listing exclusive for HD2 for now until work around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by this? What is a "listing exclusive for HD2," how does one get it, and does it really allow the T9193 to work with the AT&T microcell?

AT&T responds...
The tier-2 AT&T guy who was helping me last night just called me back. He did some more checking after we spoke and learned that the AT&T Micro Cell is configured to work only with AT&T-sold devices, not unlocked devices used on their network.
He pointed me to page 7 of the User Manual where it says in the Performance Highlights box, "Supports AT&T 3G wireless phones and devices." Apparently, this is to rule out non-AT&T-sold 3G devices.
I suspect that changing the IMEI or ESN or whatever the "unique hardware identifier" is might work, but I'm not willing to screw with my HD2 to find out and discussions about that kind topic are frowned upon on XDA.
My Micro Cell is being returned as it doesn't work for non-AT&T devices.

manicotti said:
I tested with an old Samsung BlackJack and it saw the microcell immediately when using my SIM, even though AT&T still had my HD2's IMEI registered. I moved the SIM back to the HD2 and cannot associate with the microcell.
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Click to collapse
Again... if you could load up a field test app that would be great. For the BlackJack, punch in *#0011#, see if you can find the frequency. If not, try browsing to Windows/Test Mode/Test Mode.exe, look for the frequency. Lastly, try http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2219019&postcount=2
manicotti said:
The tier-2 AT&T guy who was helping me last night just called me back. He did some more checking after we spoke and learned that the AT&T Micro Cell is configured to work only with AT&T-sold devices, not unlocked devices used on their network.
He pointed me to page 7 of the User Manual where it says in the Performance Highlights box, "Supports AT&T 3G wireless phones and devices." Apparently, this is to rule out non-AT&T-sold 3G devices.
I suspect that changing the IMEI or ESN or whatever the "unique hardware identifier" is might work, but I'm not willing to screw with my HD2 to find out and discussions about that kind topic are frowned upon on XDA.
My Micro Cell is being returned as it doesn't work for non-AT&T devices.
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Click to collapse
I'm not convinced. AT&T would put that down to differentiate between their 3g vs. Verizon, et. al.; not to differentiate between devices they sell and devices that are compatible with their 3G. Further, the amount of 3rd-party-but-still-3G-compatible-devices out there are extremely low relative to everyone else, particularly those who buy 3rd party phones and are stuck on EDGE. It just wouldn't make sense to write down that line and have it mean that - it comes across as extremely nit-picky. The only worthwhile carrier that has 3G overlap is Telstra, and I can assure you the number of Telstra 3G phones stateside are rounding errors.
It's possible that it only supports valid ATT IMEIs and there's a footnote in some internal technical document, but it's also possible it's just broadcasting on 1900 3G for all of you . Can you escalate beyond tier-2?

I think the problem is the lack of 1900mhz band on Telstra phones. My Telstra Touch HD will not connect to my microcell, but my unlocked Nokia E71 and N97 mini have no problem. Sad since the microcell gives five bars throughout the entire house!

rastx said:
I think the problem is the lack of 1900mhz band on Telstra phones. My Telstra Touch HD will not connect to my microcell, but my unlocked Nokia E71 and N97 mini have no problem. Sad since the microcell gives five bars throughout the entire house!
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Wow, great post! N97 was never officially released on ATT but yet it works. The microcell is supposed to be able to use both frequencys (850 or 1900), but from this thread, it seems to prefer 1900? Maybe manicotti can get a Tier-3 rep to throw a "force 850" switch.

I also had both an E71-2 and N97 Mini using Microcell today and they worked fine, as long as I didn't move. I'm having problems with both Nokias keeping a signal and I tried the Microcell to see if it would fix it. It didn't. They both dropped calls when I went outside and had a path to the local tower. Iphone worked flawless with and without MCell.
Cheers

AT&T speaks
Our rep got back to me on Thursday. Unfortunately, it looks like no micro cell for my HD2 in the Philadelphia market.
She wrote "Regarding the micro cell, it's not going to work for the device you are using, but it's actually not due to it being a non-AT&T phone. I have been advised that activation of it is not based off IMEI. It is not picking up your device because the MicroCells in our market are purely 1900mhz, they will pick up any device activated with an AT&T number with 1900mhz. So, if you get, have or use a device with that, the MicroCell should be useful,otherwise it will not be."
I have asked if there is a "force 850" setting and why the micro cell uses 1900 here? (My guess is that the microcell always uses the "opposite" frequency of the market it's in. Of course, the first tech guy that I spoke to told me the exact opposite, but he's the one who came up with the IMEI thing and he said it as a certainty rather than as a guess.)

OK, let's get a few things straight.
I have the same issue, a T9193 and a microcell.
When you enter phone numbers online that will use the microcell, AT&T's computer sends the IMEI number associated with that phone number to the microcell.
Since my T9193 IMEI is not on AT&Ts network, the microcell cannot "see" the phone....it is looking for my old Tilt2.
When they entered the IMEI number for my T9193 into AT&Ts system, it told them it is a 2G phone. Now, I took a chance on this as I may not even get 3G from an AT&T tower anymore.
However, the good part is my microcell MIGHT recognize my phone.
I will test later this week (I am traveling) and revert with the results.

Well two things...
1. Thank God for you guys...I was pulling my flipping hair out on this. Same issue as the rest of you and no luck. More than one unlocked phone and a few ATT handsets all work great (including my family and friends). Just my Telstra HD2.
2. How much does this suck? If anybody figures out a way to make the Microcell operate on 850 (assuming the hardware that Cisco ships them is even capable) please reply on this thread.

HD2 T9193 and AT&T micorcell NOT wokring even with proper IMEI number
Good day,
Unfortunately I am in the same boat with my HD2 T9193 not working with the microcell from AT&T.
I called AT&T support and had them update their records to reflect my HD2's IMEI (they had my HTC Athena IMEI on record). Rebooted my phone BUT no joy. My family all have iPhone’s (3GS and 4) and they pick up the M.cell connection immediately.
So I guess the microcell transmits at 1900 not 850 and I am SOL.
Anyone have a solution for us HD2 users, please don't hesitate to share the news.
;(
Thanks,

anyone ever get their HD2 to work?

No HSPA+ speed, try getting free replacement Sim card

So I've been disappointed with the network speed of my G2, and I confirmed with T-Mobile's coverage map that HSPA+ is live in my town. Went online and chatted with TMO's customer service (which is always great IMO), and he said I need to replace my old sim card with a free new one that is 3G/4G compatible. He put a note on my account and said I just need to stop by one of their stores to switch it out! Going on my lunch break today. Geez, I've had the phone for over a month and this was the problem all along. Will update later, hope this helps anyone in the same boat.

Hey Keith,
Dude the SIM card won't do a thing....They told me the same thing, and it actually made my speed slower the first few days...
As for the HSPA+ speeds, it seems there is a bug witht eh G2. Thesre are other posts in this forum that talk about waiting for another OTA to fix that maybe by the end of the month, maybe Dec. Once the my4g came out it was evident that the G2 was not hitting the speeds available.
I usually get about 2.5 Mbps, but have hit ocasionally the 4's, and once 6 point something...
Hope it helps.

Crey, that sucks but I'm going to try the new simcard anyway
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Sim card has nothing to do with your hspa speeds. All your sim card does is let the phone know your info. It doesn't control / affect your 3g / hspa speeds. Go for it though. If that makes you feel comfortable its worth the shot then. Just letting you know so you won't be disappointed in the end. Gl bro.
[G2/HTC Vision]

Yeah, I went into the store a few days after getting the phone to get my sim replaced. For some reason whenever I buy a new phone they always take the new sim out of the box and put it behind their counter and take my old sim and put it in the new phone. Hopefully the new sim they gave me is the latest and greatest. Anyone know what the new sims look like?
KeithRVA said:
So I've been disappointed with the network speed of my G2, and I confirmed with T-Mobile's coverage map that HSPA+ is live in my town. Went online and chatted with TMO's customer service (which is always great IMO), and he said I need to replace my old sim card with a free new one that is 3G/4G compatible. He put a note on my account and said I just need to stop by one of their stores to switch it out! Going on my lunch break today. Geez, I've had the phone for over a month and this was the problem all along. Will update later, hope this helps anyone in the same boat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

luis86dr said:
Sim card has nothing to do with your hspa speeds. All your sim card does is let the phone know your info. It doesn't control / affect your 3g / hspa speeds. Go for it though. If that makes you feel comfortable its worth the shot then. Just letting you know so you won't be disappointed in the end. Gl bro.
[G2/HTC Vision]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The TMo rep is full of it then. He said I was getting a "new 3G/4G compatible simcard". Well, it's worth a shot but I'll know not to take the card back if it doesn't work.

Can't remember his name, but there was a user who commented on a previous post similar to this. His sim card was about 8 years old and he was hitting about 7 mb/s with hspa. I think its just your area. I inserted the sim that came with the phone and I get crappy hspa speeds. My area isn't fully supported. I top out at 3.5 mb/s. So its all depending on your area bro. Give it time. Hspa will expand more. Its brand new.
[G2/HTC Vision]

While it won't do much for speeds, getting a new UICC SIM is good as the older sim cars are running into what is known as ' sim exhaustion' from reaching their registration limit (90,000 times) while this may seem like a lot, it doesn't take much with the newer 3G/HSPA towers.
Each time you enter the radius of a new tower, your device registers to it (basic description) - your phone does this a lot each day, especially if you travel a good deal.
The new UICC sim cards do not have a registration limit, and do not reach exhaustion. They are marked on one side of the sim by the numbers TM 9073. If you don't see that, your sim isn't UICC.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Got my new simcard, it does have the TM9073 marking, and the gold contact area on the back looks different, its smaller. Ran a speedtest inside the T-Mobile store and got 4mbp down and 3mbp up. Not great but better than I ever got with my old simcard. Back inside my office I ran speedtest again and it was the same as before, a crappy 1.30mbp down and a little better 1.5mbp up. But still a little boost from the old card. Guess it's worth it to get a new free simcard if you have an old one.

If you can get a new SIM card, it'll be worth it. Though I doubt it will have any influence on network speed, I know I had to get a new one. Mine was running on seven years old!
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

After reading this thread, I called T-Mo as well and the 2nd tech i talked to saw that I had the old G1 card in my phone and arranged a free one to be picked up at a local store (this after the first time i called was told that it was the cookies in my browser causing the internet speed to be slow and wanted to remotely delete them (they can do that?) I was like WHOA!!! I LIKE MY COOKIES!! she then told me it was because i needed to pull the battery once a week and because i had not been doing that, that also was causing the slow data..lol hung up on her and called back) even though i didn't see any increase in my office, i did see an increase on the street..nyc.

[Q] Straight Talk vs TracFone

I plan on switching from AT&T to Straight Talk. Right now, AT&T provides good reception here. TracFones have terrible reception here. Will Straight Talk also have bad reception here?

Straight Talk uses AT&T towers so you'll get whatever signal AT&T does (well 1/2 of them do - the other half uses TMobile so make sure to choose when signing up).
Oddly enough, Tracfone does use AT&T as well and is also part of the same company as Straight Talk, all owned by Carlos Slim - Richest man in the world, so even Tracfone should get the same signal as Straight talk. The good thing is that there is no contract so you can try out ALL of them and see what works best for you.
(actually more like 1/3 since they use Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile depending on your plan - so you might be comparing Tracfone on T-Mobile to a normal AT&T phone).

xda6969 said:
I plan on switching from AT&T to Straight Talk. Right now, AT&T provides good reception here. TracFones have terrible reception here. Will Straight Talk also have bad reception here?
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Click to collapse
The other thing is TracFones are low quality devices and poor reception could have a lot to do with that. The settings in your APN (which are different between the two) will not affect signal strength but will affect data speed. You should get as strong a signal as anyone else on ATT. Data speed may be lower because of the N4 and 4g.

shotta35 said:
Straight Talk uses AT&T towers so you'll get whatever signal AT&T does (well 1/2 of them do - the other half uses TMobile so make sure to choose when signing up).
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The Straight Talk site is leaving me with some questions. I want to transfer my AT&T number. Once I get the phone, I'm sure I need to go to Activate/Reactivate-Transfer Number. The next screen requires that I give them the Phone IMEI and some other info. Will I get the option to select AT&T towers on a later screen?

Tracfone has cdma and gsm (att/tmo) services, so 3 things could be going on.
1) Tracfone is cdma so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
2) Tracfone is tmo gsm so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
3) Tracfone is att gsm so straight talk may not work for you and the reason att gets a solid signal is because it's roaming.

xda6969 said:
The Straight Talk site is leaving me with some questions. I want to transfer my AT&T number. Once I get the phone, I'm sure I need to go to Activate/Reactivate-Transfer Number. The next screen requires that I give them the Phone IMEI and some other info. Will I get the option to select AT&T towers on a later screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are activating from the site then it probably checks your IMEI to see what phone it is then puts you on the correct track. By choosing SIM Plan you choose CDMA, 850Mhz (AT&T) or TMobile which then gives you the right SIM (or none).
If you use a nexus 4 i hear they don't know that IMEI so you'll just have to find that one they suggest or call them or whatever.

threeclaws said:
Tracfone has cdma and gsm (att/tmo) services, so 3 things could be going on.
1) Tracfone is cdma so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
2) Tracfone is tmo gsm so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
3) Tracfone is att gsm so straight talk may not work for you and the reason att gets a solid signal is because it's roaming.
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Click to collapse
I just got off the phone with TracFone/Straight Talk (after a 45 min wait) and they verified the 2 TracFones here are using AT&T's network. I hope the problem with the TracFone signals here are the cheap phones and the Nexus 4 will prove to be better. I don't think I am roaming with my phone. I don't have the Nexus 4 yet. I am using the Nokia N85. I don't see a roaming icon on it although I am not sure it even has one. I can't order the SIM now because the N85 takes a standard SIM and I beleive the Nexus 4 takes a micro SIM. If I order the Straght Talk SIM and transfer my number to it, I don't think I can put it in the N85 to use while I wait for the Nexus 4 to return to stock.

The N85 has a spring loaded slot? In any case, the MicroSIMs come in a SIM card cut out which includes a MINISIM which you then break the MicroSIM out of. To use it on a normal phone you just slide it back into the MiniSIM cutout (adapter) and then slide it into your N85. Once the N4 comes you can then take out it's adapter and slide just the MicroSIM into the Nexus 4.

xda6969 said:
I just got off the phone with TracFone/Straight Talk (after a 45 min wait) and they verified the 2 TracFones here are using AT&T's network. I hope the problem with the TracFone signals here are the cheap phones and the Nexus 4 will prove to be better. I don't think I am roaming with my phone. I don't have the Nexus 4 yet. I am using the Nokia N85. I don't see a roaming icon on it although I am not sure it even has one. I can't order the SIM now because the N85 takes a standard SIM and I beleive the Nexus 4 takes a micro SIM. If I order the Straght Talk SIM and transfer my number to it, I don't think I can put it in the N85 to use while I wait for the Nexus 4 to return to stock.
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Yeah I have no idea how to check for roaming on an n85, I wish you luck though although in my experience cheap dumb phones have gotten better reception that my smartphones
shotta35 said:
The N85 has a spring loaded slot? In any case, the MicroSIMs come in a SIM card cut out which includes a MINISIM which you then break the MicroSIM out of. To use it on a normal phone you just slide it back into the MiniSIM cutout (adapter) and then slide it into your N85. Once the N4 comes you can then take out it's adapter and slide just the MicroSIM into the Nexus 4.
Click to expand...
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My ST MicroSIM didn't come with any kind of adapter.

threeclaws said:
Yeah I have no idea how to check for roaming on an n85, I wish you luck though although in my experience cheap dumb phones have gotten better reception that my smartphones
My ST MicroSIM didn't come with any kind of adapter.
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I was just going to ask this question next. Perhaps ST doesn't do the cut-out/adaptor with their SIMs. Darn. It would have been nice to get started and compare it vs AT&T on the N85. The N85 does have a spring-loaded slot. Here is an excellent article about SIM adaptors and possible damage from using them.
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/14444_The_Curse_of_Micro_SIM_Adapter.php

As I thought, the ST AT&T sim doesn't give me strong signal strength on the Nexus 4 like the genuine AT&T sim does on the Nokia N85. I do not know how to check the actual db on the Nokia so I can't get the actual numbers. I suspect AT&T assigns the lowest priority to third parties leasing their lines...or someting to that effect. I can get stronger signal by selecting 2G speed only on the Nexus 4 but it sucks to have to do that.

I don't believe that for a second. signal bars between different phones are not standardized at all.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

I would like to find out the actual signal in db on the N85. Then I have actual number to compare. I do know that my first call yesterday with ST dropped within a minute. I don't have that issue with the genuine AT&T service phone.