Database Users

3G O2 Exec while visiting USA- which/how network to choose?!

Chaps,
My other half uses her O2 xda Exec with a work supplied 3G vodafone SIM. It works fine in the UK and she did a good job getting it set up with the right 3G UK vodafone settings etc- well done her!
Question is...
She's now working in the USA for a few days. The xda has found a network and can use it - great stuff but no 3G....
How can she determine what network its using over there - is this selectable somewhere (I couldn't find the option)?
Based on the network what would the settings be to allow her to use 3G!? Anyone help?
Thanks

USA doesn't have 3G. It's also why the universal isnt popular in USA. I feel sorry for em. :lol:

RyanZA said:
USA doesn't have 3G. It's also why the universal isnt popular in USA. I feel sorry for em. :lol:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh bugger! You mean we're ahead of America on something!?
I can't believe silicon valley doesn't have 3G, I guess they have wireless hotspot all over....

T-Mobile US have mumbled something about enabling UMTS "in 2006" but I rather want to see it than hear about it.
The rest of the US carriers use fancy 1xRTT data protocols over CDMA networks - not compatible with GSM. People in the US still wonder what the "G" stands for ;-)

Blame it on our military. Those bands are owned by the US Gov. Just recently I have heard news of businesses getting access to those bands. And there was much rejoicing...

who ever said the us doesn't have 3G?
i live in houston and when i got the universal i did some reaserch:
i found that verison wireless has 3G on their devices, but they dont use sim cards, so they wont help...
but i now have cingular wireless, and it works great, but it is a bit pricy...
i believe about $45 per month...
so if you were just going to visit the us, then i would sugest to you that you go with t-mobile using the GPRS,
yes i know it is slow, but if you are only going to be using it for a little bit i think it would be fine. I believe the GPRS is $19.99.
so it really depends if you really think you need the 3G service...
if you dont think so then get GPRS, the exec can use it, and its not all that bad

It is true that the US does not have 3G but your Tri-Band GSM device will work perfectly fine. With the proper settings you can even surfe the WEB at 32k just no high speed for things like video calls.
I use my Exec quite often in various places in the US without any problems.

Arc not 3G compatible in US?

Hello,
Maybe you guys can help me clarify something for me. I want to buy this phone and get the unlocked version. Only problem is no matter which seller I'm looking at on Ebay they're all saying "3G Not compatible in the U.S" which means I'll be running at 2G and I actually considered this ok because i really want to this phone. But I want to know why it won't work? If it's a GSM phone and it would work with AT&T & T-Mobile my local carriers why wouldn't it give me 3G speeds?
I really want this phone because I wanted something different, something you won't see out here much. Plus I wanted to get back to Sony phones after playing with other manufactors. Can anyone help clear this is up for me?

Nishua said:
But I want to know why it won't work? If it's a GSM phone and it would work with AT&T & T-Mobile my local carriers why wouldn't it give me 3G speeds?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the same reason that a T-Mobile US GSM handset won't give you 3G on AT&T - it's the wrong frequency.
Most of the world uses the 2100MHz band for UMTS/HSDPA but AT&T are awkward and use 1900MHz and 850MHz and T-Mobile are even more awkward and use the extremely unusual 1700MHz band.

Nishua said:
Hello,
Maybe you guys can help me clarify something for me. I want to buy this phone and get the unlocked version. Only problem is no matter which seller I'm looking at on Ebay they're all saying "3G Not compatible in the U.S" which means I'll be running at 2G and I actually considered this ok because i really want to this phone. But I want to know why it won't work? If it's a GSM phone and it would work with AT&T & T-Mobile my local carriers why wouldn't it give me 3G speeds?
I really want this phone because I wanted something different, something you won't see out here much. Plus I wanted to get back to Sony phones after playing with other manufactors. Can anyone help clear this is up for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LT15i = T-Mobile 3G bands
LT15a = AT&T 3G bands

augie7107 said:
LT15i = T-Mobile 3G bands
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, the LT15i doesn't support the AWS (1700MHz) band so it won't support T-Mobile US's 3G service.

Step666 said:
No, the LT15i doesn't support the AWS (1700MHz) band so it won't support T-Mobile US's 3G service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile also uses 2100

Hmm I thought that tmobile U. S used the same 3G bands as europe. So in theory it should work right?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

augie7107 said:
T-Mobile also uses 2100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No they don't.
T-Mobile's 3G uses a ~1700MHz frequency to upload and a ~2100MHz frequency to download, this is the '1700MHz band', also referred to as 'AWS' or 'UMTS band IV'.
Compare this to the '2100MHz band' ( or 'UMTS band I') which uses a frequency of ~1900MHz to upload and a frequency of ~2100MHz to download. The two are not cross-compatible.
The LT15i supports the 2100MHz band but not the 1700MHz band, so no 3G on T-Mobile.
If you don't believe me, feel free to read this thread on T-Mobile US's own site.
People with handsets that only support the 2100MHz band don't get 3G service.
Hero Yu said:
Hmm I thought that tmobile U. S used the same 3G bands as europe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't.

[No they don't.
T-Mobile's 3G uses a ~1700MHz frequency to upload and a ~2100MHz frequency to download, this is the '1700MHz band', also referred to as 'AWS' or 'UMTS band IV'.]
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
You obviously know more about this than I do.
I do believe your first two statements are contradictory.
You state "no they don't" and then go on to say "they use a 2100 to download"
All other SE "I" version phones work with T-Mobile 3G, correct?

augie7107 said:
[No they don't.
T-Mobile's 3G uses a ~1700MHz frequency to upload and a ~2100MHz frequency to download, this is the '1700MHz band', also referred to as 'AWS' or 'UMTS band IV'.]
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
You obviously know more about this than I do.
I do believe your first two statements are contradictory.
You state "no they don't" and then go on to say "they use a 2100 to download"
All other SE "I" version phones work with T-Mobile 3G, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They never make anything the same. They may work or they may not. You should pay attention to every details of any product you are buying, no general rules existing with any product specially gadgets which they get a new technology everyday.

augie7107 said:
I do believe your first two statements are contradictory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see why you might think that but it's not contradictory because band and frequency are not the same.
If we look at the specs for the Arc, it says says '3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100' (that's the LT15i, the line below is the frequencies supported by the LT15a).
Those numbers refer to UMTS bands I and VIII as listed here.
As you can see from the page on Wikipedia, every band operates on two different frequencies, one for uploading and one for downloading. This is to avoid interference.
So even though the download frequencies of the 1700 band and the 2100 band are the same, the two bands are not compatible as the upload frequencies are different (sorry for all the underlining, it just makes it easier to explain...).
It would be a lot simpler if each band's upload and download frequencies were distinct, it would be far less confusing but I guess there's some sort of reason why things are the way they are...
augie7107 said:
All other SE "I" version phones work with T-Mobile 3G, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so, not unless they say they support the 1700/AWS band.
Basically, unless a phone's specs say it supports 1700MHz for 3G (or mentions AWS support, which means the same thing), it should be assumed that it won't give you 3G on T-Mobile US.
Though this all starts to become even more confusing when local roaming agreements are factored in but I don't really know anything about that to be honest.

Nishua said:
Hello,
Maybe you guys can help me clarify something for me. I want to buy this phone and get the unlocked version. Only problem is no matter which seller I'm looking at on Ebay they're all saying "3G Not compatible in the U.S" which means I'll be running at 2G and I actually considered this ok because i really want to this phone. But I want to know why it won't work? If it's a GSM phone and it would work with AT&T & T-Mobile my local carriers why wouldn't it give me 3G speeds?
I really want this phone because I wanted something different, something you won't see out here much. Plus I wanted to get back to Sony phones after playing with other manufactors. Can anyone help clear this is up for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In short:
LT15i: 2G will work just fine on both AT&T and T-Mobile. 3G will NOT work on either network.
LT15a: 2G will work just fine on both AT&T and T-Mobile. 3G will ONLY work with AT&T.

so my concerns is..if i am using T Mobile right now...it means I am doomed right? Even the new T mobile 4G(whatever they wanna call it) wont get me the right internet speed to blast the phone?

felixlaw11114 said:
so my concerns is..if i am using T Mobile right now...it means I am doomed right? Even the new T mobile 4G(whatever they wanna call it) wont get me the right internet speed to blast the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
att bought tmobile couple of weeks back , so ask if they are sharing the 3G frequencies now

alsaqr said:
att bought tmobile couple of weeks back , so ask if they are sharing the 3G frequencies now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure that went completely though. It is still hanging with no solution...

Nimche said:
I am not sure that went completely though. It is still hanging with no solution...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if i assume they are not sharing frequency..the only way for me to enjoy 3G/4G internet is to use AT&T?

felixlaw11114 said:
so my concerns is..if i am using T Mobile right now...it means I am doomed right? Even the new T mobile 4G(whatever they wanna call it) wont get me the right internet speed to blast the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'4G' has nothing to do with any of this - that's just speed, it doesn't change which band T-Mobile use.
alsaqr said:
att bought tmobile couple of weeks back , so ask if they are sharing the 3G frequencies now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're not.
The merger hasn't even been approved yet, let alone any sort of migration of customers.
If the merger is approved, you're talking anywhere from 1 year to 3 before you see any real-world differences like the ones you're suggesting.

...um...I am doom-ed then..
I read their press and their said the deal wont close until the end of the year

Assuming the regulators allow it to go ahead at all.
There are, rightly so, concerns about a single national GSM-based network and the knock-on effect that would have on competition.

seems like I got a smart phone that not gonna be that smart

augie7107 said:
T-Mobile also uses 2100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tmo uses 1700 downlink and 2100 uplink. phone must support both freqs to get 3G. LT15i does not support 1700, hence 3G will not work.

[Q] 4g speed on at&t phone.

Hello everyone
i just bought a brand new samsung infuse locked to at&t. I got it unlocked to use it with tmobile.i am currently using mytouch4g. i am able to use infuse after unlocking with tmobile but can not get 4g data speed on infuse.it only gives me EDGE speed
is there any setting out here that i can use that will give me 4g speed on samsung infuse using tmobile sim just like i get with mytouch4g. and i want to use it with tmobile USA.
please help
thanks in advance

No reply to help me. Please guys id anyone have any answer this .
I would really appricate this.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

EDGE is 4G on AT&T. just kidding
I would check what you have it set to under phone options, dail *#*#4636#*#*, and check what band you have selected, as well as correct APN settings.

ATT's 4G bands are not the same at T-Mobile's 4G bands. Wont work no way no how.

@ chris it says gsm/wcdma auto(prl)
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

AT&T is using 1900 MHz (850 MHz in some markets) for 3G. T-Mobile will use 1700 MHz for download and 2100 MHz for upload or pretend I didn't say anything and keep trying something that isn't doable. that's your call

like jay says it doesn't have the correct network band antennas,
just sell it, new smartphones are coming out weekly.
and 4G is gimmicky, best of luck,

Thank you so much guys for trying to help. Do you guys think if root my phone and install custom rom. Is there any chance of getting 4g speed then?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

ipaq dude said:
Thank you so much guys for trying to help. Do you guys think if root my phone and install custom rom. Is there any chance of getting 4g speed then?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's a hardware limitation

check the APNs. I got an Atrix and my downloads on HSPA+ were between 2 and 3. Then I changed the APNs, they had 4 options. THen I got 5-7 downloads. Thats the closest to 4G you'll get on ATT

DiamondJay20 said:
check the APNs. I got an Atrix and my downloads on HSPA+ were between 2 and 3. Then I changed the APNs, they had 4 options. THen I got 5-7 downloads. Thats the closest to 4G you'll get on ATT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure it's not just the amount of traffic in your area?
Here in NYC, i've hit anywhere from 1.5Mbps down all the way up to 6+Mbps down

wow thanks for the info.are you on tmobile also ?
if yes do you mind sharing your apn settings.
i get good 4g speed with mytouch 4g which is tmobile branded device.
Thanks again for your inputs to help me out.
ph00ny said:
Are you sure it's not just the amount of traffic in your area?
Here in NYC, i've hit anywhere from 1.5Mbps down all the way up to 6+Mbps down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

ipaq dude said:
wow thanks for the info.are you on tmobile also ?
if yes do you mind sharing your apn settings.
i get good 4g speed with mytouch 4g which is tmobile branded device.
Thanks again for your inputs to help me out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ATT
Never tweaked and still on the cingular wap setting
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

ipaq dude said:
wow thanks for the info.are you on tmobile also ?
if yes do you mind sharing your apn settings.
i get good 4g speed with mytouch 4g which is tmobile branded device.
Thanks again for your inputs to help me out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to burst your bubble but there is no way you are going to get the AT&T device to work on T-Mobile's 3G, nevermind "4G"/HSPA. Sorry.

right... It has to do with the phone and the hardware... aka - the stuff they build the phone with. Its like if you try to use a phone to receive xm radio frequencies... it's not going to work... If you have a phone with the ATT bands they will NEVER work the same on Tmobile. But you can get Edge on any GSM network. Hope this helps. Search for att cellular bands on Google and compare them with Tmobile cellular bands.

Sorry to say it but the guys are correct! ALL of the AT&T 4G phone are quad band GSM phones! They work on the 850/1900 frequencies for all data and communication purposes in the USA! T-Mobile uses 1700! So basically you should have done a little more homework before you ran out and spent all that money!
If you are lucky you can still sell it and maybe get your money back!
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

yes i know.what waste i hope i will be able to sell it.thank you guys anyways.
souperman7340 said:
Sorry to say it but the guys are correct! ALL of the AT&T 4G phone are quad band GSM phones! They work on the 850/1900 frequencies for all data and communication purposes in the USA! T-Mobile uses 1700! So basically you should have done a little more homework before you ran out and spent all that money!
If you are lucky you can still sell it and maybe get your money back!
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Wont work at all. Different bands. That is the one crappy part. TMO uses there oddball 1900 MHZ or something like that.

mediq91 said:
Wont work at all. Different bands. That is the one crappy part. TMO uses there oddball 1900 MHZ or something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They use 1700 and 2100 (both are required by the phone).

[Q] unable to get 3G internet speed on mobile network

Hi, im in Jamaica, using my HTC MyTouch 4 G but unfortunately my phone refuse to connect to more than EDGE speed on any of the mobile network, it is unlocked & therefore able to use any SIM but no matter which networks i connect to this phone refuse to go any faster than edge. Today I tried my SIM in another phone which is an Iphone 3G, and it instantly picked up 3G speed so it prove that the problem is with my phone & not the networks, can anybody give some advice? My internet settings are all correct & entered by the technicians at all the respectful phone companies

Did you do factory restore settings.. or just factory reset the whole phone..ooh are you on Android 2.1 or 2.3. Also go to network mode and see if its not on GSM only.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium

jamgirl said:
Hi, im in Jamaica, using my HTC MyTouch 4 G but unfortunately my phone refuse to connect to more than EDGE speed on any of the mobile network, it is unlocked & therefore able to use any SIM but no matter which networks i connect to this phone refuse to go any faster than edge. Today I tried my SIM in another phone which is an Iphone 3G, and it instantly picked up 3G speed so it prove that the problem is with my phone & not the networks, can anybody give some advice? My internet settings are all correct & entered by the technicians at all the respectful phone companies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the mytouch 4g and all other tmobile phones will only have 3g/4g on tmobile networks. this is because the bands that the mytouch 4g and other tmobile devices have are different from most of the world's. so unless another carrier has the same bands as tmobile, 1700/2100/AWS, EDGE will be the fastest you get. the iPhone 3G is capable of 3G because it's band is the same as most of the world's carriers network bands for 3G: 850 / 1900 / 2100.
this doesn't have anything to do with factory resetting the phone or whatever. it is simply hardware.
hope this sheds some light for you.

jamgirl said:
Hi, im in Jamaica, using my HTC MyTouch 4 G but unfortunately my phone refuse to connect to more than EDGE speed on any of the mobile network, it is unlocked & therefore able to use any SIM but no matter which networks i connect to this phone refuse to go any faster than edge. Today I tried my SIM in another phone which is an Iphone 3G, and it instantly picked up 3G speed so it prove that the problem is with my phone & not the networks, can anybody give some advice? My internet settings are all correct & entered by the technicians at all the respectful phone companies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason it worked in the iPhone is that T-Mobile and att use different 3g bands and the hardware in those phones is only setup to work on those bands. Before you buy a phone, unlocked you should find out what bands your local networks use.

saranhai said:
the mytouch 4g and all other tmobile phones will only have 3g/4g on tmobile networks. this is because the bands that the mytouch 4g and other tmobile devices have are different from most of the world's. so unless another carrier has the same bands as tmobile, 1700/2100/AWS, EDGE will be the fastest you get. the iPhone 3G is capable of 3G because it's band is the same as most of the world's carriers network bands for 3G: 850 / 1900 / 2100.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just some semantics: "most of the world" uses 2100 band, which makes MT4G compatible with most existing networks in Europe and around the world. Americas (both North and South), on the other hand, happen to use mostly 850 and 1900 bands, uncommon in the rest of the world, which are indeed incompatible with MT4G.

Am still confused.. even some people and parts of the united states people still fall on or can't get pass edge..anyway...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium

As long as you don't have a compatible-band cellular tower of your carrier in vicinity, you won't get 3G. Not all cellular towers support 3G.
And if your carrier's band(s) aren't compatible, then you never get 3G.

jr_718 said:
Am still confused.. even some people and parts of the united states people still fall on or can't get pass edge..anyway...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because they can't get good signal where they live.
Sent from the HTC Glacier Sense 3.0 using XDA premium app

saranhai said:
the mytouch 4g and all other tmobile phones will only have 3g/4g on tmobile networks. this is because the bands that the mytouch 4g and other tmobile devices have are different from most of the world's. so unless another carrier has the same bands as tmobile, 1700/2100/AWS, EDGE will be the fastest you get. the iPhone 3G is capable of 3G because it's band is the same as most of the world's carriers network bands for 3G: 850 / 1900 / 2100.
this doesn't have anything to do with factory resetting the phone or whatever. it is simply hardware.
hope this sheds some light for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks so so much to everyone who took time out to answer my question, i am no more happier than when i asked my question unfortunately but i am so much wiser and now with more knowledge, lol , i know now what i need to do, get rid of the phone and get myself a more compatible phone...unless there is a way to manipulate or change the network factory/hardware settings in the phone???...any ideas?

Nope. Some phones are restricted to certain bands by software (radio build), but unfortunately this restriction seems to be in HW.

jamgirl said:
thanks so so much to everyone who took time out to answer my question, i am no more happier than when i asked my question unfortunately but i am so much wiser and now with more knowledge, lol , i know now what i need to do, get rid of the phone and get myself a more compatible phone...unless there is a way to manipulate or change the network factory/hardware settings in the phone???...any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With some God like skills you may be able to remove the HW antenna from a T-Mobile phone and replace the one in this phone. While I would not suggest it. I didn't want to tell you there was NO way to do it.

I hope someone in this thread can answer the same kinda question for me, but in a different way. Right now I'm in the United States on Simple Mobile's 40$ 3G Plan, but I noticed on my MyTouch 4G (Running the latest RoyalGinger) that I am connected at 4G speeds, however shouldn't my indicator for Data/internet connector on the phone read off as 3G instead of 4G? When i ran a bandwidth test on my phone from DSL Reports Mobile Speed Test, I got the following from a 100k file.
124 kbit/sec
0.287s latency
6.72s d/l time
Is that how fast 3G usually is? or should I be going faster? Thanks to anyone who can help.

unlocking tmobile to use on att

i have a dvp on att, but the keyboard is broken. i also have a tmobile dvp. i got an unlock code and i am plannign to use it with my att sim.
im wondering tho, will my connection or signal be less than optimal on the att network?
anyone know?

I'm going to offer a preliminary response. Others please respond with more specifics.
Your new T-Mobile DVP's 3G band will be set to UMTS 1700/2100. AT&T's 3G band is UMTS 850/1900. Their highest shared standard is EDGE, which means you only get 2G speed
I've heard some buzzings that AT&T and T-Mobile DVP hardware is exactly the same, and possibly that changes made in the EM Engineering Mobile app, or a process or updating the phone using AT&T cabs will set the proper band selection. I would be interested to know more about this myself.
You may just want to swap the keyboard. Sounds easier to me.

Technosquid said:
I'm going to offer a preliminary response. Others please respond with more specifics.
Your new T-Mobile DVP's 3G band will be set to UMTS 1700/2100. AT&T's 3G band is UMTS 850/1900. Their highest shared standard is EDGE, which means you only get 2G speed
I've heard some buzzings that AT&T and T-Mobile DVP hardware is exactly the same, and possibly that changes made in the EM Engineering Mobile app, or a process or updating the phone using AT&T cabs will set the proper band selection. I would be interested to know more about this myself.
You may just want to swap the keyboard. Sounds easier to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah I think the buzzings were just all buzz peeps playing with the em app never could quite release them of their carrier frequency jail.. Seems like the dvp just cant dance the penta dance.
I second the keyboard swap! I posted the service manual just recently and the dvp shouldn't be too hard..

wow thanks for the guid3e!!! gonna try this asap.

asdffgjh said:
wow thanks for the guid3e!!! gonna try this asap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not that much more work to get to the screen/glass... make sure to clean/seal it when you're in there too since the dust issue is so annoying. Ruins the sexiness of using it. And man I've never came across a DVP with no dust on the screen. Others might be luckier, but even my new DVP had (minor) dust after a couple of weeks. Sigh. Oh hey a cowboy emoticon
manual link again: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=27641407&postcount=25