Database Users

3G Networks hardware LOCKING to each carrier by HTC

Among those of you with a deap knowledge of the inner working of HTC phone for 3G networks.
Is HTC doing something to phones for each carrier to lock the phone to a specific carriers 3G network and no other.
I'm asking because I was talking with a freind of mine who was given a HD2 as a part of a promotion for use on AT&T 3G network (850/2100). He uses T-Mobile and tried to get it to work with his T-Mobile SIM with no success. He also told me he had a conversation with someone from HTC that told him that he would no beable to get his HD2 to work on T-Mobile because the hardware will not work with T-Mobiles 3G network (1700/2100).
If this is the case does anyone know if it changable, is it a Firmware issue that can be changed or is it like hard wired physically?
Then the question is if we are buying these phone, some through contracts others outright, do we want to told whos service we have to use!!
Lets have some good discussion...

there are billions of threads on this.
3g is radio/hardware dependent. he'll unfortunately be stuck on EDGE.

He will have no issues using the phone with T-mobile usa. He will not get 3G because of the bands. He will just have edge. But calls, mms, text, email, and internet will all function properly.

Clarify this please
I bought my HTC HD2 in USA (unlocked) and here in Peru, where I live, I cannot get it to work with 3G. If I lived in USA, is there a way to know with what carrier I would get 3G ?

alejo1575 said:
I bought my HTC HD2 in USA (unlocked) and here in Peru, where I live, I cannot get it to work with 3G. If I lived in USA, is there a way to know with what carrier I would get 3G ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you are on Claro in Peru?
For 3G you need a phone with 3G 1900 support. If it is the T-Mobile version, that would have 3G on 1700/2100 bands which would be no good. If you got an AT&T handset (850/1900) it would work for 3G for you.
You need to understand what 3G support your version of the phone has. For example mine (Telstra Australia) is 850/2100 - which would not be able to pick up 3G in your network - however it works excellent with Telstra (850) in Australia and currently working well with StarHub (2100) in Singapore.
Your phone is quad band - but that is GSM quadband not 3G - it is 3G dual band and that is what is important for your connection.
***
Edit:
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UMTS_networks for list of 3G networks...

Yeah ...bad news
tallmantim said:
So you are on Claro in Peru?
For 3G you need a phone with 3G 1900 support. If it is the T-Mobile version, that would have 3G on 1700/2100 bands which would be no good. If you got an AT&T handset (850/1900) it would work for 3G for you.
You need to understand what 3G support your version of the phone has. For example mine (Telstra Australia) is 850/2100 - which would not be able to pick up 3G in your network - however it works excellent with Telstra (850) in Australia and currently working well with StarHub (2100) in Singapore.
Your phone is quad band - but that is GSM quadband not 3G - it is 3G dual band and that is what is important for your connection.
***
Edit:
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UMTS_networks for list of 3G networks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi tallmantim ....
Thanks for your response. Yeah, today I did my homework and found that my HD2 has UMTS (HSDPA) 900 - 2100 bands, a fact that is not good because Claro and Movistar in Peru operated the 850 - 1900 bands for 3G.
Question: is there a HD2 version with 850 - 1900 band ????

alejo1575 said:
Hi tallmantim ....
Thanks for your response. Yeah, today I did my homework and found that my HD2 has UMTS (HSDPA) 900 - 2100 bands, a fact that is not good because Claro and Movistar in Peru operated the 850 - 1900 bands for 3G.
Question: is there a HD2 version with 850 - 1900 band ????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, but the Telstra HD2 will pick up the 850MHz signals where they exist. There is no HD2 with the 1900MHz UMTS band at the moment

lude219 said:
there are billions of threads on this.
3g is radio/hardware dependent. he'll unfortunately be stuck on EDGE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind pointing me in the direction of those BILLIONS of threads.
I've done searchs on hardware dependents, radio/hardware dependents, 3G radio.
There are so many way that is topic could be listed.
I'm finding nothing but my thread now just as before.

theisdept said:
a freind of mine who was given a HD2 as a part of a promotion for use on AT&T 3G network
[...]
Then the question is if we are buying these phone, some through contracts others outright, do we want to told whos service we have to use!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm, so AT&T gives a phone, for promotion of their service, and at the same time they should allow you to use another network? You've got too much hope there...

alejo1575 said:
Hi tallmantim ....
Thanks for your response. Yeah, today I did my homework and found that my HD2 has UMTS (HSDPA) 900 - 2100 bands, a fact that is not good because Claro and Movistar in Peru operated the 850 - 1900 bands for 3G.
Question: is there a HD2 version with 850 - 1900 band ????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea my friend my phone is , and i am here with t mobile suffering from same problem like u , i bought that phone which is compatible with Asia , not here in usa
is there way to exchange??
mine is
Network HSPA/WCDMA:
900/2100 MHz
Up to 2 Mbps upload and 7.2 Mbps download speeds
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
850/900/1800/1900 MHz
(Band frequency, HSPA availability, and data speed are
operator dependen)

egypro said:
is there way to exchange??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exchange your phone for cash
exchange that cash for a phone that supports the correct bands.

Don't forget Australia and 850mhz

Just thought I would wave a flag here regarding the Australian HD2 phone. Same as the European phone except it also has a 850mhz 3G band (Old CDMA) Network.
Not sure the best place to goto to ensure this is supported to some degree. Plan on trying to get another 6 months out of my HD2 by going android and this is quite significant.
Note. In main cities both 2100 and 850 are supported but outside those cities (Australia has a lot of this) only 850mhz is supported and basically you can't make a call with out this support.
Thanks. Amazing work on the progress to date. Well done.

This post is pointless as both AT&T and Rogers are on the 850mhz band also. Android will pick up all your avalible bands just like WinMo does. I myself, have the Telstra HD2 here in Canada on Rogers and all is working well with all of the test builds of android. The only thing I have to do is manualy input my APN settings so 3G/H (3G+) works.
I am not sure why you think 850mhz is from the days of CDMA... CDMA can use all the bands GSM can (850, 900, 1900, 2100) it is just up to whom ever decides which bands are approiate for your Country/Cell Carier. Over here in Canada, they had already authorized 850/1900 bands so they just continued to use them for GSM.
On a side note, with out propper bands for your network, you will only connect with Edge data only. This is why I chose the HD2 from Telstra and not T-Mobile US or any other Euro version. And like I said before everything works (3G/H & Calls).

which radio rom should i use to install android, or settings i should tweek.

Dangerously said:
Android will pick up all your avalible bands just like WinMo does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MMMM With all the cooked roms unless I edit the base band in the registry on WinMo it will not pick up the 850 band. Telstra Hd2 On Telstra

Dangerously said:
I am not sure why you think 850mhz is from the days of CDMA... CDMA can use all the bands GSM can (850, 900, 1900, 2100) it is just up to whom ever decides which bands are approiate for your Country/Cell Carier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because in Australia, Telstra shut down it's CDMA network and replaced it with the NextG network. The old CDMA network used 850Mhz and to save on costs they kept the 850mhz range for their NextG stuff and used their existing infrastructure.

[Q] question for 3G frequencies in Canada

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

Should a UK HD2 act different on a Canadian Network?

Hi All
I have recently moved to Canada with my UK HTC HD2.
Since moving here I have changed my phone provider to Fido (Rogers Network). Internet seems extremely slow compared to my UK provider.
Someone told me that because I have a UK phone it is not using the correct bands for HSPA and that's why my internet access is so slow. Internet access is extremely fast on Wi-Fi so I know it's not a problem with the ROM etc.
Can anyone give me any ideas if this sounds correct - do I need to sell my UK HTC HD2 and purchase an American one to get over this problem?
Thanks

I think your friend is correct.
Rogers uses 850Mhz and 1900 Mhz, while in the
United Kingdom the bands used are 800Mhz and 1800Mhz (and some 2100Mhz),
Your UK HD2 is of European configuration, and should be able to cope with the Rogers frequencies. (See)
Your phone uses 900 - 2100 for 3G
Rogers provides it at 850 - 1900 , therefore your phone will slow down to GPRS speeds.
Have you tried flashing a new radio ROM?
If so, perhaps you should try another one.
At least in theory you could keep your phone and have mobile broadband.
What your friend is telling is true for dual band phones, however the HD2 is quad band..... Perhaps contact your provider (sometimes the dataplan has not been correctly activated, therefore access to mobile broadband is denied, and you will revert to the low GSM data band)
Otherwise contact HTC.
PS: Sorry for my ****-up

the t8585 (regular hd2) uses 900 and 2100 for 3g.
source
thats why canadian users with cash to splash go for the australian telstra model which uses 850/2100
You will only get GPRS and edge speeds, and no, the american wont get 3g either.

Yep....
I's official, I am cross-eyed, got the correct info, but wrong interpretation.
I stand corrected.

Thanks to both of you for the response .... I'm a little confused though!
So if I bought a T-Mobile USA model - that wouldn't give me 3G on the Rogers network I'm on? I have to buy an Australian Telstra model to get 3G?
Thanks!
*EDIT* ... Oh I think I get it now... I don't need to have the 850 and 1900 bands to use 3G on the Rogers network so long as I have one or the other - correct me if I am wrong please?

yea thats it, and the US hd2 has 1700/2100 which is why that one doesnt get 3g on rogers.

I get ya! Thanks for that.... so is Canada the only country that uses 1900? I'm asking because I now know that I can buy an Australian phone to suit the 850 but is there another country's phone apart from Canada that will use the 1900 band?
also I noticed something in my phone settings....there's an option to change my base band so I have selected 850/1900 GSM but it doesn't seem to have made a great deal of difference even after a reset

that's gsm, (calls, gprs and edge) nothing to do with the umts bands.
put umts bands into google, theres a Wikipedia page tells you what countries and networks use what bands.

[Q] what baseband for Optus AU?

I bought a Streak with 2.1 installed and the first 2.2 official rom that would load was a 318 EU rom. All is well but I wonder if there is a better rom that will help keep a consistent HSPA connection with Optus in Australia? Or is it just that Optus service is just particularly crappy?

I've got the 318 EU rom (800 series) which was the default update when I got my DS.
To be honest, I own a number of phones (Galaxy S, Dell Streak & iPhone 4) and all of them have data issues on the Optus network in the outer suburbs (Wynnum/Manly Area). While the service is not as bad as Vodafone, its still not that good...

Thx. I was thinking that was the case. I live in the inner West of Sydney and my partner has 3g problems in Optus with the iPhone. I know the iPhone generally has poorer reception than most phones so thought I'd ask to see.
When the 850mhz WCDMA model hits I might think about swapping.

Did you know that the Dell Streak is quad band 3G like the iphone? meaning it supports 850/900/1900/2100 mhz.
One phone to rule them all so as to speak So go get ya self a Telstra sim and enjoy!

i have an O2 locked with steve's 1.5.1 + rebelsim 1.2 firmware. Internet works very well with Optus

cheetah2k said:
Did you know that the Dell Streak is quad band 3G like the iphone? meaning it supports 850/900/1900/2100 mhz.
One phone to rule them all so as to speak So go get ya self a Telstra sim and enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I know it's quad band GSM but it's not quad WCDMA. It only has the 2 WCDMA bands that Optus and Voda uses. Not the 850MHz WCDMA for Telstra NextG. Therefore the best speed I think I'll get on Telstra is Edge.

gjlamb said:
Yeah I know it's quad band GSM but it's not quad WCDMA. It only has the 2 WCDMA bands that Optus and Voda uses. Not the 850MHz WCDMA for Telstra NextG. Therefore the best speed I think I'll get on Telstra is Edge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree. If you enable the EMlist engineering menus, you can select 850Mhz WCDMA. I've also used a NextG sim in my phone and it works!

AFAIK you can't change your wcdma band to one the phone hasn't been built for. Wcdma bands are supported by the physical radio not firmware.
As said before, yes you can use a nextg sim in a phone that doesn't support 850mhz wcdma but you will only get 2g data.