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All;
I'm trying to find a straight answer on US carrier support for the HD. So far; I've read that there is:
1)No support for the HD in the US
2)Support for GSM only in the US
3)Possible support for 3G depending on your area
4)Working 3G support in some areas
So; what's the deal here? Do we have a "CONFIRMED" working HD in the US? The questions I'd like to have answered in one thread if possible:
1)What carriers are people currently using SUCCESSFULLY with the HD?
1a)What area is that working in?
2)How is the internet speed on it?
2a)If 3G is working, what kind of speed differences are you seeing?
2b)If 3G is working, what area are you in that it works for you?
3)If it is working for you in any form; were custom ROMS needed; or any sort of hack short of plugging in your SIM card?
3a)If needed; links would be great!
4)Any reported and confirmed 'show-stopping' bugs / problems using the HD in the US.
5)Any items or information we need to be aware of when trying to purchase this phone for US use? (Don't buy from EU...don't buy from AUS, avoid certain model versions...etc?)
Answers so far ((so you don't have to go searching for them!))
1) T-Mobile & ATT
1a) Wisconsin -ATT | Chicago - ATT
2) Edge = ok
2a) No - Wisconsin, Chicago
2b)
3) No hacks needed - plug in SIM card, possibly might have to select network from list
3a)
4) Problems sending MMS on AT&T. 99% send then fail.
5)
I'm using T-Mobile in the US.
Didn't have to do ANYTHING special at all to get it running. Stuck in my tmobile sim, it asked which carrier I wanted to use (T-Mobile US or Tuyo or something like that). I selected tmobile and wala.
Don't know about 3G as I do not have a data plan right now (it's $25 / month and I have Wi-Fi 88% of the time).
Have flashed and hard-resetted many times since with no problems.
ONLY PROBLEM: MMS will not work. I have searched all over and made sure that I have all the correct settings. However it will not work no matter what I try. Sending usually makes it to 99% then fails. Sucks.
ismisunderstood said:
All;
I'm trying to find a straight answer on US carrier support for the HD. So far; I've read that there is:
1)No support for the HD in the US
2)Support for GSM only in the US
3)Possible support for 3G depending on your area
4)Working 3G support in some areas
So; what's the deal here? Do we have a "CONFIRMED" working HD in the US? The questions I'd like to have answered in one thread if possible:
1)What carriers are people currently using SUCCESSFULLY with the HD?
1a)What area is that working in?
2)How is the internet speed on it?
2a)If 3G is working, what kind of speed differences are you seeing?
2b)If 3G is working, what area are you in that it works for you?
3)If it is working for you in any form; were custom ROMS needed; or any sort of hack short of plugging in your SIM card?
3a)If needed; links would be great!
4)Any reported and confirmed 'show-stopping' bugs / problems using the HD in the US.
5)Any items or information we need to be aware of when trying to purchase this phone for US use? (Don't buy from EU...don't buy from AUS, avoid certain model versions...etc?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HD will work in the US on either T-Mobile or ATT.
I am using ATT in Wisconsin and can confirm the phone will not pick of 3G.
EDGE internet speeds are pretty good. I wouldn't go streaming youtube, however. Wifi is around in more places than you think...
I'm using the ROM that came on the phone. I popped in my ATT sim card and all the settings were detected and it worked in a matter of 30 seconds.
I am in Chicago area on AT&T and it works fine. No 3G data but edge is fine. I am streaming video using a slingbox and it works ok.
Hardice33 said:
The HD will work in the US on either T-Mobile or ATT.
I am using ATT in Wisconsin and can confirm the phone will not pick of 3G.
EDGE internet speeds are pretty good. I wouldn't go streaming youtube, however. Wifi is around in more places than you think...
I'm using the ROM that came on the phone. I popped in my ATT sim card and all the settings were detected and it worked in a matter of 30 seconds.
It's not the phone that won't pick up 3G but the lack of a network or cell masts transmitting a 3G/HSDPA signal. So people,lets not blame the phone if you subscribe to inadequate networks. 3G has been around for over 10 years. I can't believe americans still need a tutorial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Canaan said:
It's not the phone that won't pick up 3G but the lack of a network or cell masts transmitting a 3G/HSDPA signal. So people,lets not blame the phone if you subscribe to inadequate networks. 3G has been around for over 10 years. I can't believe americans still need a tutorial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's both the phone and network's fault, the phone for not having UMTS 850, 1700, or 1900. And the networks for choosing those frequencies over umts 900 and 2100.
Canaan said:
Hardice33 said:
The HD will work in the US on either T-Mobile or ATT.
I am using ATT in Wisconsin and can confirm the phone will not pick of 3G.
EDGE internet speeds are pretty good. I wouldn't go streaming youtube, however. Wifi is around in more places than you think...
I'm using the ROM that came on the phone. I popped in my ATT sim card and all the settings were detected and it worked in a matter of 30 seconds.
It's not the phone that won't pick up 3G but the lack of a network or cell masts transmitting a 3G/HSDPA signal. So people,lets not blame the phone if you subscribe to inadequate networks. 3G has been around for over 10 years. I can't believe americans still need a tutorial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, a little full of yourself there? It's not like I climbed towers and decided to put 850 bands in America.
I believe if I made a $750 purchase, I would know whether or not the phone was capable of picking up US 3G bands or not.
But I guess your right, I should move to Europe to take advantage of the "adequate" networks.
There is no need to be a jerk about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using mine on ATT, use mostly wifi which has been good, EDGE is good the few times I've used it (based on what I've heard from people using 3G on other phones, it's not that much better than wifi, but I'm sure that's location dependent). I'm using it in NC and surrounding states, have only sent/received MMS a couple of times but haven't had any problems yet. Didn't have to do anything except insert the SIM and choose ATT. I haven't seen the 3G icon pop up so that means no 3G compatibility where I'm at.
TMobile USA is great
I am an airline pilot and use my HD nationwide and it works splendidly in every city I have been to. EDGE is much, much better than GPRS that I had on my Imate Jasjar (Universal) but I would agree that the only drawback is to streaming YouTube. YouTube on EDGE is functional but it uses the lower quality mode.
I am successfully using MMS on TMo here in the USA so any trouble with it might just be a setting that needs to be tweaked. Having had some trouble with that on my JasJar in the past I just set it up manually and did just that when I got the HD. I didn't even try the default MMS settings, just deleted them and put my own in that I knew worked.
As for 3G, didn't work on my JasJar and not on my HD but for me it turns out to not be a deal breaker at all. Having had four different WM devices over 6 years, the HD is blowing me away. I really love it's speed, screen and size. HTC did a really nice (not great) job with the TouchFlo UI and hope that a few updates will make it great. Now that I installed the new Resco Explorer (GSFinder before) I don't need to use the stylus at all! I like that the most.
For those of you in the USA, give TMobile a try. I don't think you would be unhappy with their service and pricing.
Regards,
Gordo
I'm using iWireless (Owned by Tmobile) in Iowa. No problems getting it to work like all the others here. I don't have a data plan, so haven't tested that out yet. And it's just commonly known that the HD doesn't support US 3G.
It supports 3G, but we cant use it because the antenna is set to receive 2100 and 900.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=450670&page=5
jim256 said:
I'm using T-Mobile in the US.
Didn't have to do ANYTHING special at all to get it running. Stuck in my tmobile sim, it asked which carrier I wanted to use (T-Mobile US or Tuyo or something like that). I selected tmobile and wala.
Don't know about 3G as I do not have a data plan right now (it's $25 / month and I have Wi-Fi 88% of the time).
Have flashed and hard-resetted many times since with no problems.
ONLY PROBLEM: MMS will not work. I have searched all over and made sure that I have all the correct settings. However it will not work no matter what I try. Sending usually makes it to 99% then fails. Sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may need the data plan for MMS to work properly. I have T-mobile in the US and here is what I did. I signed up for their $9 amonth TZones (now web2go) package. Don't tell them you have a "smartphone" or else you will have to really fight to get it.
It is not great. You have a choice between 100 MB a month or 50 MB and tons of messaging. Since I mostly use WiFi the 50MB was enough.
If they tell you that the $9 plan won't work on their phone, don't fall for it. It will work on any phone.
Everdog said:
You may need the data plan for MMS to work properly. I have T-mobile in the US and here is what I did. I signed up for their $9 amonth TZones (now web2go) package. Don't tell them you have a "smartphone" or else you will have to really fight to get it.
It is not great. You have a choice between 100 MB a month or 50 MB and tons of messaging. Since I mostly use WiFi the 50MB was enough.
If they tell you that the $9 plan won't work on their phone, don't fall for it. It will work on any phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW. That is WAY great information to know. So the $9 / month T-Zones is REAL full data / internet browsing? Not some stupid V-Cast like thing?
I have been dying trying to figure out what to do...when I signed up I thought unlimited data was $6 / month (it was some web2go thing for $5.99), then I find out that they discontinued it right after I got my phone and it's now $25...ridiculous. So I have been wondering, should I:
A. Switch to ATT.
B. Have an HD w/ no internet plan.
C. Go back to my vogue on sprint evdo rev a fastest mobile internet in us.
Are you pretty positive about that then? I could sign up for that right now and get 50mb browsing full internet for $9 / month as long as I tell them that it isn't a smartphone?
THANK YOU SO MUCH. AWESOME information for my situation...
Jim.
Uhm... perhaps I am missing something obvious but.
If i go to phone, then select "Options", then select "Band".
I can choose between network type "GSM" or "WCDMA".
Also for GSM/UMTS band I can choose between:
1) UMTS(2100)+GSM(900+1800)
2) UMTS(850+1900)+GSM(850+1900)
3) UMTS(800+2100)
Does that option have no effect? or what?
So I ordered my N1 yesterday, and currently have at&t. wasn't too worried about the whole 3g thing, because I figured one of the smart guys here at xda would figure out a way to make it work. After looking in to it further, I realize the hardware just won't allow that. I would just switch to T-mobile, but they have no 3g coverage anywhere near me yet. this brings me to my question. is it worth switching to tmobiles coverage for faster 2g possibly, or in the hopes that they'll soon expand their network. I don't mind getting out of my contract with at&t, tmobiles rates seem to be a lot better. I'm just wondering if anybody has heard anything on T-mobiles future plans.
I think most anecdotal evidence by most users is that EDGE on TMO is much faster than ATT. Why? Even though the "transport" 2G technology is the same, ATT still suffers from not enough bandwidth at its towers for all the heavy 3G areas due to heavy usage. -- In other words, backhaul contention.
Also, the fact that in places where there is no TMO 3G... EDGE works quite well for the very same reason... Even with towers that only have several T1/DS1's in place instead of T3/DS3's or fiber
Cheers,
Kermee
In NYC, where I have 3G coverage as well, EDGE tops out at 10-15KB/s
hurrycaine3000 said:
So I ordered my N1 yesterday, and currently have at&t. wasn't too worried about the whole 3g thing, because I figured one of the smart guys here at xda would figure out a way to make it work. After looking in to it further, I realize the hardware just won't allow that. I would just switch to T-mobile, but they have no 3g coverage anywhere near me yet. this brings me to my question. is it worth switching to tmobiles coverage for faster 2g possibly, or in the hopes that they'll soon expand their network. I don't mind getting out of my contract with at&t, tmobiles rates seem to be a lot better. I'm just wondering if anybody has heard anything on T-mobiles future plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally have ran on EDGE for awhile on tmobile and have never had a problem with wifi while I am at home/school... however the 3g is nice, though my house seems to have 3g signals
its simple business really, though 1 man cannot make a difference... as the company grows, the service grows... verizon has the best service because it has the most customers... i think the reason tmobile has struggled in the US (as opposed to being the number 1 world wide carrier) is because of the lack of appeal from phones... with more phones rolling out and tmobile always having its doors open to unlocked phones i see the company gaining some momentum and it starts with these new android phones making it big as well as now having the fastest network in the nation...
ive had bad experiences with both verizon (contract issues) and att (terrible customer service), tmobile has yet to steer me wrong (other than not giving me an upgrade for the N1 haha)
with that said, try em out, idk if companies still let you trial their service for a week or so but you could ask?
i honestly cant tel a diff between edge and 3 g lol they both are friggin fast as hell
VoLoDaR1 said:
i honestly cant tel a diff between edge and 3 g lol they both are friggin fast as hell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It all depends on what you're doing Tweeting and reading tweets... probably not so much
Cheers,
Kermee
are you crazy? 3G is AT LEAST 10+ times as fast as EDGE.
I know on my touch pro using att 3g over edge. they have 3g where I work, but not at my house. so I always just use wifi at my house, but don't bother at work because the 3g is fast enough. I can definetly tell the difference. granted there is wifi almost everywhere these days, but with my touch pro I have to turn it off and on when I'm using it so my battery half makes through a day. It will be nice if the N1's is more of a automatic thing, if that makes sense. I guess if I knew that t Mobile would actually be implementing 3g in my area at all soon, it would be an easier decision, but I haven't found anything to make me think they'll be adding towers in York, PA any time soon.
Im in Dallas TX and just activated my phone. I was worried because people in some forums where saying phone kept switching to 2g. I just activated my phone and its been on 3 out of 4 bars on 3g last 30-40 minutes...I know this is kind of off topic, but thought it was important do to the nature of all the talk about speed on tmobile.
Ok im scared now, i just looked at the USA map on tmobile https://my.t-mobile.com/Plan/CoverageMap.aspx and looks to hardly be any 3g coverage! What! Tell me it aint so!
that's what I'm saying, I want 3g on this phone, but it's just not in my area on tmobile. we've established it's pretty much going to be impossible to get att's to work on this phone. It doesn't look like tmobile has 3g anywhere, atleast not hardly. what to do, what to do.
dallastx said:
Im in Dallas TX and just activated my phone. I was worried because people in some forums where saying phone kept switching to 2g. I just activated my phone and its been on 3 out of 4 bars on 3g last 30-40 minutes...I know this is kind of off topic, but thought it was important do to the nature of all the talk about speed on tmobile.
Ok im scared now, i just looked at the USA map on tmobile https://my.t-mobile.com/Plan/CoverageMap.aspx and looks to hardly be any 3g coverage! What! Tell me it aint so!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats called #4 carrier coverage
as for that map, its ancient... the thing has never worked properly and the maps take forever to load yet i wish i could get a decent detailed coverage map for tmobile somewhere...
hurrycaine3000 said:
I know on my touch pro using att 3g over edge. they have 3g where I work, but not at my house. so I always just use wifi at my house, but don't bother at work because the 3g is fast enough. I can definetly tell the difference. granted there is wifi almost everywhere these days, but with my touch pro I have to turn it off and on when I'm using it so my battery half makes through a day. It will be nice if the N1's is more of a automatic thing, if that makes sense. I guess if I knew that t Mobile would actually be implementing 3g in my area at all soon, it would be an easier decision, but I haven't found anything to make me think they'll be adding towers in York, PA any time soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG i live in york to lol. ive asked tmobile many times if we'll ever have 3g and they told me december 09 but that never happened. who knows if we'll ever get it. but edge for me on tmobile works good unless u use media functions like youtube and streaming video but its good for web browsing and email
Make sure T-Mobile has EDGE all around your area because I've found that there are many places that don't even have EDGE on T-Mobile and are GRPS only. That being said, I do find that usually T-Mobile EDGE is faster.... The difference is so small that I wouldn't change networks over it though..
I get around 25KB/s or so, which works fine for streaming music and such. This is quite a bit faster than the AT&T users seem to get here.
Yeah you should be happy with what you've got. EDGE isn't amazing but at least with the 900mhz range you've got coverage. I'm not sure about T-mobile US thought but it has to be better than UK. I live in the UK just outside of town with 3 basestations surrounding my house just out of range with 2100 3g and 1800 2g. I can get signal occasionally with my Iphone 3gs, until I touch it...
The coverage is okish but I get Black-spots everywhere; literally, I can walk round the corner away from a basestation and lose signal. I can only use my phone if I'm underneath a basestation and even then the crappy 4.2Mbit/s (It may even be less than that) limited basestations are overloaded. Each user is then further capped at roughly 1.8Mbit/s
That's 3G and above, which I rarely get as I mentioned. When you get 2G you get EDGE. When I get 2G I don't get EDGE, I don't even get 2.5G, I get slower-than-dial-up GPRS which is unusable. None of T-mo UK's basestations are EDGE enabled; with common black-spots and poor 3G reception, this makes for an appalling network. I can't wait to switch to Three UK. Blanket UK 3g coverage with amazing deals: £15/mo rolling contract with 300 mins, unlimited texts, Unlimited (7.2Mbit/s) data. The only problem is they have shockingly bad phones (no problem for me, or so I thought...)
melterx12 said:
are you crazy? 3G is AT LEAST 10+ times as fast as EDGE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That pretty well sums up the problem with TMUS users.
They have no f***ing clue.
I currently have the the G2 on the T-mobile network. I frequently switch back and forth between 3G and Edge which is driving me nuts. Is this a phone issue or a network issue? Do people with the Desire Z on the ATT network have the same issue?
Its a network issue with your location, It happens on any phone including the iPhone. Its if the carrier has that service available where you are.
I am located in Minneapolis which supposedly has very good T-mobile 3G coverage. A friend of mine who has a G1 on T-mobile here in Minneapolis always sees solid 3G. This makes me wonder whether this is a phone issue. Flashing the 17 radio did improve reception, but not satisfactorily. Could any ATT users share their experience?
I mean, the phone and radio and rom will play a factor somewhat in it but not that much. To be fair, edge and 3G dont have too much a difference in speed or at least not here in Florida, but i run 4G almost everywhere anyways.
GermanGuy said:
I currently have the the G2 on the T-mobile network. I frequently switch back and forth between 3G and Edge which is driving me nuts. Is this a phone issue or a network issue? Do people with the Desire Z on the ATT network have the same issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the MOST part, this is a network issue. The phone Radio will have an impact on the quality of cell signal you get but the network carries the most weight. Not all phones are created equal as far as reception goes. My DZ is average. Its not great like my previous BB Bold was but doesn't drop calls like my gf's phone.
I do on occasion drop from 3G to Edge but only when I'm in rural areas. I work in a jail on occasion and of course the concrete walls aren't great for cell signal. I usually switch from 3G to Edge when I'm there because Edge just holds the signal better rather than the phone killing itself trying to find a solid 3G signal.
Also, like the other user mentioned, 3G and Edge aren't night and day per-say. For example, sometimes Edge can be FASTER depending on how much traffic is on the network at that time. I experienced this on a day trip to San Francisco. With 3 gazillion Iphones in the city, I couldn't get my phone to connect to anything with 3G. When I switched to Edge, it was moving steady no problem...
Just my 2 cents.
Is Negri Electronics still the cheapest place to buy the Desire Z NAM or are there other sites with better offers? I checked ebay and all the phones there are more expensive when you calculate in shipping.
Possible Fix
Here is one thing that may fix the problem, as it has for me. Set your phone to WCDMA only by dialing *#*#4636#*#* . A menu will then appear. Select Phone Information. Change Set Preferred Network Type to WCDMA Only.
Hope this helps!
KingAndroid said:
Here is one thing that may fix the problem, as it has for me. Set your phone to WCDMA only by dialing *#*#4636#*#* . A menu will then appear. Select Phone Information. Change Set Preferred Network Type to WCDMA Only.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, already tried that as well, but then I lose connection completely intermittently instead of switching between edge and 3G.
Are u running a custom rom? Check ur apn
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
m0bstar said:
To be fair, edge and 3G dont have too much a difference in speed or at least not here in Florida
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel very sorry for you then. EDGE makes me want to claw my eyes out versus 3G. Everywhere in New England on AT&T, the difference in speed between EDGE and 3G is like the difference between throwing a bullet and shooting it. Even more so with the "4G" HSPA+ backhaul recently done by AT&T in many areas. But even before that, it was a big difference.
My Desire Z very seldom switches from 3G to EDGE. When it does, its in areas of very weak 3G coverage. As others have mentioned, its likely a network issue. Flashing a new radio is pretty easy (and you can always flash back to stock), so it may be worth a try. But it may or may not have any significant impact.
I got really happy today when I discovered XDA developers through Google. There seems to be a wealth of information on this forum.
I recently purchased the Samsung Galaxy S2 in India and I have to say, the quality exceeded my expectations, seriously.
I also signed up for Airtel's 3G service, and the service was working fine for the first 2-3 days with speeds exceeding ~3mbps (>3000kbps).
However, here is where my problem started:
Just a couple of days back I was simultaneously downloading a bunch of free Apps from the Marketplace and somewhere in the middle my 3G speeds dropped. I seriously don't know what happened. I have the flexible package from Airtel which gives 1.25 gigabytes, and according to my phone, I've used only 550 megabytes at that time.
Now, my speeds are locked at 40kbps (according to Speedtest and web browsing experience) and I don't if it is my phone having the issue or if it is my SIM or Airtel Prepaid account (I am 99.9% percent I have not exceeded the balance or else talktime would have already been deducted by now), or a technical glitch on Airtel's server-end.
I have tried disabling / enabling fast dormancy, disabling / enabling HSPDA, configuring WCDMA Only, and manually configuring the Airtel settings. Yet, none of that worked.
I am feeling very frustrated and would appreciate any help in addressing this matter. Thanks in advance.
There are a couple of Indian specific threads that you'd be better off getting help in. This is the biggest one...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=995752
I would like to read feedback from folks around the world as well.
I've already gone through the mentioned Indian thread and I have to say, it requires a moderator.
Help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
same problem on t-mobile
i bought the sgs2 2 months ago , i live in the us now and i bought it unloked from amazon. i put my simcard from tmobile in it , previously was using a nexus one. i have unlimited data plan but only get edge speeds on it which is very frustrating. on the nexus i was getting 3g speeds. one time while i was driving (i live in florida) i managed to get a 3g signal but the speeds were still in the edge range. most of the time i`m using wifi, but since i`m paying for the data plan, id like for my phone to be able to use it.
if anybody would be able to enlighten me about how to go about my problem i would appreciated it.
dirtydiamond said:
i bought the sgs2 2 months ago , i live in the us now and i bought it unloked from amazon. i put my simcard from tmobile in it , previously was using a nexus one. i have unlimited data plan but only get edge speeds on it which is very frustrating. on the nexus i was getting 3g speeds. one time while i was driving (i live in florida) i managed to get a 3g signal but the speeds were still in the edge range. most of the time i`m using wifi, but since i`m paying for the data plan, id like for my phone to be able to use it.
if anybody would be able to enlighten me about how to go about my problem i would appreciated it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won't get 3g speeds on tmobile because sgs2 doesn't have the necessary tmobile 3g bands. If you want 3g and hspa+ speeds thru sgs2, switch to att.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
dirtydiamond said:
i bought the sgs2 2 months ago , i live in the us now and i bought it unloked from amazon. i put my simcard from tmobile in it , previously was using a nexus one. i have unlimited data plan but only get edge speeds on it which is very frustrating. on the nexus i was getting 3g speeds. one time while i was driving (i live in florida) i managed to get a 3g signal but the speeds were still in the edge range. most of the time i`m using wifi, but since i`m paying for the data plan, id like for my phone to be able to use it.
if anybody would be able to enlighten me about how to go about my problem i would appreciated it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately for us (My SGS2 will arrive later today) T-mobile uses different 3G/4G bands than most other carriers worldwide.... so we are stuck with EDGE (2G)
On a side note how are the speeds when browsing on EDGE? Is it painfully slow? If so try downloading Opera mini it should help quite a bit since it renders everything server side
thanks
thanks for the prompt answers , after a little research i`ve found out exactelly the same thing, that i have to switch to at&t to get better speeds and i probably will.
yes , surfing on 2g is horribly slow and my 70$ unlimited plan is useless
just did a speedtest 133kbps/down 94k up , ridiculous :'(
Any suggestions or advices for the 3G problems
HI, I am also facing the same problem of 3G of low speeds any updates regarding this?
Any chance your provider might be throttling your speeds based on usage behaviour?
Took mine to service center, having the same simptoms as described by you, the resolution was: faulty motherboard -> replace. Not a firmware issue...a hardware one.
I was just wondering what the opinions of T-mobile was for the members here. I have been on a Radioshack/AT&T employee plan since 2006 and even though I quit in 2008 I have continued to be on this plan. It was amazing (2000 minutes, unlimited text, and unlimited data for $25 a month), however I just received notice today from my old AT&T rep that I will finally be taken off it. I am currently looking at switching to one of the major US carriers and am looking at the plan prices. I want to stick with an Android phone, so I'll need data. Verizon's cheapest plan looks to be $89.99/month for what I want (450 minutes, unlimited text, 2GB of data), with AT&T and Sprint's around $10 cheaper. I rarely use minutes (average of 250 a month), but I text quite a bit so I would want unlimited text. I also don't use data much. My max in the past year has been 134MB, however I know if I have a faster phone I will probably use data more. I was looking at T-mobile's plans and noticed they are drastically cheaper. $49.99/month for 500 minutes, unlimited text, and 2GB of data. Is their service much worse than AT&T, even though they are both GSM? I'd hate to switch to them and end up hating my service.
So in short, does anybody who has had AT&T and T-mobile notice a major difference between the two? Would I be better with sticking with Verizon or AT&T or are they all about equal nowadays?
Thanks in advance!
I recommend you buy an unlocked phone (hello Nexus!) and get a sim card from Straight Talk. They are a MVNO that runs on the AT&T network. I believe plans are $45.
It always depends on your area. For years I used Cingular(now At&t) and I had pretty decent service. About 5 years ago, T-Mobile was carrying a phone I wanted, so I decided to switch. (This was before I knew about the glory of unlocking ;P). T-Mobile's network was so horrible I never (read:NEVER) got service within a 2 mile radius of my home, and about the same at work.
I couldn't make a phone call with out it dropping, so I was forced to switch back to At&t. The guy at T-Mobile pulled up a "coverage map" and it claimed I should have the best service right in the area I needed it. So it was a bunch of bull if you ask me.
My suggestion has always been to talk to people who you know in the area of where you will be using your phone. I know some people from around my area who get great reception with T-Mobile and get awful service with At&t. I honestly have no idea how it happens, but it does.
Another route would be to get the phone to test (perhaps one of their pre-paid, no contract options?) and use it for a few days. If you are unhappy, simply return it. If you are returning it because of bad coverage they HAVE to take it back and give you a full refund.
I still think the asking people around the area is the best option. Perhaps you could give a general location, and ask people on the forums who are located near by to give you some of their opinions on their coverage? Its probably the best way to be sure, if you ask me.
T-Mobile was great to me in the East Bay area of northern California, until last November, when they instituted traffic-shaping policies that meant every single JPEG image on the internet was horribly compressed into an ugly mess of artifacts and banded gradients.
I really miss T-Mobile's HSPA+ speed. AT&T just can't quite get as fast. But I'll take a 20-25% slower connection that isn't adulterated over a faster one that's been tampered with.
I've had ok experiences with T-Mobile. When I lived in Atlanta there were many areas where I simply didn't get a signal, but that's probably due to to the terrain. As suggested you should probably ask others in the area where you will be how their coverage is. In regards to plans, I'm on a contracted unlimited talk/text, 2GB data for $90. I'll be modifying that at the soonest opportunity... I guess at least the phone itself was cheaper at the time :/
Thanks for info!
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I've had T-Mobile for a few years now, and I can't wait to leave this company. I'm currently in the process of jumping ship. I've driven from California to Tennessee, Tennessee to Iowa, Iowa to Michigan, and back again. I've never seen such garbage coverage from a cellular company. I have a 4G compatible phone, but I've only ever seen 4G when I fly through Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Their 3G coverage area is also terrible.
So, Cons are as follows:
4G: What 4G?
3G: Doesn't exist
2G: Covers the entire country with data speeds barely faster than dial-up, unless you live more than 25 miles outside a big city, or in North Dakota in general.
Reception: It's a well known fact that T-Mobile cannot maintain or even guarantee any sort of standard level of service indoors.
Pros:
Pricing: They are cheap for a reason.
"Unlimited" Data Plans: They "throttle" them after a certain amount of time, and it's throttling to less than 2G speeds. In fact, you should try being throttled while trying to drive across the country using Google maps...
Customer Service: The only pleasant part of my time with T-Mobile.
cdchris12 said:
I've had T-Mobile for a few years now, and I can't wait to leave this company. I'm currently in the process of jumping ship. I've driven from California to Tennessee, Tennessee to Iowa, Iowa to Michigan, and back again. I've never seen such garbage coverage from a cellular company. I have a 4G compatible phone, but I've only ever seen 4G when I fly through Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Their 3G coverage area is also terrible.
So, Cons are as follows:
4G: What 4G?
3G: Doesn't exist
2G: Covers the entire country with data speeds barely faster than dial-up, unless you live more than 25 miles outside a big city, or in North Dakota in general.
Reception: It's a well known fact that T-Mobile cannot maintain or even guarantee any sort of standard level of service indoors.
Pros:
Pricing: They are cheap for a reason.
"Unlimited" Data Plans: They "throttle" them after a certain amount of time, and it's throttling to less than 2G speeds. In fact, you should try being throttled while trying to drive across the country using Google maps...
Customer Service: The only pleasant part of my time with T-Mobile.
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Those may have been YOUR experiences and I'm not discounting that BUT....
I have FIVE LINES with T-Mobile
NEVER HAVE I HAD an issue with signal or coverage indoors.
Full bars in my home, excellent signal (68dBm-72dBm).
Very good coverage in Jersey City, NJ where I live.
My husband whom travels all over the tri-state area (NY,NJ,CT) doesn't have any reception issues either.
Fast HSPA+ (yes, it's a 3.5G technology) speeds depending on the device used. (I have the Amaze,,Sensation and, a Nexus S on T-Mobile ATM)
Wasn't me!! I didn't do it!
I completely disagree with cdchris12 however I always lived in area with good T-Mobile coverage and their throttle speed is fast enough to view website and use Google Maps. I do find that depends on the phone, usually older ones can have problem keeping data and gps in door, unless you're next to a window. With newer big phones with good antenna is not so much a problem.
I'd say get an unlocked phone and go with T-Mobile prepaid $50/month plan which give you unlimited everything and throttle to 2G after 2GB of usage. Unless you need roaming which isn't available with prepaid. I have family and friends who use ATT 3G and T-Mobile 3G network is always faster to me. In fact, with a Galaxy SII with dual HSPA+ antenna I get speed excess of 20mbps. Straight Talk has the same plan for $45 I believe and they go through T-Mobile network.
T-Mobile also allows you to tether which ATT don't, although recently I heard they changed that for people with $70 plan.
You might also find this useful: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21604722&postcount=2
To get T-Mobile 3G you need a phone that support 1700/2100Mhz band.
In the East Bay area T-Mobile's HSPA+ speeds are really quite fast. I often saw 8-9Mbps downstream on my Galaxy Nexus before I switched to AT&T.
Unfortunately a fast internet connection is useless if your carrier alters all images on the internet so everything looks like dogpoo.
I have no idea what you are talking about, you might be accessing website through some kind of proxy like Opera Mini/Turbo. I know you will reply that that isn't the case, but I really can't think why that would be the case, but it has to be through some kind of proxy. I also notice some roms are set to connect to SimpleMobile by default instead of T-Mobile, which also causes problems. With Opera Mobile using desktop user agent, it looks exactly like my PC, and I've tried 5 different Android phones with T-Mobile. I haven't heard of millions other T-Mobile users complaining about degrading pictures quality from browser.
eksasol said:
I have no idea what you are talking about, you might be accessing website through some kind of proxy like Opera Mini/Turbo. I know you will reply that that isn't the case, but I really can't think why that would be the case, but it has to be through some kind of proxy. I also notice some roms are set to connect to SimpleMobile by default instead of T-Mobile, which also causes problems. With Opera Mobile using desktop user agent, it looks exactly like my PC, and I've tried 5 different Android phones with T-Mobile. I haven't heard of millions other T-Mobile users complaining about degrading pictures quality from browser.
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It's a proxy, but the proxy is on T-Mobile's end, not mine. It's a transparent proxy and it works exactly like the Opera Mini proxy, but I can't choose to turn it off. Connecting through a VPN would obviously fix the problem, but there's no easy way to force Android to auto-connect to a VPN every time I open the browser.
Trust me, I was thorough. The user agent wasn't an issue. The APN was set correctly. I spent over ten hours on the phone with T-Mobile's technical support and I hard reset the phones on both lines multiple times, restored to unrooted stock multiple times, and nothing fixed the issue. When I bought my Galaxy Nexus, I tested it before unlocking the bootloader and rooting it, and had the same exact issue.
Just to be absolutely sure, I even tested the issue on an iOS device (iPhone 3GS) and a WP7 device (HD7) with the same results--heavily compressed JPEG images when viewing any unencrypted page.
It no longer matters since I left T-Mobile for AT&T, which uses no such proxy.
Edit: I should note that I'm not the only one with this problem. Every person I know in the SF Bay area who uses T-Mobile has this problem. It may be automatic traffic shaping algorithms used on a tower-by-tower basis (which would explain why some people don't have the problem), but yeah, it's all over the place here. I tested demo phones in every T-Mobile store I could easily reach in the area--three in SF, two in Oakland, one in Berkeley and one in El Cerrito, and they all exhibit the same problem.
For example:
Actual quality, downloaded over wifi (180kb)
Very low quality, downloaded over T-Mobile 3G (55kb)
Yea, the compression thing on TMo is a well known thing. It doesn't bother me personally.
To throw in my experience with AT&T/T-Mobile here, I review phones as a side project. I've noted several differences in the two networks. Most are well known things that others have commented on. T-Mobile EASILY has better customer service. They always have. They pride themselves in their outstanding customer care. As long as you aren't being retarded or yelling at them, they will do everything possible to make you a happy customer.
As far as coverage goes, check the maps. AT&T has a bigger network footprint. T-Mobile has better network speeds. I get better speeds on T-Mobile 3G than on AT&T LTE. Obviously this is very dependent on location, but that's how it is here.
If you have coverage from T-Mobile and don't mind the picture compression, I strongly suggest it. I lived without 3G from T-Mobile for 2 and a half years while I was in the Army on base in Georgia. EDGE speeds are respectable from them. Their customer service and my ridiculously old $50 unlimited everything plan kept me going.
T-Mobile does throttle users once you reach your limits. I've never been throttled personally, but I've maxed out a test SGS2 just to see what it's like. You are still able to browse the web. No videos or streaming music, though. Speed tests put the throttling at around 70-110 Kbps. This is within EDGE speeds. Their unthrottled EDGE speeds are between 160-320 Kbps here. By comparison, GPRS speed drops down to about 20-40 Kbps.
My preference is for good customer service. T-Mobile has always been there for me, even when things got tight for me. I see no reason to leave them now. Look at the news just within the last 6 months. AT&T couldn't care less about its customers. It doesn't change anything until it gets sued.
cajunflavoredbob said:
Yea, the compression thing on TMo is a well known thing. It doesn't bother me personally.
To throw in my experience with AT&T/T-Mobile here, I review phones as a side project. I've noted several differences in the two networks. Most are well known things that others have commented on. T-Mobile EASILY has better customer service. They always have. They pride themselves in their outstanding customer care. As long as you aren't being retarded or yelling at them, they will do everything possible to make you a happy customer.
As far as coverage goes, check the maps. AT&T has a bigger network footprint. T-Mobile has better network speeds. I get better speeds on T-Mobile 3G than on AT&T LTE. Obviously this is very dependent on location, but that's how it is here.
If you have coverage from T-Mobile and don't mind the picture compression, I strongly suggest it. I lived without 3G from T-Mobile for 2 and a half years while I was in the Army on base in Georgia. EDGE speeds are respectable from them. Their customer service and my ridiculously old $50 unlimited everything plan kept me going.
T-Mobile does throttle users once you reach your limits. I've never been throttled personally, but I've maxed out a test SGS2 just to see what it's like. You are still able to browse the web. No videos or streaming music, though. Speed tests put the throttling at around 70-110 Kbps. This is within EDGE speeds. Their unthrottled EDGE speeds are between 160-320 Kbps here. By comparison, GPRS speed drops down to about 20-40 Kbps.
My preference is for good customer service. T-Mobile has always been there for me, even when things got tight for me. I see no reason to leave them now. Look at the news just within the last 6 months. AT&T couldn't care less about its customers. It doesn't change anything until it gets sued.
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This^^^^ %110. That being said, I've only experienced image compression in NYC, in a few areas (mostly midtown Manhattan). I live in Jersey City, NJ and haven't experienced it here. Even with image compression, images don't look THAT BAD....at least IMO.
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Babydoll25 said:
This^^^^ %110. That being said, I've only experienced image compression in NYC, in a few areas (mostly midtown Manhattan). I live in Jersey City, NJ and haven't experienced it here. Even with image compression, images don't look THAT BAD....at least IMO.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
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For me, they looked so bad I was willing to pay $40 more a month to AT&T in order to make it go away permanently. The other line on my account is used by my partner, and she would frequently read manga raws on her phone. When the image compression started, the Japanese characters in the raw manga scans became totally illegible. She was, to put it mildly, rather upset. This is probably 90% of why she owns a smartphone and is willing to pay for it, so I'm sure you can see the issue here.
For me it was an aesthetic issue, but for her it was a functionality issue. In any case, we pay a little more a month, but we also get more--and I personally prefer AT&T's method of handling data. At least on AT&T if I want more than 3GB a month I can pay to get extra GBs. On T-Mobile, you'd get throttled regardless and EDGE in the East Bay is completely unusable.
I would have stayed with T-Mobile had I been able to figure out how to automatically log into a VPN every time I opened an app that pulled image assets from the web (the browser, the Android Market, etc). Unfortunately, the only solution I found also wakelocked the phone permanently, preventing it from sleeping and killing any semblance of good battery life.
synaesthetic said:
For me, they looked so bad I was willing to pay $40 more a month to AT&T in order to make it go away permanently. The other line on my account is used by my partner, and she would frequently read manga raws on her phone. When the image compression started, the Japanese characters in the raw manga scans became totally illegible. She was, to put it mildly, rather upset. This is probably 90% of why she owns a smartphone and is willing to pay for it, so I'm sure you can see the issue here.
For me it was an aesthetic issue, but for her it was a functionality issue. In any case, we pay a little more a month, but we also get more--and I personally prefer AT&T's method of handling data. At least on AT&T if I want more than 3GB a month I can pay to get extra GBs. On T-Mobile, you'd get throttled regardless and EDGE in the East Bay is completely unusable.
I would have stayed with T-Mobile had I been able to figure out how to automatically log into a VPN every time I opened an app that pulled image assets from the web (the browser, the Android Market, etc). Unfortunately, the only solution I found also wakelocked the phone permanently, preventing it from sleeping and killing any semblance of good battery life.
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I think that's the main problem with the way TMo handles it. It's not consistent. It seems to be worse based on location and usage. More compression in more populated areas or something. For me, I can tell that the images are compressed if I zoom in inside a webpage, but otherwise, it's business as usual.
Same with the data speeds. A lot of people say that it drops to regular GPRS speeds when they get throttled. I only tested it the one time with that review unit SGS2, but it wasn't that bad. 100Kbps is fine for web browsing. The problem seems to be that it's all very much a "your mileage may vary" situation.
AT&T is evil, but at least they are consistent.
They're all evil. We simply pick the lesser evil in any given location.
I'm kind of surprised that nobody's mentioned T-Mobile's Wifi Calling. It allows you to get service anywhere that has a Wifi network available, and you can do everything as normal (Call, text, internet) through your plan. I use it everyday, and I think it's great.
theholyfork said:
I'm kind of surprised that nobody's mentioned T-Mobile's Wifi Calling. It allows you to get service anywhere that has a Wifi network available, and you can do everything as normal (Call, text, internet) through your plan. I use it everyday, and I think it's great.
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It's nice to have, but kind of crappy that it still counts against you, even though you aren't using their towers...