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My boss bought a Treo 650 and I showed him how to put the SIM in. I noticed his signal strength had 5 bars. He wanted to see if it was unlocked so I put in my Tmobile SIM. When I turned it on, he had 2 bars. I kept it on and moved it around a bit and it moved between 1 and 2 bars. Confused, I put his Cingular SIM back in and up popped 5 bars...sometimes 4, but mostly 5.
Now, does it make any sense that my Tmobile SIM would cause his phone to have less strength than his Cingular SIM?? Or was this just some type of flook?? His Treo is Cingular branded...if that matters, but his SIM is left over from AT&T days.
His phone is a branded, unlocked Cingular. Mine is an unlocked i-Mate K-Jam.
Anyone with any thoughts?
Tom
Well if your in America. Sad to say the T-Mobile is smallest in coverage in area, and members. So the area you in might not have as much as Cingular. In america, Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint has the best coverage.
BTW, want to now how to get a promotion, introduce him to Windows Pocket PC's.
First, giving him a WM5 product is not going to get me a promo. He'll have such a tough time using it he'll get mad at me for recommending it. Believe me....I've thought about that as I have a K-Jam and love the heck out of it. Some people need the simple things.
Regarding Tmobile, I switched from Verizon to Tmo about 6 years ago when I started traveling to Europe several times a year. Initially the service sucked, but over the past 2 or 3 years I've had 0 problems with it. I travel around the country and internationally and I have to say that I'm pretty happy with it. I'm sure it's a "your mileage may vary" situation. Matter of fact, I don't know anyone who complains about their service regardless of who it is.
That being said, even if Tmo sucked majorly, that wouldn't explain why my SIM would cause him to get weaker reception than his AT&T SIM. Keep in mind, I'm using the same Treo with 2 different SIMs and get 2 different readings.
Thanks,
Tom
I have heard from some post over at Howard Forums that the Cingular 64k SIM's get better reception than the AT&T 32k SIM's.
I migrated over from an AT&T SIM to a Cingular one and noticed that my reception improved a signifigant amount. So there may be something to do with how the SIM's are designed.
Well, I'm going to run down to the Tmobile store today and see if I can't pickup another SIM. I'm pretty interested in seeing what happens.
Tom
deathMiata said:
I have heard from some post over at Howard Forums that the Cingular 64k SIM's get better reception than the AT&T 32k SIM's.
I migrated over from an AT&T SIM to a Cingular one and noticed that my reception improved a signifigant amount. So there may be something to do with how the SIM's are designed.
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of course it did
Your phone went from sticking to AT&T towers to Cingular towers.
OP: I doubt a new SIM from TMobile will help you. Chances are TMobile coverage in your area, as most, isn't good.
SIMs and Signal Strength
The reason a sim can dictate the signal strength is the sim has a certain amount of programming on it that tells the phone and its receiver about the services on the network. Have you ever seen a text message with "OTA OK" ? That's an Over The Air update to the sim updating things such as service pointers and things to make it easier for the phone to use the services on the network and find towers easier and quicker. You can have a sim go bad and not be able to take an update causing alot of problems or very little but noticeable problems like not receiving SMS or sending MMS. It's a modular network built on a lot of small pieces and all of them have to work together to make the services work correctly.
Sorry for the diatribe.....
I'll go back to my corner now.....
I know this issue is partly addressed in a thread on not being able to connect to a network after unlock but I just want to share my own experience and disappointment with the G2 after going to Guatemala.
I have rooted my G2 using Visionary and am running Enomther's ROM pre-the Dec 24 update. Not using any other kernels or anything, but the phone is unlocked for use overseas with other SIMs.
Before I went to Guate I realized that I would be unable to get 3G given the bands used in Guatemala are different from what the G2 is capable of (I think Band I and IV). Fine.
However, I went down there and wanted to do some data roaming before I had a chance to get a local SIM card and I kept getting the message "SIM card not registered to this network". I tried all three carriers in Guatemala to no avail.
When I went to get a SIM card from a local carrier it took a lot of effort on their part to get my phone connected to the internet but eventually I was able to score Edge service with one of the carriers down there. Being Guatemala I don't know if this process was difficult due to the way data plans work down there (prepaid) or if there was something specific with the G2 that prevented it from connecting to the network.
But my overall question is why I was not able to roam with the G2 overseas. Clearly the phone worked fine once I put a local SIM card in but the fact that I was totally unable to roam with the G2 using my US T-Mobile SIM card was very disappointing and has me thinking of reactivating my iPhone, which has never had any issue using it overseas, including Guatemala.
Is this a G2 issue or T-Mobile?
You have to enable international roaming with T-Mobile, I discovered that during a trip to Ukraine. Once I did that my subsequent trips I was able to roam but not very well. The easiest and cheapest thing to do was to use a foreign sim for my purposes.
You have to call tmobile and they will give you the unlock code most of the time. Tell then you are going for business or something like that.
Most likely your data and calling bands will work on edge. But your 3g and wannabe 4g will not work.
Circledog said:
You have to enable international roaming with T-Mobile, I discovered that during a trip to Ukraine. Once I did that my subsequent trips I was able to roam but not very well. The easiest and cheapest thing to do was to use a foreign sim for my purposes.
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Woah, weird. I lived in ukraine for 3 years. And yes buying a ukrainian sim card will cost you about 5-10 dollars a month for a crap load of text messages. UMC is best for ukraine imo.
Completely off topic but how did you like living in Ukraine? I would love to live there for awhile. We adopted a little girl from there and then later another from Moscow, I loved Moscow but Russia was so much more expensive than Ukraine was.
Back on topic sort of. I didn't have a smart phone in Ukraine so I didnt use data, but in Moscow I was able to get 3G coverage with my G2. I had Tmobile international roaming enabled on my phone, but my sim would not register on any networks there, I had to pick up a Russian Beeline sim and then was good to go!
From what I understood about mhz bands and services. There are four total most used bands in the entire world 850 900 1800 and 1900. Us in america use two (one under a thousand and one over) and europe uses the opposite ones. So only up until tri and quad band phones started getting much cheaper (probably about 5 years ago) did phone start working in different countrys. Its only smarter honestly, then a company would only need to make on phone for the world. Then they would be losing out on multiple purchases ofc haha.
Google mobile mhz bands. I don't know everything, but I read quite a bit about this maybe 3 years ago when I bought a tri band nokia.
Ukraine, I was there for 2 years for my church. Became fluent in russian. Then went back to date a girl I met while I was there. After that she came twice for 6 month increments on a visitor visa and we got married at the end of the second. Been happily married for almost 2.5 years now.
Bring on the mail order bride jokes, I've heard them all. We r both young, planning on buying a house this year since the economy has really brought those prices down haha. Sorry for the spam! But hopefully your questions are answered.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Thanks for the responses. I will give T-Mobile a call ahead of my next trip overseas. Just odd that a company with such wide global coverage has no international data roaming plans and makes it a pain the keester to get roaming.
They actually do have international data roaming ($15/MB). The key is that you have to have already added international roaming to your account (it's free to add). Then if you have a data plan in the US, they will allow you to have data while roaming. I think US carriers require you to actively enable international roaming instead of enabling it by default due to the potentially high number of complaints about billing charges (e.g., people using their phones internationally without being aware there will be a higher rate). This way, they can state you were properly warned since you have to contact them first.
I plan on switching from AT&T to Straight Talk. Right now, AT&T provides good reception here. TracFones have terrible reception here. Will Straight Talk also have bad reception here?
Straight Talk uses AT&T towers so you'll get whatever signal AT&T does (well 1/2 of them do - the other half uses TMobile so make sure to choose when signing up).
Oddly enough, Tracfone does use AT&T as well and is also part of the same company as Straight Talk, all owned by Carlos Slim - Richest man in the world, so even Tracfone should get the same signal as Straight talk. The good thing is that there is no contract so you can try out ALL of them and see what works best for you.
(actually more like 1/3 since they use Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile depending on your plan - so you might be comparing Tracfone on T-Mobile to a normal AT&T phone).
xda6969 said:
I plan on switching from AT&T to Straight Talk. Right now, AT&T provides good reception here. TracFones have terrible reception here. Will Straight Talk also have bad reception here?
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The other thing is TracFones are low quality devices and poor reception could have a lot to do with that. The settings in your APN (which are different between the two) will not affect signal strength but will affect data speed. You should get as strong a signal as anyone else on ATT. Data speed may be lower because of the N4 and 4g.
shotta35 said:
Straight Talk uses AT&T towers so you'll get whatever signal AT&T does (well 1/2 of them do - the other half uses TMobile so make sure to choose when signing up).
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The Straight Talk site is leaving me with some questions. I want to transfer my AT&T number. Once I get the phone, I'm sure I need to go to Activate/Reactivate-Transfer Number. The next screen requires that I give them the Phone IMEI and some other info. Will I get the option to select AT&T towers on a later screen?
Tracfone has cdma and gsm (att/tmo) services, so 3 things could be going on.
1) Tracfone is cdma so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
2) Tracfone is tmo gsm so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
3) Tracfone is att gsm so straight talk may not work for you and the reason att gets a solid signal is because it's roaming.
xda6969 said:
The Straight Talk site is leaving me with some questions. I want to transfer my AT&T number. Once I get the phone, I'm sure I need to go to Activate/Reactivate-Transfer Number. The next screen requires that I give them the Phone IMEI and some other info. Will I get the option to select AT&T towers on a later screen?
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If you are activating from the site then it probably checks your IMEI to see what phone it is then puts you on the correct track. By choosing SIM Plan you choose CDMA, 850Mhz (AT&T) or TMobile which then gives you the right SIM (or none).
If you use a nexus 4 i hear they don't know that IMEI so you'll just have to find that one they suggest or call them or whatever.
threeclaws said:
Tracfone has cdma and gsm (att/tmo) services, so 3 things could be going on.
1) Tracfone is cdma so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
2) Tracfone is tmo gsm so straight talk ATT is fine in your area.
3) Tracfone is att gsm so straight talk may not work for you and the reason att gets a solid signal is because it's roaming.
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I just got off the phone with TracFone/Straight Talk (after a 45 min wait) and they verified the 2 TracFones here are using AT&T's network. I hope the problem with the TracFone signals here are the cheap phones and the Nexus 4 will prove to be better. I don't think I am roaming with my phone. I don't have the Nexus 4 yet. I am using the Nokia N85. I don't see a roaming icon on it although I am not sure it even has one. I can't order the SIM now because the N85 takes a standard SIM and I beleive the Nexus 4 takes a micro SIM. If I order the Straght Talk SIM and transfer my number to it, I don't think I can put it in the N85 to use while I wait for the Nexus 4 to return to stock.
The N85 has a spring loaded slot? In any case, the MicroSIMs come in a SIM card cut out which includes a MINISIM which you then break the MicroSIM out of. To use it on a normal phone you just slide it back into the MiniSIM cutout (adapter) and then slide it into your N85. Once the N4 comes you can then take out it's adapter and slide just the MicroSIM into the Nexus 4.
xda6969 said:
I just got off the phone with TracFone/Straight Talk (after a 45 min wait) and they verified the 2 TracFones here are using AT&T's network. I hope the problem with the TracFone signals here are the cheap phones and the Nexus 4 will prove to be better. I don't think I am roaming with my phone. I don't have the Nexus 4 yet. I am using the Nokia N85. I don't see a roaming icon on it although I am not sure it even has one. I can't order the SIM now because the N85 takes a standard SIM and I beleive the Nexus 4 takes a micro SIM. If I order the Straght Talk SIM and transfer my number to it, I don't think I can put it in the N85 to use while I wait for the Nexus 4 to return to stock.
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Yeah I have no idea how to check for roaming on an n85, I wish you luck though although in my experience cheap dumb phones have gotten better reception that my smartphones
shotta35 said:
The N85 has a spring loaded slot? In any case, the MicroSIMs come in a SIM card cut out which includes a MINISIM which you then break the MicroSIM out of. To use it on a normal phone you just slide it back into the MiniSIM cutout (adapter) and then slide it into your N85. Once the N4 comes you can then take out it's adapter and slide just the MicroSIM into the Nexus 4.
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My ST MicroSIM didn't come with any kind of adapter.
threeclaws said:
Yeah I have no idea how to check for roaming on an n85, I wish you luck though although in my experience cheap dumb phones have gotten better reception that my smartphones
My ST MicroSIM didn't come with any kind of adapter.
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I was just going to ask this question next. Perhaps ST doesn't do the cut-out/adaptor with their SIMs. Darn. It would have been nice to get started and compare it vs AT&T on the N85. The N85 does have a spring-loaded slot. Here is an excellent article about SIM adaptors and possible damage from using them.
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/14444_The_Curse_of_Micro_SIM_Adapter.php
As I thought, the ST AT&T sim doesn't give me strong signal strength on the Nexus 4 like the genuine AT&T sim does on the Nokia N85. I do not know how to check the actual db on the Nokia so I can't get the actual numbers. I suspect AT&T assigns the lowest priority to third parties leasing their lines...or someting to that effect. I can get stronger signal by selecting 2G speed only on the Nexus 4 but it sucks to have to do that.
I don't believe that for a second. signal bars between different phones are not standardized at all.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
I would like to find out the actual signal in db on the N85. Then I have actual number to compare. I do know that my first call yesterday with ST dropped within a minute. I don't have that issue with the genuine AT&T service phone.
I live in western Raleigh, NC. I use a Nexus 5 with AT&T. A few years ago I used a Droid Mini on Verizon (XT1030 http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_droid_mini-5603.php) I quit Verizon, and tried my Droid Mini on AT&T. Couldnt get the data to work on the Droid Mini with AT&T, so I bought the Nexus 5. A few days ago I figured I would try the Droid Mini again on AT&T, just to see what would happen...
I ran down to the AT&T store near my home and asked for a nano sim-card, which AT&T happily gave me for free. I put the AT&T nano-sim card into the Verizon Droid Mini, and guess what? Not only did the voice calling work, the data also worked. When I tried this a few years ago, the data refused to work. At my home, my Verizon Droid Mini is giving me H++ speeds on the AT&T network. In certain parts of Raleigh, with my Verizon Droid Mini, I am getting full-blown 4G LTE signal on the AT&T network, with 4G LTE speeds. I tested the speeds of my Verizon Droid Mini on the AT&T network when I received LTE, and yep, I was getting between 20-35 mbps.
The Verizon Droid Mini is meant to be a CDMA phone. Obviously it can pick up GSM signals, but what I want to know is, how can the Verizon Droid Mini get a 4G LTE signal from AT&T?
greymarch said:
I live in western Raleigh, NC. I use a Nexus 5 with AT&T. A few years ago I used a Droid Mini on Verizon (XT1030 http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_droid_mini-5603.php) I quit Verizon, and tried my Droid Mini on AT&T. Couldnt get the data to work on the Droid Mini with AT&T, so I bought the Nexus 5. A few days ago I figured I would try the Droid Mini again on AT&T, just to see what would happen...
I ran down to the AT&T store near my home and asked for a nano sim-card, which AT&T happily gave me for free. I put the AT&T nano-sim card into the Verizon Droid Mini, and guess what? Not only did the voice calling work, the data also worked. When I tried this a few years ago, the data refused to work. At my home, my Verizon Droid Mini is giving me H++ speeds on the AT&T network. In certain parts of Raleigh, with my Verizon Droid Mini, I am getting full-blown 4G LTE signal on the AT&T network, with 4G LTE speeds. I tested the speeds of my Verizon Droid Mini on the AT&T network when I received LTE, and yep, I was getting between 20-35 mbps.
The Verizon Droid Mini is meant to be a CDMA phone. Obviously it can pick up GSM signals, but what I want to know is, how can the Verizon Droid Mini get a 4G LTE signal from AT&T?
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because it has the lte bands for it, i was using my droid maxx in mexico with telcel, which uses the same bands as at&t, and it worked like a charm on LTE with top speeds always
Jaocagomez said:
because it has the lte bands for it, i was using my droid maxx in mexico with telcel, which uses the same bands as at&t, and it worked like a charm on LTE with top speeds always
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I guess I should have given a few more details...
In western Raleigh, I only get H+ top speeds. In southern and central Raleigh I get the LTE. Could AT&T have band 4 in Southern/Central Raleigh and not in western Raleigh?
Sprint and Verizon use a sort of hybrid technology with respect to their 4G LTE networks, that's why their devices require a SIM card. Verizon devices since the summer of 2013 are pretty much always GSM unlocked even here in the US for domestic operation - they come that way because of some requirements that Verizon was responsible for honoring during the frequency allocation auction by the FCC a few years ago.
Basically that means every Verizon device (that is a 4G LTE one which means pretty much everything they've been selling for 2 years roughly) is ready to go by inserting a SIM card (activated for whatever other carrier you use, of course) and running with it. You may be required to fix or alter or add the proper APN for the other carrier - the info is supposed to be on the SIM card and usually is read without issues but sometimes it's not and has to be manually put in which takes a minute or two, not a big hassle.
I'm suspecting the AT&T SIM card you tried originally didn't have the proper APN data (older SIM cards tend to not be read so well in newer devices) and it just wasn't able to work the data connection - the phone call aspects will pretty much always work and you'll know that by the fact that it connects to the carrier you've chosen but that's just for phone calls, not the data.
Sprint locks their devices not only with a SIM lock but also a domestic lock of sorts: they don't like people using the devices they sell (contract or not) here in the US so they will block the use of SIM cards for providers here in the US even if you get the SIM unlock code from them more often than not. This isn't a 100% sure thing but it does tend to be reported quite often.
Workarounds for the Sprint issues usually relate to finding something like a radio file/firmware from a Sprint device used someplace else in the world and then flashing it on a domestic device for use here in the US, or another method is patching some system files to allow the radio to work properly without such artificial limitations put in place by Sprint's somewhat draconian methods.
Anyway, with a Sprint device here in the US, the LTE bands that Sprint does use are completely different from those that AT&T and T-Mobile tend to use: Sprint likes bands 25, 26, and 41 while AT&T likes 2, 4, and 17 while T-Mobile favors 2, 4, and 12. Verizon likes 2, 4, and 13 - see how this works out?
There's overlapping coverage from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon on the 2 and 4 bands hence devices sold by these companies being able to mingle, so to speak, on the GSM operations - Verizon phones of course still require CDMA for their primary usage so if you get a Verizon device with a busted SIM card slot or whatever it won't be of any use on AT&T or T-Mobile.
But that's it, more or less. The Droid series of devices since the Droid Ultra (MAXX and Mini came later) have been GSM unlocked from the go, including the Droid TURBO as well and most everything else Verizon sells. I've heard a few reports that newer devices (like the Droid TURBO perhaps) may have another level of blocking of some kind but, so far every device I've owned from Verizon since the Droid Ultra was released has been GSM unlocked and works fine with my T-Mobile service with nothing more than manually adding some APN info in 1 min or less.
Hope this helps...
greymarch said:
I guess I should have given a few more details...
In western Raleigh, I only get H+ top speeds. In southern and central Raleigh I get the LTE. Could AT&T have band 4 in Southern/Central Raleigh and not in western Raleigh?
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Of course it's possible, you should check out AT&T coverage maps and cross-reference the locations to get more info, or just call AT&T and ask them for specifics, it can't hurt.
Hi Guys,
I have an extra upgrade on my account, but want to use it on AT&T. I know the phones are sim unlocked, but will I be able to use LTE on AT&T?
jcafowler said:
Hi Guys,
I have an extra upgrade on my account, but want to use it on AT&T. I know the phones are sim unlocked, but will I be able to use LTE on AT&T?
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I believe just on bands 2 and 4. AT&T uses band 12/17 for their low-band spectrum (great for in buildings and rural areas), so you'd have sub-par experience.
To get the best experience, try swapping (literally) phones with someone selling an AT&T one on Swappa.
General information to follow:
https://swappa.com/faq/general/how_to_trade
I have a verizon s7 edge. I have an att sim a Tmobile sim and a Verizon sim that I swap depending on the area I am in (I use google voice with call forwarding so my number doesn't change)
Att and Tmobile work fine 80% of the time. But anywhere that the 12 band is used you will have no signal in heavey populated areas you will have no issues, but once you get into the less populated areas your coverage is spotty...
I have to use verizon at home, t mobile at work for the free music and video streaming, and Att well I hate ATT but I have a number on my ex wife's family plan for another 7 months so I use the data I am allocated on the plan then swap the card out again.