[Q] US/Europe Commuter 3G Smartphone? - General Questions and Answers

I am planning to upgrade my old/tired/beat-up HTC Prophet handset with something that supports 3G, but although just about all the smartphones I've reviewed are now quad-band GSM, I have yet to find an available Android or WM6 unit that supports high-speed data both in the U.S. (AT&T, 850/1900MHz) and the U.K. (O2, 2100MHz) In other words, I'm looking for quad-band GSM and UMTS 850/1900/2100 and am not interested in an iPhone... for several reasons. It seems that the Google Nexus One came in this configuration at one time but is no longer available.
Any suggestions?

Related

Is there a 850 MHz HTC Touch Pro as advertised below?

The site Popular Electronics (I have no personal connection of any kind) advertises for sale a 850 MHz Touch pro
http://www.popularelect.com/product...id=CNPmmfGZhJUCFQRJFQod5VhbrQ&tab=2&osCsid=10
and it specifies that it has an 850 MHz capability:
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent)
Is this for real? All sites I have checked so far specify that the 850MHz version is not available as yet.
If the information of this site is for real, would it work for AT&T?
what a thousand dollar phone
these chinese pricks are getting ridiculous !!!(HTC)
In relation to my question: Is the 850 MHz part for real?
The actual store, btw, is in Chicago.
Correct if I'm wrong, but AFAIK all Pros are quad band GSM.
Yes, all of them have 850mhz available. And it's not Chinese, smart guy.
michalopoulosgk said:
it specifies that it has an 850 MHz capability:
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency and data speed are operator dependent)
Is this for real? All sites I have checked so far specify that the 850MHz version is not available as yet.
If the information of this site is for real, would it work for AT&T?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is for real. Check out the specifications on the main htc website it says exactly the same thing. The Europe/Asia version will work on Verizon, but you won't be able to get WCDMA speeds. The US version has 850/1900 WCDMA, whereas the Europe/Asia version as mentioned on the HTC site has 900/2100. Would be nice if they could make one with all 4 WCDMA's
I have definitely seen some sites that claim the Touch Pro is only Tri-Band, but the HTC site would be the one to go by seeing as they made it an all
WCDMA (3G) is where it differs. All Touch Pro's do NOT have 850mhz WCDMA. You can get service everywhere, but only 3G in areas with 900/2100mhz 3G... AT&T uses 850/1900 for 3G.
Black93300ZX said:
WCDMA (3G) is where it differs. All Touch Pro's do NOT have 850mhz WCDMA. You can get service everywhere, but only 3G in areas with 900/2100mhz 3G... AT&T uses 850/1900 for 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol I just saw your last post in the release date thread and edited my response, but I was too slow
Many thanks to all, this was very helpful.
Black93300ZX said:
Yes, all of them have 850mhz available. And it's not Chinese, smart guy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No they do not all have it activated, smart guy ....look here at the official Dutch HTC site specs:
http://www.htc.com/nl/product.aspx?id=54146
No 850mhz band... not even for gsm (voice) function. Its a triband not quadband....
And after browsing this forum for weeks now its still not clear to me if the 850mhz band can be activated with just a rom/radio update..... a lot of different opinions in here....
Somebody knows the 'truth'?
t-mobile usa is rolling out with 3g for bands 1700 to 2100
merten3000 said:
No they do not all have it activated, smart guy ....look here at the official Dutch HTC site specs:
http://www.htc.com/nl/product.aspx?id=54146
No 850mhz band... not even for gsm (voice) function. Its a triband not quadband....
And after browsing this forum for weeks now its still not clear to me if the 850mhz band can be activated with just a rom/radio update..... a lot of different opinions in here....
Somebody knows the 'truth'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, it is a ROM flash, second, their specs page for english used to say triband too but they changed it to quad band...
I have a friend who works for ATT and just tested the new HTC Touch Pro (Raphael) and said that ATT is planning on releasing them in November, code named "ATT Fusion."
Of course, they claim it's real...
michalopoulosgk said:
The site Popular Electronics (I have no personal connection of any kind) advertises for sale a 850 MHz Touch pro...
If the information of this site is for real, would it work for AT&T?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These guys say (of course) they got a few in stock and they sold quickly. These are actually the EUROPE/ASIA version but the rep claims they are Quadband and that 3G works on both AT&T and T-Mobile (US). They are getting more in next week.
http://www.popularelect.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_58&products_id=1026
Hmmmm....who to believe?????
T
E
C
DeniaL said:
I have a friend who works for ATT and just tested the new HTC Touch Pro (Raphael) and said that ATT is planning on releasing them in November, code named "ATT Fusion."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting. Did he get to take any pictures by any slight chance?
The more I read the more I get confused.....are the phones (if as advertised) in the site mentioned on post 14 likely to be working with ATT 3G?
UMTS/HSDPA for 850/900/1900/2100 on Touch Pro
I also keep on hearing this regarding bands on the Touch Pro. Can the UMTS/HSDPA band be activated for 850/900/1900/2100 by just flashing a custom ROM or changing the Radio Version? Please someone answer this....
This is something i want to know as well. I've been doing quite a bit of searching with no answer as of yet.
I live 40 minutes from Chicago and have asked this company about AT&T, Quad Band, and actual prodoct availability.
If they have them in stock, I will drive to their store, insert my AT&T SIM card and see if it will actually work.
But first, let's see if they respond to my questions.
Good deal...
someara said:
I live 40 minutes from Chicago and have asked this company about AT&T, Quad Band, and actual prodoct availability.
If they have them in stock, I will drive to their store, insert my AT&T SIM card and see if it will actually work.
But first, let's see if they respond to my questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea...I'm close to these guys too. Actually there are about 5 electronics storefront stores all next door to each other over there on W. Devon in Chicago. I bought my last 4 unlocked GSM phones from that area. Oddly enough, Popular Electronics have NEVER been the first to have any of the phones I wanted. For the past 2 years their usual answer has been "It will be here MONDAY." But "MONDAY" takes months to come!
The guys next door at Overseas Electronics (http://www.welectronics.com/) have always gotten the phones FIRST in that area--including the TyTN II. Even the other store next door to them (http://bargainoffers.com/catalog/default.php) get the hottest GSM phones before Pop Elect. This time though, Overseas say about 3-4 weeks out for the Touch Pro...so I'm really interested to know if Pop Elect actually gets them FOR REAL "by MONDAY" this time.
Please keep us informed. Thanks!!
T
E
C

Polaris on NextG?

Australia's Telstra has a system called NextG. I don't know what exactly that equates to in the rest of the world but they are claiming coverage far superior to anything available before in rural areas.
Any Aussies like to chime in and tell me if my Polaris is going to work there?
I currently use a TC on telstra nextG. while I never have coverage issues I have never really checked the data speeds as I have a pc card for that.
After a bit of research it seems NextG is nothing more than 3G UTMS service, just on the (lesser used) 850Mhz band. The way the specs are written for the Polaris it sounds like a unit will support either UMTS2100 or UMTS850, but not both, depending on whether is was destined for the USA or Europe. Anyone confirm this one way or the other? I bought mine in Taiwan so I have no idea which it should support.
on a similar note I got my wife a samsung omina, while it does work on telstra 850mhz it does not have the nextG service speeds. My TC seems to work on both 2100 and 850 as I have used it with optus and telstra and optus does not have 850
fahr_side said:
After a bit of research it seems NextG is nothing more than 3G UTMS service, just on the (lesser used) 850Mhz band. The way the specs are written for the Polaris it sounds like a unit will support either UMTS2100 or UMTS850, but not both, depending on whether is was destined for the USA or Europe. Anyone confirm this one way or the other? I bought mine in Taiwan so I have no idea which it should support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using a Polaris both in Aus and worldwide, actually, for over 12 months.
it will connect to UMTS both 2100Mhz and 850Mhz without problem. Just set the band in Settings>Personal>Phone to automatic
Telstra uses the 2100Mhz frequency in the cities and 850Mhz for the regional areas. BTW, the 850Mhz is not "lesser used": this frequency is used for UMTS in regional areas in South America, South Africa, Australia and the US. Geographically, this is about 60% of the globe.
Hold onto the Polaris - it's the last device HTC offered that will connect to both frequencies. The reason for this is beyond the scope of this post, but it's an accurate statement.
Thanks for the replies people. Going to Aus in a few weeks and really didn't want to buy or rent another phone.

Travel to Korea

Hi,
My daughter will be in South Korea for a year.
I would like to set her up with an HTC phone either the Touch Pro or Touch Diamond. I understand that either will support WCDMA or GSM.
Will there be any issues? Any suggestions on another phone or perhaps a good plan in S. Korea?
We expect to use skype on the phone. How is the open wifi availability?
I did SEARCH the forums and most hits were outdated. But, if you must, flame away!
Thanks and Regards,
Jim
jjttnn said:
Hi,
My daughter will be in South Korea for a year.
I would like to set her up with an HTC phone either the Touch Pro or Touch Diamond. I understand that either will support WCDMA or GSM.
Will there be any issues? Any suggestions on another phone or perhaps a good plan in S. Korea?
We expect to use skype on the phone. How is the open wifi availability?
I did SEARCH the forums and most hits were outdated. But, if you must, flame away!
Thanks and Regards,
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome
As far as I know the limitations won´t be on the phone so look into the provider to choose a plan that cover overseas with a good deal!
Good luck,
as far as i know if phones work outside usa and some other american countries
it works in korea too
as in things which are likely to be incomaptible would be cdma (not wcdma because that seem to be what some people call umts/3g)
and 850Mhz gsm and 2100 umts
Last I heard (and I could be wrong or it could have changed since) was that Korea used CDMA networks with SIM Cards, yeah it sounded strange to me at the time also.
You need to confirm what Bands/network types are being used in Korea then you can find your answers...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone
it's not 100% clear but seem to state that korea have several systems
"There are three major technical standards for the current generation of mobile phones and networks, and two major standards for the next generation 3G phones and networks. All European and African countries and many Asian countries have adopted a single system, GSM, which is the only technology available on all continents and in most countries and covers over 74% of all subscribers on mobile networks. In many countries, such as the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, India,, South Korea, and Vietnam, GSM co-exists with other internationally adopted standards such as CDMA and TDMA, as well as national standards such as iDEN in the USA and PDC in Japan. Over the past five years several dozen mobile operators (carriers) have abandoned networks on TDMA and CDMA technologies, switching over to GSM."
Everyone, thanks for your input. We got a Kaiser and will be setting it up over the next few days. Should have some good information from her in a couple of weeks.
Searching/Looking for a good radio now.
Regards
jjttnn said:
Will there be any issues? Any suggestions on another phone or perhaps a good plan in S. Korea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I was in Seoul and Busan last year, my GSM quad-band phone did not get any signal. The hotels I stayed at provided their customers a cell phone to use for the stay, and mentioned that US phones -- GSM or CDMA -- would not work in Korea. I would call a provider and ask, just to be sure.
Thanks pavankp, you scared me to action. You are correct, turns out a 3g phone is needed, a quad-band is not enough. Found this at att: http://www.att.com/Common/merger/files/pdf/international_calling/International_Travel_Tips-FS.pdf
Excerpt: A GSM quad-band phone (that works on 850/900/1800/1900 MHz frequencies) provides the widest coverage internationally. Most AT&T phones in stores today are quad-band. For travel to Japan or South Korea, your phone must operate on 3G technology at 2100 MHz. Phones that will operate in Japan and South Korea include the BlackBerry Bold, iPhone 3G, BlackJack II, Sony Ericsson z750, HTC Fuze, LG Incite, Samsung Epix and AT&T Quickfire. ...
Regards.
I spent time in S Korea in the Army. Camp Casey. Sucked. LOL. But that was back in 2000 so I'm sure a lot has changed. But you couldn't get regular AT&T service there. The phones you buy there are a little different. I think the technology is better in my opinion. Back in 2000 the phones there already had colored screens! Granted that most of them was not in English so I really had no interest in playing around with one to see what was so special about it. Wish her luck for me though.

HTC US 3G compatible devices

HELP!
I am at my wits end trying to find a US 3G compatible HTC device. I really like the Blackstone, but it seems that it won't do 850/1900 HSDPA frequencies. Does anyone know which HTC devices are compatible with AT&T networks?
I even wrote HTC about the Blackstone. They told me it is compatible on the 850 band, but that's not what the specifications say. I'm so confused. I am an electrical engineer and understand all the technologies, I just don't know which devices are "world" devices. Does anyone out there know?
Am I sentenced to the world of edge with HTC devices because of AT&T network frequencies?
The Touch HD is really cool phone and would love to have it if it does 3G on AT&T.
Thanks,
The Kaiser was one of HTC's last phones to have good tri-band UTMS support; ever since then, it's taken the strategy of releasing N. American and international versions of its phones that have different 3G radios (850/1900 and 900/2100 respectively, but you know that already. ). Once exception is the Fuze, since AT&T wanted it to have 3G roaming, so it has the 2100 band as well as the American ones.
You can find a N. American version of most HTC phones besides the Blackstone, unfortunately. I don't know why, HTC just made a decision that it wouldn't be released over here. Might be because they don't want it to compete with the upcoming Touch Diamond 2, which has a similar set of features.
this new Telstra HD works for usa 3G 850...see this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=487010&highlight=telstra

[Q] CDMA advantages? (DroidPro vs Galaxy for travel)

I travel a lot so I have a special prepay simcard for travel. At the moment I'm using a i9000 Galaxy which has 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz GSM & 900, 1700/2100, 2100 MHz UMTS bands.
However, I still have an unlocked DroidPro (XT610) and not sure whether to take it with me traveling. Unlike the galaxy the Pro has CDMA and also is similar in potential to the Galaxy with it's hardware, especially with a better battery. A very good thing for me is that possibly it looks a lot cheaper than the galaxy.
But the DroidPro has very poor community support and Motorola make it difficult for custom ROMS. The other problem I find is the keyboard doesn't always play well with Android.
The thing is, the DroidPro has CDMA and UMTS 1900 band coverage instead of 1700. Is this better global coverage or not? What are the advantages of CDMA? Do I need a new simcard to use CDMA?
The DroidPro also has "EV-DO Rev.A" whatever that is for data... I wonder if that might help me get data services with a local simcard in some places.
It's probably only a matter of $120 to sell the DroidPro... should I keep it?
Here's a list of countries with CDMA if you're interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CDMA2000_networks#Countries
As far as I can see there isn't anywhere without GSM coverage, but there could be a place where CDMA is the only prepay local simcard option.
Your phone can be used in many countries with GSM coverage since your phone is a world phone and uses SIM cards. The only network I got sure know it won't work with is T-Mobile USA since it uses the 1700 band.
Sent from my GT-N7000 Samsung Galaxy Note "Go big or go home" using XDA app

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