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[Q] i9020A on AWS = no 3G? And is "carrier locked" possible?

Will the i9020A version of the Nexus S (which is I think the model sold by Koodo Mobile in Canada) get 3G connection on the AWS spectrum used by Mobilicity? (I believe this should be the same as TMobile)?
Also, is there such a thing as a carrier locked Nexus S? I want to buy the Koodo Mobile Nexus S for $425 off contract (cheapest I can find), but I want to use it on the Mobilicity network. Will I need to carrier unlock the device somehow? I can't seem to find any "unlock Nexus S" sources, so I assume this is unnecessary?
The more I look into this issue, the more confused I get. A lot of places say the Nexus S is quad-band GSM + AWS, so doesn't that mean I should be able to get 3G from anywhere? The FAQ on this forum states that the original Nexus S can only get 3G speeds on TMobile's AWS band--conversely, does that then mean that the new "AT&T" Nexus S phones can't get 3G speeds on AWS? i.e. Do I need to buy a phone from an AWS carrier to get 3G?

Blindsight51 said:
Will the i9020A version of the Nexus S (which is I think the model sold by Koodo Mobile in Canada) get 3G connection on the AWS spectrum used by Mobilicity? (I believe this should be the same as TMobile)?
Also, is there such a thing as a carrier locked Nexus S? I want to buy the Koodo Mobile Nexus S for $425 off contract (cheapest I can find), but I want to use it on the Mobilicity network. Will I need to carrier unlock the device somehow? I can't seem to find any "unlock Nexus S" sources, so I assume this is unnecessary?
The more I look into this issue, the more confused I get. A lot of places say the Nexus S is quad-band GSM + AWS, so doesn't that mean I should be able to get 3G from anywhere? The FAQ on this forum states that the original Nexus S can only get 3G speeds on TMobile's AWS band--conversely, does that then mean that the new "AT&T" Nexus S phones can't get 3G speeds on AWS? i.e. Do I need to buy a phone from an AWS carrier to get 3G?
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I am in canada, just bought NS finally, that too from Koodo, and it is an Unlocked Rogers/AT&T/Bell/Telus/Fido compatible version. Not to mention it will work with any other bands in the world except the situation Wind/Mobilicity have.
Their phone system is not backwards compatible, they came out in the market just about 2 years ago, they started off with 3G/3.5G straight where Rogers initially started with Standard, moved on to Edge/2G/2.5G and upgraded themselves to 3G and eventually 3.5G, same goes for Telus/Bell/Fido.
If you purchase any of Wind/Mobilicity phone, they will be compatible with any other careers in the world, but you will not get 3G if tried on UMTS. Their phones will only work on the AWS 3G frequency. Which in case means if you bought wind/mobilicity compatible phone, you will get 2G/Edge on Rogers.
Other way around - Koodo phone with Wind/Mobilicity SIM - will give you Wind/Mobilicity Away network only, means it is useless for you. The only phone in canadian market works with Rogers and Wind 3G frequency is Nokia N8 which is a Pentaband phone. Nexus S on the other hand is a Quadband phone, and is made specifically for the career, thats why we have 3/4 different versions, AWS, UMTS, 4G to work with Sprint in US and i guess there is one other model for India and China as well.
All the Nexus S variants come unlocked, outright or on contract, as its a Google's own baby and they don't lock it except the bootloader.
I bought mine with Koodo from Future Shop as it is listed as not an outright sale on Koodo's website, but FS and BBY do sell them outright. It is unlocked out of the box, just pop your SIM in and you are good to go assuming you are going to go with Rogers/Bell/Telus/Koodo/Fido.
My two cents, go with Wind, they offer you wind tab, pay 350 + tax and use the phone to pay the rest of the money with wind tab and you are set if you really want Wind compatible phone.
I had the same problem and dilemma like you as I had a Desire Z with Bell and wanted to use it on Wind, ended up trading it with G2 from T-Mobile and used Wind mobile 3G network and Rogers 2G/Edge network up until now(I am with Rogers and have got a better deal with them for data, so no need to carry two phones on me anymore )
Hope this helps.
CreativeDevil

Blindsight51 said:
Will the i9020A version of the Nexus S (which is I think the model sold by Koodo Mobile in Canada) get 3G connection on the AWS spectrum used by Mobilicity? (I believe this should be the same as TMobile)?
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it will not work
you need i9020T not A
AWS only comes on the i9020T

creativedevil said:
I am in canada, just bought NS finally, that too from Koodo, and it is ...
...
Hope this helps.
CreativeDevil
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Thanks so much. That explains it very clearly. I guess I'll need to shell out a bit extra and get a phone from Wind or Mobilicity.
+Thanks

Go for it bud... u wont regret...
Creativedevil
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

What carriers can use?

I am currently using the phone as a pure wiiFi item. I will be coming out of contract with them and do not plain to get a nother contract. I know that att has a pay as you go for $.10/min with a $15 for 100mb. Belive it or noth that is enough for me for data as I normly only us the phone for about 20 min and 10-15 mb a mounth.
What I was woundering is if I unlock the phone are there other carriers I can go to with this phone so that I can compair? Thank for any help on this.

Yes, when you unlock you can choose any carrier of your choice
Big Dog Infuse I997 ICS CatyRom

Which country are you in? You basically need to check what bands the carrier you want to switch from uses. They need to match what your infuse can use otherwise it won't work.
The phone supports: UMTS 850/1900/2100 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900. I think T-mobile runs on a different band but I don't know for sure as I live in Canada. Here in Canada you can use this phone on Rogers (the carrier that sells it), Bell, Virgin, Fido but I don't think it will work on WIND. If memory serves me correctly it might not work on T-mo, Verizon or Sprint (because Sprint and Verizon are on CDMA). If you are in the US you might want advice from someone other than me though.

It works on t mobile because mine is unlocked and my daughter has used it with her T-Mobile sim
Sent from my DROIDX using xda premium

dman3285 said:
It works on t mobile because mine is unlocked and my daughter has used it with her T-Mobile sim
Sent from my DROIDX using xda premium
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yeah but umts bands are incompatible so you still only get 2g.

Isn't it possible to band unlock the infuse, but it requires more than the typical efforts. wasn't some group offering to do it for $50 if you send your phone to them?

Straight Talk. Uses AT&T's networks. But you have to buy a phone off of them with a sim.
Sent from my SGH-I997

There are different types of carriers in America and there are many things scarier can,do to lock certain devices to the network. Tmobile and att are gsm carriers and have some compatibility But they use different bands. The talk works and edge works. No 3g.
Sprint and Verizon are cdma and are not compatible. However Verizon,has phones that are both gsm and cdma and can,work on att. Nextel has Sim cards but are iden. Boost is also half cdma and half iden. And begin is basically sprint.
Then there are the no contract deals like strait talk. Problem is the Sim may be locked to the phone and even if you know the phone has a Sim and is working off atts network it may not work. The strait talk thing is only known to work if you buy a $200 Nokia smartphone and many of those have Tmobile Sims that are locked to the phone. I'm not sure how to tell the tmo version from the att version without looking at the Sim itself. Strait talk seems to just buy rights to use other networks, I've seen phones at Walmart with gsm on the box and others with cdma on the box. I think they use all the major networks depending on the phone.
I also saw an ad for simple mobile. Seems promising but appears to be Tmobile
So no 3g.
In Canada almost all carriers are 100% compatible with att phones. All but one but I forgot the name. So if you're Canadian you have options.

Do not know if you know about this- New T-Mobile Monthly4G $30 Unlimited Web & Text with 100 min of talk
email delivery or purchase monthly cards at Super Walmart.
Can not post link but go to Walmart dot com and search for the card I listed above.. sorry

Consumer Cellular is an AT&T reseller - in fact AT&T phones treat their SIMs as an AT&T SIM, don't even need to unlock.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk

Entropy512 said:
Consumer Cellular is an AT&T reseller - in fact AT&T phones treat their SIMs as an AT&T SIM, don't even need to unlock.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
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Thanks, good to know. Might have to look into a consumer cellular Sim and an i777. I wonder if it will work with lte in the future (the Sim that is. not the phone) but I can,worry about that when my area gets lte and the next generation,phone comes out.

[Q] T-Mobile 4G Support

Hi There!
I was just in the US for 9 days, and bought a 30 day prepaid plan thinking that because it said I could have 4G I would actually get 4G Speeds. I was only able to get Edge Speeds anywhere I went, and it was pretty horrible.
I logged 2 support chat incidents the first guy was clueless, the second person said they don't give 4g speeds to non T-Mobile provided devices which I thought was pretty crappy.
Is there a software workaround to allow 4G speeds on Android devices purchased from other providers? My phone is an international unlocked device (NZ) and I can get H+ Speeds in Countries like Australia with no issues.
Anyone who could shed some light would be appreciated.

If it was a T-mobile prepaid card that was probably your issue. T-mobile utilizes different frequencies (AWS 1700 band) than almost all other GSM carriers. So if you do not have a t-mobile branded, or a pentaband phone you are only able to get edge speeds. Next time get prepaid AT&T and you will be good to go.

Yah it was a Prepaid Simcard and then a $30 card from Walmart delivered Electronically. I forgot to state I was using a Galaxy S2. Hard to comprehend it not supporting the 4G considering it's a device T-Mobile sell (Though it has slightly different spec's in terms of screen size and button configuration so potentially it could I guess support additional bands.

networkn said:
Yah it was a Prepaid Simcard and then a $30 card from Walmart delivered Electronically. I forgot to state I was using a Galaxy S2. Hard to comprehend it not supporting the 4G considering it's a device T-Mobile sell (Though it has slightly different spec's in terms of screen size and button configuration so potentially it could I guess support additional bands.
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The international SGSII (I9100) and the AT&T SGSII (I777) do not support T-mobile 3G or 4G. The Skyrocket and the T-mobile SGSII (Hercules) are pentaband phones that support both AT&T and T-mobile 4G. The reason for this is the Exynos processor which does not support the AWS bands. That is why the skyrocket and hercules come with the snapdragon processor.

Thanks for the reply, at least now I know. ATT doesn't seem to have anything similar to T-Mobile in so far as you get 5GB 4G, unlimited calling and texting for $30, are ATT generally more expensive?
Thanks.

Att is generally more expensive yes. But as someone already mentioned, Tmobile uses aws band which is different than almost all others for 4g. So you have to weigh your options
Sent from my Sensation using XDA App

[Q] Carrier Trade

I was wondering if you guys could help me understand something as I don't know much about cellular carriers. I currently own a Lumia 920 on att and was looking to trade it for a galaxy s3. I found someone who will trade with me, but he is on Verizon and the phone is with Verizon. I applied on att for an unlock code so that he would be able to use it, but I'm not sure how the whole GSM vs cdma works. What would I have to do to make this swap work if that's even possible?
thanks in advance.

It is cdma vs gsm networks. The gs3 on Verizon can work on gsm networks but was not designed to be utilized solely on a gsm network. I would stick with s phone from your current provider
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Do dual network Phones Exist?

Hello, I currently have Sprint in the USA and locked into a contract but when travelling, the service is spotty. I have to take a 2nd phone that I have with tmobile. I understand I can buy like a new Sprint iphone or the new nexus and just swap sim cards and that will work? That is one option. I was also wondering if there is like a single phone that will work with both sprint and tmobile at the same time. Kinda like the samsung duos phones but those only work with 2 gsm carriers. Tried a search but didnt get anywhere. Thanks. Just weighing my options here.

stephenjones007 said:
Hello, I currently have Sprint in the USA and locked into a contract but when travelling, the service is spotty. I have to take a 2nd phone that I have with tmobile. I understand I can buy like a new Sprint iphone or the new nexus and just swap sim cards and that will work? That is one option. I was also wondering if there is like a single phone that will work with both sprint and tmobile at the same time. Kinda like the samsung duos phones but those only work with 2 gsm carriers. Tried a search but didnt get anywhere. Thanks. Just weighing my options here.
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Not with Sprint. As you've no doubt seen, dual SIM phones aren't exactly common in the US. The few that are are imports, and fewer still will even support North American GSM bands. And of course, Sprint uses CDMA for telephony, and only Sprint phones work on their own network. Your only option would be to switch to AT&T and/or T-Mobile or their MVNOs that work on those networks, and find the rare phone that has LTE for both. But if you're sticking with Sprint, you'll either have to swap SIMs on a device that works with any (as you said, iPhone, Nexus...I think the Moto X Pure does too), or carry a 2nd phone for a different carrier.