So, just bought an HD7 from eBay (in the UK) and I violated my normal rule of only buying things with a 'real' picture.
My 'unlocked' HD7 has just shown up and is T-Mobile branded. I know this doesn't mean it's locked, but I was under the impression that T-Mo in the UK didn't ever carry this phone so it really looks to me like it's from the US.
Now, I need some advice as to how acceptable this is going to be. My main concern is 3G bands. Now, with my UK SIM I'm seeing '3G' in the top left corner, which surprised me a little as I thought the bands were totally different.
I'm getting around 2/3rds of the download speed I was getting on my HTC Sensation in a quick spot test (~1Mbps vs ~1.5Mbps).
Any thoughts?
If your not using a T-Mobile sim and you still have a connection then the phone is unlocked but still branded. This wont cause you any problems that I know off.
Speed tests are a bit odd to do on mobiles and very unreliable.
Not sure what you mean by 3G Bands. 3G is 3G it should when you have a better signal up to H (HSDPA) which is the 7.5Mb speed if i remember right. If it only showed G then i would be worried.
Well, I get the unlocked bit, certainly works from that POV.
I've worked out the difference is HSPA, like you say, so that's what's missing
karnka said:
Well, I get the unlocked bit, certainly works from that POV.
I've worked out the difference is HSPA, like you say, so that's what's missing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HSDPA works on the same bands and standard 3G - in the UK is 2100MHz. If you're getting 3G but not HSDPA it's either a problem with the phones software not switching, or that the mast your phone has decided to use doesn't support HSDPA for whatever reason.
HSDPA is essentially a software update to the original 3G technology.
That's actually really helpful, thanks.
So, if I see _anything_ 3G related then all is good.
HSDPA should show as 3G+ icon. But OEMs can make the 3G+ icon show as just 3G, so you might be on HSDPA and even not know about it. Run some speed test when you have better signal strength
Indeed anything 3G related is all good.
HTC will normally replace 3G+ with a H, for obvious reasons. I don't know if TMO america have any weird definitions in place though.
Also, the maximum transfer speed of 3G is 386Kb/s, so your rating of 1Mb/s (equivalent to 1024Kb/s) suggests you're on HSDPA anyway.
Related
I recently purchased an HTC Touch Cruise from phonesource-USA without doing my homework. (What can I say, I was overwhelmed by the coolness of the phone). Before this phone, I was using an Excalibur and a Titan from HTC. I think I already know the answer to this question, but wanted to ask the home experts out there.
I absolutely love this phone, but am I screwed on 3G when T-Mobile releases it this year?
P.S. I'm located in the U.S.
wagz said:
I recently purchased an HTC Touch Cruise from phonesource-USA without doing my homework. (What can I say, I was overwhelmed by the coolness of the phone). Before this phone, I was using an Excalibur and a Titan from HTC. I think I already know the answer to this question, but wanted to ask the home experts out there.
I absolutely love this phone, but am I screwed on 3G when T-Mobile releases it this year?
P.S. I'm located in the U.S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile USA Will use 1700mHz band for 3G and according to some sources it will use 2100mHz to. Witch T-Mobile say it will not have full experience of there 3G. But it will work.
And i think it will be possible to use Radio from Sony X1 witch have same Chip sets and everything except screen.
AT&T 3G
I think I may be in the same boat. I did read up on the phone before I bought it to work on At&t's 3G network. Even thought the phone operates on 1900mghz I have not been able to get it working. It always is on the Edge network.
sultanofsumar said:
I think I may be in the same boat. I did read up on the phone before I bought it to work on At&t's 3G network. Even thought the phone operates on 1900mghz I have not been able to get it working. It always is on the Edge network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you saying you have not been able to get the phone to work on att's 3G network? i've read on howard forums where other owners are seeing the "H" and "3G", suggesting that others have been able to connect...
3G
That's exactly what I am saying. I have had it configured to the correct frequency for AT&T's 3G since I turned it on. The very first time I put it on 1900 MGHZ I did see a H and then a G, but I'm sure the G was for GSM.
sultanofsumar said:
That's exactly what I am saying. I have had it configured to the correct frequency for AT&T's 3G since I turned it on. The very first time I put it on 1900 MGHZ I did see a H and then a G, but I'm sure the G was for GSM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say "configured to the correct frequency for att's 3G", did you manually set the Band to 1900 mHz? or do you have it set to Automatic? for all my HTC devices that support 3G, i set the Band to Automatic and it will pick up and use the att 3G/H band automatically. i only see the "H" when i'm tethered to my laptop or downloading a 1 meg + file.
att 3g
I did it manually. I figured it wouldn't work on auto. I will try the auto detect and see what happens.
3g is up
Well it says G right now, but not 3G. I know I have crappy reception here so maybe it will change. Thanks though.
yep... having good HSDPA/UMTS coverage is a must to access the network. if it says "G", you're using GPRS, "E", you're using Edge, "3G", you're using UMTS, "H" you're using HSDPA. you might check att's website to see if you have high-speed coverage in your location. every HTC 3G capable device (e.g., supports Triband HSDPA) that i've purchased has always connected to att's network with the "Auto" Band setting...
kolobok01 said:
T-Mobile USA Will use 1700mHz band for 3G and according to some sources it will use 2100mHz to. Witch T-Mobile say it will not have full experience of there 3G. But it will work.
And i think it will be possible to use Radio from Sony X1 witch have same Chip sets and everything except screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah this sucks. Why can't America just use the same frequencies as the rest of the world. I don't want to have to purchase another expensive phone right after purchasing this one. Looks like a Sony X1 will eventually be in my future
Thanks for the reply.
3G???
I had it on auto all day, but no little 3G icon. I know there is coverage, becuase my TYTN and even my blackjack picked it up right away. I guess I'll just keep looking..........
AT&T 3G
I am usually indicating 3G or H. I have it set to auto and it semms to be working fine for me.
mpf54 said:
I am usually indicating 3G or H. I have it set to auto and it semms to be working fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have found you need to leave the phone set to Auto. A soft reset after you change it from manual selection to auto gets me the 3G back immediately on boot up.
ATT 3G
I have ATT 3G & H in some areas when I travel but my home area does not have 3G coverage only EDGE at the moment. It depends on ATT's coverage whether you will get 3G or H. The phone is fully capable to work with ATT.
got my Orbit 2 today, and HSDPA & UMTS are working fine (in dallas)...
using a polaris with at&t in buffalo, ny. 3g and HSPDA work fine in most areas. sometimes if i go deep within a building it will swtich to edge which is normal.
3G!
cortezzi said:
When you say "configured to the correct frequency for att's 3G", did you manually set the Band to 1900 mHz? or do you have it set to Automatic? for all my HTC devices that support 3G, i set the Band to Automatic and it will pick up and use the att 3G/H band automatically. i only see the "H" when i'm tethered to my laptop or downloading a 1 meg + file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well now that I put everything on auto and soft reset I am gettin 3G and H UMPTS all over the place. Thanks!
...and nobody at AT&T can tell me why. In fact, when I showed them the phone with the H and 3 bars at the Device Service Center, they claimed they'd never seen such a thing.
The backstory is this: I've had good service at my home for a dozen years. I've always gotten solid E reception. About a month ago, 3G reception started to creep into the picture, although at a very low signal strength. It bounced between E and 3G every few moments and I started getting lots of dropped calls, no dialing, missed calls, etc. where that never happened before. I did some research here at xda and decided to drop Airplane Mode from my settings and add a 3G on-off switch using Advanced Config. After some futzing around, that worked pretty good but now whenever I try to switch to 3G, I get HSDPA. Go figure? Not that I'm complaining, because it's pretty darn fast.
But what the heck...only one Device Service Center in a city this size (San Antonio) and they've never seen a phone showing HSDPA? None of this really means anything, I'm just looking for explanations/comments.
pretty simple man...
3G = HSDPA
kevindena said:
pretty simple man...
3G = HSDPA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then why do my bars read H, not 3G? Actually, based on some online research, HSDPA appears to be a superset of 3G...a.k.a. 3.5G. At any rate, the "tech wizards" at the DSC had never heard of it.
I've got a Touch Pro running on T-Mobile network. Their 3G seems to be a different
frequency than the TP can receive. If I turned on HSDPA and then wander into an AT&T 3G zone and my TP picks up their 3G network, will it overpower my T-Mobile Edge and put me into roaming?
The H is the same as 3G like the other guy had said. Plus if you went into Advance Config. to change the setting then that will replace the 3g with the H. Which is not a big deal. All the phones in Europe use the H symbol in the US we get that damn 3G. Personally I like the H ova the 3G. H=High speed
So really and truly you have nothing to worry about. Should be happy you have the H showing up than the 3G to me H is a lil faster on some phones!!!!!!
att hides their hspa icon under the 3g icon. so you never know the difference between hspa 3.5g or umts 3g. if you flashed a new rom, updated your phone canvas, changed some icons, enabled it, or who knows, chances are you are back to the standard way the rest of the world has it, with the h icon.
my old phone was Tattoo and it was always staying on HSPA or something like that! now on my nexus I'm always on 3G!
what can you tell me about this, or how can I fix it?
Stock Android does not distinguish between 3G and HSDPA on the status bar. You should still be getting HSDPA speeds though.
that's kinda odd! thanks for the answer...
Most people don't know the difference between Edge, 3G, or any of the HSPA variants (HSPA, HSPA+, HSDPA, HSUPA). Heck they don't even know what 4G is and couldn't tell you what on earth LTE, WiMax, or HSUPA is. Stock Android doesn't differentiate because people know what 3G means and since HSPA is still technically at the most 3.5G it is a little confusing to change the symbol. The mass population dictates the way things work and we here at XDA find ways to make it work the better way. =) Hence the reason why a good number of custom roms allow for the OS to differentiate between each individual type of data network usage.
Does anyone know for certain whether the US Sensation will operate at 3G internationally? I know it's got the 2100 frequency, but it appears that the phone may only connect in 4G or 2G mode. If I get a local SIM in France or Italy, for example, will it operate at 3G data speed, like my Vibrant does?
Has anyone actually verified this on the ground in Europe?
Thanks.
It'll do 3G. Tmobile's 4G is actually 3G/HSPA+, but thanks to their wonderful marketing, they started using the 4G name to get ahead of AT&T.
xnifex said:
It'll do 3G. Tmobile's 4G is actually 3G/HSPA+, but thanks to their wonderful marketing, they started using the 4G name to get ahead of AT&T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I understand the marketing overhype in the naming, but I've seen a bunch of posts that seem to indicate the phone is either operating in 4G or 2G mode. I happen to live in a weak 4G/3G location, and all I've seen on the phone display is 4G or 2G. Is the 4G icon being displayed when it's really connecting 3G? Has anyone seen a 3G icon on this phone?
I called both TMO and HTC tech support but neither one could answer this question with certainty.
I may be over worrying, but I really don't want to get to Italy later this year and be stuck with EDGE the whole trip.
It's got the 2100 frequency for WCDMA, so you should be fine in europe.
samnada said:
Yeah, I understand the marketing overhype in the naming, but I've seen a bunch of posts that seem to indicate the phone is either operating in 4G or 2G mode. I happen to live in a weak 4G/3G location, and all I've seen on the phone display is 4G or 2G. Is the 4G icon being displayed when it's really connecting 3G? Has anyone seen a 3G icon on this phone?
I called both TMO and HTC tech support but neither one could answer this question with certainty.
I may be over worrying, but I really don't want to get to Italy later this year and be stuck with EDGE the whole trip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of us are under the impression that Tmobile locked it to the 4G icon on the phone. They did the same with some other phones. When root is achieved & you are able to swap out the icons you'll probably see a difference.
Yesterday I received an email from my carrier (Pure Talk USA, using ATT towers) telling me that it's time to buy a new phone. They're (presumably ATT) sunsetting 2G service, rendering my phone unusable. I know the "4G" in the name is probably meaningless, but is the Relay really that old? Has anyone else received notifications like this?
We've never had data service in the US. We were in England a few weeks ago, on a travel SIM which did have data. I found it almost unusably slow, and saw "G" and "E" by the signal bars.
Is it really time?
EDIT - After a little searching, I find that the Relay does both GSM (2G) and UTMS (3G). I had a setting limiting it to GSM, which is the right thing to do to save power, though once I had data in London I should have opened it up to either, in order to get decent speeds. I have only ever used it with GSM in the US, which might be why they think it needs to be replaced. This afternoon I switched to the "either" setting, and I'll need to write to my carrier about this. They sell data also, so I may want to pick that up for a month, and see how well it works with UTMS enabled. It was certainly close to worthless with just GSM.
I've also seen some reference to the phone doing HSPA+, with is either 4G or partial 4G, or at least better than 3G, but that doesn't show on the Cyanogenmod page.
https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Apexqtmo_Info
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT&T_Mobility#Radio_frequency_summary
The relay is a 3g phone, but it also supports 2g networks as a fallback. Pure Talk probably just broadcasted that message across the 2g network, and any phone that could receive it, did.
I got an email back from their support, and it's basically as you say. Some time later I plan to disable GSM and make sure I can still talk over 3G.
More information here...
As mentioned previously I had limited the phone to GSM - 2G. The menus in the phone were a bit confusing, because it gave the option of GSM-only, WCDMA-only, GSM/WCDMA-auto, or GSM/WCDMA-preferred. When I first bought SIMs and service for the phone, I looked at WCDMA and said, "That's a Verizon thing, irrelevant for my GSM phone," and set it to GSM-only. In reality that labeling is misleading, because it's not WCDMA, it's UTMS/HSPA - 2G or 3G+. When the phone calls itself "4G" it's not LTE, it's HSPA+, which is better than 3G, but not as good as LTE. So it's a bit disingenuous. However I did test it, and though I don't have data service, when I turn data on, even with no registered APN, it tells me I have HSPA+ service available. ("H+" on the status bar)
I just wish I'd known this before going to England, where I had a travel SIM with data service, tried it, and thought it unusably slow. I was getting "G" or "E" on the status bar, which I have now learned is essentially dialup or a bit faster.