I guess some people might already know this, but I want to mention it anyway in case .... someone wants to save money by switching T-Mobile.
I am in Miami area. I bought a Captivate for my brother a while back and unlocked it. He visited today so I tried on my T-Mobile Sim card and it works with AT&T HSPA with no problem. The device is running SlimBean 2.9 with no baseband changes. No data roaming enabled.
I guess this is due to the 1900mhz band that T-Mobile leased from AT&T after the failed buy out. I don't know specifically what other area 1900mhz are available. I remembered earlier this year I had an international Galaxy S3 and it only got EDGE on T-Mobile, so this has been a recent development.
It appears to be in limited areas: http://www.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-improving-coverage-lighting-1900mhz-10-metro-areas
They are re-farming their 1900Mhz spectrum to make it HSPA+. Right now it's just a few metros, but it is expanding and will continue to roll out for a while. Any AT&T smartphone that otherwise lacks T-Mobile's previous flavor of radios can take advantage of it, but T-Mobile is mostly aiming this at iPhone users who want to jump from AT&T and Verizon (the Verizon iPhone 5 is GSM unlocked).
Sent from my Nexus 4
just tested my unlocked cappy on t-mobile in seattle...
and got the fastest network speeds i've seen on this phone: 6.02 Mbps down / 3.43 Mbps up. This is on t-mobile's 1900 band refarmed to the HSPA network. I understand that the cappy will max out around 8 Mbps down/up, but I've never seen anything close to this on ATT's network.
I'll be moving over to the $30 t-mobile plan with 5 gb data next week when my contract expires. Ahhhh freedom.
Related
I know how At&t are gonna have HSPA+ 4g, I'm confused about the new devices they're gonna have that support HSPA+. Are they going to be able to connect to HSPA+ on T-Mobile's network.
So for example, I buy an unlocked HSPA+ tablet from AT&T, straight from their store. Is it going to be able to use T-Mobile's HSPA+ network if I put a T-Mobile SIM card inside?
Also, one last question, if I use T-Mobile's SIM card, do I have to do some special stuff to get it to work on their cell network? Like how you have to unlock an iPhone for it to work on T-Mobile?
Thanks
xAliceNine said:
I know how At&t are gonna have HSPA+ 4g, I'm confused about the new devices they're gonna have that support HSPA+. Are they going to be able to connect to HSPA+ on T-Mobile's network.
So for example, I buy an unlocked HSPA+ tablet from AT&T, straight from their store. Is it going to be able to use T-Mobile's HSPA+ network if I put a T-Mobile SIM card inside?
Also, one last question, if I use T-Mobile's SIM card, do I have to do some special stuff to get it to work on their cell network? Like how you have to unlock an iPhone for it to work on T-Mobile?
Thanks
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Hello,
Unfortunately you will not be able to use HSPA+. HSPA+ is just an extension/revision of the current 3G. Effectively it is also called 3.5G/3.75G in some reports. They use the same 3G band of each respective company. The At&t tablet would work on 850/1900 band and T-mobile will work on their AWS (1700) band. So if you bought an At&t tablet, you may need to get it unlocked, not sure if they lock the sim on tablets. At best you would get Edge service with a T-mobile sim.
thanks man, argg
do you think it's worth it to change to at&t because I just heard of the Motorola Atrix and it sound PRETTY BAD ASS!
I don't know since people I know are always angry at AT&T for their service either..
xAliceNine said:
thanks man, argg
do you think it's worth it to change to at&t because I just heard of the Motorola Atrix and it sound PRETTY BAD ASS!
I don't know since people I know are always angry at AT&T for their service either..
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Click to collapse
NP. I have had every major carrier offered in the US. I have had at&t, t-mobile, and sprint within the last year. I had verizon a while ago and dropped them because they could never get my bill right. Honestly, the service is about the same. The question is how is the service in your area. I mainly stay in my area about 90-98% of the time. I live in a major city so all carries have great service. But I have stayed with At&t for the last few years. Every time I go to another carrier I kept my at&t service, go figure. So I would just look at coverage to where you travel the most and go with a carrier that will give you the best coverage for the best price. Do i prefer a carrier over another, yeah. I like GSM carriers better because I do like to surf and talk at the same time. Sprint can do this if your in a 4G coverage area and have a 4G phone. Verizon is a no go with this feature until they release their LTE phones. But At&t has a better coverage footprint than T-mobile that is why I stick with them. Hope it helps.
Wondering a bit about this too.
I have service through Bendbroadband using a HSPA+ SIM with USB modem Dongle by bandluxe. The service is stellar on the speed, but I can't use the dongle with everything (iPad), so looking for alternate routes before i decide to move to a different provider.
I noticed that the CTO of the company said in a comment regarding their service that any unlocked UE that supports HSPA/HSPA+ in the AWS band could be used, but also had an unclear reponse on cell phones with HSPA+.
I have a Huawei Comet (unlocked), it lists the same AWS Bands compatible, but says HSDPA (which I thought HSDPA + HSUPA = HSPA+ but at higher speeds, correct me if I am wrong), and has hotspot tether that works with tmobile web service no problem.
I plugged the SIM in, and it updates the bar with BendBroadband but I get no data. (might need to provide the IMEI or something)..
Curious if you think it should work, before i go knocking on their doors.
Some other specs:
the mytouch 4g (HSPA+) lists the bands as:850 MHz;900 MHz;1800 MHz;1900 MHz;UMTS: Band IV (1700/2100)
The comet is listed as: 850 MHz;900 MHz;1800 MHz;1900 MHz;UMTS: Band I (2100);UMTS: Band IV (1700/2100)
I am fairly sure the comet is HSPA+ but not advertised that way.
According to comments on the site, Bendbroadband technicians do not actually support moving of the SIMs. Bummer.. trying to keep my business local.. Bumping and moving to Tmobile once the month is up.
I thought I did my homework. But when I called t-mobile to find out if the quad band Infuse would work on their network, I didn't ask what kind of data speeds I would get. My bad.
So now I have this almost perfect device that gets 2g speeds. Not even 3g. And they're charging me $9.99 a month (for tethering) for this privilege because it's not a t-mobile phone.
So if any of you know a workaround, please let me know.
Otherwise, I'll have a one week old Infuse to sell.
Bob
BobK58 said:
I thought I did my homework. But when I called t-mobile to find out if the quad band Infuse would work on their network, I didn't ask what kind of data speeds I would get. My bad.
So now I have this almost perfect device that gets 2g speeds. Not even 3g. And they're charging me $9.99 a month (for tethering) for this privilege because it's not a t-mobile phone.
So if any of you know a workaround, please let me know.
Otherwise, I'll have a one week old Infuse to sell.
Bob
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Sell it. The Infuse does not support the UMTS1700 band that T-Mobile uses. Neither does any other AT&T phone that I know of.
For the most part, with a few rare exceptions, unless the phone was sold by T-Mobile USA, it won't get 3G speeds.
You can sometimes go the other way - 2-3 T-Mobile phones support the AT&T 3G bands, but it's rare.
I don't think any AT&T phones support the AWS (UTMS1700) band for T-Mobile, but I know that a few T-Mobile phones (Galaxy S phones) have the 1900 band, so they work on AT&T's 3G network.
Your better off selling the Infuse and getting something like it for T-Mobile, or just wait for the SGS2, and get that, because your Infuse will be stuck on 2G.
Longcat14 said:
I don't think any AT&T phones support the AWS (UTMS1700) band for T-Mobile, but I know that a few T-Mobile phones (Galaxy S phones) have the 1900 band, so they work on AT&T's 3G network.
Your better off selling the Infuse and getting something like it for T-Mobile, or just wait for the SGS2, and get that, because your Infuse will be stuck on 2G.
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But what about when ATT takes over tmobile? Will it change then?
emeralds5668 said:
But what about when ATT takes over tmobile? Will it change then?
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Not for existing devices, it's a hardware limitation
The tech guy I spoke with at t-mobile said it probably will -- but that's quite a while to wait. By then a GSM version of Kyocera's Echo might be out. Now I know what questions to ask.
B
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
I'm sure you guys have heard that T-Mobile will have a joint venture with Verizon (LTE deal next year).
So the question is, do you guys think the Lumia 900 will work with T-Mobile's future LTE?
Tmo will use some of AT&T's and Verizon's spectrum, so there's a slight chance that it will work. What do you guys think?
It will probably work, yes. T-Mobile is also apparently moving some of their current 2G capacity (which uses the same bands as AT&T, hence why you can get 2G on T-Mobile with an AT&T phone) to 3G, bringing essentially full compatibility between the two networks. I don't know any details as to when, though.
Of course, your Lumia would need to be SIM-unlocked.
So T-Mobile seems to be ramping up their LTE coverage and my area seems to be one of the LTE markets.
I was wondering, would now be a good time to buy an AT&T Android LTE phone (like the Note 2 or GS3)?
I'm not entirely clear if the LTE on those AT&T phones will work with the current/future T-Mobile LTE network.
Right now I'm currently using an iPhone 4 on T-Mobile. I get spotty 3G coverage since I'm in one of the 1900MHz refarmed areas. Would using an AWS LTE compatible AT&T phone let me get T-Mobile LTE service?
Is T-Mobile eventually going to get rid of their 3G service on the 1700MHz frequency so they can use it for LTE and then put their 3G service on the 1900MHz frequency?
I can't afford a brand new phone, but when it comes to used phones it always seems that AT&T ones are cheaper to buy than T-Mobile equivalent.
Outrager said:
So T-Mobile seems to be ramping up their LTE coverage and my area seems to be one of the LTE markets.
I was wondering, would now be a good time to buy an AT&T Android LTE phone (like the Note 2 or GS3)?
I'm not entirely clear if the LTE on those AT&T phones will work with the current/future T-Mobile LTE network.
Right now I'm currently using an iPhone 4 on T-Mobile. I get spotty 3G coverage since I'm in one of the 1900MHz refarmed areas. Would using an AWS LTE compatible AT&T phone let me get T-Mobile LTE service?
Is T-Mobile eventually going to get rid of their 3G service on the 1700MHz frequency so they can use it for LTE and then put their 3G service on the 1900MHz frequency?
I can't afford a brand new phone, but when it comes to used phones it always seems that AT&T ones are cheaper to buy than T-Mobile equivalent.
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It has been my understanding that AT&T and T-Mobile smartphones are network cross-compatible because they use the same bands for HSPDA and LTE. So as long as you have the following, you should be good to go.
First and most important: ***Phone Unlocked***
The correct sim for the carrier.
The correct APN settings for the carrier. (If this isn't auto-populated after the new sim is in the phone, you can search here on XDA for them.)
Lastly, apply any patches/fixes/tweaks for the particular device where needed. (if needed)
As for this network cross-compatibility changing in the future, odds are that it probably will not happen any time soon as this would be very costly for the carrier to change so soon after launching the LTE service. Post-LTE, maybe, but that is at least another 10 years away if I had to guess. :fingers-crossed: