[Q]Which carrier? (US) - General Questions and Answers

So, somewhat soon (September 30th), I'm going to US for a small interchange. I'm staying there for 16 days (11 days in Dallas, 5 days in NY), so I plan on getting a pre paid SIM card. Plan on spending 20 dollars top.
Which carrier can offer me the most possible SMS, and to a less extend, data, going for the best price-benefict relation... I won't be using it all the time, but I guess 100 SMS top and data in case of emergency...
I don't care much about calling, so no need for it.
Have a Sony Xperia S, so I guess T Mobile won't work since it uses a different frequency than my phone (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100). I already read Sprint is almost a no go, for the horrible reception. This seems to leave me with Verizon and AT&T.
So, which carrier and which pre paid plan should I get there?
Cheers.

Related

[Q] t-mobile on fuze..

Has anyone tried this?? If I were to buy the phone w/o att will they unlock it no problem?
thx
they don't want to unlock it even if you pay full price, but they will give up if you insist long enough to one of their customer service representatives
what I did was to pay full price for the phone and get a new number and sim card with a prepaid plan, after spending my $25 from prepaid minutes I called and explained I no longer wanted their service and had paid full price, eventually they agreed to unlock it by giving me a code.. Insert a simcard from another operator and the screen asking for the code will show up.
3g on t-mobile is not working, but everything else does. At least for me. I'm using the Elite RC1 ROM
I think 3g may work if I replace the radio with one that supports 1700/2100 umts, but I don't know if that even exists
i think when the diamond first came out, it didnt support us 3g and they found a radio that allowed us 3g.
so i dont see why you shouldnt be able to get a radio that works with tmobile 3g
kidnamedAlbert said:
i think when the diamond first came out, it didnt support us 3g and they found a radio that allowed us 3g.
so i dont see why you shouldnt be able to get a radio that works with tmobile 3g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nobody's been able to add a 3G band to a HTC device just by flashing the radio ROM AFAIK. When the Diamond came out, people were surprised that it didn't support the 850 MHz band like its predecessor, the Cruise, did. There was a later radio that allowed the Diamond to use the 850 MHz band, but only for GSM/EDGE. To do that, the radio in the device had to physically support the 850 MHz band. No subsequent radios, even the one from the US Diamond (which was identical to an already-released radio ROM) were able to make a Euro Diamond use US 3G. The only HTC-made device I know of that uses T-Mobile's AWS 3G band is the T-Mobile G1.
Drachen said:
Nobody's been able to add a 3G band to a HTC device just by flashing the radio ROM AFAIK. When the Diamond came out, people were surprised that it didn't support the 850 MHz band like its predecessor, the Cruise, did. There was a later radio that allowed the Diamond to use the 850 MHz band, but only for GSM/EDGE. To do that, the radio in the device had to physically support the 850 MHz band. No subsequent radios, even the one from the US Diamond (which was identical to an already-released radio ROM) were able to make a Euro Diamond use US 3G. The only HTC-made device I know of that uses T-Mobile's AWS 3G band is the T-Mobile G1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i knew i was probably wrong.
thanks for clarifying on this whole thread.
Fuze Working on ATT
So the radio that's in the FUZE won't work on Tmobile - i don't see the bands that the Gphone has. This really makes me wonder if I really want to switch over to ATT. technically I hate ATT.
It's like signing on to have big brother watch over you.
I have the same problem as you do. And I would switch to AT&T if it wasn't for the early termination fee in my t-mobile contract
i think thats what i am gonna do, unlock the fuze and use on t-mobile's EDGE.
i went to an AT&T store the other day and the guy explained the planes to me!!
to get something comparable to what i have with T-mobile i have to pay $130 a month for AT&T
i have the 3000 minutes regional plan $49 with total unlimited internet + access to t-mobile hotspot for $20
i pay 70 dollars
i'd have to get unlimited from at&t for $100 + $30 for internet
sprint's deal is actually isnt bad at all $99 for unlimited everything ( too bad they use CDMA, i go to the middle east once a year )
PS: work and i home i have access to a very high speed Wi-Fi
the radio will work, but you will only get EDGE speeds at best, not 3G. Tmobile's 3G band is AWS 1700 and the Fuze does not support that.
How bad is that? depends on what you do. I use my old Blackjack on Tmobile, and get about 125 kbps speeds. Enough for basic email, google maps and web browsing (when I am not carrying my Fuze)
TC

Help - want to buy Captivate for UK?

Hi everyone. I’m currently living in the UK and I’m interested in the Samsung Galaxy S (i9000). Unlike in the USA, there’s only one variant and its quite expensive. Much cheaper in the USA! So I’ve been looking at the Samsung Captivate, AT&T’s Galaxy S variant.
Network
Samsung Galaxy S –
2G Network
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network
HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
Samsung Captivate –
2G Network
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
2G is exactly same band, but 3G is only 50MHz difference.
Will both 2G and 3G networks work fully in the UK?
Software
Am I correct in thinking I can remove the AT&T bloatware by flashing a custom ROM?
Can someone please suggest a good, fast lag-free 2.2 Froyo ROM?
Android Market
Am I correct in thinking I can use Market Access to change US market to UK?
Thanks for help in advance
you are confused on the 3G bands.... "only 50Mhz difference" statement is meaningless - if bands are not exact, then it won't work - period.
Having said that, the captivate will work in the UK - the 1900/2100 bands are 3G in US (ATT) and UK. You will get 2G and 3G.
alphadog00 said:
you are confused on the 3G bands.... "only 50Mhz difference" statement is meaningless - if bands are not exact, then it won't work - period.
Having said that, the captivate will work in the UK - the 1900/2100 bands are 3G in US (ATT) and UK. You will get 2G and 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that.
What about the android market? Can I change it to UK using "Market Access" app?
Also, seeing as for 3G the first band is different (900 vs 850) will it have any affect on my 3G network connection?
The Captivate is a World Phone, meaning it will work around the world. If one 3G band doesn't work, you have 2 others, which you have already been told will work just fine
Sent from my Captivate
bilalbilal said:
Thanks for that.
What about the android market? Can I change it to UK using "Market Access" app?
Also, seeing as for 3G the first band is different (900 vs 850) will it have any affect on my 3G network connection?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you should be able to use the Market Access app, but it takes a carrier code, not a country code. Using the phone with another SIM may set it automatically.
As for bands - you will probably find some areas where 3G is offered on a band you don't have - it is possible, but shouldn't happen any more often then if you had 900 on the phone. I took my iPhone all over EU - it was an ATT iPhone, and it worked fine with 3G. The Captivate should do just as well.
Thanks for the help guys
Not only can you flash custom ROMs, but the SetiroN kernel lets you flash regular Galaxy S ROMs onto the Captivate. If you look in the development forum here, you'll see that there's basically only one native Captivate custom ROM (Cognition); the rest are all Captivate-flavored Galaxy S adaptations using SetiroN (or its predecessor).
Sent from my Voodoo-powered Fascinate with XDA

[Q] What US Carrier is the International GTab 7.0 plus (P6200) fully compatible with?

Sorry for what is probably a stupid question.
I am thinking of buying an International version of the 7.0 plus (P6200) but I'm having a hard time figuring out which US Carrier, if any, (AT&T, T-Moble or Verizon) is fully compatible with the table's supported frequencies.
Any help in pointing me to the carrier, that will allow the tablet to get 3g data and allow the tablet to make phone calls, would be greatly appreciated.
Also, if you are using a P6200 in the US, I would be interested in what carrier you use, your opinions of the carrier and your opinion of the tablet in general.
Thank you
Over 140 views but no replies.
Does no one know the answer or is the question so simple it is basic knowledge I should already know?
I'm not familar witht eh international model but I can tell you that it won't work with Sprint or Verizon as they are CDMA and not GSM. So that leaves T-Mobile and AT&T and it would depend upon what frequency the GTab7+ recieves, is it tri-band (850, 1800, 1900) or just a single band? AT&T uses 850/1900 MHz and T-Moblile 1900 MHz for 3G service. I would assume that it would be tri-band as are so called "world phones".
TMo also requires UMTS1700.
So almost surely it will NOT get 3G service on TMo. That's why there is a special Tmo variant.
Don't know about AT&T
Thank you for your reply!
Here are the listed frequencies for the tablet
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
it appears that it supports all the frequencies for AT&T and T-Mobile. I guess my confusion is I can't tell if the tablet will support 3G or just 2G (wouldn't be worth it if all I could get is 2G).
Entropy512 said:
TMo also requires UMTS1700.
So almost surely it will NOT get 3G service on TMo. That's why there is a special Tmo variant.
Don't know about AT&T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, that is what I was looking for. As much as I dislike them, seems I will need to go with AT&T if I get this tablet.
Thank you very much, both of you!
Sorry I got a little confused between tabs and phones. Verizon uses EV-DO (CDMA based) for 3G and AT&T is HSDPA (GSM based) at 1900 MHz. T-Mobile uses 1700 and 2100 MHz for 3G.
warning, if you plan on using as phone and tab, at&t may want to make sure you are on tab data plan as well an it could be pricey for both.
with that being said Im using this on att with voice and unlimited grandfathered smartphone data. havent heard a word from them. I pray it stays this way. I will fight them for it.
conclusion: best mobile device in the world right now IMHO, until 7.7 comes out.
P6200 and iPhone SIM
Hi all,
just to make sure...
If I get the P6200, can I just pop my iPhone 3gs SIM with unlimited data plan (as long as I don't use it too much)?
I saw someone said they can do that on the 7.7 thread but I wanted to make sure the AT&T iPhone SIM isn't restricted to iPhones somehow.
Thanks
O
I have GT-P620900 from the Philippines and I am my tablet in the US now. I tested using at&t sim card and it works when I tried making a call using sim card (gsm).
Sent from my GT-P6200 using Tapatalk
Hi Neogrin,
With the posted frequencies:
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
it will work perfectly for 3G (HSDPA/HSPA+) speeds only on AT&T. You should get 2-4 Mbps downlink, or maybe even more with a good signal on AT&T.
Unfortunately for T-Mobile (whom I also prefer over AT&T), it will only work on their 2G network, at EDGE speeds, which would be about 200 Kbps if you are lucky. Actually, EDGE speeds are good enough for twitter, facebook, and a bit of surfing, but would be frustratingly slow for YouTube or downloading apps.
The Tab 7plus will NOT work on Sprint or Verizon as their CDMA, LTE, and WiMax networks are different technology from GSM and HSDPA and thus not compatible.
Internationally, the 7plus should work on almost any 2G or 3G network, with maybe a few country exceptions here and there.
BTW if you decide to activate your 7plus on AT&T, I can share a bit of experience. I received a Tab 7.7 3G this week, with a similar frequency list to the 7plus. (Unfortunately, it also lacks the "AWS" 1700/2100 band for T-Mobile). I went to an AT&T store today to activate the 7.7 on a month-to-month data plan, of US$25 for 2GB with US$10 per each 1GB of overage. They were not able to assign the data plan in their system to me, because the 7.7 3G is not an AT&T device. The same will be true for your 7plus. What they did to get it to work was to take the IMEI number from one of the other tablets they had on display in the store - making sure it was an HSDPA tablet, and not an LTE one - and used that to activate my account. It took them a while to figure this out, but when they did, it worked. Once the account was activated, and the SIM card was in my 7.7, it found AT&T service and I immediately got a welcome text message. However, data did not yet work - for that I had to do one more thing, which the staff did not know about (but luckily I did).
Go into Settings->Wireless and Networks->Mobile Network Settings
In there is an "Access Point Names" item.
Click on this, and you should see some entries. If it's a new AT&T SIM, it likely says "Cingular 410" or "wap.cingular" or something. This would be correct for a phone, but does not work with tablet data plans, so we need to add the correct one.
Bring up the menu, and there should be a "New APN" option. Select this. In the form which comes up, in the "Name" field, enter "broadband" (one word, no caps, without the quotes). In the "APN" field, do the same - "broadband" one word, no caps, no quotes.
Once you've done this, hit the menu again, and there should be a "Save" option. Choose this, and it will take you back to the list of APNs. Now in the list there should be an APN item called "broadband" which you just created. Press the radio button to the far right of the broadband item. It should turn green.
Give the tablet a few seconds, or a minute, and data should start working!
Hope this helps.
Craig

Captivate now works with T-Mobile 3G (in selected area?)

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.

European HTC Desire Z to Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G?

Im wondering if anyone has gone from the Desire Z to the Galaxy S Relay 4G in Europe.
I ask for Europe to make sure it is compatible with most networks over here.
I see there is even ROM development over here with 4.4.4 running I imagine codename "Android L" will probably run as well
Thank you for the comments.
A few have had posts in the q&a or maybe general section, there aren't many posts at all here so I'm sure with minimal effort you'll find the ones I'm referring to
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
riahc3 said:
Im wondering if anyone has gone from the Desire Z to the Galaxy S Relay 4G in Europe.
I ask for Europe to make sure it is compatible with most networks over here.
Thank you for the comments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went from Desire Z to Galaxy S Relay, it works well in Norway.
You need to unlock the phone from T-Mobile, see this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2255892.
Be aware that this phone is not enabled for 4G (LTE) network, only 3.75G (HSPA+). HSPA+ is marketed as 4G in USA, not in Europe.
raphaelcno said:
I went from Desire Z to Galaxy S Relay, it works well in Norway.
You need to unlock the phone from T-Mobile, see this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2255892.
Be aware that this phone is not enabled for 4G (LTE) network, only 3.75G (HSPA+). HSPA+ is marketed as 4G in USA, not in Europe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G works in Norway too?
I think by frequencies sadly 3G wont work here where Im at A shame.
900 MHz 3g doesn't work!
I upgraded too from Desire Z to Relay, didn't even realize any 900 Mhz problem. I get always an H or E icon (HSDPA or EDGE), so 900 MHz should be working.
According to specs, the phone should work with these networks:
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
I have it in Telekom in Slovakia and in the meantime I travelled to NY and got no problem at all (I had it set to manual network selection to save roaming charges).
The phone I bought via ebay was locked (even the seller described it as unlocked) but after firmware downgrade I easily unlocked it. I recommend LiquidSmooth ROM, you'll fall in love with that phone!
My other finalist was Moto Photon Q, it supports GSM but lacks SIM card slot. If you want, there's a guy in Prague, the author of the sim card mod instruction post on xda, that can do it for you. But I chose the easier way. Now I have a small problem with display flex cable (probably too much openings/day) so I'm considering buying another Relay before they're gone with no decent qwerty phone around. And I can leave the current one for spare parts. I had to put away my DZ because of the keyboard. Some keys started to write several characters instead of one and there was no easy way to fix it.
FYI ebay deals in your name with customs, so they charge you immediately and the phone is delivered to your door without customs holding it for a week.
If you wish to
T699 in the UK
Hi.
I did not owed the HTC, I used an Xpreia Pro prior to my S4 Relay. However I have the S4 relay for almost 1 year and I had no problems using it in the UK. I have traveled in Europe (France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania) and I was able to use it without any problems. AFAIK it works just fine on 900 Mhz but in 2G. The big question is what freq of 3G is your network provider using. For example, in UK I'm on EE network which is using 2100 Mhz for 3G and 1800 Mhz for 2G so the device works perfectly. Ifyou are on Movistar Spain than your phone will work fine, since the company is offering 2G on: 900/1800 MHz (both supported by S4 relay) and 900/2100 MHz UMTS ( from which 2100 is supported by the device). In very simple translation 2g will work everywhere without any problem, it might happen that is some places you will not get 3G signal.
Hope it helps.
Emil

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