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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

Any chance to enable all LTE frequency supported by MSM8960?

Dear All,
I recently got this device in Hong Kong and is hapi with its performance!
But I am still wondering if this device could actually use the LTE available in HK?
I knw the msm8960 claimed to be capable of utilizing all frequency of radio,
so is it possible that there is some soft lock in the baseband?
Could i flash the baseband or replace the modem driver from other device to access other frequency?
any idea is appreciated!
Thanks!
Vasco

I think it has to modifiy the ROm and the hardware

I tried to figure out, if our Photon Q is supporting more LTE bands than 1900 MHz (#2 or/and #25).
-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
On some sites there are reports for having another band. (Have to search again, I think it was 850 MHz, #26 or 700 MHz, #12/#17/#29.)
I have also searched for supported frequencies for MSM8960.
I found some BlackBerry devices based on that SoC and 2 different versions of supported LTE bands.
One version (UK) supported 4 in europe used bands und the other version (US) supported 4 in US/Canada used bands.
I think that the Photon Q is like the BlackBerry US version and supports 4 LTE bands in US/Canada.
If you need a few sites, I will search again and show it to you.
The strange thing is, if I set to LTE only (via 4636) I can see all 4 carrier (germany).
We have 3 bands with LTE on it, but I can only get signal to max 2 of them.
Band 3, 7 and 20 (1800, 2600, 800 MHz).
The weird thing is, that on band #20 (800 MHz) only 3 carrier are active, so it has to be band #3 or #7.
Maybe I'm missinterpreting things and thats just a sideeffect of crossing bands of LTE US and UMTS Germany.
On stock ROM there was another "secret phone code" to see what the phone-part is doing. (From qualcomm I believe.)
I think I will test it some other day, to see which band is active.
At last, I was never been able to "login" or "register" into my carriers network within LTE.
Please discuss about that possibility, I really want to find out, which frequencies are supported by our phone on LTE.

Loader009 said:
I tried to figure out, if our Photon Q is supporting more LTE bands than 1900 MHz (#2 or/and #25).
-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
On some sites there are reports for having another band. (Have to search again, I think it was 850 MHz, #26 or 700 MHz, #12/#17/#29.)
I have also searched for supported frequencies for MSM8960.
I found some BlackBerry devices based on that SoC and 2 different versions of supported LTE bands.
One version (UK) supported 4 in europe used bands und the other version (US) supported 4 in US/Canada used bands.
I think that the Photon Q is like the BlackBerry US version and supports 4 LTE bands in US/Canada.
If you need a few sites, I will search again and show it to you.
The strange thing is, if I set to LTE only (via 4636) I can see all 4 carrier (germany).
We have 3 bands with LTE on it, but I can only get signal to max 2 of them.
Band 3, 7 and 20 (1800, 2600, 800 MHz).
The weird thing is, that on band #20 (800 MHz) only 3 carrier are active, so it has to be band #3 or #7.
Maybe I'm missinterpreting things and thats just a sideeffect of crossing bands of LTE US and UMTS Germany.
On stock ROM there was another "secret phone code" to see what the phone-part is doing. (From qualcomm I believe.)
I think I will test it some other day, to see which band is active.
At last, I was never been able to "login" or "register" into my carriers network within LTE.
Please discuss about that possibility, I really want to find out, which frequencies are supported by our phone on LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Loader009,
Thanks for your information! I'm really impressed that you could actually search the carrier in 'LTE only from Germany!
Could you please share the version of ROM you are using?
And if possible, any screenshot? I really want it can be used in HK with LTE(1800, 2100 & 2600Mhz)
Also do you have more information about the secret phone code? I think it would be interesting
Actually, I noted that xt925 and xt905 are using the same chip MSM8960 with LTE usable in HK.
Is there anyone can locate the radio/baseband of their rom and port it for XT897?
I am willing to try it with my machine.
If this work, I think we could use this photon q all over the world!
Any idea?
Regards,
Vasco

disablewong said:
Dear Loader009,
Thanks for your information! I'm really impressed that you could actually search the carrier in 'LTE only from Germany!
Could you please share the version of ROM you are using?
And if possible, any screenshot? I really want it can be used in HK with LTE(1800, 2100 & 2600Mhz)
Also do you have more information about the secret phone code? I think it would be interesting
Actually, I noted that xt925 and xt905 are using the same chip MSM8960 with LTE usable in HK.
Is there anyone can locate the radio/baseband of their rom and port it for XT897?
I am willing to try it with my machine.
If this work, I think we could use this photon q all over the world!
Any idea?
Regards,
Vasco
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, I was just blind guessing the hardware for xt926 and xt907 are using the same hardware.
If not, there should be one chip controlling the modem channel of the device to be replaced.
But WHICH ONE???
Any expert in this area can solve this question? I am a dummy for radio stuffs

This seems like it's getting pretty interesting.
Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk 2

Dear all,
I'm also very interested in this topic since I imported a Photon Q to Germany and was wondering if it's possible to use the local LTE 800/1800/2600 bands.
I think the first thing we have to find out is whether the hardware is capable of using other bands than the 1900 band listed on the Motorola website. As Loader009 states he could see LTE carriers which are known to use different bands I assume the hardware can do it. Otherwise the carriers wouldn't have been listed, right? Maybe someone from another country with different frequency bands can check and confirm that he can see those carriers as well?
Thus, the limitation to the 1900 band should be software-made and could be modified by a developer. I hope someone can participate at that point as I don't know much about coding...

I'm using CM10.1.
I can't remember the secret phone code, I have to do research again.
This secret phone code only works on Stock ROM. (I stupidly deleted it, when it wasn't working on CM10 anymore.)
The one secret phone code I used to force "LTE only" was *#*#4636#*#*.
Please DON'T change the baseband (don't even tap on it).
This can do problems to you. (I had to use QPST to recover the supported frequencies.)
Also, developers (afaik) can't modify the modem firmware.
We also don't even know, which LTE bands the Photon Q is capable of. (Except 1900 MHz)

I've got my 32GB SDCard back and will test it in the next few days out.
I hope I'll find that secret phone code, I'll also make a few screenshots.

Got the code!
##33284# <- ##DEBUG#
It only works on stock afair!
I'll test tomorrow, it's about 3am now >.<

disablewong said:
Dear All,
I recently got this device in Hong Kong and is hapi with its performance!
But I am still wondering if this device could actually use the LTE available in HK?
I knw the msm8960 claimed to be capable of utilizing all frequency of radio,
so is it possible that there is some soft lock in the baseband?
Could i flash the baseband or replace the modem driver from other device to access other frequency?
any idea is appreciated!
Thanks!
Vasco
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have read the "QU_SnapdragonS4_White_Paper_FNL_Rev6.pdf" and found there following entry:
-----------------------------------------------------------
• Industry’s first fully integrated 3G/4G world/multimode LTE Modem: <<<Supports all of the world’s leading 2G, 3G and 4G LTE standards>>>.
It also includes integrated support for multiple satellite position networks (GPS and GLONASS) as well as short range radios via Bluetooth,
WiFi, FM and NFC.
• Designed for speed, compatibility and power savings:
Snapdragon S4 Processor MSM8960 chipset includes the industry’s only complete platform that integrates all of the world’s leading 2G, 3G and 4G mobile broadband modem technologies on a single chip. This new integrated multimode modem is based on an advanced, programmable architecture that is performance, size and power optimized for the fastest combination of modems available for:
- LTE FDD/TDD (Cat3)
- 3G (DC-HSPA+ Cat 24)
- EV-DO Rev. B
- 1x Advanced
- TD-SCDMA
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE NFC.
Multimode/Multiband Means Worldwide Coverage.
• Support for multiple radio frequencies: Mobile broadband technologies are growing increasingly complex in their implementation. LTE is currently being implemented in over 40 diff erent radio frequency bands throughout the world. To complement its wide range of modem standards supported, Qualcomm has designed the Snapdragon S4 Processor MSM8960 CHIPSET platform to <<< address all commonly-used frequencies (from 700–2600 MHz) and bandwidths up to 20 MHz>>>, allowing its customers to address any mobile network opportunity whether the simplest single frequency implementation to the most extensive multi-frequency global mode, whether 4G, 3G or 2G.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Based on the document the chip can handle all LTE Standards, but it depends on his "advanced, programmable architecture"....as written there and how Motorola / Sprint implemented this, maybe they reduced LTE only to one Standard.
I don't have LTE in my area and so I cannot test this.

That's possibly right.
Something else:
If I remember correctly, somewhere in this forum have been said that for CDMA the internal Sprint "ID"(?) is used.
Maybe that's also the reason why I cannot connect to LTE in my area.
The phone is trying to "login" with the Sprint ID and this of course won't work.
The ##DEBUG# menu wasn't helpfull. It shows frequencies for american standards and not for GSM/WCDMA.
Also the LTE menu is also not very helpfull, it doesn't show frequencies at all.

Any News on this topic?
Maybe one of the developers can give a statement?

Yesterday I tested a LTE compatible SIM card.
My Bro has a Samsung Galaxy S4 with 4G/LTE in my area.
So I've put his SIM-Card into my Photon Q and set LTE only.
I had no luck, the Phone couldn't register into the network for this SIM.
I guess either it has the wrong frequencies or LTE is for inbuilt "SIM" (Sprint SIM?) only.

The latter. LTE is configured only for 1900 MHz which Sprint uses.

LTE is configured only for Sprint's frequencies, however, it supports the United States frequencies of PCS blocks A-G. The G Block is Sprint's current LTE channel, and they may deploy it later on Blocks A through F, depending on if they own the spectrum in a given market. The reason you see EU networks when the phone is in LTE Only Mode is most likely because the Phone still sees GSM signals, but will only connect to LTE ones from those GSM signals. Likewise, in the US, if you force LTE Only and then search for networks, AT&T and T-Mobile US will come up as the GSM carriers the Photon Q sees, rather than the LTE signals it sees.
Setting the Photon to LTE Only will not do anything for LTE in the EU. I suspect that if another carrier in the EU uses the 1900 MHz for LTE, the Photon Q will have no issues connecting to LTE in Europe. But until that time, be happy with HSPA.

Skrilax_CZ said:
LTE is configured only for 1900 MHz which Sprint uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can this configuration theoretically be changed / other frequencies be added?

Only if you break BP security.

Skrilax_CZ said:
Only if you break BP security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, what's that?

IIRC The only place with 850mhz LTE available is the Chicago market and currently no phones at all support it. :crying:
Not only does your phone need to support it, your PRL and cell-site does too...

Investigation: The mysterious 850 MHz band

I want to figure this out once and for all.
What services does this phone support on the 850 MHz band?
The big question is whether UMTS/HSPA works. NYC area has amazing 850 band coverage on AT&T.
If I were to put a prepaid AT&T SIM in my phone, set my phone to only operate on the 850 MHz band, and set the proper APNs (necessary for 3G?); would I be able to get data beyond EDGE?

Only one way to find out...

There's no mystery to it if you read through the [GUIDE] Set up Verizon Galaxy S3 as World GSM Phone (confirmed working) thread and the [BOUNTY] ($205 so far) Enable HSPA+ on 1900 MHz / 1700MHz for VZW Galaxy S3 i535 threads completely....
With the radio software verizon has on the phone, the galaxy s3 is quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and single band WCDMA (2100).
We don't know if it has the hardware for WCDMA 850/900/1900 and until now, nobody has successfully flashed a different radio due to the bootloader lock. Keep an eye on the "enable WCDMA 1700/1900" thread for updates.
And just to answer another question that you might have, when my S3 was rooted and set up to work in Germany, I tried both T-Mobile and AT&T sim cards here in town. The problem with the S3 is that even if you try to select a different WCDMA band in the field test menu, the radio firmware will not allow you to change it from 2100. So in an area with T-Mobile PCS (1900) and AT&T PCS/CELLULAR (1900/850) WCDMA, each test I tried only ran on EDGE.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Wow... That really sucks.
So, there's literally no way to get 3G outside of Verizon aside from MetroPCS EVDO?

LLStarks said:
Wow... That really sucks.
So, there's literally no way to get 3G outside of Verizon aside from MetroPCS EVDO?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first step is to experiment with different radio files, as one user in the 1700/1900 thread wants to do, but we need to get the secure-boot/bootloader unlocked so those files can be written.
Phones like the Rezound had the hardware for Quad-band WCDMA (3g), but took a radio file flash to make it work. The reason there is a bounty is because we -think- the Verizon S3 has the hardware, it will just take some work to get the software on the phone to talk to that hardware.

I know. I've been following the thread.
Was a little unsure of the details regarding frequencies.
As far as I understand, they're at a dead end. They need JTAG/UART to continue without worrying about bricks.

LLStarks said:
I know. I've been following the thread.
Was a little unsure of the details regarding frequencies.
As far as I understand, they're at a dead end. They need JTAG/UART to continue without worrying about bricks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, and sadly, I lack the skills and the bounty probably isn't enough to attract a dev with JTAG and a phone to fiddle with to solve our issue

Verizon cdma is ran by nortel dual urban base stations the frequencies are 810-910 and 1840-2000mhz. The LTE is 690-760mhz 1x means that your on 850. 3g means your on 1900 or 850 depending on how far away from the site you are, and 4g means your on LTE. The LTE base station is ericsson but speeds will vary depending on whether or not the site is on fiber or T1 transport. Normally they keep the pre pay customers on the nortel dual urban... Oh by the way we are starting to decommission the lucent cdma on metro pcs sites and convert them to t-mobile GSM but luckily metro uses ericsson for LTE too so there's hope.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Can I use the International S6 on Verizon?

Would it be possible to use the International S6 on Verizon's network without problems? I discovered it was possible with the S4 back then but not so sure about now. In another way to ask this, does it have the proper CDMA bands to work on Verizon's network so that I could use 4G/calls/whatever else fine?
Will be doing my own homework but I want XDA's opinion.
Edit: I'm looking at the specs of the international variant and I see it doesn't state CDMA bands but it states that it has the frequency for example, it has 2100 MHz frequency among 700 and etc, those two for instance are used on Verizon apparently according to the other site I have pulled up. 2100 is for LTE/4G and 700 is UHF Voice Frequency (calls i assume) and 3G is CDMA EVGO?? not sure what that is but can someone explain and tell me for sure if this would work? I don't want to proceed with anything without proper confirmation from more than myself to assure no mistakes.