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Touch Cruise, HSDPA, Tmobile, US or EU?

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!

[Q] Abroad and stuck no data! HELP!

Hello,
So i've got this nicely unlocked, shiny, G2x. (Running MIUI right now, please don't judge me) Anyways, I'm in Morocco, and am trying to use Maroc Telecom (IAM) which has 3g data (their site even claims HSPA+) and these are the frequencys they use:
GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / UMTS 2100
And copy pasted from the T-Mobile website, the G2x uses:
Quad band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), Dual band UMTS (1700/2100 MHZ Bands 1 & 4)
To me that looks compatible. Trouble is, i'm getting no data whatsoever, not even 2g, in an area that I know should have at least 3g. I've signed up for the plan correctly, I'm sure of that. And my G2x automatically picked up the APN settings when I first turned it on (and I verified that they are correct) but still not a hint of internet access. This is driving me crazy!! any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Just guessing, but does it think you're roaming. Maybe try enabling data roaming to see if it recognizes the data then.

fiffer1 said:
Just guessing, but does it think you're roaming. Maybe try enabling data roaming to see if it recognizes the data then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't be roaming if he bought a sim for that system as he says. Probably APN has a typo or not selected. Have to push radio button so it has a green dot to enable the APN. If that doesn't work then contact carrier to reset data on the account. I have had to do that in the past here in Thailand. Have you also tried turning the phone off and on, or doing airplane mode. Sometimes that is needed once.

Thanks for the responses!
Unfortunately, i've tried and double tried all those things, except getting the carrier to reset the data plan. I'll do that next. Now I just have to get through a bunch of menus in French & Arabic

Are you running Market Enabler. It can screw you up royally if you change sim and it was set to fake at boot. I had that on a Nexus One and had to factory reset the phone to get data working again when I changed sim.

Thanks for the advice. I don't think i'm faking my sim - unless that's something that comes with CM07 and I just don't know about it. Also I tried it on stock before flashing with no different result, so i'm pretty sure that's not it. Went to the office of Maroc Telecom, who replaced my sim (but still no luck) and an INWI sim which i'd previously been able to get 2g coverage on now gives me nothing. It is the weirdest thing and I feel stuck. Has anyone actually gotten a g2x to work on any other network?? is there some sort of Tmobile lock which is preventing me because i'm not using a tmobile sim? (And i'm not talking about the phone being 'locked', obviously i've gotten it unlocked, and can make calls just fine, and did have that short spell of 2g data on INWI) Anyways, i'm about ready to throw this very expensive phone out the window, because what is a smartphone without data?? Thanks anyways for your advice.

same, problem.
How can I solve it?
Maybe try to use other broadband?

I use my G2X in Thailand on TOT3G with no problems. They run 3G on Band 1 (2100/1900). Figure out what band it is. There about fifteen different 3G bands in use. Most people don't realize it but 3G radios use two frequency spectrums at the same time. There is an uplink and downlink. For example 2100 Band 1 uses 2100Mhz downlink and a 1900Mhz uplink. Band 4 is 1700Mhz uplink and 2100Mhz downlink. So the 3G radio in the G2X also transmits on 1900Mhz. But the 1900 Band 2 uses 1800Mhz as an uplink, which the 3G radio in the G2X doesn't support. Most companies that say they are on 2100Mhz are referring to Band 1. If they are running Band 1 the G2X definitely supports it. If you have sim unlocked the phone there is nothing preventing you from getting 3G reception on any carrier in the world.
Download "Network" (https://market.android.com/details?id=de.mangelow.network&feature=search_result) from the Android Market and run it. Scroll down to where it says what type of connection you want and make sure "WCDMA preferred" is selected. If the phone somehow got set to "2G only" you will never get 3G reception until you change it. That happened to me once on a Nexus One and took me a while to figure it out.
CM7 and some other custom roms are known to be having connectivity issues. I suggest you flash back to stock and make sure your apn is correct. If your apn is wrong in any way, the connection will be refused by the cell system.

answer to problem with 3G
engadget[dot]com/2011/04/27/t-mobile-g2x-lacks-quadband-hspa-shatters-dreams/
So, I have working 2G, and 3G(only data, calls are not working)
Rom: WeaponG2x.

Have you tried hard reset (press and hold vol^ and power) till it restarts..
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

MisfitX said:
Have you tried hard reset (press and hold vol^ and power) till it restarts..
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the what?

[Q] OnePlus One LTE BAND selection?

Is there a way to see and change the LTE BAND that my phone is on? Rogers support aws, 2600, 700. So I was wondering if I could manually change between them. The S5 has that option in the hidden menu, so I'm hoping I could do the same on this one.
Thanks.

The phone choose the band himself, if he don't find bands authorized by your phone company, he can't use them.

tonymtl said:
Is there a way to see and change the LTE BAND that my phone is on? Rogers support aws, 2600, 700. So I was wondering if I could manually change between them. The S5 has that option in the hidden menu, so I'm hoping I could do the same on this one.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*#*#46363#*#* > Phone information > Set Preferred Network Type > 'LTE/GSM auto (PRL)'
That's as far as you can get in telling it what network to operate on. It won't let you select specific bands (at least not stock). Mine was set to 'TD-SCDMA, GSM and LTE' out of the box (international version) and since I don't plan to use my phone in China anytime soon, it didn't make sense for the phone to waste resources searching for a TD-SCDMA (China's homebrew 4G) signal. Haven't noticed much improvement to my LTE signal though, still the weakest radio I've seen in a 'flagship' in a while.

Thanks.
I am also on Rogers.
Does that mean when I am on the phone, it will revert to EDGE instead of 3g by using the LTE-edge setting?

I have major issues with reception on this phone.
LTE Works Fine but the 3G/H+ signal is awful, absolute disaster on this phone. It is extremely, extremely weak. And I lose coverage often and over 50% of the times my calls go straight to voicemail because Rogers uses 2g/3g for calling. The phone can't drop back to 2G or 3G in time to receive calls when on LTE
Rly frustrating. Have tried playing with all the settings.

Same issue
hashim71 said:
I have major issues with reception on this phone.
LTE Works Fine but the 3G/H+ signal is awful, absolute disaster on this phone. It is extremely, extremely weak. And I lose coverage often and over 50% of the times my calls go straight to voicemail because Rogers uses 2g/3g for calling. The phone can't drop back to 2G or 3G in time to receive calls when on LTE
Rly frustrating. Have tried playing with all the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having issues with 3G H+ too. Dont know its CM issue or not coz I had nice H+ signals on Color OS...
Can't even use internet data. most of the time network drops after using internet for a bit.. Network just suddenly gone and after that it comes back with no internet. Internet comes back online after a while...
Really worried.. and annoyed coz can't seem to find any solve for this. Even Mahdi rom had this issue..

Help! Doogee X5 Pro modem cycles whenever accessed in LTE or 3G mode

I would love someone to help with this strange problem, before I throw this phone in the bin!
First the specs.
Doogee x5Pro, Android 5.1,
Baseband DOOGEE-X5pro.2015/10/08
Kernel version [email protected].2015.10.08
Build number DOOGEE X5pro-Android5.1-R08-2015.10.26
The phone works fine when I set Cellular Settings / Preferred network type to 2G. Of course it only works as a 2G phone in this mode.
However, if I set the Preferred network type to either 3G or 4G (recommended) then as soon as I try to make a call or send an SMS, the modem radio turns off and the call is immediately dropped or Messaging says the SMS service is unavailable. Occasionally the called phone will ring, but the call drops immediately. Sometimes the SMS does get through, but at my end it appears that the modem radio turns off and on again as soon as the Dialler or Messaging tries to use it. If someone tries to call me, the phone rings and caller-ID is displayed, but as soon as I answer, the modem radio cycles off and on again, and the call gets dropped.
If I am in an 4G LTE coverage area, then 4G data works fine (browsing was fast, Speedtest was showing 85+Mbps) but I still cannot make or receive calls, or send SMS's - as soon as I try, the modem radio cycles off and then on. If I am not in an LTE coverage area (but am in a 3G WCDMA coverage area), then the phone just constantly cycles showing 4G for an instant then 3G, then radio off, then radio on but no service, then 4G etc... - this cycle is very regular and takes about 53 seconds end-to-end. If wi-fi is on, this cycle only starts if the modem is accessed (e.g. by trying to make a call), or by turning wifi off and cellular data on. And of course I can't make or receive calls or send SMS's during this cycle, and even when the signal shows 3G I can't get any data connectivity. While it's doing this, if I go to Settings / SIM cards, the 'On/Off' slider moves to 'Off' when the radio cycles off, and then moves back to 'On' again.
In summary; in 3G or 4G preferred network mode and not in LTE coverage, whenever anything (calls, SMS or data) tries to use the modem it cycles off and on again. When in LTE coverage, data works but calls and SMS cause the modem to cycle. As I mentioned, 2G is fine.
I think I've tried most of the obvious things, and some not-so-obvious ones. These are the things I've tried so far.
Obvious things like reboot, battery out, reset to factory settings, wipe cache, clear application data. No change.
I swapped the SIM from Slot 1 (LTE/WCDMA) to Slot 2 (GSM) - the behaviour was exactly the same (this surprised me as it seemed to be LTE-related).
I put my SIM in a carrier's (Vodafone NZ) Samsung 4G phone and it worked fine, also it was fine in a Chinese-brand 3G phone. Then I put another Vodafone NZ 4G SIM in my phone and it had exactly the same problems, so I think it's the phone rather than the SIM or the carrier.
Because data works fine when in LTE coverage, and the phone does ring if called (but cycles the modem immediately when I answer the call), it seems the hardware is possibly working OK. So I assumed software or settings might be the cause.
I created new APN's using carrier-supplied settings. No change. I flashed various Doogee stock ROM versions (don't think there are any custom ones for this phone) and they all display the same problem, rooted or otherwise. I've used the engineering menus (*#*#3646633#*#* and *#*#4636#*#*) to change bands, network preferences and various other settings with no effect. 2G (GSM only) is the only one that works. I installed the Xposed Framework and Gravitybox module and had a play with some of the settings in there but again, no effect.
I don't know what else to try and I can't return the phone as it costs too much to send it back to China from New Zealand.
So any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated, otherwise I'm stuck with a not particularly useful 2G wi-fi phone.
Thanks in advance.

Just a bit of an update. I've discovered that 4G LTE works fine when in range and 2G works fine all of the time; but 3G just doesn't work at all and I have no idea why - I've searched the threads and tried all of the suggestions I could find that can be applied to this phone. As soon as anything tries to access the 3G radio (calls, SMS or data), the modem just 'reboots' (powers off and on again).
All of the other symptoms I've described are related to this. When out of (or in marginal) 4G coverage, it starts in 4G, falls back to 3G and that's when the modem 'reboots'. When in 4G range, data works fine but as soon as I make or recieve a call it needs to drop from 4G to 3G (I don't think we have VoLTE here) and that's when the modem 'reboots'.
So any ideas anyone? Is this likely to be a hardware problem with the phone?
Thanks.
(BTW the baseband appears to be MOLY.LR9.W1444.MD.LWTG.MP.V8.P33,2015/10/26 16:01)

Good to see another Kiwi with a Doogee X5 PRO. I have not seen these issues in Auckland but a few weeks ago I upgraded to R17 using this ROM :
www.needrom.com/download/doogee-x5-pro/
I noticed 3G and 4G are much improved and I could get both in either slot 1 or 2 (I use dual Voda SIMS).
Last week I went Android6 (32-bit) using this ROM:
www.needrom.com/download/android-6-0/
Using this ROM I can only get 3G and 4G in slot 1 and 2 is "locked" to 2G .. so I guess its software based. If your comfortable with flashing your device then do the R17 upgrade or see if its available OTA

nzjacob said:
Good to see another Kiwi with a Doogee X5 PRO. I have not seen these issues in Auckland but a few weeks ago I upgraded to R17 using this ROM :
www.needrom.com/download/doogee-x5-pro/
I noticed 3G and 4G are much improved and I could get both in either slot 1 or 2 (I use dual Voda SIMS).
Last week I went Android6 (32-bit) using this ROM:
www.needrom.com/download/android-6-0/
Using this ROM I can only get 3G and 4G in slot 1 and 2 is "locked" to 2G .. so I guess its software based. If your comfortable with flashing your device then do the R17 upgrade or see if its available OTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for the tip - I've already tried the various ROMs on NEEDROM and currently have Android 6 installed, unfortunately the modem still exhibits exactly the same behaviour. But good to hear that yours works OK in NZ because that reinforces by belief that it must be a hardware issue (rather than a network one). Unfortunately this means the phone's only really any use as a WiFi 'phablet' or a 2G phone. So I've given up on it and bought a cheapo Voda Smart Prime instead, which does the basics OK - shame really as I've had Doogee's before and they've been really good. Oh well

I have just gotten an X5 Max Pro. I've noticed that I only have 3G service from my carrier in my area and for that reason I cannot receive calls if I set the favourite network type to 4G(recommended). I have to set the preferred network type to 3G in order to be able to receive calls, otherwise you will receive the "the phone you are calling is off or out of signal" notification, at the same time that I receive a text message from my carrier notifying the lost call.
To me it seems that the phone is not capable of downgrading the signal automatically to 3G when there is no 4G signal. However, I can make calls and receive text messages with no problems at all.
When I have 4G coverage, everything works just fine with the preferred network type set to 4G(recommended).
Is this a software or a hardware problem? I really don't know if it is related to the problems already described here with the x5 pro, but I have decided to post my experience. Maybe it will give some more hints about what is wrong with many Doogee x5 devices.
Thanks

Possible explanation & solution
Hi,
I may have an explanation and solution.
I have Doogee X5 Max Pro and I ran into similar problems. Doogee international did not respond to me, but their agent in Israel did.
Apparently in each cellular provider uses two frequencies: 2000 for outdoors, and 850 *or* 900 for indoors. High end phones support both 850 and 900 (along with the 2000). This model only supports 900 (and 2000), which means that you'd if your provider uses 850, you'd have a good reception outdoors, but a lousy one / none indoors (along with a higher battery consumption etc.).
The solution was to switch to a different provider that uses 900 frequency, and that indeed solved the problem (in Israel I switched to Partner - used to be a part of the Orange network) .
I hope that helps.
Yossi

yossiy said:
Hi,
I may have an explanation and solution.
I have Doogee X5 Max Pro and I ran into similar problems. Doogee international did not respond to me, but their agent in Israel did.
Apparently in each cellular provider uses two frequencies: 2000 for outdoors, and 850 *or* 900 for indoors. High end phones support both 850 and 900 (along with the 2000). This model only supports 900 (and 2000), which means that you'd if your provider uses 850, you'd have a good reception outdoors, but a lousy one / none indoors (along with a higher battery consumption etc.).
The solution was to switch to a different provider that uses 900 frequency, and that indeed solved the problem (in Israel I switched to Partner - used to be a part of the Orange network) .
I hope that helps.
Yossi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think Yossi hit the nail on the head there! Ouch!
In Oz we have Telstra on the 850MHz band and Optus etc on the 900MHz 3G band..
So Optus is OK but Telstra nay.
The trap is they may show heaps of signal strength but it is probably from the wrong band!
You can do everything except make or take a phone call!
A lot of problems with phones has reared it's ugly head since the 2G network shut down.
Unless you have plenty of 4G signal (which the various providers share the same bands), you would be pretty stuffed..
I wonder if firmware(Rom) changes could solve the problem ?
(I also have the Doogee x5 max pro..)

PLEASE HELP! Network no longer connecting on new Moto G3 TE (merlin)

Please help! Network issues - will *not* connect at all anymore!
I just bought this phone (XT1557) just over a week ago. I unlocked it and installed TWRP then made a backup. Then I installed AOSP Extended and was enjoying learning about it and using the phone. I'm using H20 Wireless (they use AT&T network). Everything seemed to be great for about a week and I was very happy with my new phone. However, just yesterday, while traveling in the US and using the phone (for maps/navigation, gasbuddy, facebook, etc. - it was also charging from a car charger at the same time) we hit a patchy spot in the signal and I couldn't get the network to reconnect. After a few minutes (still traveling) for a split second the network icon flashed as having a decent signal, but then it went off again and *NEVER CAME BACK*! Nothing I've done since then has been able to get the network to come back on my phone.
Here's what I've tried:
* toggling airplane mode, toggling preferred 4G/LTE, or 3G, or 2G
* Reboot;
* safe mode;
* tried sim in the other sim card slot
* tried another sim in my phone that was currently working at the time in Moto G 2nd gen, in both sim slots - still not working in my phone; tried my sim in that phone and it's working in that phone (so not a sim card problem)
* tried *#*#4636#*#* - still shows "emergency calls only" and the signal strength does fluctuate depending on where I move around (see screenshots), tried bunch of different radio bands, tried turning off and on radio power, tried changing preffered network type (to lots of different ones)
* tried dirty flashing AEX again and newest GApps
* tried clean flashing AEX and newest GApps
* tried clean flashing Lineage OS 14.1 and newest GApps.
* flashed only the original modem firmware from MM stock rom (provided here at xda)
* restored my nandroid backup to stock rom (6.0.1)
NONE of these things have worked! PLEASE help! Is there any way I can test this to see if it's a hardware issue? (Though it seems strange for hardware to fail after just 1 week... and there's no warranty since I unlocked it, but I bought it new on ebay anyway, so no warranty.)
Any help you can give will be so appreciated. Nothing else on the phone seems to have a problem (wifi, etc., all seem to be working). The phone didn't even act weird when the network stopped working -that was the only thing. Everything else on the phone still acted like normal without even a reboot. If you've ever even heard of this happening, please let me know. I can't find any other info on what to do on the internet and I've searched all over. If you can help me (or even try), I'll give you so many thanks, as many as it lets me give on here! Thank you for even considering helping me - I really want this to work!

I don't know for sure if this is the case, but here is a possibility...
There is no 2G (GSM) service on H2O/AT&T, period, it was shutdown in December 2016.
For 3G AT&T uses 850Mhz & 1900Mhz HSPA(+), but it varies which one based on licensing and network saturation, among other things... Not everywhere has both (in fact, both only appear in select high-penetration markets)... the XT1557 supports HSDPA 850/900/2100, note that 1900Mhz is NOT a supported frequency, yet it is quite common in AT&T's network... It is a possibility that you left an area with 850Mhz service, and entered an area with 1900Mhz service and now have no service, literally. The service is there for AT&T/H2O, but your phone doesn't support the frequency in that area.
LTE bands support by the XT1557 are LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 8(900), 28(700), 40(2300), but none of those are compatible with AT&T.
It is entirely possible that you just don't have service, because there is NO service your phone is capable of getting because either that frequency isn't available or it's used by another carrier in that area (and H2O has no roaming from AT&T's core network to partner networks like AT&T post-paid service).
Just a possibility... but basically you have a device that only supports a portion of the network you are trying to use.

acejavelin said:
I don't know for sure if this is the case, but here is a possibility...
There is no 2G (GSM) service on H2O/AT&T, period, it was shutdown in December 2016.
For 3G AT&T uses 850Mhz & 1900Mhz HSPA(+), but it varies which one based on licensing and network saturation, among other things... Not everywhere has both (in fact, both only appear in select high-penetration markets)... the XT1557 supports HSDPA 850/900/2100, note that 1900Mhz is NOT a supported frequency, yet it is quite common in AT&T's network... It is a possibility that you left an area with 850Mhz service, and entered an area with 1900Mhz service and now have no service, literally. The service is there for AT&T/H2O, but your phone doesn't support the frequency in that area.
LTE bands support by the XT1557 are LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 8(900), 28(700), 40(2300), but none of those are compatible with AT&T.
It is entirely possible that you just don't have service, because there is NO service your phone is capable of getting because either that frequency isn't available or it's used by another carrier in that area (and H2O has no roaming from AT&T's core network to partner networks like AT&T post-paid service).
Just a possibility... but basically you have a device that only supports a portion of the network you are trying to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, this info could be SOOO helpful! I know this is only a possibility, but it gives me a glimmer of hope when I thought the phone was doomed/broken somehow. I did know my phone was only partially supported (like I knew I probably couldn't get LTE in the US), but I didn't know what all that meant in terms of the other bands. I bought the phone for primary use in Madagascar (which my phone appears to cover all the bands used in Madagascar) but I won't be back there until September, so I'm using the phone in the US in the meantime.
Even though I considered my phone/SIM might not be compatible with the local network, I figured that couldn't be the case since there was clearly a signal in the Moto G2 XT1068 (Titan). However, with what you explained, that might explain some other anomalies. My Titan is also a phone made for international use (where I've used it for years in Madagascar and South Africa and it works great), but when traveling here in the US, I've noticed some anomalies that your explanation might explain (assuming the Titan might also have limited frequencies in use by AT&T/H2O in various parts of the US). For example, in Alaska,there was a time when in southern Alaska (inside passage) my Titan worked great, voice/data, everything (even in some way out of the way places)... then later in central Alaska my wife's phone (an old AT&T phone with a post-paid AT&T sim) got a data signal, and my Titan got a voice signal but no data. It was strange. Didn't work in some airports along the way either (I don't remember which ones, maybe Chicago). It wasn't until we were back in St Louis that the data started working on my Titan right away again, no problem. I figured it was some strange glitch of the OS (CM 13.1) in how it searched/recognized the local network. But maybe it was a limit in the phone's available bands in those regions of the US?
Then again, after I got the new XT1557 (just over a week ago), I transferred my wife's AT&T postpaid SIM to my old titan (XT1068). It was working great, but I never thought to check her mobile data away from wifi (just got busy and never thought to check). At the same time we hit the spotty network connection while travelling 2 days ago (northeastern Missouri, the network was spotty and cutting out on both our phones), that was when my signal went out for good and I saw that hers (AT&T postpaid but now in a Titan XT1068) didn't have a data signal when her network/voice signal came back. That made it very difficult to navigate, so we stopped and refreshed our maps at public wifi. I thought maybe I just needed to update the APN with AT&T, but when I manually input the info they gave me, it still didn't give me a data signal (on the Titan). Now we're in the Des Moines, Iowa area and I'm experiencing everything I've written about with my phone having never recovered a network signal. However, the one anomaly is that, even when I put my H20 sim back in my Titan XT1068 (which I thought was always working in the past, minus that anomaly from the Alaska trip) it gets a good voice signal but still no data signal, just like my wife's prepaid AT&T never got a data signal (that I could see), and even though I know which APN settings to use for H20. I've similarly been beating my head in over the titan's lack of data signal since I refreshed the OS (now on Lineage OS 13.1) since it means we have 2 phones with us on this trip, neither able to get data since leaving northeastern Missouri and mine even worse getting no voice signal at all.
But maybe it means my Titan XT1068 also has limited bands that aren't covered by AT&T/H20's data here even though it's covered by their voice?
The info you've provided so far is excellent. Can you provide similar info about the XT1068's available bands? (I'm not sure where to find all that - I found the original info about XT1557 in the wikipedia page, but Moto G 2nd gen doesn't seem to list the bands specifically. I also don't know where to look for AT&T's specific bands and/or coverage map that might indicate where they have coverage with each band.) If you can provide any of that info it would be so great! But for now, you've extended my hope for my phone. We'll be in Minneapolis area in a few days, so maybe I can try again there. Then we'll be back in St Louis area (where it was working great previously) in just over a week. So at least I'll hold out my hope until then and maybe I'll discover this just isn't the best travel phone for northern US (or other parts of the US). Still, I can't thank you enough for the hope you've given me, even if it is *just* a possibility. It does seem to explain the circumstances.
Sorry for the long story! I just wrote to show that your explanation might really fit well! Your info was so helpful! Please follow-up to tell me if you think the extra info I gave confirms what you wrote. Please also help me find a coverage map for AT&T where I can see where in the US they use specific frequencies. If you can do that for me. Thanks again for being so helpful and explanatory!

@madagascaradam Search by model and then and find the GSMArena page for the device, under the Network section click Expand...
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
3G bands HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
Speed HSPA 21.1/5.76 Mbps
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So the Moto G2 you have supports the proper HSPA (but hot HSPA+) bands for all AT&T's 3G frequencies.
Remember that prior to December of last year, likely when you were referencing your Alaska trip, there was AT&T 2G/Edge service nationwide but that has since been shutdown and within the next 2-3 years all 2G GSM and CDMA service in the US will be shutdown from all carriers.
And I used H2O for quite a while, use this APN (there are lots of older settings out there, they don't work quite right, but this is current as of a month or so ago at least):
Name: H2O Wireless
APN: prodata
MMSC: http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS Proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS Port: 80
MCC: 310
MCN: 410
Authentication Type: Not set
APN type: default,mms,supl,hipri,fota
APN Protocol: IPv4
APN roaming protocol: IPv4
everything else blank, not set or none.

@acejavelin You were totally right! In Minneapolis area I usually had a signal, but not much outside the area. In Iowa no signal at all. But once I got back towards central Missouri the signal has been working great again. So obviously ATT has some regions that use 850 (like in the south) and others further up north that seem to only use 1900 which isn't supported by my phone (XT1557). So, that's not super great for using my phone in the US, but at least I know it's not a problem with my phone.
I also found this map (older, from 2008) which shows where AT&T had 850 MHz frequency and where it had 1900 MHz frequency. It roughly corresponds to my experiences so I definitely think it all adds up. http://www.cellularmaps.com/att_850_1900.shtml
Again, thanks so much for your help!