Comments on: How 3G Frequency Compatibility Works / Why Your Unlocked Phone Doesn’t Get 3G

By: Estepinchecorreo

Estepinchecorreo — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:44:00 +0000

Yes, buy a chinesse phone.

By: Seveboyd28

Seveboyd28 — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:34:00 +0000

if u buy a nokia n8 or nokia n9 they have all five frequencies built in. so they can 3g every where

By: Jarrod

Jarrod — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:29:00 +0000

They do use it but its only for downlink, and uses 1700Mhz for uplink only

By: Trang Guy

Trang Guy — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:30:00 +0000

Do you realize that this article has been copied here: hxxp://blog.tinydeal.com/2011/10/13/how-3g-frequency-compatibility-works/

By: Jonathan Partlow

Jonathan Partlow — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 01:57:00 +0000

Why isnt T-mo USA using 2100 yet?

By: Will8840

Will8840 — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:34:00 +0000

My major issue is i would like to get a dual sim phone. One sim for work one for home. This device needs to be 3g and android. This is a problem i am on at&t. Any ideas?

By: BostonBoy

BostonBoy — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 00:54:00 +0000

Hi,

If you buy any unlock phones in the U.S you should look at these informations:

GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900GSM – Global System for Mobile communications. A world standard for digital cellular communications using narrowband TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), which allows up to eight calls at a time on 800 MHz and 1800 MHz frequencies. Introduced in 1991. Is the standard most commonly used in Europe and Asia, but not in the United States. GSM phones use a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) smart card that contains user account information. Any GSM phone becomes immediately programmed after plugging in the SIM card, thus allowing GSM phones to be easily rented or borrowed. SIM cards can be programmed to display custom menus for personalized services.GSM provides a short messaging service (SMS) that enables text messages up to 160 characters in length to be sent to and from a GSM phone.850, 900, 1800, 1900GSM – Global System for Mobile communications. A world standard for digital cellular communications using narrowband TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), which allows up to eight calls at a time on 800 MHz and 1800 MHz frequencies. Introduced in 1991. Is the standard most commonly used in Europe and Asia, but not in the United States. GSM phones use a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) smart card that contains user account information. Any GSM phone becomes immediately programmed after plugging in the SIM card, thus allowing GSM phones to be easily rented or borrowed. SIM cards can be programmed to display custom menus for personalized services.GSM provides a short messaging service (SMS) that enables text messages up to 160 characters in length to be sent to and from a GSM phone.850, 900, 1800, 1900UMTS: 850, 1900, 2100UMTS – Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service, also called WCDMA, is a 3G (Third Generation) packet-based transmission of text, digitized voice, video, and multimedia at data rates up to 2 Mbps. It is based on GSM standard and is supported by major standards bodies and manufacturers.

By: Junkmail1000

Junkmail1000 — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 19:39:00 +0000

It’s not only a couple more antenae but also some hardware/firmware for frequency division/multiplication to obtain the additional frequencies. I agree with you the cost to add would be insignificant. The reason they do it is for commercial reasons. The operators do not want them to have a competitor’s frequencies because when a contract expires it will be more difficult for a user to move to the another carrier. For the same reason operators have “cripled” many phones with built in GPS chip to allow positioning with tower traingulation and not sattelite positioning.With exception of Nokia all manufacturers exclude the free sattelite navigation so that a user will have a “data plan” that will cost more but provide additional revenue to the operator. Simply put, operators make more money and handset manufacturers have loyalty to the operators and not to end users except for Nokia.

By: Afrocuban510

Afrocuban510 — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 20:33:00 +0000

the truth is when I was using a unlocked omina 2 with t-mobile it would jump back in for from edge to 3g but it would only say G on the screen… but when I was using AT&T with the same phone I did get 3g so I guess it depends on the unlocked phone

By: Jonsmittt

Jonsmittt — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 09:48:00 +0000

T-Mobile (US) 3G Frequency Compatibility

The way T-Mobile list their 3G frequency (1700/2100) is really terrible and has caused a lot of confusions!

TM (US) operates on UMTS Band IV – 1700 unlink and 2100 down-link.

Most oversea phones are UMTS Band I – 2100 up/down and/or UMTS Band VIII – 900 up/down.

Therefore, Band I -2100 is NOT compatible with Band IV – 1700 up 2100 down.

Another word, most oversea phones are NOT compatible with TM (US) 3G data band.

By: Jeromeo

Jeromeo — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 07:59:00 +0000

The only phones in the world that have Penta-Band (Europe/Asia/NorthAmerican T-Mobile/AT&T) are the Nokia N8, Nokia C7, and the Nokia E7…

By: Pivo

Pivo — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:58:07 +0000

Had I found your smart post earlier, I could have saved myself an hour or two of research in the last few days.

What you point out is on the money – and drives me crazy: supposedly people pay $400 – $900 (or Euros) for an unlocked smartphone, but they are the ones who do NOT travel internationally? Yeah right. The manufacturer’s policy is major hubris.

Only by accident, I saw that my Swiss-sourced Nokia 6120 with HSPA 1900/2100 works fine on US t-mobile in 3G (1700/2100, the latter being the overlap). So depending on your carrier, a EU phone may work on 3G in the US and vice versa. Or it may not if you forgot to check those damn Mhz. Bad Mhz, bad!

Interesting sidenote: ebay Germany (pop. 80m) has more unlocked HTC Legends or iphone 3Gs for sale than ebay US with 300m pop.

By: K

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 09:46:45 +0000

I believe it’s actually really difficult technically to put antennas of different frequencies on the same device. That’s why the phones only come with a few frequencies each.

By: sean

sean — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:58:36 +0000

Here in Australia we use 850 mhz with telstra 3g optus & vodafone use 900 mhz & 2100 mhz for 3g and 2g 900 mhz and 1800 mhz and the phones are not locked on any network on postpaid contract and prepaid phones are locked and they can be unlocked with a fee about around au$50 some people can unlock them without paying anything. usb 3g modems are locked and they can be unlocked i unlocked a usb modem by putting another provider sim in it and it unlocked it was very easy and here in australia the cell phone providers cant stop you to unlock the cell phone or usb modem and its the rules by the telephone athority and ive always been able to unlock them

By: Neo

Neo — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:36:24 +0000

Hello Nepalese,

Yes, please read the “3G Revelation” post he did a while back. thx.