Change Band to Suit "Telstra"

[Guest azza6]

Hey guys, have a look at this question posted at FixYA or skip to the bottom!

http://www.fixya.com/support/t4138811-sams...t_i8000_running

I was wondering if anyone here knows if this is even possible? I live in a rural area of Australia where we get NextG Reception, but my omnia isn't an Australian Telstra model so it's set to the 900 band. So I get full EDGE reception.

In the city that we occasionally go to (3 Hours away) I get G+ which I think is NextG (Stupid Telstra name).

I notice in band selection that i can select 850mhz, but when I try to it tells me it's not available out of 'The Americas'. ;)

Is it possible to change the Omnia 2 from the 900 band to the 850 band?

*HOPING VERY MUCH*

Azza ;)

Edited April 14, 2010 by azza6

[Guest azza6]

*bump*

If I go to an Australian spare parts dealer, can I buy the part that controls which frequency my Omnia runs on?

[Guest ray1234]

I think you are mixing up the GSM band with the 3G speed. What you see as G+ means HSDPA is available, and as you noticed, it is only availale in city areas. In rural areas, you can only get EDGE. That is controlled by the telco, there is no way you can get HSDPA in an area not covered by the telco.

Your band selection should have nothing to do with the 3G speed. As long as you can get a telephone signal, that means your GSM band is right.

[Guest azza6]

I think you are mixing up the GSM band with the 3G speed. What you see as G+ means HSDPA is available, and as you noticed, it is only availale in city areas. In rural areas, you can only get EDGE. That is controlled by the telco, there is no way you can get HSDPA in an area not covered by the telco.

Your band selection should have nothing to do with the 3G speed. As long as you can get a telephone signal, that means your GSM band is right.

Sorry I've probably miss explained somewhere, in Australia our major provider uses the 850 band for 3G. But they also provide GSM ONLY on the 900 band. In the area we live in 3G is DEFINITELY available.

In Australia another provider, 3 Mobile, is in partnership with Telstra. So if you are on a either 3 Mobile or Telstra you have access to both providers cell towers. 3 Mobile runs their '3G' on the 900 band, but they only have towers in the city, relying on Telstra to provide basic GSM coverage for the rest of the country.

My phone=900 band.

My Provider, Telstra. 3G=850 band. GSM=900 band.

So in the city I have access to 3 Mobile towers allowing me to get 3G.

But in the rural area that I live in only Telstra has towers so I run off the 900 band.

So the question is, can i swap hardware to use the 850 band rather than 900 band?

Edited May 12, 2010 by azza6

[Guest ray1234]

So in the city I have access to 3 Mobile towers allowing me to get 3G.

But in the rural area that I live in only Telstra has towers so I run off the 900 band.

So the question is, can i swap hardware to use the 850 band rather than 900 band?

I think I kind of know what you're talking about, as I've been on 3 Mobile the last time I visited Australia.

1) My understanding is 3 only route to Telstra when there is no 3 signal, when both is available it will choose 3.

2) I doubt very much whether on your 3 Mobile SIM you are allowed to access the Telstra 3G, as I can only access Telstra 2G when I was using the 3 SIM

3) the data cost on 'roaming' to Telstra is very expensive, isn't it? even phone calls cost a lot more in 'roaming'.

[Guest azza6]

I think I kind of know what you're talking about, as I've been on 3 Mobile the last time I visited Australia.

1) My understanding is 3 only route to Telstra when there is no 3 signal, when both is available it will choose 3.

2) I doubt very much whether on your 3 Mobile SIM you are allowed to access the Telstra 3G, as I can only access Telstra 2G when I was using the 3 SIM

3) the data cost on 'roaming' to Telstra is very expensive, isn't it? even phone calls cost a lot more in 'roaming'.

Oh sorry, Im not very good at making myself clear. lol.

I'm have a Telstra SIM :P

So my phone defaults to the 3 Network when in the city.

So do you think this is possible? If I get the radio hardware changed (I know a professional guy in a town not far from here) it will go onto the 850Mhz band?

[Guest ray1234]

Oh sorry, Im not very good at making myself clear. lol.

I'm have a Telstra SIM :P

So my phone defaults to the 3 Network when in the city.

So do you think this is possible? If I get the radio hardware changed (I know a professional guy in a town not far from here) it will go onto the 850Mhz band?

ok, my bad, misunderstood you.

I think you are still having misunderstanding regarding the network band issue. The 850 3G network should be a WCDMA network, not a GSM network. If your phone is in 'auto' mode, it already chooses the fastest network available to you, be it GSM 900 or 850 WCDMA. You shouldn't be using GSM 850, as only US uses that. If you phone chooses the GSM 900 network, chances are there is no 850 WCDMA coverage in your area, and there is nothing you can do to change that.

What makes you think that your area must have 850 WCDMA coverage? If you're so sure about the WCDMA coverage and you think that the phone chooses the wrong network, choose the WCDMA network only in network option. Mind you, you'll not have GSM coverage that way, and in areas without WCDMA coverage you're stuck with no network coverage.

Edited May 12, 2010 by ray1234

[Guest azza6]

ok, my bad, misunderstood you.

Ok then, you mentioned you have a choice to choose 850 network, what's the result? On my phone, I can choose 850 network, it just gives you the warning that it may not work correctly outside the US, but it will switch to that mode.

Yeah I get that also, but it drops my connection completely.. :P

[Guest ray1234]

Yeah I get that also, but it drops my connection completely.. :P

I've amended my reply above. That re-confirms what I said above, your 850 is not GSM, it is WCDMA.

[Guest azza6]

ok, my bad, misunderstood you.

I think you are still having misunderstanding regarding the network band issue. The 850 3G network should be a WCDMA network, not a GSM network. If your phone is in 'auto' mode, it already chooses the fastest network available to you, be it GSM 900 or 850 WCDMA. You shouldn't be using GSM 850, as only US uses that. If you phone chooses the GSM 900 network, chances are there is no 850 WCDMA coverage in your area, and there is nothing you can do to change that.

What makes you think that your area must have 850 WCDMA coverage? If you're so sure about the WCDMA coverage and you think that the phone chooses the wrong network, choose the WCDMA network only in network option. Mind you, you'll not have GSM coverage that way, and in areas without WCDMA coverage you're stuck with no network coverage.

Because we live in a rural area there was this big thing where Telstra put out like, a million towers. So that everyone in Australia would have 3G reception.

There's littlerally one down the road.

Plus everyone I know, even people I live with has 3G reception.. It's really annoying trying to browse on EDGE.

[Guest ray1234]

Because we live in a rural area there was this big thing where Telstra put out like, a million towers. So that everyone in Australia would have 3G reception.

There's littlerally one down the road.

Plus everyone I know, even people I live with has 3G reception.. It's really annoying trying to browse on EDGE.

If that's the case, try to choose WCDMA only and see what happens.

[Guest azza6]

If that's the case, try to choose WCDMA only and see what happens.

It drops out. :P

[Guest ray1234]

It drops out. :P

That means the phone really cannot get any WCDMA 850 3G signal! Try your SIM on another 3G phone and see if it can get a 3G signal. It can be problem with the SIM, problem with the phone, who knows.... it may be just simply no 3G coverage.

[Guest azza6]

That means the phone really cannot get any WCDMA 850 3G signal! Try your SIM on another 3G phone and see if it can get a 3G signal. It can be problem with the SIM, problem with the phone, who knows.... it may be just simply no 3G coverage.

I will try it in another phone, but there shouldn't be a problem it's a brand new SIM from Telstra. I went to the Telstra Shop and the guy there said if I put another providers SIM in it, that it would get 3G. But because my phone is not an Australian model it won't because it runs on the 900 band and not the 850.

I'm pretty sure it's the hardware, what do I need to replace to change the frequency that it runs at?

Edited May 12, 2010 by azza6

[Guest ray1234]

I will try it in another phone, but there shouldn't be a problem it's a brand new SIM from Telstra. I went to the Telstra Shop and the guy there said if I put another providers SIM in it, that it would get 3G. But because my phone is not an Australian model it won't because it runs on the 900 band and not the 850.

I'm pretty sure it's the hardware, what do I need to replace to change the frequency that it runs at?

ok, I learn somthing new everyday. Telstra is on UMTS 850, which is different from the WCDMA 900. I think this relates to phone hardware, I don't know if you can really change the frequency that easily.

It is quite stupid inside one country to have 2 different systems, isn't it? I found an article that relates closely to your situation :-

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/Jama/585

Unless there are phone manufacturers catering for Australia's special needs, looks like you need one phone for rural areas and another phone for city....

Edited May 12, 2010 by ray1234

[Guest azza6]

ok, I learn somthing new everyday. Telstra is on UMTS 850, which is different from the WCDMA 900. I think this relates to phone hardware, I don't know if you can really change the frequency that easily.

It is quite stupid inside one country to have 2 different systems, isn't it? I found an article that relates closely to your situation :-

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/Jama/585

Unless there are phone manufacturers catering for Australia's special needs, looks like you need one phone for rural areas and another phone for city....

EXACTLY! :P Stupid Telstra.

So anyway, the Omnia 2 in Australia, called the Omnia ICON. Runs on the 3G network Australiawide.

My thought is, if I can get this part replaced (whatever it is) with the Australian model's part, it will go straight to 3G.

Thoughts?

[Guest ray1234]

EXACTLY! :P Stupid Telstra.

So anyway, the Omnia 2 in Australia, called the Omnia ICON. Runs on the 3G network Australiawide.

My thought is, if I can get this part replaced (whatever it is) with the Australian model's part, it will go straight to 3G.

Thoughts?

On further searching, I think in metropolitan areas all 3G runs on WCDMA 2100, not WCDMA 900. You won't find any phone compatible with both WCDMA 900 and WCDMA 850, but you will find phones compatible with WCDMA 850/1900/2100. Your i8000 is obviously a WCDMA 900/1900/2100. There is an i8000 model called i8000U, which is WCDMA 850/1900/2100 compatible, if you can find the radio hardware module of that phone and change it, maybe it'll work.....

I have an idea, you can sell your i8000 to someone in the city and buy an Omnia ICON, which I assume is 850/1900/2100. City users use WCDMA 2100 and may never notice that in the country there will be no 3G...... otherwise, buy an iphone, it is 850/1900/2100 compatible.

Edited May 12, 2010 by ray1234

[Guest azza6]

On further searching, I think in metropolitan areas all 3G runs on WCDMA 2100, not WCDMA 900. You won't find any phone compatible with both WCDMA 900 and WCDMA 850, but you will find phones compatible with WCDMA 850/1900/2100. Your i8000 is obviously a WCDMA 900/1900/2100. There is an i8000 model called i8000U, which is WCDMA 850/1900/2100 compatible, if you can find the radio hardware module of that phone and change it, maybe it'll work.....

I have an idea, you can sell your i8000 to someone in the city and buy an Omnia ICON, which I assume is 850/1900/2100. City users use WCDMA 2100 and may never notice that in the country there will be no 3G...... otherwise, buy an iphone, it is 850/1900/2100 compatible.

An iPhone? :P lol. NO THANKS!

Yeah so I was going to go to this parts dealer in a town nearby, cause he would have parts for the ICON. So if I can change the Radio Module to the Aussie version, it should work! :P

Well.. Here's hoping. Thanks a lot for your help BTW! You're a champ. :D