Will the 3g work on T-mobile USA

[Guest robot1000]

I'm heading off for the USA this week (hopefully) and just wanted to know whether I'll able to access the 3g network in the USA from the ZTE blade?

[Guest theInquisitor]

I'm heading off for the USA this week (hopefully) and just wanted to know whether I'll able to access the 3g network in the USA from the ZTE blade?

No, your OSF won't work on T-Mobile USA's 3G network as the OSF supports UMTS only at 900 and 2100 MHz while T-Mobile USA run their UMTS network on the rarely deployed 1700/2100 MHz frequency band, also called AWS (Advanced Wireless System). Allthough most of AWS's downlink frequency spectrum overlaps the UMTS2100 downlink spectrum, a UMTS2100-phone can't be used on an AWS-network as uplink frequencies differ (for details check Wikipedia).

Actually in the US you can't get any 3G service, since AT&T (the only other nationwide UMTS-operator in the US) run their 3G network at 850 and 1900 MHz, which the OSF doesn't support either. N.B.: the OSF supports GSM (2G) at 850 and 1900 MHz, but not UMTS (3G) at these frequencies.

So with an OSF you will only get GSM (2G) service in the US, e.g. on T-Mobile's and AT&T's network.

Edited December 20, 2010 by theInquisitor

[Guest robot1000]

Thanks for your informative post

[Guest Sebastian404]

So with an OSF you will only get GSM (2G) service in the US, e.g. on T-Mobile's and AT&T's network.

Erm... are you sure about that?

its been awhile, but I get 3G when in Europe with my AT&T sim, and I thought I was getting HDPA when I was back in Calif....

Edited December 20, 2010 by Sebastian404

[Guest jchamier]

Erm... are you sure about that?

its been awhile, but I get 3G when in Europe with my AT&T sim, and I thought I was getting HDPA when I was back in Calif....

Unlikely - the only 2100mhz 3G in the US is around wisconsin:

http://www.mosaictelecom.com/

See the GSM network list for the USA :

http://www.mobileworldlive.com/maps/networ...United%20States

[Guest theInquisitor]

Erm... are you sure about that?

its been awhile, but I get 3G when in Europe with my AT&T sim, and I thought I was getting HDPA when I was back in Calif....

Yes, I am. It does not depend on what operator you are with, but what frequency bands your phone supports. If you put your SIM card into a phone with the right frequencies and if there is a roaming agreement between your operator and the roaming network, you can use any GSM/UMTS network in the world. SIMs are not tied to a frequency, it's just about the phone and the network, that need to be compatible.

AT&T use UMTS at 850 and 1900 MHz, while European operators run their networks mostly at 2100 MHz and few started covering rural areas at 900 MHz recently.

Now if you have an American phone, which supports UMTS2100, you'll get 3G service in Europe. But with an OSF, which supports UMTS only at 900 and 2100 MHz, you definitely won't get 3G service in the US - except for few irrelevant exemptions like Mosaic Telecom, which jchamier mentioned.

Also notice, that some phones like the Nexus One are sold in different frequency configurations. While European phones usually support UMTS900 and 2100, American ones are likely to connect at 850 and 1900 MHz, some additionally at 2100 MHz. Maybe a ZTE Blade with support for US frequencies may appear some day.

It's quite complicated to implement multiple frequency bands in a UMTS-device, especially as you need antenna diversity for HSDPA. The Nokia N8 is the only phone I know, that supports all five common UMTS frequency bands (850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz) including AT&T's and T-Mobile USA's frequencies.

Edited December 21, 2010 by theInquisitor

[Guest and84]

I too will be in USA for the next months and I was getting an american SIM card and data plan so I bought OSF based on gsmarena's info "3G Network HSDPA 1900 / 2100" shouldn't it work with AT&T? If I can't really get 3G can and should I have a data plan at all? I was hoping to get to check my e-mails on the go :)

Edit: My friend got the LG P500 will AT&T 3G work there? According to GSM arena it's "3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100"

Edited December 21, 2010 by and84

[Guest Sebastian404]

I'm still stuck in Europe thanks to the weather, but I will test it out when I get back home..

[Guest theInquisitor]

I too will be in USA for the next months and I was getting an american SIM card and data plan so I bought OSF based on gsmarena's info "3G Network HSDPA 1900 / 2100" shouldn't it work with AT&T?

If it supported UMTS1900, it should work in urban areas, where AT&T uses UMTS1900, however I'm sure this is a fault in gsmarena's database, as on my OSF's box it says it would support UMTS900 (not 1900!) and 2100 and further I've never seen a device with support for UMTS1900 and 2100 but not UMTS850. So the combination of 1900/2100 does not make sense in my eyes.

If I can't really get 3G can and should I have a data plan at all? I was hoping to get to check my e-mails on the go :)

You can get data on GSM, too, however bandwidth is limited to EDGE (=200 KBit/s at max) and throughput on EDGE is very susceptible for congestion and signal quality. So if there are many active data users on your current cell or if you have bad reception, data rates are likely to drop significantly. Especially AT&T seems to have significant load problems due to the masses of iPhones on their network.

However for eMails (excluding large attachments) and instant messaging, EDGE should still be a quite decent experience.

Edit: My friend got the LG P500 will AT&T 3G work there? According to GSM arena it's "3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100"

I think I mentioned AT&T are using UMTS at 850 and 1900 MHz above twice. So no, a LG P500 won't work on any 3G network in the US. Edited December 21, 2010 by theInquisitor

[Guest and84]

If it supported UMTS1900, it should work in urban areas, where AT&T uses UMTS1900, however I'm sure this is a fault in gsmarena's database, as on my OSF's box it says it would support UMTS900 (not 1900!) and 2100 and further I've never seen a device with support for UMTS1900 and 2100 but not UMTS850. So the combination of 1900/2100 does not make sense in my eyes.

You can get data on GSM, too, however bandwidth is limited to EDGE (=200 KBit/s at max) and throughput on EDGE is very susceptible for congestion and signal quality. So if there are many active data users on your current cell or if you have bad reception, data rates are likely to drop significantly. Especially AT&T seems to have significant load problems due to the masses of iPhones on their network.

However for eMails (excluding large attachments) and instant messaging, EDGE should still be a quite decent experience.

I think I mentioned AT&T are using UMTS at 850 and 1900 MHz above twice. So no, a LG P500 won't work on any 3G network in the US.

Yeah thanks for the reply! I just checked the box and it says UMTS 900/2100 and GSM 900/1800/1900. Oh well I guess I'll have to use GSM afterall

[Guest Sebastian404]

If it supported UMTS1900, it should work in urban areas, where AT&T uses UMTS1900, however I'm sure this is a fault in gsmarena's database, as on my OSF's box it says it would support UMTS900 (not 1900!) and 2100 and further I've never seen a device with support for UMTS1900 and 2100 but not UMTS850. So the combination of 1900/2100 does not make sense in my eyes.

Take the back off your phone, and remove that battery... on mine it says:

UMTS: 900/21000 MHz

GSM: 900/1800/1900 Mhz

Tho in the Distant Past we have seen a picture of the Chinese device with a larger number of bands on the back of it...

There is a lot of exotic stuff in my office, we could even have some femtocells.. but I'm sure I've have 3g out of my SF in Calif.. assuming I ever get back there I will take it out somewhere and test it out..

[Guest theInquisitor]

I've just checked the FCC database for the OSF (FCC ID: 003Z), where I found this document, which clearly states at page 5 that it supports "PCS 1900MHz; EGSM900; DCS1800, WCDMA Band I, WCDMA Band VIII" - in other words that's GSM 900/1800/1900 and UMTS900/2100.

Not only does the OSF lack American 3G bands, but it also lacks GSM850, which is AT&T's main GSM frequency, especially in rural areas. I fear the OSF is a really bad choice for North America.

Also I couldn't find any application with the FCC for another version of the Blade, that may support other or additional frequencies.

@Sebastian404

I would be really surprised if you could pick up a 3G network with the OSF in the US. I rather expect that even 2G experience on AT&T will be limited due to the lack of GSM850-support. In contrast you shouldn't have problems with T-Mobile USA's native 2G network (excluding national roaming partners), as it's GSM1900 only, afaik.

Edited December 21, 2010 by theInquisitor

[Guest Sebastian404]

@Sebastian404

I would be really surprised if you could pick up a 3G network with the OSF in the US. I rather expect that even 2G experience on AT&T will be limited due to the lack of GSM850-support. In contrast you shouldn't have problems with T-Mobile USA's 2G network, as it's GSM1900 only, afaik.

You could be right, but I remember my initial experience with the SF when I got it home was that it was quicker than my iPhone.. both of them would of been on AT&T....

The other version of the blade would probably be called something like V880. Wayback there was some 'spyshots' of it running 2.2 and it seemed to have every band ever listed as part of its technical spec.... if anything came of that I'm not sure, but from what I read about the guys hacking the Beta ROM it would seem to have different RIL drivers...

[Guest jchamier]

Not only does the OSF lack American 3G bands, but it also lacks GSM850, which is AT&T's main GSM frequency, especially in rural areas.

Not sure 850 is that much use - I did a western US tour in 2007 with two phones, neither 3g. One was 900/1800/1900 the standard UK nokia tri-band, and the other was quad band 850/900/1800/1900.

The only place I got a signal on one and not the other was the very very south of New Mexico. Everywhere else there was signal.

Giving roaming costs I didn't make any test calls.

I came to the conclusion 850 was used to increase channels where 1900 was saturated, so you'd more likely make a call with a quad band GSM handset, than a tri band, in busy times.

UMTS stuff is different tho.

[Guest theInquisitor]

Not sure 850 is that much use

Afaik historically AT&T had not too much 850MHz-spectrum and it was used for their analogue D-AMPS/TDMA network until it was shut down in 2008. So they primarily used 1900MHz for their GSM-rollout. But then they got 850MHz-spectrum for GSM/UMTS due to the rededication of the formerly analogously used frequencies and they acquired Centennial Wireless, a GSM850-operator in 2008. In regions, which were covered by Centennial, their network is still mostly running on GSM850. And in their existing 1900MHz-covered markets they now also tend to use the 850MHz frequencies, as lower frequencies have a greater range and so you need fewer base stations to cover the same area compared to 1900MHz, reducing TOTEX. In urban areas the 850MHz capacity is surely used just as an overlay to increase capacity, but in rural areas there may be places only served by GSM850.

There was a short discussion about 850MHz in the US at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/americas/6...ts-850-usa.html

[Guest jchamier]

Good stuff - thanks.

[Guest Phoenix Silver]

is it the same thing in Canada ?

[Guest jchamier]

is it the same thing in Canada ?

Well I know that two networks in Canada have recently converted to UMTS (3G) only. I think the only network with GSM 2G is Rogers, and I know that was 1900 at least.

Ahh, here you go:

http://www.mobileworldlive.com/maps/networ...mp;cname=Canada

Looks like Fido might be the one you want to look for, with some UMTS 2100 coverage somewhere, and Shaw is planning some 2100 coverage, but still in planning status. http://www.fido.ca/

Rogers at 850/1900 GSM, and 850/1900 UMTS - looks like they're trying to get the UMTS 1700 as well (perhaps to be compatible with US T-mobile customers).

Fido and Rogers have similar GSM map, but neither has a UMTS map on MobileWorldLive.com

[Guest Phoenix Silver]

thanks for the infos

at Quebec city the majors companies are rogers bell fido and telus

fido is owned by bell thus

a 2g network would be fine anyway for my purpose

[Guest theInquisitor]

Telus, Bell and Rogers all run their networks on 850 and 1900 MHz, however none of them disclose where they use which frequency and also which they use for 2G and for 3G.

For full compatibility with Canadian operators (and with AT&T in the US) you would need a phone supporting GSM850 (2G), GSM1900 (2G), UMTS850 (3G) and UMTS1900 (3G). The OSF, however, supports only GSM1900.

So the OSF will only be able to use 2G networks in Canada and only the 1900MHz-part of them, which means you'll experience inferior coverage, especially indoors and in rural areas.

[Guest m_2]

Telus, Bell and Rogers all run their networks on 850 and 1900 MHz, however none of them disclose where they use which frequency and also which they use for 2G and for 3G.

For full compatibility with Canadian operators (and with AT&T in the US) you would need a phone supporting GSM850 (2G), GSM1900 (2G), UMTS850 (3G) and UMTS1900 (3G). The OSF, however, supports only GSM1900.

So the OSF will only be able to use 2G networks in Canada and only the 1900MHz-part of them, which means you'll experience inferior coverage, especially indoors and in rural areas.

Why not Fido which has 3G at 2100 MHz as shown in the link above?