@dcdttu: True, the signal propagates somewhat further, though at the expense of how much data can be carried at the maximum. Still, it might be made moot with a quint-band chipset. I know Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1 is tentatively coming with all the 3g bands; maybe other manufacturers will do that too?

@Monty: No roaming on AT&T if you have tri/quadband phone? That's disappointing.

bluemonq

@bluemonq: Good company. The American branch is based here in Bellevue, Washington, I believe. Unfortunately, their coverage in Western Washington is worse than every other major carrier. So, it is great they are such a good company, but unfortunate that they do not have the same network presence of other carriers.

Monty

And additionally in the USA's defense, the EU chose their 2100mhz frequency knowing full well we would have no way to even move to it. 2100 in the USA is used by satellites, and it's a little difficult to go and change that without paying, oh, trillions of dollars.

They did it, not us.

Besides, the lower the freq, the better reception typically. 850/700/1900/1700 are all better than 2100 to me! (at least North America kinda lines up together like the EU, except T-Mo's 1700 stuff....

dcdttu

@TendoMentis: I wish we could edit posts so this wouldn't be a double post, but this wasn't exactly AT&T's or T-Mobile USA's fault. There isn't enough spectrum in the US in the range that the Europeans use. AT&T decided to just reuse and supplement what it already had, while T-Mobile is using some 2100mhz for traffic for one direction of communication and 1700mhz for the other.

bluemonq

@OG512: T-Mobile. You know, winner of the JD Powers award for customer service for cell phone provider for 3 or 4 years in a row now? The company that provides a choice in GSM besides being stuck with Ma Bell? The subsidiary of that European conglomerate, spanning a whole lot of countries on the other side of the Atlantic?

Oh, you don't know what Europe is? Sorry, my mistake.

bluemonq

T who?

OG512

I truly wish one of the two GSM carriers in the USA had opted to use the same 3G frequencies as Euro carriers. I mean, I'm happy for T-Mobile and everything, but they're still using their own unique frequencies and as such only their branded phones will work with their 3G.

That's the same reason I dumped Sprint.

TendoMentis

Well, Sony Ericsson is one of the several GSM/3G manufacturers that has already agreed to make phones for T-Mobile's new 3G, so that's why they're in.

Also, I think, from a previous conversation on Howardforums, frequency doesn't dictate the throughput of data very much at all. Esp if you're in a building that gets no signal but on 850...

dcdttu

has no one thought that maybe the phone uses 3g for voice and edge for data? Is it not dual band? And i have seen edge speed tests register all kinds of impossible numbers before but 300kbps is certainly nothing to brag about when talking about 3g, I would think T mobile would definitely want everyone to know if their 3g was up and running anywhere

ivealwaysgotmail10

@TendoMentis:

Did not realize that.

I guess that's why my unlocked 3G Razr V3xx from Asia still displays a 2.5G icon today.

Well, that sucks moose balls.

winexprt

@Monty: My parents live like 5 blocks from the Sprint world headquarters in Kansas City, KC also incidentally has notoriously bad sprint coverage.

It is literally to the point of being a widely known and easily verified local joke around here!

My parents and I all have T-Mob which has absolutely perfect TOTAL coverage over KC, I have yet to find a T-Mob dead spot anywhere in KC/Lawrence, KS.

bpapa9013

Wait. Brian Lam was Data from the Goonies?

maxshanly

GOONIES!

deadsylent

Wait, so the US is only now getting 3G? Haha.

Wiliam Hook

@dcdttu: Nope. The 2100 part of American 3G partially lines up with Europe's. It's the uplink that's the problem. Euro 2100 is actually 2100 down/1900 up. Their GSM network doesn't occupy the 1900 space, ours does. Thus the shift of uplink from 1900 to 1700.

jamar0303

EDGE does 200k/s? I was always under the impression it was something along the lines of 7-8k/s ... or maybe that is the non-EDGE stuff (that i currently have).

rainfever

@maxshanly: Data was from the Goonies.

As for 3G, I lack the funds to up the anty on my ill from T-Mobile right now.

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

and only now Brazil gets its (European) 2100Mhz 3G networks.
UMTS/HSDPA started here in late 2007, with some carriers having 850Mhz networks.

Viakenny

Well I believe what T-mo meant with the non data part is that it currently does not have HSDPA up and running, UMTS of course does have data speeds higher than that of EDGE, But I do remember an interview with Robert Dotson (T-MO CEO) saying they will eventually spread the HSDPA wealth at the tune of 7.2MBps

wildklymr

"booty trap, booty trap! That's what I said, booty trap!"

10+ to Giz for the fond memories. Now what was the article about?

hypereric

"As T-Mobile network does not support the N73, I find this kinda hard to believe!"

Ditto -- the guy on HoFo claiming to get T-Mo 3G is a moron, as it doesn't even support the correct bands.

-olly

ollywompus

One user says he's getting speeds over 400k/sec on his Nokia N73...

As T-Mobile network does not support the N73, I find this kinda hard to believe!

dkb218

Will n95 euro version work with t-mobile 3g ?

biofreak

I'm surprised that the dodo from HoFo, who claims to be getting T-Mob 3G on his N73 did not get bashed for his ignorant comment. So far there are only three or four WCDMA 1700 phones available and NONE of them are Nokia N-series.

Maciek