I just rooted and unlocked mine via instructions here. I am getting an "E" icon, does that mean edge? How do I get 3G to work like people are claiming. I am outside of Orlando with a VERY reliable 3G connection normally.
It won't give you 3g on att lol. Tmobile uses different bands and vibrant does not support att 3g bands, just edge. You should have gotten the captivate, which is made to work on att 3g. It's just a given, almost every phone is like that. You can take most att phones, unlock them to work on Tmobile, but will only get edge, same thing with Tmobile phones. Can't be done...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
afive720 said:
It won't give you 3g on att lol. Tmobile uses different bands and vibrant does not support att 3g bands, just edge. You should have gotten the captivate, which is made to work on att 3g. It's just a given, almost every phone is like that. You can take most att phones, unlock them to work on Tmobile, but will only get edge, same thing with Tmobile phones. Can't be done...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently it supports AT&T 3G bands
Source:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/22/confirmed-galaxy-s-unlock-codes-are-stored-in-your-phone-vibra/
Now the question is if the vibrant has both 850mhz and 1900mhz 3g bands.
I was wondering a similar thing. I saw that T-mobile roams on AT&T's networks a lot during a recent road trip, so do you think you can get 3g data speeds over those networks without the need for an ATT sim card?
Just debating whether or not to try to unlock it.
This is really odd - have not seen a device do this before but Engadget generally doesn't lie.
So basically it works on AT&T's 1900mhz based 3G network. In a lot of areas, it could actually work with an ATT SIM once unlocked.
I'm going to give this a try a bit later and will report back how it goes in my area. I know AT&T has both 850 and 1900 based 3G here.
I just took the fam out for icecream and picked up a 3G signal, but back at home on Edge...bah...
Yeah, their 1900mhz isn't as abundant as their 850mhz signal.
The best 'half-band' solutions typically involve a device that supports 850mhz but not 1900mhz, like the HD2 T9193 or HD T8285 both of which get 3G in *many* AT&T areas
Hi peeps,
My research on various forums so far suggests to me that there seems to be contradicting reports whether or not the Vibrant works on AT&T 3G.
I'm planning on importing this phone and use it with an HSPA 850 MHz network in my country, but I'm still skeptical about reception capability of this particular phone. Some reports indicated that the phone works with HSPA 850 while others confirmed that it only works with 1900 MHz band on AT&T.
Therefore, can anybody please confirm if this phone, once unlocked, actually works with HSPA 850. Thanks in advance for any help you might offer.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
The phone definitely does not work with 850MHz.
I have a 850-only phone (HD T8285) as well as this Vibrant (1900 only) in front of me.
I just tested an AT&T SIM in both.
The T8285 gets excellent reception here, around 81dbm.
The vibrant on the other hand gets very spotty reception, ranging from 97dbm to around 110.
If the vibrant worked on 850, it would be getting similar reception. Instead it drops to EDGE a lot when using it on AT&T.
Edit: If I go outside, I can get decent 3g and good speeds:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Still, very clearly 1900 due to spotty signal indoors
This is however quite a nice surprise - it opens the opportunity to use it on AT&T's network in places where 1900 3G is solid.
So it does not support 850? Secondly how do I know if I am in 850 or 1900 area?
larry996 said:
So it does not support 850? Secondly how do I know if I am in 850 or 1900 area?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most areas are going to have both if anything, so the main thing you're going to want to know is if 1900 is strong enough where you are.
Unfortunately I dont know a truly reliable way to check a specific area for whether thats the case, besides actually trying a 1900 only phone
gsvnet said:
Most areas are going to have both if anything, so the main thing you're going to want to know is if 1900 is strong enough where you are.
Unfortunately I dont know a truly reliable way to check a specific area for whether thats the case, besides actually trying a 1900 only phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true, AT&T is working on moving their entire 3G network to the 850mhz band... Here in New York City they're exclusively 850mhz unless I'm mistaken.
DevPhone1337 said:
Not true, AT&T is working on moving their entire 3G network to the 850mhz band... Here in New York City they're exclusively 850mhz unless I'm mistaken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard that same thing. So if the Vibrant "only" does 1900.... those in 850 are SOL!
Anyone know how old this map is....?????
http://www.cellularmaps.com/att_850_1900.shtml
DevPhone1337 said:
Not true, AT&T is working on moving their entire 3G network to the 850mhz band... Here in New York City they're exclusively 850mhz unless I'm mistaken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They've simply re-allocated much of the 3G network to the 850Mhz band, but based on my testing (with a vibrant), they have not totally gotten rid of 1900 3G - it still exists.
The problem with that map is it doesn't differentiate between 2G and 3G.
I have an att sim and I can get 3g on my unlocked vibrant. You can get into the debug screen and clearly see wcdma 850 listed and it is unchecked by default. Only 1900 and AWS bands are enabled. Since we have 1900 att 3g here it works fine. I just haven't had nerve to enable the 850 in the screen to test it. But I have read reports that enabling 850 does absolutely nothing anyway since the hardware does not support that band.
afive720 said:
It won't give you 3g on att lol. Tmobile uses different bands and vibrant does not support att 3g bands, just edge. You should have gotten the captivate, which is made to work on att 3g. It's just a given, almost every phone is like that. You can take most att phones, unlock them to work on Tmobile, but will only get edge, same thing with Tmobile phones. Can't be done...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its confirmed that it gets att 3g: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/22/confirmed-galaxy-s-unlock-codes-are-stored-in-your-phone-vibra/ My recommendation is to mess around with it.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
could someone confirm the 850mhz reception?
To what ive seen the vibrant comes with both 850/1900 bajds making it more then compatable with ATT 3G
Related
I'm thinking about buying an unlocked Vibrant to use on AT&T, will the 3G work on AT&T network? Thanks.
Yes utilizing UMTS Band II 1900 MHz
lqaddict said:
Yes utilizing UMTS Band II 1900 MHz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the rumor going around the internet that you can only use At&t 1900mhz on the Vibrant is false.
The vibrant can also utilize wcdma 850mhz. So you should have no problems picking up both 3G signals from At&t.
I will work on making a how to video that shows how to make the vibrant pick up the wcdma 850, takes litterly 2 minutes to do.
Remember, you might run into other annoying problems such as setting up visual voicemail to work with At&t.
SamsungVibrant said:
Actually, the rumor going around the internet that you can only use At&t 1900mhz on the Vibrant is false.
The vibrant can also utilize wcdma 850mhz. So you should have no problems picking up both 3G signals from At&t.
I will work on making a how to video that shows how to make the vibrant pick up the wcdma 850, takes litterly 2 minutes to do.
Remember, you might run into other annoying problems such as setting up visual voicemail to work with At&t.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw Band V in the service menu, but I had no luck enabling it, so it seems; here in NYC ATT is using UMTS Band II and the Vibrant has no issues picking it up, I am getting upward to 3Mb/s down speeds
Here's an entire thread dedicated to it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=735461 I was one of the non-believers until I tried an ATT SIM in my unlocked Vibrant.
lqaddict said:
I saw Band V in the service menu, but I had no luck enabling it, so it seems; here in NYC ATT is using UMTS Band II and the Vibrant has no issues picking it up, I am getting upward to 3Mb/s down speeds
Here's an entire thread dedicated to it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=735461 I was one of the non-believers until I tried an ATT SIM in my unlocked Vibrant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm interesting thread, similar to what we are doing.
So are you saying you are not able to pick up the wcdma 850 (FDD V) band? We set this up on a friends phone, with his At&t sim, it works.
Can you try setting your phone to wcdma 850 only, and drive to a location that has 850 signal, then check under basic information, you should be getting at&t 850 3g.
vietphunguyen said:
I'm thinking about buying an unlocked Vibrant to use on AT&T, will the 3G work on AT&T network? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Vietphunguyen, there seems to be controversy. We know for certain the vibrant can pick up att 3g signal using 1900 band, but the question is, what about 850. Me and a friend believe the vibrant can also get 850, but that link the other poster provided is something to note also.
Be safe, don't purchase the vibrant yet, until we test this more. 2 make sure you can pick up both 1900 and 850 bands.
I dont know much about the Vibrant just yet, but if its anything like the iPhone on TMO's towers, it might not work. The problem was with ATT using a single band for 3g (1900mhz) to send the recieve but TMO uses 2 bands, 1 to send and 1 to recieve... If this helps at all I dunno! lol
Apexsilverevo said:
I dont know much about the Vibrant just yet, but if its anything like the iPhone on TMO's towers, it might not work. The problem was with ATT using a single band for 3g (1900mhz) to send the recieve but TMO uses 2 bands, 1 to send and 1 to recieve... If this helps at all I dunno! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, just to clarify, for people visiting this thread.
At&t uses 2 differend 3G bands, one is 1900mhz and the other is 850 mhz. At&t is starting to implement 850 towers. Naturally, you would want a phone that picks up both bands.
Now, we know for CERTAIN, the VIbrant will 100 percent pick up At&t 3G 1900mhz signals. The question is, which we are uncertain of, will the Vibrant also pick up 850mhz band 3G signal, incase you hapen to drive to an at&t area that only has this band.
clearer?
[Q] Do we know the extent of the AT&T-friendly UMTS hardware in the T-Mobile Vibrant?
So as a lot of you know, the T-Mobile U.S. version of the Samsung Vibrant turned out to have hardware support for AT&T's 3G. But from reading user comments, it sounds like the T-Mobile Vibrant only has UMTS 1900, and not UMTS 850 as well. Obviously this isn't a problem if you've only got 1900 in your area, but I'm pretty sure we do have UMTS on 850 in my city.
I'm wondering if anyone with the T-Mobile Vibrant has tried using the extra 3G band(s?) and can confirm which are present. Is it 1900 and 850, or just 1900? Further, does anyone know how can I check to see which frequency AT&T provides 3G on in my city (short of relying on the clueless CSRs at my local retail store)? I've got a buddy with a Nexus One on AT&T, is there a quick way for him to see what frequency the UMTS tower he's connected to is using?
In the interest of completeness, I'll cover the questions that I'm sure will get asked so that folks don't **** up the thread with them.
Why not just get an AT&T Captivate?
Handful of reasons. I prefer the Vibrant's aesthetic, but more importantly because AT&T doesn't have T-Mobile Vibrant IMEIs on file. This means you can add and drop data at your own discretion instead of being required to use it, and it also means that their system will treat it as a dumbphone. Definitely a perk.
Why not just get a Galaxy S Vibrant from Bell in Canada? It definitely has 850 and 1900.
This is what I'll end up doing if the T-Mobile one doesn't work out, but it's a pretty big pain in the ass to get Canadian phones shipped down here whereas the T-Mobile version is readily available. Also, no warranty!
Thanks guys.
From what Ive read, the Vibrant works on 850/1700/1900/2100. --See edits below--
~T.J.
EDIT: See this post: http://www.howardforums.com/showthr...too.-Works-on-ATT-3g.?p=13923098#post13923098
Picture
http://www.howardforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=67212&d=1280324484
EDIT AGAIN: Here was another list of frequencies, and a picture of the side of the box which lists them from a review site.
Band (frequency): 850 MHz;900 MHz;1800 MHz;1900 MHz;UMTS: Band I (2100);UMTS: Band IV (AWS);UMTS: Band IV (1700/2100)
Picture
http://rounduprussy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IMG_7228.jpg
It doesn't work on WCDMA 850. Doesn't support it. Try selecting it only and put a AT&T sim in and see if you get 3G. Yea you won't, then try selecting 1900 only and what happens? Yea exactly.
Well, I dont have one in front of me to experiment with my AT&T and T-Mobile SIMs, Im just going off the side of the box and whats listed in the menu (both say 850). I currently have a Captivate and a Fascinate, but Im looking into getting the Vibrant instead for a number of reasons so I was just poking around. Sorry if I was passing on bad info.
~T.J.
EDIT: I thought I read of some people getting it to work on 850, but that could be wrong. Im looking again... Could it be there just isn't 850 coverage where you tried it and instead was 1900 coverage? These are OLD maps though...
http://www.cellularmaps.com/att_850_1900.shtml
Because the T-Mobile 3G network in the U.S. is listening for 3G data in the 1700MHz and 2100MHz bands, it’s the only U.S. network with which the Nexus One phone can communicate. AT&T’s 3G network listens for phones transmitting 3G traffic in the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands, which the Nexus One cannot do. All it can do is send 2G traffic in those bands, so it does, making a slower data experience for those using the Nexus One in Ma Bell’s mobile network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because the it's listed in software doesn't mean it can work. The Fascinate is a CDMA phone and your gonna tell me because you see the bands listed in software that it will work on a gsm network? Really? Either way I'm not trying to get you down. Just saying if that were possible, it would have been mention already. To conclude though, it all comes down to hardware support, the software is just mirrored on all galaxy s phones. The Vibrant only does 1700/1900/2100 for 3G. The 850 band would have benefit you better for in building support, but it's not supported.
ram130 said:
Just because the it's listed in software doesn't mean it can work. The Fascinate is a CDMA phone and your gonna tell me because you see the bands listed in software that it will work on a gsm network? Really? Either way I'm not trying to get you down. Just saying if that were possible, it would have been mention already. To conclude though, it all comes down to hardware support, the software is just mirrored on all galaxy s phones. The Vibrant only does 1700/1900/2100 for 3G. The 850 band would have benefit you better for in building support, but it's not supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That picture is from the screen of a Vibrant. Notice the T-Mobile branding at the ear speaker? But, I do understand about the listing in the software not necessarily having the hardware. Also, I edited my post above.
~T.J.
Dug this all up from the FCC fairly easily just to see for myself.
External photos:
http://www.nwallwheeldrive.com/misc/External.pdf
Internal photos:
http://www.nwallwheeldrive.com/misc/Internal.pdf
FCC ID label location:
http://www.nwallwheeldrive.com/misc/Label.pdf
Heres the test report from the FCC (showing 850 Mhz GSM):
http://www.nwallwheeldrive.com/misc/Measurement Report.pdf
Heres the rest results for the Specific Absorption Rate (showing 850 Mhz GSM around page 25):
http://www.nwallwheeldrive.com/misc/SAR Compliance.pdf
My conclusion? Id say its capable because it has all the hardware (since they were able to test it), but depends on the network around you. That, or they literally software blocked it for some reason.
~T.J.
EDIT: Ok, had to DL the PDF files and I temporarily uploaded them on my web site server for now. Dont know how long I will leave them there however.
850 gsm != 850 umts
D'oh! Talk about needing to sleep! As I said I'm just here to learn too as I want to pick up a vibrant, but apparently I need to sleep before thinking and posting. Sorry about that!
~T. J.
Thanks for all the responses, guys, I really appreciate the thorough feedback.
Sounds like 850 is a bust, which is really disheartening. There's loads of T-Mobile Vibrants on eBay in the $340-380 ballpark, but it's going to cost closer to $500 to get a Bell Vibrant down here.
yeah the phone supports 850GSM but not 850WCDMA/UMTS/3G
k
ty
lqaddict said:
850 gsm != 850 umts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are two different type of bands as outlined here: http://www.nwallwheeldrive.com/misc/Measurement Report.pdf
ram130 said:
They are two different type of bands as outlined here: http://www.nwallwheeldrive.com/misc/Measurement Report.pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"!=" == "not equal"
lqaddict said:
"!=" == "not equal"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh! teaches me to multitask while in class
I lost my WCDMA band after flashing the Ginger Clone Final R2... Somebody help... ...
1. Flight mode ON
2. Remove your SIM card
3. After you get the message "SIM card removed", *#2263#
4. Option 4
5. Option 8
6. Menu, END
7. Insert back your SIM card
8. Flight mode OFF
Krzysiek_CK said:
1. Flight mode ON
2. Remove your SIM card
3. After you get the message "SIM card removed", *#2263#
4. Option 4
5. Option 8
6. Menu, END
7. Insert back your SIM card
8. Flight mode OFF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.. but it not work... Cannot see 3G Signal after turn on WCDMA only...
What phone? Captivate or Vibrant? What network? AT&T or TMO?
The vibrant cannot do 3g on the AT&T network, and 850 is an AT&T band.
Sent from my Ideos S7 using XDA App
fosormic said:
What phone? Captivate or Vibrant? What network? AT&T or TMO?
The vibrant cannot do 3g on the AT&T network, and 850 is an AT&T band.
Sent from my Ideos S7 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone's Vibrant, i'm from Viet Nam... I cannot use 3G since i'd flashed the JL4 ROM.
That 850 3g band is an ATT network which vibrant cannot use.
i have a vibrant... and am using it with att... and have had the issue of getting 3g, then going out of range to edge and not getting the 3g back unless i reboot the phone. so is this why? this phone is not compatible with att? im in puerto rico, att essentially bought centennial here and i guess uses their network...
??????
i obviously messed around with the unlocking, and im pretty sure i screwed something up - it's my first time doing these things on a cell phone - but its unlocked, i just wondered if its doing this thing because of the /efs folder and all the things i did to it lol
serialteg said:
i have a vibrant... and am using it with att... and have had the issue of getting 3g, then going out of range to edge and not getting the 3g back unless i reboot the phone. so is this why? this phone is not compatible with att? im in puerto rico, att essentially bought centennial here and i guess uses their network...
??????
i obviously messed around with the unlocking, and im pretty sure i screwed something up - it's my first time doing these things on a cell phone - but its unlocked, i just wondered if its doing this thing because of the /efs folder and all the things i did to it lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no way a Vibrant gets the AT&T 3G bands. Even if they share the 2100 3G band, the implementations are incompatible. The Vibrant cannot work 3G on 850, not here or anywhere else.
EDIT: See my post below. Seems I was wrong and the Vibrant can use AT&T's 3g. Awaiting confirmation from any user who has AT&T and an unlocked vibrant, then I'll update this post again.
I read it is compatible with the 850 2g att network.
Fear the beard...
I seem to get 3g with my Vibrant pretty consistently on AT&T. The download speeds I get aren't possible on 2g or 2.5g as far as i know.
HOLY CRAP!!!
jayprime said:
I read it is compatible with the 850 2g att network.
Fear the beard...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. All "multiband" GSM are. They will run up to Edge.
zharptitza said:
I seem to get 3g with my Vibrant pretty consistently on AT&T. The download speeds I get aren't possible on 2g or 2.5g as far as i know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pls post speedtest.net results.
**********************************************
OK this seems to be "the" bomb
**********************************************
NOW. Having said that, I may have to swallow my words, and although I am still in a state of disbelief, here are the facts.
I just did some research in order to finish this discussion with conclusive evidence, and ran into a major surprise. There is a menu that allows the user to "enable" or "disable" bands. I managed to enable the 850 band in WCDMA (AT&T 3G) but my phone is locked so I cannot test it. However, the "enable" setting remained after reboot. Someone mentioned that it reverts to disabled after reflashing.
Here is the process (Got it from this thread: http://goo.gl/Sx7JA, all credit goes to reuthermonkey there, I just copy and paste).
Here are his instructions to get to that menu, and where I enabled 850 WCDMA:
1. on the key pad, type *#*#197328640#*#*
2. Select [1] Debug Screen
3. Select [8] Phone control
4. Select [7] Network control
5. Select [2] Network Selection
6. Select [4] Combi Bands []
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note: To go back on the menu use the menu key and then select Back. Do NOT use the back key.
His (see HIS screenshot I "borrow" from that forum) phone matches my phone: http://goo.gl/rBi4j
This menu (Network Selection, step 5 above) is used to enable bands. Bands can be disabled only selecting something else. I.E. If I select GSM bands, the 3G are disabled; if I select 3G bands the GSM bands are disabled. If I go to the Combi bands menu, I can enable whichever I want.
All I did was select (touch) the WCDMA line which did not have a * (see the screenshot) and confirm in the following screen, then going back (remember Menu-->Back, not back key) it became selected. Exited the menu, rebooted, came back and that AT&T band is still selected. Is it WCDMA 850 enabled???? Need to test but tried to force my phone into roaming to AT&T and it complained that my SIM did not authorize roaming there (lol). Someone else with an unlocked Vibrant and an any WCDMA 850 (AT&T) SIM must try.
Now, as a proof of concept, I decided to disable the TMO 3G bands by selecting GSM BAND -> GSM ALL and then just enabling 850 WCDMA. This effectively disabled all 3G bands. After doing that went back to Combi Bands and confirmed that all GSM bands were enabled and none of the 3g bands were. After that, enabled the 850 band leaving the TMO bands disabled.
Once I did that, I backed all the way to the root menu and then selected EXIT.
Behold!
No reboot necessary, my phone is now on TMO Edge and cannot select 3g. Disabling the bands worked!!!! I confirmed it going to the INFO screen (*#*#4636#*#* --> Phone info) and indeed is connecting only on edge.
So, based on the test I performed, I assume that in the same way I disabled the TMO bands, I successfully enabled the WCDMA 850 (AT&T) band. Someone with an unlocked vibrant and ATT or similar service (OP) can test and confirm.The setting survived a power-off and power-on cycle. After all this messing around I was able to successfully enable my 3G bands and all is good and dandy.
I still cannot believe it, but seems completely true. Please DO test and report.
I don't know what bands my Vibrant is using but I get 3G on ATT network in California, USA.
Yeah, I know it seems odd to hear it, but it has worked for me. Problem I have is at work I can only get about 1 meg down and 1 up. I also get weird behavior with speed test sometimes where it just freezes on the upload. Here's history, it varies by where I'm at, but you can see form the icon that those are over wireless, not wifi.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
You are correct: Vibrant on 3G on AT&T
Well, after all the research I did yesterday indeed I take back my words that Vibrant cannot do 3G in AT&T. I decided to unlock mine and borrow a friend's AT&T SIM. Pictures below.
When I turned the phone on, all bands, including WCDMA 850 were enabled but the phone went to Edge. Then I disabled all and left only WCDMA 850 band and still went to edge, even though GSM 850 was explicitly disabled. However, if I enable only WCDMA 1900, it went straight to 3G. The SIM provided the APN info so it all worked. I didn't try to enable both or enabling all others combinations, had to give the SIM back.
So, maybe thats why some people who indeed have 3G on AT&T are having issues. AT&T uses the 850 band as "overflow" (for 3G that is), so maybe if you are in an area with no coverage, or where the main band, 1900 is saturated, the cell sends the phone to 850 and based in my 5 minute testing, it won't go WCDMA on 850.
Thanks all for following and giving feedback and putting up with my long rants. I just think it is fantastic that we have a phone that can do 3G on both operators.
|OP|: Using the instructions above, were you able to get your 850 band, and for that matter 3G in your operator?
Ok guys I have an atrix 4g running on t-mobile. My question is why cant I get 4g/3g on this phone ? T-mobile runs on the 2100 band and the phone does support that band so why no 4g or 3g? common sense would tell me that if t-mo runs 4g on 2100 and the phone is capable of running on 2100 that it would work. have searched for a total of about 4 hours or so over the past couple days and cant find a straight answer only thing i can find is that att doesnt run on 2100 band yet the phone does. thanks in advance to anybody that can answer and taking the time to read.
are you getting H+ or H? (This is "3.5g") The Atrix 4g is not a true 4g phone.
Because the 2100 spectrum that you're using the phone on now is part of the quad-band gsm which is edge/2g. The difference lies in the bands used for 3g/4g, in which case AT&T only uses 850/1900 and tmobile only uses 1700/2100.
There is also a bunch of things that include HSPA, AWS, WCDMA, and so on and so on but I don't know enough about that to comment.
EDIT: Also, the only phones I know that can be used on both AT&T and Tmobile 3g/4g are "penta-band" phones like some European Nokia phones and the unlocked Galaxy Nexus that needs to be imported as well.
shattar01 said:
Ok guys I have an atrix 4g running on t-mobile. My question is why cant I get 4g/3g on this phone ? T-mobile runs on the 2100 band and the phone does support that band so why no 4g or 3g? common sense would tell me that if t-mo runs 4g on 2100 and the phone is capable of running on 2100 that it would work. have searched for a total of about 4 hours or so over the past couple days and cant find a straight answer only thing i can find is that att doesnt run on 2100 band yet the phone does. thanks in advance to anybody that can answer and taking the time to read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wcdma=utms=3g
Yes, WCDMA and AWS(1700), as far as I know, are both from UMTS and the differences in regards to 3G between AT&T and Tmobile lie in the spectrum use (850&1900 vs 1700&2100). And both AT&T and Tmobile use HSPA(+) based off their respected UMTS frequencies.
I just don't understand the "leap" in GSM technology that breaks the quad-band compatibility, that's all.
matthew5025 said:
Wcdma=utms=3g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also I've read 850 is att's main spectrum for large areas and 900 for T-Mobile. All higher spectrums are for smaller, rural areas.
If your looking for 3g maybe find a town or, buy a dual band amplifier? That's IF they have 2100 MHz band working where you are located.
Lower bands ie 850/900 are the download streams. 1700/1900/2100 are upload streams. If I'm not mistaken
Also a T-Mobile vibrant supports att, it also has our main band, 850mhz. Again which is the main large areas, like T-Mobile 900mhz. 1700-2100mhz for att/T-Mobile range is only as good as the towns that still has that band currently operating for hspa/3g data. I've seen alot of T-Mobile phones that have 850/1900/2100, and work on att. If they were 1600/1900/2100 did not for me.
You need that lower frequencies to ensure it to work. Then....
Also for regional based frequencies...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Mobile_Telecommunications_System
That link will let you know what that all really means.
I think you are mixing up gsm and umts.
GSM = 2G/Edge
UMTS (HSPA, HSPA+, HSDPA/HSUPA, WCDMA, AWS) = 3G
Have a look here. You will see they label "3G" as "UMTS" which is HSPA/WCDMA. A little more down you can see they label their data as "HSDPA", which is download, and "HSUPA" which is upload. Further delineating the speeds they label either one as UMTS for down and Edge as up, which to me tells me they use gsm for the upload and only use UMTS for download. Either way, there is not a T-mobile phone available that can be unlocked and used on AT&T's 3G, just 2G and vice versa. As I have previously mentioned, you will need a penta-band phone for that.
Ciloteille said:
Also I've read 850 is att's main spectrum for large areas and 900 for T-Mobile. All higher spectrums are for smaller, rural areas.
If your looking for 3g maybe find a town or, buy a dual band amplifier? That's IF they have 2100 MHz band working where you are located.
Lower bands ie 850/900 are the download streams. 1700/1900/2100 are upload streams. If I'm not mistaken
Also a T-Mobile vibrant supports att, it also has our main band, 850mhz. Again which is the main large areas, like T-Mobile 900mhz. 1700-2100mhz for att/T-Mobile range is only as good as the towns that still has that band currently operating for hspa/3g data. I've seen alot of T-Mobile phones that have 850/1900/2100, and work on att. If they were 1600/1900/2100 did not for me.
You need that lower frequencies to ensure it to work. Then....
Also for regional based frequencies...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Mobile_Telecommunications_System
That link will let you know what that all really means.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to give anyone a hard time but it's misinformation to tell anyone that a T-mobile phone can work on AT&T 3G.
And I'll say it again, I'm not an expert so if anyone can better explain then I'm all ears (eyes).
live4nyy said:
I think you are mixing up gsm and umts.
GSM = 2G/Edge
UMTS (HSPA, HSPA+, HSDPA/HSUPA, WCDMA, AWS) = 3G
Have a look here. You will see they label "3G" as "UMTS" which is HSPA/WCDMA. A little more down you can see they label their data as "HSDPA", which is download, and "HSUPA" which is upload. Further delineating the speeds they label either one as UMTS for down and Edge as up, which to me tells me they use gsm for the upload and only use UMTS for download. Either way, there is not a T-mobile phone available that can be unlocked and used on AT&T's 3G, just 2G and vice versa. As I have previously mentioned, you will need a penta-band phone for that.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to give anyone a hard time but it's misinformation to tell anyone that a T-mobile phone can work on AT&T 3G.
And I'll say it again, I'm not an expert so if anyone can better explain then I'm all ears (eyes).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am just merely stating that I have a motorola defy on ATT, and it worked great for a long time with great speeds before I got a motorola atrix and infuse.
Im not saying that every tmobile phone will have working talk/text, or data for that matter. I have just posted an idea, or atleast what to look for when you are cruising for phones not labeled for your carrier.
I was getting my motorola defy with the att "grand fathered internet" for 10 dollars a month and it was about 160-420KB/s down, and 80-190KB/s up. but some phones are capable of this, others arent. I have a general idea, and have played with several different carrier cellphones and used them with att and att's 3g data.
Rogers HTC Dream (x2 of them)
Telus Milestone
Tmobile Defy
Rogers Atrix
ATT Atrix (x2 of them)
ATT Infuse
Rogers and Telus actually use the same 3G bands as AT&T so as long as those are unlocked they will work. And I'm not saying an unlocked T-mobile can't work on AT&T, because they can (they both use quad-band gsm) but you can not use an unlocked T-mobile phone an AT&T 3G. That's all I'm saying.
Now, they did make an European version of the Defy that uses the 850 3G band but not the T-mobile "branded" one.
I'm going to stick to my guns on this one because I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea about interchanging AT&T and T-mobile phones and expecting 3G service. I'm fairly certain about this and unless someone can prove otherwise that's how I will think.
Ciloteille said:
I am just merely stating that I have a motorola defy on ATT, and it worked great for a long time with great speeds before I got a motorola atrix and infuse.
Im not saying that every tmobile phone will have working talk/text, or data for that matter. I have just posted an idea, or atleast what to look for when you are cruising for phones not labeled for your carrier.
I was getting my motorola defy with the att "grand fathered internet" for 10 dollars a month and it was about 160-420KB/s down, and 80-190KB/s up. but some phones are capable of this, others arent. I have a general idea, and have played with several different carrier cellphones and used them with att and att's 3g data.
Rogers HTC Dream (x2 of them)
Telus Milestone
Tmobile Defy
Rogers Atrix
ATT Atrix (x2 of them)
ATT Infuse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 08:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 AM ----------
Upon further research, I have found this article, where under certain circumstances, you can use an unlocked AT&T iPhone with T-mobile 3G:
http://www.gsmarena.com/tmobile_usa_running_1900mhz_3g_in_some_areas_iphones_invited-news-3537.php
Now, this shows that an AT&T phone can maybe use T-mobile 3G but not the other way around. Again, I'm always up for learning something new but I need references/proof.
Well I do get att 3g on the defy and vibrant. I am currently getting about 300ish KB/s on them and 600+KB/s on my attic, I'm just going with the facts. Those facts are that certain T-Mobile phones will work with Att, provided they have 850mhz band. That allows you in most towns (near me) to get 3g
False.
300KB/s is Edge speed, which is only 2G.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G
http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=107
That's why you get faster speeds on the Atrix because it actually uses 3G.
Again, both AT&T and T-mobile use quad-band GSM. Which is why you can unlock a T-mobile phone and use it on AT&T, and vice versa, but it is only 2G/Edge and NOT 3G.
http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=139
http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=3
Furthermore, here are the wiki pages for AT&T and T-mobile which both inlcude frequency charts outlining the technology (2G or 3G) each one uses:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT&T_Wireless
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_USA
Here are the charts:
AT&T:
Frequency Protocol Class
Frequencies used on the AT&T Network
850 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE 2G
1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE 2G
850 MHz UMTS/HSPA 3G
1900 MHz UMTS/HSPA 3G
700 MHz LTE 4G
T-mobile:
Frequency Band Protocol
850 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE 2G
1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE 2G
1700 MHz UMTS (W-CDMA)/HSPA/HSPA+ 4G (formerly 3G[34])
1900 MHz UMTS (W-CDMA)/HSPA/HSPA+ 4G
I check for facts and references, I'm only saying what I find in research.
Again, when unlocked, a T-mobile phone can use AT&T 2G/Edge, not 3G
Ciloteille said:
Well I do get att 3g on the defy and vibrant. I am currently getting about 300ish KB/s on them and 600+KB/s on my attic, I'm just going with the facts. Those facts are that certain T-Mobile phones will work with Att, provided they have 850mhz band. That allows you in most towns (near me) to get 3g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not a Developer but am a Power User of Android for work and play using for Proposals,
Invoices, and business and casual browsing.
No computer needed.
Let me confirm that this Model Alpha 850M an octacore made for North, South, Central America and the Caribbean Factory Unlocked LTE phone works great on the Metro/Tmobile
Network on LTE and drops to 3G on Voice Calls and a little H+ when signal weak in large buildings.
Excellent voice quality, strong radio transceiver which locks well to even low signal in buildings or near transmitting towers .
Only my second Android and my first Samsung-I have not found the horrible bloatware I have read about but do have the phone customized with many features toggled off etc.
I come from an Audio background and Phones are the only Devices which do not often sound better ( earpiece, microphones, speakerphones) on a $600 Device versus a $150 DeviceTHIS Alpha surprised me- it sounds much fuller and a little louder than 3 or 4 AT&T
Alpha 801 quad cores I auditioned before.
Either a bigger speaker, better cone material, or more power or all three- the AT&T850A is
tinny and thin sounding compared to this 850M- not sure if they are all like this but an excellent speakerphone !
So often even with Experts you can NOT get a DEFINITIVE ANSWER on whether a specific Model performs FULLY on a certain Carrier as well as branded Devices this one does on TMobile also has the 700band which TMo will be using more and more for LTE which penetrates buildings better.
LTE Bands are AWS/ 700/850/1800/1900/2100/2600
To use a highly technical Term even for Developers this little Phone "Kicks Ass".
As I have said before If this phone was about 8.5 millimeters thick with a 3000Mah Battery
a higher res screen, 3 Gigs of RAM, SD Storage and the Camera from the Note 4 and a second speaker it would have been a great hit Worldwide.
This phone has less lag than S5 and excellent as is but SHOULD have been great.
Samsung tried to COPY the Iphone rather than surpass it, underestimating the Tech Savvy of
Android Users who purchase $600 plus phones.
One BIG PROBLEM is I cannot be on Internet and a Call Simultaneously on this phone.
It DROPS TO 3 G on Calls which temporarily kills Data-not sure if this is Alpha or Network BUT I always have Internet on calls with Metro PCS.
So this Alpha may not have this feature ?
If you are on a compatible GSM network (like T-Mobile you listed), it should maintain network connection even on 3G mode unless the phone drops to 2G mode. Until VoLTE is enabled (Alpha does support it but not yet enabled), all LTE phones on AT&T or T-Mobile will have to drop to HSPA mode (H+ or 3G or 2G depending on the availability) for voice calls. But as long as you are not on 2G (E or G), you should still have simultaneous voice and network connection.
However, I did encounter similar problems on my AT&T version but a reboot of the phone solved my problem.
robertkoa said:
One BIG PROBLEM is I cannot be on Internet and a Call Simultaneously on this phone.
It DROPS TO 3 G on Calls which temporarily kills Data-not sure if this is Alpha or Network BUT I always have Internet on calls with Metro PCS.
So this Alpha may not have this feature ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something interesting here: my G850A indicates "4G" during voice calls at the top of the screen, but bringing up the status indicates that it is indeed fluctuating between HSPA+ and UMTS. AT&T being misleading? The G850M fluctuates between saying 3G and H+. (And also, when the G850M is on LTE, the indicator only says "4G," but status check shows it's LTE.)
The other strange thing is that with both phones, I have them set up to make a sound when I press keys. During voice calls, the keys make no sounds. Go figure.
foxbat121 said:
Until VoLTE is enabled (Alpha does support it but not yet enabled), all LTE phones on AT&T or T-Mobile will have to drop to HSPA mode (H+ or 3G or 2G depending on the availability) for voice calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not finding that the Alpha supports VoLTE. I have VoLTE on my T-Mobile Galaxy Avant in my area, but not on the Alpha.
Corvussimo said:
Something interesting here: my G850A indicates "4G" during voice calls at the top of the screen, but bringing up the status indicates that it is indeed fluctuating between HSPA+ and UMTS. AT&T being misleading? The G850M fluctuates between saying 3G and H+. (And also, when the G850M is on LTE, the indicator only says "4G," but status check shows it's LTE.)
The other strange thing is that with both phones, I have them set up to make a sound when I press keys. During voice calls, the keys make no sounds. Go figure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T labels HSPA/HSPA+ as 4G and LTE as 4G LTE. T-Mobile does the similar thing. In other places, HSPA+ is called 3G and LTE is called 4G. Semantics. HSPA+ is based on UMTS.
Corvussimo said:
I'm not finding that the Alpha supports VoLTE. I have VoLTE on my T-Mobile Galaxy Avant in my area, but not on the Alpha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VoLTE has to be enabled in the phone's firmware. When the time comes, AT&T will release a firmware update to enable it as it did with short list of other phones that supports VoLTE.
I see this is on Ebay right now for a good price, I assume this will work 100% on cricket wireless with LTE? Are there various model #s? On Ebay it just unlocked. I wanted to get this to use for work.
Interesting .
I am not a dev but as I recall Metro PCS was
one of the first to have VoLTE and also simultaneous Voice and Data back on 2011 or 2012 so I was used to talking on calls and always seeing 4G LTE on the phone. LG Motion 4G.
So this Alpha is my first Samsung- and my first factory unlocked phone still on Metro Tmo.
Now I see the LTE drop to 3G when I make a call but thanks to better APN Settings I almost always have voice and Internet simultaneously because the phone jumps to H or H+ and gives fast Internet on a call on H+.
I even had Youtube and a Speakerphone call a few times as silly experiment.
I also with inferior APN setting got "unable
to access Internet while on a call message"
previously so APN Settings make a big difference sometimes.
Very few problems, fast phone, good audio and sharp Camera...
Hope that Samsung has a Note 5 with removable battery and does a Compact Note kind of like super Alpha..
Not sure if Lollipop will give VoLTE to a Factory Unlocked Phone but if any Devs can achieve it for me ...good Donation .
CashmereEsquire said:
I see this is on Ebay right now for a good price, I assume this will work 100% on cricket wireless with LTE? Are there various model #s? On Ebay it just unlocked. I wanted to get this to use for work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a G850M and a G850F which both are international unlocked phones but cover different LTE bands. I would recommend that you check your carriers available bands (this is also depended on area), then cross check this with http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_alpha-6573.php
There are a few variants specifically for the asian market, but unless you live there you will have a difficult time in the US to get them.
When your G850M boots up, does it display any carrier branding?
robertkoa said:
I am not a Developer but am a Power User of Android for work and play using for Proposals,
Invoices, and business and casual browsing.
No computer needed.
Let me confirm that this Model Alpha 850M an octacore made for North, South, Central America and the Caribbean Factory Unlocked LTE phone works great on the Metro/Tmobile
Network on LTE and drops to 3G on Voice Calls and a little H+ when signal weak in large buildings.
Excellent voice quality, strong radio transceiver which locks well to even low signal in buildings or near transmitting towers .
Only my second Android and my first Samsung-I have not found the horrible bloatware I have read about but do have the phone customized with many features toggled off etc.
I come from an Audio background and Phones are the only Devices which do not often sound better ( earpiece, microphones, speakerphones) on a $600 Device versus a $150 DeviceTHIS Alpha surprised me- it sounds much fuller and a little louder than 3 or 4 AT&T
Alpha 801 quad cores I auditioned before.
Either a bigger speaker, better cone material, or more power or all three- the AT&T850A is
tinny and thin sounding compared to this 850M- not sure if they are all like this but an excellent speakerphone !
So often even with Experts you can NOT get a DEFINITIVE ANSWER on whether a specific Model performs FULLY on a certain Carrier as well as branded Devices this one does on TMobile also has the 700band which TMo will be using more and more for LTE which penetrates buildings better.
LTE Bands are AWS/ 700/850/1800/1900/2100/2600
To use a highly technical Term even for Developers this little Phone "Kicks Ass".
As I have said before If this phone was about 8.5 millimeters thick with a 3000Mah Battery
a higher res screen, 3 Gigs of RAM, SD Storage and the Camera from the Note 4 and a second speaker it would have been a great hit Worldwide.
This phone has less lag than S5 and excellent as is but SHOULD have been great.
Samsung tried to COPY the Iphone rather than surpass it, underestimating the Tech Savvy of
Android Users who purchase $600 plus phones.
One BIG PROBLEM is I cannot be on Internet and a Call Simultaneously on this phone.
It DROPS TO 3 G on Calls which temporarily kills Data-not sure if this is Alpha or Network BUT I always have Internet on calls with Metro PCS.
So this Alpha may not have this feature ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All sources that i could find on net say that SM-G850M doesn't support the band 4 on WCDMA/UMTS. They may be wrong. Since you own the device you would be the best source whether band 4 is unlocked on the device or not. I mention band 4 because that is the band t-mobile uses in most markets on 3G (fake 4G) and LTE. Go into settings\more networks\mobile networks and change the preferred network connection into 3G (or it may say 4G on your phone, just stay away from LTE), verify that it is now operating on 3G (fake 4G), then go to dialer and dial *#197328640#, choose "BASIC INFORMATION' and report what you see. I own the ATT version and when i force it (using *#*#INFO#*#*) into fake 4G it reports "RRC:IDLE, BAND:5" which is WCDMA BAND 850, that is what ATT uses here (ATT uses BAND 2 here also which is WCDMA 1900) where i live for 3G (fake 4G). When i switch back to LTE and go into this hidden menu, it reports that it is connected on "LTE RRC:IDLE BAND: 17", which is what ATT uses in my area. So you may be in market that t-mobiles uses PCS band for 3G (BAND 2) and that would explain why you do not drop on EDGE. It would be a lot clearer when you report properly on which BAND you are connected. What is concerning is that you say you loose data when making calls, which makes me think that you indeed drop to EDGE while on calls, which is painfully slow and makes you think you lost data. As i said, it would be easier to understand what is going on when you provide the whole picture ...
This is what i know that t-mobile uses on 3G:
-- BAND2 and BAND4
and LTE:
-- BAND4 and BAND17 (they might be using BAND2 too in some markets)
If your phone drops to EDGE, you won't be able to do voice and data simultaneously. You need to be on 3G (UMTS minimum) to have simultaneous voice and data.
Since Alpha only has AT&T version released in US, I'd suspect you can't buy any model of Alpha that fully supports all T-Mobile's bands because of the unique mix of bands used by T-Mobile.
The models sold on ebay varies a lot but the one I purchased says Factory unlocked by also states AT&T compatible. For all intents and purposes, the one I received is actually AT&T version, indeed factory unlocked, running AT&T branded firmware. That fits me just fine because I'm on AT&T. But if you are not on AT&T, YMMV. Cricket wireless, IIRC, is now a subsidiary of AT&T.
bormasina said:
All sources that i could find on net say that SM-G850M doesn't support the band 4 on WCDMA/UMTS. They may be wrong. Since you own the device you would be the best source whether band 4 is unlocked on the device or not. I mention band 4 because that is the band t-mobile uses in most markets on 3G (fake 4G) and LTE. Go into settings\more networks\mobile networks and change the preferred network connection into 3G (or it may say 4G on your phone, just stay away from LTE), verify that it is now operating on 3G (fake 4G), then go to dialer and dial *#197328640#, choose "BASIC INFORMATION' and report what you see. I own the ATT version and when i force it (using *#*#INFO#*#*) into fake 4G it reports "RRC:IDLE, BAND:5" which is WCDMA BAND 850, that is what ATT uses here (ATT uses BAND 2 here also which is WCDMA 1900) where i live for 3G (fake 4G). When i switch back to LTE and go into this hidden menu, it reports that it is connected on "LTE RRC:IDLE BAND: 17", which is what ATT uses in my area. So you may be in market that t-mobiles uses PCS band for 3G (BAND 2) and that would explain why you do not drop on EDGE. It would be a lot clearer when you report properly on which BAND you are connected. What is concerning is that you say you loose data when making calls, which makes me think that you indeed drop to EDGE while on calls, which is painfully slow and makes you think you lost data. As i said, it would be easier to understand what is going on when you provide the whole picture ...
This is what i know that t-mobile uses on 3G:
-- BAND2 and BAND4
and LTE:
-- BAND4 and BAND17 (they might be using BAND2 too in some markets)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I did this: I changed the settings on my G850M to force 3G. The code(s) you said to put in didn't work for me, so I used *#0011# instead. It said two different things, depending on when I did the test. Once it said 1900 Band 2, and once it said 1700 Band 4. Then, I put it back to LTE and it said Band 4. I've attached screenshots of all three. This is T-Mobile in Portland, OR.
Also, I found one reasonably reliable Internet source that indicated the G850M does support 3G Band 4. Here's the link:
Samsung Peru's Specs on the G850M
I was also hesitant to buy the G850M for the same Band 4 reason, until I found the specs on the Samsung Peru Website. The screenshot below shows that the M indeed does have 3G Band 4.
Corvussimo said:
OK, I did this: I changed the settings on my G850M to force 3G. The code(s) you said to put in didn't work for me, so I used *#0011# instead. It said two different things, depending on when I did the test. Once it said 1900 Band 2, and once it said 1700 Band 4. Then, I put it back to LTE and it said Band 4. I've attached screenshots of all three. This is T-Mobile in Portland, OR.
Also, I found one reasonably reliable Internet source that indicated the G850M does support 3G Band 4. Here's the link:
Samsung Peru's Specs on the G850M
I was also hesitant to buy the G850M for the same Band 4 reason, until I found the specs on the Samsung Peru Website. The screenshot below shows that the M indeed does have 3G Band 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for doing this. It is always good when things get confirmed like this. Now I can safely purchase one for wife. Where did you purchase it, if I may ask?
bormasina said:
Thanks for doing this. It is always good when things get confirmed like this. Now I can safely purchase one for wife. Where did you purchase it, if I may ask?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to help. I was a still a little concerned myself until I ran this test.
I bought it on eBay from The Pwrsellers
They currently have black, white, and gold for $450. Mine was a Brand New Open Box black model, so it was another $50 less than that. So far, so good! There is no cell company boot-up screen, and the bloatware is at a refreshing minimum.
AT&T now sells brand new for $319.99 retail.
I was at att last weekend and they wanted like $600 to buy it the 850a.
I got the 850m from target online via Amazon. It does work on t mobile.
jjsaustin said:
I got the 850m from target online via Amazon. It does work on t mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I almost bought one from Target, too, but this less expensive one came up just at the right time. FWIW, the one I bought from The Pwrsellers came drop-shipped from Amazon as well, so that makes me think most (if not all) the companies selling the G850M in the US right now are drop-shipping through Amazon.
Corvussimo said:
Yeah, I almost bought one from Target, too, but this less expensive one came up just at the right time. FWIW, the one I bought from The Pwrsellers came drop-shipped from Amazon as well, so that makes me think most (if not all) the companies selling the G850M in the US right now are drop-shipping through Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought from target for the return policy, especially since I was not sure if it was going to work on tmobile .
I just bought another one to see if the reception is any better and I will return the one with the worse reception.
Thanks for 1700 Band Test on 3G
I have found APN Settings for Metro/Tmo important for best performance on my Factory Unlocked 850M.
MetroPCS frequently uses Tmo APNs even on Metro PCS Phones.
With Factory Unlocked Phones I assume trial and error may be best for an advanced Phone like Alpha.
I tried the Settings used for Note 4 on Tmobile which worked but not as well as what I use now but open for suggestions lol.
Here are current best I have found which are fast Data and allow
Internet while on calls about 90% of the time.
I always have good voice and audio on calls.
Here's current APN Settings :
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I have found that IPv4/IPv6 seems to perform a bit better than IPv4 .
But I have NO IDEA what these do in Tmobile Protocol.
Also I leave BEARER unspecified but have tried LTE also.
The only problem I sometimes have is no data on 3G and Phone does not bounce back to LTE AFTER a call- often turning data off and on with Quick Toggle restores LTE quickly.
Oddly this is an intermittent problem.
Often I have quick Internet while on a call but sometimes no Internet on a Call.
Here are the screenshots from my Alpha 850M which has no Carrier Branding when I forced 3G also some H showed and I got
1900 band in 3G but have not seen 1700 3G but in LTE in second screen.
I am in Miami area which is reframed so Metro/Tmo uses 1900 more here for 3G - Corvussimo - how did you get 1700 to show on 3G - is yours a Factory Unlocked unbranded Alpha ?
Thanks for both your help very interesting stuff.