Unlocked phones that will work on BOTH ATT and TMobile?

[m***@privacy.net]

I'm looking at the unlocked Nokia phones that NewEgg
has...... thinking of buying one.

I currently use TMobile but may change to ATT in future

Will any of the unlocked Nokia phones from NewEgg work
on both systems?

[Ron]

Post by m***@privacy.net
I'm looking at the unlocked Nokia phones that NewEgg
has...... thinking of buying one.
I currently use TMobile but may change to ATT in future
Will any of the unlocked Nokia phones from NewEgg work
on both systems?

Provided they are 4 bands phones, yes.

[Steve Sobol]

["Followup-To:" header set to alt.cellular.t-mobile.]

Post by Ron

Post by m***@privacy.net
I'm looking at the unlocked Nokia phones that NewEgg
has...... thinking of buying one.
I currently use TMobile but may change to ATT in future
Will any of the unlocked Nokia phones from NewEgg work
on both systems?

Provided they are 4 bands phones, yes.

Uh, why?

Assuming USA networks, 850 and 1900 will work (850 for AT&T and 1900 for
MHz.)

Quad-band phones, of course, would be advisable for international travelers.

[Joe Seattle]

Post by Ron

Post by m***@privacy.net
I'm looking at the unlocked Nokia phones that NewEgg
has...... thinking of buying one.
I currently use TMobile but may change to ATT in future
Will any of the unlocked Nokia phones from NewEgg work
on both systems?

Provided they are 4 bands phones, yes.

Why is it that people keep insisting that you need quad band phones?
Quad band phones are not needed unless you intend on leaving North
America. There are only two bands used in the USA and Canada. It is
not absolutely needed to have a quad band phone unless you are not
going to be in the USA or Canada.

[Todd Allcock]

Post by Joe Seattle

Post by Ron

Post by m***@privacy.net
I'm looking at the unlocked Nokia phones that NewEgg
has...... thinking of buying one.
I currently use TMobile but may change to ATT in future
Will any of the unlocked Nokia phones from NewEgg work
on both systems?

Provided they are 4 bands phones, yes.

Why is it that people keep insisting that you need quad band phones?
Quad band phones are not needed unless you intend on leaving North
America. There are only two bands used in the USA and Canada. It is
not absolutely needed to have a quad band phone unless you are not
going to be in the USA or Canada.

The main reason is that because unlocked phones are still a rarity in
North America, most websites that sell unlocked phones sell phones built
for the European market. A Euro dual band phone has no US frequencies, a
tri-band has only one, and quads have both.

[Polly the Parrot]

On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:21:24 -0700 (PDT), Joe Seattle

Post by Joe Seattle
Why is it that people keep insisting that you need quad band phones?
Quad band phones are not needed unless you intend on leaving North
America. There are only two bands used in the USA and Canada.

Possibly three, if you count T Mobile putting 3G on 1700 Mhz.

[b***@hotmail.com]

On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:21:24 -0700 (PDT), Joe Seattle

Post by Joe Seattle
Why is it that people keep insisting that you need quad band phones?
Quad band phones are not needed unless you intend on leaving North
America.

Well... or if you intend to GO TO the Americas, north or south.

Post by Joe Seattle
There are only two bands used in the USA and Canada. It is
not absolutely needed to have a quad band phone unless you are not
going to be in the USA or Canada.

If I were to go to th USA or Canada, I would need to to have a tri- or
quad band mobile phone.

[Andreas Wenzel]

Post by m***@privacy.net
I'm looking at the unlocked Nokia phones that NewEgg
has...... thinking of buying one.
I currently use TMobile but may change to ATT in future
Will any of the unlocked Nokia phones from NewEgg work
on both systems?

They will work in 2G. For 2G/GSM, T-Mobile uses mostly 1900MHz while
AT&T has both 850MHz and 1900MHz spectrum. You will hardly find a
cellphone today (on your side of the pond, that is) that isn't at least
dualband, supporting 850 and 1900Mhz.

With 3G/UMTS/WCDMA, things are a little bit different. If the specs say
"WCDMA 1900/850", that means the phone would work on AT&T's 3G network.
Some of the phones on Newegg are labelled "WCDMA 2100MHz". I am not sure
what that is supposed to say as 2100MHz can have two entirely different
meanings:

It may either be FDD band I, which has the downlink (tower to mobile)
direction on 2100MHz and the uplink (mobile to tower) on 1900MHz. 3G
Phones supporting this frequency band are very common as FDD band I is
the standard 3G operating band in most of Europe and quite a few other
places around the world.

On the other hand, it may also mean FDD Band IV which has the downlink
on the very same 2100MHz frequencies as band I, but the uplink direction
on 1700MHz. Worldwide, this band is used exclusively by T-Mobile US
who have started their 3G service less than a year ago. Hence, 3G
mobiles with FDD band IV support are rather rare as of today.

My bet is that the WCDMA 2100 phones on Newegg do in fact support FDD I,
which renders their 3G part useless in northern america and effectively
turns them to 2G only phones.

Andreas

[Dennis Ferguson]

Post by Andreas Wenzel
With 3G/UMTS/WCDMA, things are a little bit different. If the specs say
"WCDMA 1900/850", that means the phone would work on AT&T's 3G network.
Some of the phones on Newegg are labelled "WCDMA 2100MHz". I am not sure
what that is supposed to say as 2100MHz can have two entirely different

This is strictly correct, but so far the practice seems to have been
to disambiguate the two bands by identifying FDD band IV by its
uplink frequency (in variance with how all other GSM/UMTS bands
have been labeled). If it says "WCDMA 2100 MHz" it is almost
certainly referring to FDD I.

Dennis Ferguson

[SMS]

Post by m***@privacy.net
I'm looking at the unlocked Nokia phones that NewEgg
has...... thinking of buying one.
I currently use TMobile but may change to ATT in future
Will any of the unlocked Nokia phones from NewEgg work
on both systems?

Yes, but you might be better off getting a contract phone and having it
unlocked. Even if you change carriers before the end of the contract, it
could be cheaper to pay a pro-rated termination fee than to pay the
unsubsidized pricer for a handset.