As I’m sure most of us already know Bell and Telus (formerly CDMA-only carriers in Canada) have launched a new HSPA network. Both the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS now work on the new network.
I understand that HSPA is a GSM based technology. Bell is now issuing SIM cards with new activations. I was wondering if anyone would know if the HTC StarTrek (specifically the Cingular 3125) can be made to work with this network. I am willing to do firmware updates obviously.
Best regards,
The Fish
If you mean 3G/3.5G then yes and then again no. If its like the networks in the UK then the StarTrek will work on the GSM portion of the Bell network, but as I dont think it has a 3G chipset it will not be able to access 3G/3.5G services.
I may of course be wrong but that is my understanding of the situation.
Vodafone requires that a new Access Point Name (APN) be set up for the SIM. The problem is that the Photon won't let me me create and save a new APN. What I've discovered is that, if I set the MCC and MNC in the APN to Sprint's values (310 and 120), then I can save the newly created APN, but the data connection won't work. If I set them to the appropriate values for Vodafone (505 and 03) then press save, the newly created APN disappears.
I spoke with Sprint today, and after 40 minutes of getting bounced around, finally got to someone who told me that this was by design. So if true, it appears that the SIM is unlocked for voice but locked for data (at least, if the carrier requires specific APN settings, as Vodafone does).
I also tried using APN Manager from the Android app store to create and select a different APN - no dice there, either.
Any suggestions, or am I out of luck?
The good news is that I brought my trusty old Touch Pro2 with me, just in case, and it is working fine ... but going back to the TP2 after a blissful week of using the Photon is really, really hard.
Doesn't make sense to me that it would only be unlocked for voice and not data. Did you try contacting Motorola directly? I'll rather hear it from the horse's mouth.
It's hard to tell who's really the horse in these situations ... nonetheless that is a great suggestion, and I've just submitted the question to Motorola's support site.
Im sorry...im very confused by this. Ill be traveling to lebanon tomorrow and specifically got this phone to be able to pop a sim in and use data and voice....your saying i wont be able to uze data?
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
I am saying that I can't use data ... your experience may be different. I suspect that this may work for some carriers but not for others, depending on what settings they require for data. If they require you to create a new Access Point Name profile, then it most likely won't work, given my experience.
I'm able to use data on a foreign sim. I was able to save the apn also. This is with Telcel and Movistar in Mexico. Setup the same as my Samsung Captivate.
So is there any possibility that this thing would ever be unlocked for US gsm networks like the Touch Pro 2 was? That would make this unit epic....
rotoread said:
I'm able to use data on a foreign sim. I was able to save the apn also. This is with Telcel and Movistar in Mexico. Setup the same as my Samsung Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which carrier did you purchase the phone from - was it Sprint?
So here is the latest, for anyone who's interested.
I emailed Motorola asking about why I couldn't save the APN, and was told
Motorola does not have any access to the Access Point Name (APN).The APN can only be access or generated from the service provider.
I then contacted Sprint again, and got a hold of someone who took my request more seriously then the previous Sprint people. After several days, however, this person came back with
I contacted Motorola and was told that the data will not work with the Motorola photon gprs data
I have no idea what the truth really is, but the bottom line is that I could not get the phone to work with data using a Vodafone Australia SIM. I even had Vodafone replace the SIM with their most current SIM - didn't help.
My Touch Pro2, on the other hand, had no problem getting the SIM to work for both data and voice, and I ended up turning my TP2 into a wireless router so I could indirectly use my Photon while out and about.
levman said:
Which carrier did you purchase the phone from - was it Sprint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought directly from the respective carriers.
levman said:
So here is the latest, for anyone who's interested.
I emailed Motorola asking about why I couldn't save the APN, and was told
Motorola does not have any access to the Access Point Name (APN).The APN can only be access or generated from the service provider.
I then contacted Sprint again, and got a hold of someone who took my request more seriously then the previous Sprint people. After several days, however, this person came back with
I contacted Motorola and was told that the data will not work with the Motorola photon gprs data
I have no idea what the truth really is, but the bottom line is that I could not get the phone to work with data using a Vodafone Australia SIM. I even had Vodafone replace the SIM with their most current SIM - didn't help.
My Touch Pro2, on the other hand, had no problem getting the SIM to work for both data and voice, and I ended up turning my TP2 into a wireless router so I could indirectly use my Photon while out and about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been a while since I was in Australia, but if I'm not mistaken, Vodaphone operates data on UMTS 2100 down under. The photon is tri-band, not quad-band, so you're not going to get data with a Vodaphone AUS sim. Virgin Mobile in AUS operates their 3G network on 2100 AND 900 MHz, so that would be an option. Another one would be Telstra. A SIM from either of those providers should work, giving you access to the APN settings. They remain grayed out until the SIM can register with a UMTS data circuit on the required radio band.
You can read more here: http://wiki.apnchanger.org/Australia
Hope this was helpful.
Outer Marker said:
It's been a while since I was in Australia, but if I'm not mistaken, Vodaphone operates data on UMTS 2100 down under. The photon is tri-band, not quad-band, so you're not going to get data with a Vodaphone AUS sim. Virgin Mobile in AUS operates their 3G network on 2100 AND 900 MHz, so that would be an option. Another one would be Telstra. A SIM from either of those providers should work, giving you access to the APN settings. They remain grayed out until the SIM can register with a UMTS data circuit on the required radio band.
You can read more here: http://wiki.apnchanger.org/Australia
Hope this was helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on where he is in Australia. In most areas Vodaphone's network operates on UMTS2100 which the Photon does support. In some smaller areas it's UMTS900 which the Photon doesn't support.
Is it possible that the SIM card is supposed to "provision" your data similar to when you activate the phone on the Sprint network initially?
Or is the creating of an APN always a manual program effort by the user?
myphone12345 said:
It depends on where he is in Australia. In most areas Vodaphone's network operates on UMTS2100 which the Photon does support. In some smaller areas it's UMTS900 which the Photon doesn't support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a good point. It's entirely possible he's in a UMTS900 zone...
Outer Marker said:
It's been a while since I was in Australia, but if I'm not mistaken, Vodaphone operates data on UMTS 2100 down under. The photon is tri-band, not quad-band, so you're not going to get data with a Vodaphone AUS sim. Virgin Mobile in AUS operates their 3G network on 2100 AND 900 MHz, so that would be an option. Another one would be Telstra. A SIM from either of those providers should work, giving you access to the APN settings. They remain grayed out until the SIM can register with a UMTS data circuit on the required radio band.
You can read more here: http://wiki.apnchanger.org/Australia
Hope this was helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is from Motorola's site:
NETWORKS4
Worldphone - WiMAX 2500, CDMA 800/1900, WCDMA 850/1900/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900
I believe WCDMA 2100 is the UMTS band being referred to. I am fairly certain the Photon is a Quad-band true world phone. http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/U...Mobile-Phones/ci.MOTOROLA-PHOTON-4G-US-EN.alt
EDIT: I see now you meant UMTS on 900 MHz rather than GSM at 900.
Outer Marker said:
This is a good point. It's entirely possible he's in a UMTS900 zone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like the guy is having APN issues, not reception issues. Otherwise he would have at least been able to get EDGE/GPRS connections - but those too require the APN.
FYI, I was in Sydney for most of the trip, with a few days in Canberra.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
I started two threads on the official Sprint Support forums. One in the normal Moto Photon, and one in the Premier area. Wonder if Sprint will respond.
jorjitoc said:
This is from Motorola's site:
NETWORKS4
Worldphone - WiMAX 2500, CDMA 800/1900, WCDMA 850/1900/2100, GSM 850/900/1800/1900
I believe WCDMA 2100 is the UMTS band being referred to. I am fairly certain the Photon is a Quad-band true world phone. http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/U...Mobile-Phones/ci.MOTOROLA-PHOTON-4G-US-EN.alt
EDIT: I see now you meant UMTS on 900 MHz rather than GSM at 900.
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Click to collapse
Yes, it's ridiculous that Data and voice are so segmented, but these are smartphones! Gone are the days that you just had to worry about the GSM voice frequency. Now you have to make sure the data frequency and radio band are supported by your phone.
For what it's worth, I've had little luck with Vodaphone sim cards overseas. I typically use Tmobile or Orange sim cards in the UK, and TIM or Wind in Italy. For points in between, I just roam on the UK Tmobile sim. Next trip won't be for a bit, so I'm eager to see what the photon is like...
did you try rooting and manually editing the apn database with SQLite?
This was taken from the atrix APN editing thread:
Code:
2) Enable Airplane Mode
(hold power button for three seconds, select Airplane Mode)
3) Open Root Explorer
4) Navigate to: /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/
5) Click on "telephony.db"** (this should open the db using SQLite Editor)
6) Select "carriers"
7) You should see a long list of APN settings for various carriers. Edit/add what you want
8) Press back twice to close the SQLite editor and you should be back in Root Explorer. Close Root Explorer.
9) Disable Airplane Mode
So Just add the APN with the sprint MCC and MNC, then manually edit the APN's MCC and MNC and see if that works
I had read in a thread by azwildcat98 "We know that AT&T uses the 850/1900/2100 MHz US 3G bands, while T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100 MHz US 3G bands, therefore making each carrier's hardware incompatible with the other's 3G network"
I am looking for possibly a list of non-AT&T distributed phones that work on AT&T's 3G network. My reason is that I currently have a T-mobile HTC HD2 connected to AT&T's EDGE network and i am paying $10/month for "non-smartphone internet" (because AT&T and T-Mobile dont exchange their IMEI # database apparently) AT&T thinks i have a crap flip phone... So i dont have to pay $30/month for "smartphone internet." How can i achieve AT&T's 3G speeds while not purchasing an AT&T branded phone so i can continue paying for "non-smartphone internet'?
My problem could be solved by just buying an AT&T branded phone, but im saving $20/month my way.
The only answers I really want to see in this thread are: What non-AT&T branded Android smartphones are out with 850/1900/2100 MHz US 3G bands?
xtremetimma said:
I had read in a thread by azwildcat98 "We know that AT&T uses the 850/1900/2100 MHz US 3G bands, while T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100 MHz US 3G bands, therefore making each carrier's hardware incompatible with the other's 3G network"
I am looking for possibly a list of non-AT&T distributed phones that work on AT&T's 3G network. My reason is that I currently have a T-mobile HTC HD2 connected to AT&T's EDGE network and i am paying $10/month for "non-smartphone internet" (because AT&T and T-Mobile dont exchange their IMEI # database apparently) AT&T thinks i have a crap flip phone... So i dont have to pay $30/month for "smartphone internet." How can i achieve AT&T's 3G speeds while not purchasing an AT&T branded phone so i can continue paying for "non-smartphone internet'?
My problem could be solved by just buying an AT&T branded phone, but im saving $20/month my way.
The only answers I really want to see in this thread are: What non-AT&T branded Android smartphones are out with 850/1900/2100 MHz US 3G bands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a few carriers that use the same bands. None in the US though. The Closest is Canada. Just a warning, the carriers and OEMs to prevent this sort of thing. While they can't tell what phone your using they are starting to be able to tell if its a smartphone or dumbphone.
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
I finally found a non AT&T branded phone that has the 850MHz required AT&T 3G frequency! but i dont want that phone, any others?
http://pocketnow.com/hardware-1/how-to-get-an-htc-hd2-with-3g-on-att
Edit: I think i came to the conclusion that any unlocked phone will achieve AT&T 3G speeds if is has 850MHz, and i can get my "dumbphone internet" if the phone is "unbranded" or branded as a carrier other than AT&T.
HTC Sensation z710a (Unbranded) will work with AT&T 4G speeds! gonna try to get one and hope my $10/ month deal holds up... I figure im saving 12months x $20 = $240/ year without "smartphone internet" so i dont care how much i pay for the phone.
(Forking original thread)
I confirmed that the TMOUS Radar *is* capable of 3G on AT&T.
I unlocked it this morning and put in a prepaid AT&T SIM (GoPhone). HTC Connection Setup ran and a few minutes later I was on AT&T with 3G support. The phone recognizes the HSPA+ signal and lights up the indicators with the '4G' label.
The phone's box says it supports UMTS 1900 -- this fact is not listed in any other spec I've seen on-line for the device. That band is only one of the 2 AT&T use for UMTS, so if you are unlucky and have only 850 then 3G/4G probably won't work. Guess AT&T uses 1900 where I am.
Do you know of any way to tell which band at&t uses in various areas?
Sorry, I don't know of any way to know that. I am not an AT&T expert -- knowing whether the phone could be used w/ AT&T 3G was an academic exercise for me just to satisfy curiosity.
What did you use for unlock?
Wonder if it'll work, roaming on AT&T 3G, with a T-Mo US prepaid SIM...
- Sent from my HTC Radar 4G using the OMG XDA WTF WP7 BBQ App. =D
I got the unlock codes from T-Mobile.
Hi
was thinking of signing up for this great phone. Thing holding me back is whether if I travel overseas say to Asia/EU, would I be able to pop in a 4G/LTE sim card (assume unlocked by Sprint) and use the local data plan? The common band in the country I visit would be band 3,7. Would this work?
I think the 3G should work but not sure about 4G.
Thanks for any enlighten information.
Cheers.
cktan said:
Hi
was thinking of signing up for this great phone. Thing holding me back is whether if I travel overseas say to Asia/EU, would I be able to pop in a 4G/LTE sim card (assume unlocked by Sprint) and use the local data plan? The common band in the country I visit would be band 3,7. Would this work?
I think the 3G should work but not sure about 4G.
Thanks for any enlighten information.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sprint G3 has bands 25, 26, and 41. I doubt it has any other bands.
All American variants are capable of running on all American networks, if they are SIM unlocked. The only American band not covered that I am aware of is band 5 on ATT.
They should work on 4G almost anywhere in the world really. I just checked again and yeah, other then band 5 all American variants of the G3 have all other bands in the radio and are capable of running anywhere you have a sim for it. Cheerio.
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