Question on refarming of spectrum and basic phones

[indyrunr89]

If I were interested in purchasing the Samsung Smile (T-359) or Nokia x2 how long will they be usable on t-mo's network? I thought I had read on here that the refarming will make everything 3g (as the basic service) and these phones are not 3g. I'm not too familiar with this and need to be enlightened. Thx!

[IsLand_BoY]

The T359 actually is 3G.

As far as refarming.. It's taking _some_ of the 2G spectrum away to enable HSPA+ on the 1900 band. 2G will be around for a long time to come but a lot of folks are moving to 3G/4G handsets so they're focusing on that. In a nutshell, there will be 2G, 3G/4G on 1900 + 1700/2100 (aka "AWS") plus LTE next year.

Unless you really like a certain 2G phone, I'd recommend a 3G handset just for better coverage in general. Even better is a quad band 3G phone so you can take advantage of the existing 3G/4G network plus the new 1900 HSPA+ network when it launches nationwide. Don't be hesitant with a 2G phone though. Like I said - it will be around for a long time to come. Not forever but it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Sent from my Lumia 710

[Mr. D.]

The Smiley has 3G service on T-Mo (wife has one), but don't think the x2 does.

[indyrunr89]

Thanks for the info everybody. Just an update: I bought the Nokia X2 and unfortunately had no signal at my house. Well, I did if I stood in front of one certain window Oh well, I will continue the search for a new phone...