At what GSM technology band does t-mobile operate in the US? 850/900/1800/1900?

[Nosfera2]

Hi, i was just curious about what band t-mobile operates in the us. I live in Chicago and i currently have Cingular service with a Ericsson T616 phone (850/1800/1900).

I ask to know this because yesterday, i went to a T-mobile store (want to switch over because i'm paying too much), and I noticed that the phones they sell operate practically the same frequency as Cingulars.

For example, t-mobile is offering a Nokia 6010 (850/1900), Nokia 3320 Tri-band (850, 1800, 1900 MHz), Samsung x495 Tri-band (850, 1800, 1900 MHz); as well as the Samsung x475 (900, 1900 MHz) Simens CF62T Tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz)... just to Give an example.

Is the 900MHz band used at all by t-mobile in the us? Because if it's not, then technically i should be able to switch over to T-Mobile and still use my T616 phone (considering it's unlocked) and have full service benefits, no?

Thx in advance.

[AdmiralAK]

1900 GSM
Some roaming in 850 but not much

[ollywompus]

To expand on AdmiralAK's verbose answer In the U.S. the only bands that are used are 850/1900. Cingular operates about equally between the two, while T-Mobile is primarily 1900, with a few 850 roaming exceptions as Admiral said. You can use any 1900mhz phone on T-mobile, as long as your phone is unlocked you will have no issues.

900/1800 are used in the rest of the world, so if you travel a lot, you will want a phone that supports one or both of those bands.

-olly

[gfunkdave]

For fluck's sake, hasn't anyone heard of the search button? This marks the 8,904,448th post asking this question.

[Nosfera2]

Thx verry much for your response Admiral and Olly. I do appreciate the info, and now I understand why i had some problems with my phone working in some countries in europe, specially on the Orange network. Thanks for the europe tip Olly. Cheers.

-chris

[hillstrubl]

if your cingular T616 is unlocked go ahead and use that. But- while signing up i'd reccomend getting a free nokia 6010 or something as a free backup.

[ollywompus]

Wirelessly posted (Nokia6681/2.0 (3.10.6) SymbianOS/8.0 Series60/2.6 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

Thx verry much for your response Admiral and Olly. I do appreciate the info, and now I understand why i had some problems with my phone working in some countries in europe, specially on the Orange network. Thanks for the europe tip Olly. Cheers.

-chris

No prob

-olly

[geenious]

Theres This Thing Called The Search Button. Use The Search Button. The Search Button. Use It. Geez. Wat Is Ur Problem, Use The Search Button. It's A Button. Use It. The Search Button.

[JEFFJAGUAR]

T mobile has given in to the pressure to use roaming agreements on 850 and it is not good for their international customers. They used to sell tri band phones with 900/1800/1900 which were great when you went to Europe as you would never have problems whether getting ripped off by T mobile world class rates or having the phone unlocked and using it for local prepaid sims.

Now the tribands they offer are 850/1800/1900 which means if you want to use the international features of the phones, you are without the vitally important 900 frequency and might find yourself unable to use the phone in many areas of Europe again whether for roaming on T mobile's overpriced world class rip off rates or with a local sim.

[jboston511]

Not everyone has the keen sixth sense to use the search button, especially somebody who has just joined howard forums. As much as some people find it anoyying that things are posted over and over, its much more annoying when people just post "use the search button newb" over and over. And I don't know why more than one person has to be rude about the search button in the same thread. Grow up, help someone.

[cd1000]

T mobile has given in to the pressure to use roaming agreements on 850 and it is not good for their international customers. They used to sell tri band phones with 900/1800/1900 which were great when you went to Europe as you would never have problems whether getting ripped off by T mobile world class rates or having the phone unlocked and using it for local prepaid sims.

Now the tribands they offer are 850/1800/1900 which means if you want to use the international features of the phones, you are without the vitally important 900 frequency and might find yourself unable to use the phone in many areas of Europe again whether for roaming on T mobile's overpriced world class rip off rates or with a local sim.

then get a quad band device..sheesh there are plenty to choose from.

[Nosfera2]

Thx for your responses guys.

JeffJaguar: your info was very useful, makes sense why i couldn't get service on my phone in certain parts of europe. Italy and Austria worked well with what I had, i know this for certain. But Romania and the surrounding areas didnt work at all, even with Orange. In any case, thx for the info.

As for the rest of the people who find it anoying and posted "use the search button" blabla... I agree i should've done that the first time. T'was my fault, but just for reference, you could just skip the Topics/Threads you dislike. Why even bothere posting negative messages to them, you're just wasting your time. You're not forced to read them :-P

Once again, thx for everyone that helped.

[ollywompus]

Wirelessly posted (Nokia6681/2.0 (3.10.6) SymbianOS/8.0 Series60/2.6 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

Not everyone has the keen sixth sense to use the search button, especially somebody who has just joined howard forums. As much as some people find it anoyying that things are posted over and over, its much more annoying when people just post "use the search button newb" over and over. And I don't know why more than one person has to be rude about the search button in the same thread. Grow up, help someone.

Completely agree...

-olly

[Mango808]

T mobile has given in to the pressure to use roaming agreements on 850 and it is not good for their international customers. They used to sell tri band phones with 900/1800/1900 which were great when you went to Europe as you would never have problems whether getting ripped off by T mobile world class rates or having the phone unlocked and using it for local prepaid sims.

Now the tribands they offer are 850/1800/1900 which means if you want to use the international features of the phones, you are without the vitally important 900 frequency and might find yourself unable to use the phone in many areas of Europe again whether for roaming on T mobile's overpriced world class rip off rates or with a local sim.

What I found out when I was in Europe with my E715 (900/1900Mhz) phone is that T-Mobile in some parts of W. Europe, operate on the 1800Mhz and not on the 900Mhz. With my T-Mobile SIM in one of my Cingular 850/1800/1900Mhz phone, it would then use T-Mobile.

Hopefully this will lead to more quadband phones both in North America and the rest of the world for the other manufacturers such as Nokia, SonyEricsson, Samsung, LG and others besides only Motorola.

[JEFFJAGUAR]

then get a quad band device..sheesh there are plenty to choose from.

The Nokia phones are far better than the motorola ones and at present Nokia does not make quad band phones or if it does it has very few models.

It's just one more annoyance of the USA's refusal to accept globalization in so many things and most manufacturer's just do not consider the USA to be that important a market for their GSM phones.