Develop Bugs

[Q] Change Defy 3G Frequency?

Hello I live in New Zealand and we have a network here called Telecom XT which uses 3G freq: 850 & 2100 mhz.
Unfortunately all Motorola Defy sold here have their freq specified as: 3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 2100
I see in the development section there is a way to flash files to restore 3G coverage and one of the files has the 850 & 2100mhz that our Telecom XT network uses. Does this mean I can flash this file to enable those frequencies on this phone or does it mean that the Chinese versions of Defy have a different chip that supports the different frequency?

Hey,
Unless the Defy has a tri band WCDMA chip (which im pretty sure it doesn't) then you can't simply flash new radio firmware/RIL to enable frequencies.
If you want an XT compatible desire, your best bet is something from T-Mobile or more ideally Telstra Australia's NextG network, which is the same as XT. Mobicity for example sells NextG handsets which will work perfectly on XT.
If you have the 900mhz Defy i believe you are limited to Vodafone/2Degrees. Flashing these Radio/RIL fixes i think were because those with 850mhz handsets with issues running radios designed for 900mhz.

Just to confirm, Defy hardware can only do certain pairs of frequencies (e.g. as say mentioned on gsmarena.com) irrespective of what ROM is put on it ?
Is there anyway to find out (from model/serial number or other way) what hardware one has ? (for 3G frequency)
I'm pretty sure about mine, though I bought this Defy 2nd-hand and flashed it, so just wanted to be sure. (I flashed it with 900/2100 MHz ROM and it seems to work fine on T-Mobile 3G in London, UK. But wonder if there is a way to check - perhaps for another unit....)

[Q] HTC Desire Z A7275 (Bell Edition)

Hello, I have a HTC Desire Z A7275 (Bell Edition) phone, unlocked. The specifications are:
Network:
HSPA/WCDMA (850/1900 MHz)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Here is my question:
I am planning to travel to UK & Europe next month. 1 Will this phone work on in UK & Europe? 2 Will this phone support 3G or 4G network in UK & Europe? 3 What are my options with phone in UK & Europe? What network will this phone support?
Thanks

My understanding is UK and Europe are on GSM 900/1800 MHz (voice, EDGE) and WCDMA 2100 MHz (3G). So you will have voice and EDGE service, but no 3G. But I have not personally been to Europe with this phone yet, so can't verify personally.
http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html

nlp1090 said:
Hello, I have a HTC Desire Z A7275 (Bell Edition) phone, unlocked. The specifications are:
Network:
HSPA/WCDMA (850/1900 MHz)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Here is my question:
I am planning to travel to UK & Europe next month. 1 Will this phone work on in UK & Europe? 2 Will this phone support 3G or 4G network in UK & Europe? 3 What are my options with phone in UK & Europe? What network will this phone support?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will be able to use voice and 2G/EDGE data with any of the GSM carriers in Europe (just buy a local SIM and you should be good to go). Unfortunately, little or no 3G or 4G support (pretty sure that almost all countries in Europe support 2100 or 900 with the newer towers---850/1900 is limited to mainly the Americas and some parts of Australia, with a few other small regions here and there).

nlp1090 said:
Hello, I have a HTC Desire Z A7275 (Bell Edition) phone, unlocked. The specifications are:
Network:
HSPA/WCDMA (850/1900 MHz)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
Here is my question:
I am planning to travel to UK & Europe next month. 1 Will this phone work on in UK & Europe? 2 Will this phone support 3G or 4G network in UK & Europe? 3 What are my options with phone in UK & Europe? What network will this phone support?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
redpoint73 said:
My understanding is UK and Europe are on GSM 900/1800 MHz (voice, EDGE) and WCDMA 2100 MHz (3G). So you will have voice and EDGE service, but no 3G. But I have not personally been to Europe with this phone yet, so can't verify personally.
http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what about this option: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10i
Specification: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850-900-1800-1900
UMTS/HSPA BAND 1/4/8
will this work on 3G or 4G? All of this is so confusing to understand..Thank you

ianmcquinn said:
You will be able to use voice and 2G/EDGE data with any of the GSM carriers in Europe (just buy a local SIM and you should be good to go). Unfortunately, little or no 3G or 4G support (pretty sure that almost all countries in Europe support 2100 or 900 with the newer towers---850/1900 is limited to mainly the Americas and some parts of Australia, with a few other small regions here and there).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what about this option: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10i
Specification: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850-900-1800-1900
UMTS/HSPA BAND 1/4/8
will this work on 3G or 4G? All of this is so confusing to understand..Thank you

nlp1090 said:
So what about this option: Sony Ericsson Xperia X10i
Specification: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850-900-1800-1900
UMTS/HSPA BAND 1/4/8
will this work on 3G or 4G? All of this is so confusing to understand..Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every phone has two sets of bands.
GSM/GPRS (EDGE, 2G Bands)
UMTS/HSPA (3G Bands)
As posted earlier in the thread, most European countries use 2100mhz for 3G. So if you want a phone with 3G access, look for the 2100mhz band under the UMTS/HSPA portion of the specifications.
*Edit*: Not sure how reliant you will be on 3G but when I was in Europe last summer, data rates were not cheap. Also, Wifi hotspots were readily available in every major city that we traveled to and most times they were free to access. We purchased a cheap 'dumbphone' for emergency phone calls and used an Ipod Touch and my old Touch Pro to access the web over wifi.

gbarayah said:
Based on the Specs you have listed, no it will not work on 3G.
Every phone has two sets of bands.
GSM/GPRS (EDGE, 2G Bands)
UMTS/HSPA (3G Bands)
As posted earlier in the thread, most European countries use 2100mhz for 3G. So if you want a phone with 3G access, look for the 2100mhz band under the UMTS/HSPA portion of the specifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, 2100 MHz is Band 1 when talking about UMTS. 900 MHz is Band 8. So this phone will support 3G data in pretty much all of Europe.

ianmcquinn said:
Actually, 2100 MHz is Band 1 when talking about UMTS. 900 MHz is Band 8. So this phone will support 3G data in pretty much all of Europe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the correction. Removed the bad info from my post!

[Q] Xperia Arc S work on Australian Next G Network?

Hello
I purchased this SonyEricsson Arc S on eBay. The seller was in Hong Kong.
On the ebay listing it states that the phone uses the following frequencies:
• 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network HSDPA 2100
I can get service in Perth, Western Australia but I work up near Karratha in the NorthWest part of the state. I lose service as soon as I get off the plane in Karratha.
I went to the Sony forum and they suggested that it may be a hardware fault so I sent the phone back to the seller and he sent it back to China and then back to me but it has made no difference to the problem.
I found an article on the web that says that the Telstra Next G works on the UMTS 850 network. Is it possible to upgrade the firmware on the phone to make it use the UMTS 850 network (the eBay listing says it uses the 3G Network HSDPA 2100).
Can anyone provide any other advice that may help me to determine what the problem may be with the phone and why I can’t get reception up here? Thanks
Daniel
I found an article (see below).
Looks like Telstra Next G used on remote areas uses UMTS 850.
Mine has:
• 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• 3G Network HSDPA 2100
That would explain why I have reception in Perth (Telstra also uses GSM900 and GSM1800 to cover 96% of the population), but to cover 99% of the population (up here around Karratha) I need UMTS 850.
"Global System for Mobile - GSM
GSM 850 = Will not work in Australia as there is no GSM 850 network
GSM 900 = Standard for Optus, vodafone and Telstra GSM handsets
GSM 1800 = Standard for Optus, vodafone and Telstra GSM handsets
GSM 1900 = Will not work in Australia as there is no GSM 1900 network
In terms of GSM 900 networks:
Telstra provides 96% population coverage
Optus provides 96.5% population coverage
Vodafone provides 94.5% population coverage (this is extended to 96% population coverage via Telstra GSM national Roaming Agreement in regional Tasmainia and regional Victoria)
Technically Three (3) also provide 96% population coverage via Telstra GSM national Roaming Agreement, how? several GSM 900/1800 handsets do accept the Three (3) SIM card for service provision, also if you have a 3G handset (UMTS2100/GSM900/1800) you can set the network settings to GSM only and thus get Telstra GSM coverage.
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access - WCDMA (a.k.a 3G UMTS and 3G HSDPA)
Due to Telstra irresponsibility in naming their own outright 3G network NextG they have indeed confused the entire market place (not to worry Optus are not far behind with yesG and i cant wait to see what Vodafone call their extended regional 3G network)
Ok lets take a look at 3G.
Telstra 3G = UMTS 2100 which provides 60% population coverage
Optus 3G = UMTS 2100 which provides 80% population coverage
Vodafone 3G = UMTS 2100 which provides 60% population coverage
Three (3) 3G = UMTS 2100 which provides 60% population coverage
now the hard part:
Telstra NextG = UMTS 850 which provides 99% population coverage
Optus yesG = UMTS 900 which extends the current Optus 3G UMTS 2100 population coverage from 80% to 96% population coverage (an increase of 16%) Optus will eventully drop the brand name Optus 3G and use the brand name Optus yesG once their entire population footprint reaches 98.2% (which will be around july 2010 at current rate)
Vodafone?
The new regional UMTS 900 network was supposed to be up and running this month (January 2009), however they announced in october 2008 that the network builder Ericsson was taking time to get it bug free so their new regional extension network will probaly come online sometime around June or July 2009, which will extend their current 3G population coverage (which is UMTS 2100) to 95%.
Ok now that all that BS is out of the way to answer the question:
In the USA only one major provider has UMTS 850, and that provider is AT&T (used to be known as Cingular).
In Canada the big UMTS 850 provider is Rodges Mobile.
So essentailly a 3G UMTS 850 handset from those two providers will work here (provided they are unlocked)
Or the other way round is when buying from the USA simply ask, what network band they use for 3G.
If its UMTS 1800, nope wont work here
if its GSM 850, again wont work here
If its GSM 1900 again wont work here
If its CDMA 800 or CDMA 1900, again wont work here
So what your looking for is UMTS 850.
Also you wont find any UMTS 900 handsets in USA and Canada as they dont use UMTS 900 there."

You had to get an American version of the device.. now you cant do anything about it i guess
Sent from my Xperia Pro using XDA

You can't add a particular band unless it was there to begin with. It's hardware, not a software issue.
Your best bet would be to see if any of the other providers use the same bands as the phone. (It's unlikely though; Telstra has the largest network and most other providers are leasing their lines).
Swyped from my SE Xperia arc (LT15i) using Tapatalk 2

If you really wanna do something to make it work.. then pull out the radio from your phone and replace it with the one which comes in the American edition.. then flash the baseband for american version for your device.. and then ka-boom.. everything works..
But i dont think you are going to do that..
Sent from my Xperia Pro using XDA

i also work in the north west (Karatha, Exmouth, ect ect...), i am on vodafone i have never had an issue with my phone. have you done a scan with the phone to detecct any networks up there? did you get anything?
Pvy.

Was it a mistake bringing this phone to Israel?

I live in Israel. I used to live in the US. Last time I was in the US I bought this phone and brought it over. I did my research beforehand and knowingly purchased the phone assuming I would have full compatible with Israeli service providers...
Now, I'm not so sure anymore. I just tried the phone today.. maybe 5 hours of use. Still have the default OS installed. No root or anything. The signal seems to fluctuate going between Edge and higher speed networks.
Here's what it says about Cellcom on wikipedia:
Cellcom eventually sought to replace the 850 MHz TDMA frequencies it owns with standard 900 MHz GSM frequencies but Pelephone and Partner (Orange) petitioned the Ministry of Communications to deny this for technical reasons. This put Cellcom at a disadvantage since though most of its users had converted to GSM, they were not able to make use of the lower frequency's better in-building penetration and greater cell reach.
With its entry into 3G wireless services Cellcom demoed the first mobile video call in Israel. Since the beginning of 2006, Cellcom began deploying a 3G UMTS-2100 network nationwide which by the end of 2007 covered than 87% of the population. Cellcom was the first in Israel to launch an HSDPA network (also called "Generation 3.5") nationwide. In 2011, Cellcom began to deploy UMTS services in the 850 MHz band, employing unused capacity in that frequency range since it had very few TDMA customers remaining. The Israeli Ministry of Communications has approved Cellcom's plan to shut down the TDMA-850 network on 31 December 2011.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It supports the following networks:
GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, SMS, MMS, iMode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just put the SIM card back in my old international Galaxy 2 i9100T and it'll fluctuate between HSDPA: 8 and HSPA+:15. Also it displays an H icon in the status bar (I don't think Resurrection rom is capable of displaying an H+).
Anyway, I'm going to put the SIM back in the Galaxy 3 t999. It now fluctuates between EDGE: 2, HSPAP: 15, HSPA: 11, and UMTS: 3. The signal is shifty and only displays a 3G at the top, no H like the international Galaxy 2.
Here's what wikipedia lists as the differences between the two models of the Galaxy 3 (standard international i9300 and my t-mobile t999):
Model GT-I9300;
2G networks: 850, 900, 1,800, 1,900 MHz GSM / GPRS / EDGE
3G networks: 850, 900, 1,900, 2,100 MHz UMTS / HSPA+
no 4G of course
max speed: 21 Mbit/s HSPA+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and
Model SGH-T999;
2G networks: 850, 900, 1,800, 1,900 MHz GSM / GPRS / EDGE
3G networks: 850, 1,700 (AWS/Band IV), 1,900, 2,100 MHz UMTS / HSPA+ / DC-HSPA+
no 4G either
max speed: 42 Mbit/s DC-HSPA+
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and this is what gsmarena.com says about the cellular capabilities of Israel:
2G capabilities: Required GSM 900 Recommended GSM 900 and GSM 1800
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G capabilities: Required UMTS 2100 Recommended UMTS 850 and UMTS 2100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what do you think is going on??? Doesn't the t-mobile Galaxy 3 t999 support all the networks that Israel currently has operating???

I took my T999 to Israel about a week after buying it in the States.
While vacationing there, I got an Orange SIM with a local number and a 5GB plan.
Everything was working fine. My phone was on 3G almost everywhere in the country, and it rarely dropped below three bars.
Is your phone unlocked? Could it be a Cellcom problem? Try borrowing a friend's Orange SIM and see if it works any better.

Yea it's unlocked. Even despite the speed issue I'm starting to think maybe I should have gotten the international version, there's nowhere near as much development for this version. Maybe I can trade?

PhrostB said:
Yea it's unlocked. Even despite the speed issue I'm starting to think maybe I should have gotten the international version, there's nowhere near as much development for this version. Maybe I can trade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But we have a more functioning Jellybean.

Samsung Rugby Smart UMTS 900MHz?

Hey!
I have understanded that Galaxy W and Rugby Smart are pretty much same phone (?)
There is UMTS 900MHz support in Galaxy W and i would need that 900MHz for 3G in my Rugby Smart. I cant get even Edge with my phone, so there is no internet (unless i use WiFi).
From Samsungs site i found these specs for Rugby Smart:
GSM: Quadband:850/900/1800/1900MHz
UMTS: Triband: 850/1900/2100MHz HSPA+
According to this there is no UMTS 900MHz support
But under Service Mode I found WCDMA SET CHANNEL and there it says:
Current CH: 0
Set Downlink CH, Input?
0: Reset
Set CH Range :10562-10842
Set CH Range :9662-9938
Set CH Range :2937-3088
With little searching i found that
10562-10842 are 2100MHz DL channels
9662-9938 are 1900MHz DL channels
2937-3088 are 900MHz DL channels
So there is really no option for 850MHz and there is supposed to be 900MHz support?
I havent been able to change the range from service mode
The phone is with stock rom. Is it possible that AT&T has wanted to lock the 900MHz support so it cant be used?
Or is it the phones hardware that doesnt support UMTS 900 at all?
If it does, how can i change it?