Will my handset lacking the 850 MHz band work on the at&t/Cingular network?

[REAL]

which is often necessary

[REAL]

Yeah, but they're taking out a lot of the 1900 spectrum for UMTS and HSDPA. When I use my sans-850 phone, I've noticed a dramatic deterioration of coverage since AT&T flipped the switch on 3G in my area in October.

so when they do this we lose voice coverage?

[i0wnj00]

If the phone supports UMTS 1900 then you can use this for voice, but for a phone with GSM 1900 you will lose coverage.

[REAL]

umts is wcdma right?

like WCDMA 1900

GSM 850
GSM 900
GSM 1800
GSM 1900
WCDMA 850

WCDMA 2100

[i0wnj00]

WCDMA works.
I just use UMTS.

[char777]

umts is wcdma right?

like WCDMA 1900

GSM 850
GSM 900
GSM 1800
GSM 1900
WCDMA 850

WCDMA 2100

Yes.......

[REAL]

is WCDMA 1900mhz the same thing as UMTS?

[char777]

is WCDMA 1900mhz the same thing as UMTS?

WCDMA is often used as a synonym for UMTS, but it is also used to describe the entire 3G and 3.5G scene.

[REAL]

for some reason i like some of the older phones like the se t68i and nokia 8890 call me old fashion but id still like to use these phones. should i go t tmobile or stay with att?

[char777]

for some reason i like some of the older phones like the se t68i and nokia 8890 call me old fashion but id still like to use these phones. should i go t tmobile or stay with att?

Well that depends. Are you getting good coverage with AT&T? Could you, and would you, be happy with tmobile?

[REAL]

idunno. so far i do like att and their coverage

but how will my nokia 8890 and t68i work with tmobile compared to attt?

[aw614]

get a prepaid sim and try it out and see how it is

[REAL]

well if you have a 1900 only phone you probably be getting superior coverage with tmobile instead of att

what i am saying is

if i am an att customer and have a 1900 only phone will i be able to roam on tmobiles 1900 network when there is no coverage? then will i be getting equal or superior coverage with my 1900only phone, like if i had a 1900/850 phone on atts network?

can tmobiles 1900 only network be equal to atts 1900/850?

[awj223]

what i am saying is

if i am an att customer and have a 1900 only phone will i be able to roam on tmobiles 1900 network when there is no coverage? then will i be getting equal or superior coverage with my 1900only phone, like if i had a 1900/850 phone on atts network?

can tmobiles 1900 only network be equal to atts 1900/850?

You will get inferior coverage even on T-Mobile. Although T-Mobile does not have any native 850 coverage, it does use 850 for roaming.

[cet710]

Allow me to throw in my two cents.... There will NEVER be better or stronger coverage on the 1900 band than the 850 band. Sure you may get speed, but you dont have to be on 1900 for that. Alltel is 850 in my area & EVDO. In my area att is STRONGLY present & mostly on 850; however there is no 3G here. For alltel to place both their EVDO & voice on the 850 band is awesome for the simple fact that I get the benefit of EVDO but do not loose my voice coverage. Yes 3G is much faster, but if it takes loosing voice coverage to get it I am not interested at all. I love speed & I love the fact that I can do what we do now with handsets & devices, but at the same time I still depend strongly on my handset for voice. Besides in most cases carriers have to trans on what available. If alltel has the 850 band in a market & vzw has the 850, then eavery other carrier that enters the market has to go 1900. The stinger is that when att became from cingy & att wireless they were able to pick up both bands & both spectrums in a lot of areas. That is why this gets so confusing. In the industry that I am in the 850 band is the way to go by far. If it wasnt then you wouldnt have so many in the game for the 700Mhz frequency. Which of course is a WHOLE different story. :-)