Cingular to T-Mobile D

[Katm28]

I purchased an unlocked cingular phone Razr V3 in the states. I recently came back to Germany with the phone. It works here with my T mobile prepaid Sim, however, I cannot get the browser or the web settings to work. What browser setting should I use and what web setting work with T mobile here in Germany. Help

[ShoresGuy]

You need to set up your Razr with T-Mobile Germany's settings which you can have sent to your phone here:

https://www.csp.t-mobile.net/rdm/?pt=TMDEUP

[Katm28]

Thanks that website worked wonders. The browser works, however, whenever I use it I have to manually tell it to use T Mobile International. I think I am roaming here with a German prepaid sim. This phone is not unlocked it is trying to access cingular wireless. Is there any way to get rid of Cingular from this phone?

[ShoresGuy]

Yep, if the phone is branded with a Cingular-customized flash/flex version, then you can flash it to a generic (non-provider specific firmware version without the preinstalled Cingular themes and settings) Motorola flash version.

Read about that here:
http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/mo...-motorola.html

You can also check in the WAP browser's Settings --> WAP Profile to see which profile is set as the primary WAP profile. You can also try changing it to T-Mobile D.

Are you in Germany now or still in the US?

[Katm28]

I am currently in Wiesbaden, Germany.

[mrcamp]

Like shoresguy said, go into websession and change the default settings to whichever one you want it to use.

[m000660]

Please bear with me, I'm new to the whole modding of cell phones. Here's my situation. I have two RAZR V3xx's (one with the Cingular brand, the other with the AT&T brand) that I bought in the US and had on AT&T wireless for over a year. Since I have moved to Germany, I want to use my RAZRs here. However, the best deal I could get is T-Mobile prepaid service and the good folks (not) at TKS (the local T-Mobile dealer) have informed me that using my phones are impossible here on a T-Mobile network. An email to Motorola informed me that Cingular phones won't work on T-Mobile (and vice versa) but that a T-Mobile store should be able to fix the phones so they will work. The problem is TKS won't help me and I don't speak enough German to explain to a T-Mobile store out in town what I need done. I can of course buy new RAZRs here but that is stupid.

Currently, I have two Nokia 1200s (cheap) phones that I'm using with T-Moble prepaid SIMs. Can someone please walk me through how to make the appropriate changes to my phones so that I can use them. Both phones are unlocked (AT&T was helpful there). I do have a cable and can connect my phones to my computer (currently only as USB Mass Storage Devices). Here is some other info that might help someone help me.

RAZR #1 (AT&T Branded)
Flex Version: USIZRGBLATTUSAR26111007
Technology: Dual Mode UMTS
S/W Version: R26111LD_U_96.71.95R
DSP S/W Version: 51650001
Language List: 0003
Operator: Cingular
Data Ready: Yes
Browser Ready: Yes

RAZR #2 (Cingular Branded)
Flex Version: USIZRGBLCINUSR26111083
Technology: Dual Mode UMTS
S/W Version: R26111LD_U_96.71.95R
DSP S/W Version: 51650001
Language List: 0003
Operator: Cingular
Data Ready: Yes
Browser Ready: Yes

Thanks in advance for the help. Again, please explain it to me Barney style since I haven't really played around with changing phones before.

[Charlyee]

Hello & Welcome to WA. First of all an unlocked GSM phone, irrespective of the branding will work on another GSM network w/o any modding. So both T-Mobile & AT&T are incorrect.

Having said that, the V3xx is a triband 850/1800/1900 phone, in Europe you need 900/1800. The lack of 900 band maybe your problem if that is what that area is. Have you tried the local SIM, if so what does it say?

If it is the lack of 900, then you are out of luck, sorry.

PS: What the above posts are referring to are the browser settings & getting rid of the AT&T/Cingular customization. The phone itself works fine for them.

Palm850/v0100 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11)

[dmapr]

One other thing to note is that the original thread was about GSM RAZR V3, which was a quad-band GSM phone and was not handicapped in Europe. Cingular/AT&T V3xx is indeed a tri-band GSM + dual-band UMTS (850/1900), which means poorer GSM performance as Charlyee explained and no 3G at all as only US bands are supported. Also, I haven't kept up with Motorolas much, but the instructions for debranding the original V3 may not be applicable to V3xx.

[m000660]

Charlyee,

When I put in my T-Mobile prepaid SIM, it searchs for different networks. Someone told me I need to select the proper band, but when I went to Settings, Network, then Network Setup (there was no Band Type option listed) here's what the options were:

Type: Automatic
Speed: Medium

Upon searching for Available Networks the phone comes up with:

o2-de (cell provider here in Germany)
E-Plus (another cell provider here in Germany)

Switching it to Manual/Slow comes up with nothing (the phone appears to time out and goes back to the home screen).

Thanks for trying to help me make our phones work.

m000660

[m000660]

Also, when we first got here, our phones worked with the Cingular SIM just on roaming (at 99 cents per minute), so I know the phone will work over here, I just can't get it to find the T-Mobile network when I put in the T-Mobile prepaid SIM.

[mrcamp]

As Charlyee, all that stuff about tmobile sim not working in an AT&T phone and vice-versa is complete nonsense!. If the phone is unlocked and has the proper GSM bands it should work with any sim card.

Your phone is lacking the 900 band which is the predominant band used in the rest of the world. It only has the 1800 of the two bands (900/1800) used there. That is likely your problem. Yes, your phone worked with the cingular sim, and it would have roamed on a carrier thet was using the 1800 band. Get a cheap phone with the 900/1800 bands and that will probably solve your problem.

[Mobile Mike]

Since T-Mobile Germany uses the 900mhz band, which is missing from your phone, it would explain why you haven't been able to find T-Mobile when you do an available network search.

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by m000660

Charlyee,

Upon searching for Available Networks the phone comes up with:

o2-de (cell provider here in Germany)
E-Plus (another cell provider here in Germany)

m000660

Originally Posted by m000660

Also, when we first got here, our phones worked with the Cingular SIM just on roaming (at 99 cents per minute), so I know the phone will work over here, I just can't get it to find the T-Mobile network when I put in the T-Mobile prepaid SIM.

According to the GSMWorld, O2-DE and E-Plus are both GSM 1800 only networks, while T-Mobile & Vodafone are 900/1800 ones, which may mean that in your particular location they're 900 only. I had a similar problem in Ireland in a lot of areas where there was no 1800 coverage at all.

With AT&T SIM your V3xx may very well be roaming on one of those two networks — but with the T-Mobile prepaid SIM in there the roaming is most likely not allowed. Your best bet would be to either get a prepaid SIM from E-Plus/O2 or get a cheap dual-band 900/1800 phone to use with T-Mobile SIM.

As everyone else stated, the lack of the 900MHz support in your phone is the source of your problems.

[Charlyee]

m000660, as dmapr mentioned, you could try a different provider or keep using the Nokia 1200s for now.

Keep in mind that by using your US V3xx you maybe left w/o service if you travel to areas that are only 900.

Tri band phones are a pet peeve of mine having been caught w/o 850 in the US with Euro Nokia & w/o 900 in Asia with US Nokia.

If you do decide to get a new device, I would recommend a quad band phone(850/900/1800/1900)then you will be set in Europe & US. If having 3G matters to you then it should also have triband 3G(850/1900/2100).

Hope we have been of some help. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Palm850/v0100 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11)

[m000660]

Everyone,

Thanks for finally clearing up the issue of why our phones won't work over here. I can't believe that T-Mobile, Cingular, nor Motorola told me this from the get go. I can understand that if the phone doesn't have the ability to receive the 900 band, but I didn't like being told - "it won't work just buy a new phone from us over here." At least now I know the exact reason the phones worked on Cingular roaming but not on T-Mobile.

I'll keep using the Nokias for now, but may end up getting quad band phones as suggested, since we are likely to visit here once we move back.

Thanks again for helping me out with this issue.

m000660