3G Launch New York City

From what I read at engadget it's going to be voice only, no data. Doesn't sound like a big deal for the geek crowd. And the marketing dept. calls it a new technology! How long has it been available in Europe? I guess they mean new to TMo?

 

It's becoming too little, too late with them.

 

I saw I forget where that some one said its data too, supposedly they were getting 400kbps with the 3G. I would think they would turn it all the way on, but still, better late than never right?

 

384kbps is the maximum UMTS offers. If they want to go to higher rates, they need to add HSDPA modules in the base stations (and of course offer HSDPA phones and/or data cards)With HSDPA you can get between 1-14Mbps depending on the version (I think between 1-6Mbps is common right now)

 

it's voice and data.......no data is a bloggin rumor......

http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/wireless-news/69640-t-mobile-usa-get-rolling-3g.html#post503756

see that thread

 

Is there any way to tell between the phone being on a GSM or UMTS(WCDMA) network??

I am hoping someone in the NYC area can answer this question.

I just upgraded to a T-MO Nokia 6263(850/1700/1800/1900/2100) in the Philadelphia market, which is GSM only so far, but is recently starting to rebuild for 3G.

Does the Nokia 6263 when on the AWS band(1700/2100) have a separate indicator to indicate the phone is in UMTS 3G mode???

Just waiting for a sign that they are starting to turn up the 3G service, even sporadically for testing purposes, and wondering if there was a way to tell.

Sort of the way that Verizon has 2 signal strength meters on their phones, 1 marked '1X' and 1 Marked 'EVDO'.

 

On most 3G phones your network indicator will change to 3G, however some will display U or H.

-Jay

 

Unfortunately, there isn't. T-mobile disables the 3G icon in their firmware for the phone. So, the only way to tell if the phone is using 3G is to force it into UMTS mode and see if it works, or tether and see if you can get about 200k.

 

y hide the icon?

 

The same reason AT&T hides roaming network names, to make the network look seemless, and also "to reduce customer confusion." <-reps words not mine. I'd like to see the icon as well, but it looks like the only way to get it is to flash your phone to stock ffirmware (which doesn't exist for any of the umts phones right now) or to get a 3G BB or WinMo phone, which is still down the pipeline.

 

Probably the same reason Cingular hid the EDGE icon when they were still building their EDGE network, and why they hid the H icon on their early HSDPA models. They don't want customers to see how poor the coverage is for the faster network at the launch. Imagine someone buys a 3G phone right at the launch. That person then calls 611 constantly because the icon keeps bouncing back and forth between 2G and 3G. Disabling the icon keeps service calls down.

-Jay

 

yeah youve always got people asking questions even though their service works just fine

 

There seems to be no way to force UMTS.

You go to MENU, SETTINGS, PHONE, NETWORK MODE, DUAL MODE.

There is no option to select a network mode in the current Firmware.

DUAL MODE is the only option.

I can try to force the phone over to AT&T, but that selection is denied if you attempt to select it.

Besides the fact that AT&T has implemented UMTS on PCS 1900, and T-Mobile is reserving UMTS to 1700-2100, so I would not expect to find UMTS service on the Nokia 6263 unless I acquired the phone from AT&T.

 

Doesn't seem like much of a launch. No mention of 3G on the T-Mo website under Phones or Services, as far as I can see. Searching for "3G" on the website gives you one press release and a couple of knowledge base articles on the UMTS phones. There is no mention of 3G in the regular pages that describe the Nokia 6263 or Samsung t819. In fact, they don't mention their T-Zones service, browser features or data capability at all when describing these phones. Nor is 3G a feature in the "Shop by Feature" checkboxes that let you select phones according to criteria.

You have to be a WA geek to know that this is going on - it's a technical launch at most. In my book, if there's no marketing, it's not a launch.

SW

 

I hope so, and I also hope that the carriers begin to see all of their phones as potentially "data related" devices, not just the expensive smartphones on expensive data plans. My 2 year old LG CU500 (solidly midrange when it was bought) has a browser which lets me get to news and weather, and its email program gives me access to my POP accounts (all for $5.99/month, "unlimited" data).

If T-Mo is releasing HSDPA on midrange handsets it doesn't improve my voice service, but it could make a big difference in how useful a phone is as an Internet device. I've been checking out the Nokia 6263 (UMTS) as a potential upgrade for my LG, but I'm going to wait to see what HSDPA devices T-Mo releases.


SW

 

now i was under the impression that T-Mobile wasnt too into the idea of offering 3G applications like the video services......obviously that doesnt allow T-Mobile to use their UMTS to its fullest potential.....

 

In my experience, I'd say that's kind of "standard operating procedure" when operators launch a new network. They quietly unlock the 3G sites and make them available for public use, but offer just a few devices in limited places, so that they can observe how the network is functioning and give them some time to tune the network a little better (prior to that they have very little network statistics, since they are only drive-testing the network themselves).

In the coming months you'll see more phones and data-cards in the stores, more press releases, advertising, etc.... you can count on that :browani:

 

im counting on a 3Q hard release