GSM 800/850 one more time

In the USA GSM 850Mhz is sometimes called 800Mhz. In Europe they use 900 Mhz and they mean it. That phone will not work in the usa. Part of the confusion is that the older TDMA 800 format actually covers 829 to 894 Mhz. The proper terminology for GSM is to call it GSM 850 or GSM 1900.

For example, a motorola V400 phone is specified this way:
Operates on GSM 850/1900 MHz North America and 900/1800 MHz world GSM networks

 

If I read between the lines, it seems that you currently have T mobile service with your V66, which is only 1900 here (and 1800/900 in Europe). Using that phone with Cingular would greatly limit your coverage in the USA.

You might want to get a new phone that has dual band coverage (850/1900) unless you want a tri or quad band phone (850/1900/1800) or a V400 for all four bands.

 

Wirelessly posted (MOT-V300/0B.09.3AR MIB/2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.0)

T-Mobile and Cingular are the same network in the U.S. They have a network agreement that says anywhere cingular has service t-mobile can use their towers and anywhere t-mobile has service cingular can use their towers as well. If your not happy with one you wont be happy with the other. Plus t-mobile is very big in the U.K.

 

Unfortunately this is not true. At least the part that says anywhere Cingular has service, T-Mobile can use their towers. I have TMobile for work and I get no service if I travel too far away from the interstate

In all the places my TMobile work phone does not work, Cingular is available (my personal Cingular phone works)....but it is not allowed to roam on it.

 

Cingular and T-MObile share the same network ONLY in NYC/NJ and CA/NV. Everywhere else, they are independent networks. However, this will soon change after the acquisition of AT&T Wireless. After this, Cingular and T-Mobile won't share networks anywhere anymore.

 

Bobolito...
Are there any maps out there that'll show what Cingular and T-Mobile will look like after the acquisition? Particularily T-Mobile...wondering if they'll be losing more coverage or gain some? Thanks!
Chris

 

There won't be any change for T-Mobile. That's a given. Cingular will just gain AT&T Wireless coverage. There are no maps that I know of that will show this in the joint venture areas.

 

Your forgetting that Tmobile is a single band company at 1900. Cingular uses two GSM bands, so it is not a one to one comparison in the USA. Cingular will have more coverage than Tmobile in the USA.

 

Ok this may be a little off topic but sounds like the right place to ask. I am a CDMA Verizon user. I know Verizon has triband phones, meaning they can be used on AMPS which is the old analog service and two digital frequencies. How does that equate with Cingular's network. Basically I am wondering, if I were to get a phone through cingular, which frequencies should I make sure to have for the best coverage? So what would be the coverage that would be equal to Verizon's AMPS?

Thanks,
aje

 

There isn't really a GSM equivalent of AMPS. Tri-mode handsets work for TDMA & CDMA providers because the CDMA & TDMA networks in the US were built on top of analog networks, so to speak, but GSM networks are all digital with no underlying AMPS service, at least in the US. As far as I know there is no handset availabe in the US that can use both a GSM network and an AMPS network (although I'm not sure about GAIT phones.) Having a tri-mode phone with TDMA/CDMA is great because AMPS has a larger coverage footprint than TDMA or CDMA and so in the "fringe" areas you can still get signal, while someone with a digital-only handset would not be able to get service. Unfortunatly, TDMA/CDMA carriers have the advantage over GSM in this area.

 

Verizon doesn't have tri-band phones. They have Tri-Mode phones:

1) AMPS 800
2) CDMA 800
3) CDMA 1900

A "mode" is a combination of network type and frequency band.

 

There are only two bands for Cingular: 850MHz GSM and 1900MHz GSM. There is no AMPS -- if you do not get a digital signal, you do not get signal, period. A "tri-band" phone on Cingular will be either 850/900/1900, 850/1800/1900, or 900/1800/1900 (this last one is a bad thing for domestic users). A "quad-band" phone like the v400 and v600 is 850/900/1800/1900, all GSM, all digital. The 900/1800 frequencies are used elsewhere in the world, making it possible to use the phone in Europe, Asia, etc.

If you get a true GAIT phone (this is a multi-mode phone such as the Nokia 6340), it will be 800 AMPS/800 TDMA/1900 TDMA/850 GSM/1900 GSM. There is a kind of fake GAIT phone out there that does it all except the AMPS. These GAIT and fake-GAIT phones are available only in areas where TDMA service is sold, and only on very specific multi-band plans.

 

Thanks for the info everyone!