GSM Mhz question

California (at least NorCal) uses 850MHz extensively. The whole CA coverage currently consists of Cingular 850 & 1900 towers and T-Mobile 1900 towers, with roaming on T-Mobile allowed for some time, although not quite clear for how long. The Cingular 1900-only part is abysmal here in NorCal, T-Mobile coverage is so-so and the combined coverage is adequate. I heard that T-Mobile network is much stronger in SoCal, but once the roaming is disabled, you'll be stuck with Cingular's own 1900 part and I wouldn't want for that to happen if I were you.

 

You are propably working off the T mobile side right now. Cingular is working on moving all to the ATTW network and is expanding on that with more 850 towers. I would say you are good for the short time but once Cingular stoips the roaming then it will be tough for you to get a service. By the way, you cna make your L6 into a quad, you need to hack it. I would suggest you go over www.motox.info and you will find the how to and the needed software to change the seems. By the way when you look at the network info what network ID # tag do you see 310-380 or some other number sets?

EDIT: LOL, My good old friend beet me but I still would like to know the network info.

 

Save your money & buy a phone with 850/1900, especially for CA as the others have said, you will be severly limited on phone usage with this phone.

 

I agree big time on this it will be money wasted.

 

So looks like Cingular has switched the MNC in SoCal to it's own, NorCal is still running on 310-380. I would absolutely not even consider a phone without 850 at this stage unless it was exclusively for T-Mobile.

 

1900 is what is being talked about. The 410 and 180 are the new cingular and the old ATTW. I have no idea who the 150 is.

 

Yes, T-Mobile uses 850 Mhz for roaming, but their native network is 1900 only. So, if you decided to go with T-Mobile and stayed in Southern California, the tri-band phone you mentioned would work just fine.
Good luck!

 

I think that the -150 is the original Cingular network in the Carolinas/east Georgia/eastern Tennessee region.

 

Either that or one of the networks they acquired. I'm surprised to hear someone sees it in SoCal.

I mean using a 850-less phone should only be considered for use exclusively with T-Mobile service, not Cingular. I have no idea what 310-180 is, 310-380 was old AT&T Wireless -- are you sure it's not a typo?

 

I believe 310-150 is Cingular Wireless in SE GA/SC/NC/E TN. as Quint 101 mentioned, it is now consolidated with 310-410. Why that is showing up in So Cal is certainly a mystery.

There is a 310-180 which is West Central, but I do not have any details on it.

 

Sounds like there's a lot more GSM in SoCal than here in NorCal -- I think some areas here have Edge Wireless, but the Bay Area has Cingular (310-380) and T-Mobile (310-170) only.

 

West Central actually does not have any presence in California AFAIK. They serve some areas of the Southeast if I remember correctly.

Southern California has Cingular and T-Mobile, as well as the ALLTEL roamer GSM network in some high desert areas. Yeah, in northern California, the only option often is Edge Wireless, even though T-Mobile can be found in some of those areas as well.

 

The 150 entry is very puzzling to me. Can you register on all of those or only 410 & 380?

 

MNC 150 was the network code for the old BellSouth Mobility DCS is the Carolinas/East TN/Coastal GA. It sounds like he has an older SIM but the network codes will still be loaded in the switch and HLR.

 

But I got the impression that it's the code the OP sees as available in the list of networks in SoCal -- 150 should've never been live in SoCal to begin with. Unless of course it's just the list of roaming priority and then it's perfectly understandable.

 

dmapr; It would be part of the home network list.

 

Are you saying there's a separate "home networks" list vs. "roaming priority" list? I was just asking whether it was the list of "available networks" when the phone searches the networks or the list of networks on the SIM card.

 

Go to settings then netwrok and then you wil see the Band option in there. you should see Auto and when you slect change you will see the band combos.

 

well you might wanna go out and buy a cheap GoPhone fir when you leave the West coast cuz you are gonna need that 850 capability when you go to areas that use 850 as backhaul for capacity issues...............the GoPhones dont have as many features as an L6 but they will get you better coverage cuz if you come out here to big metros.....your call might never go out either because there is no 1900 or because the 1900 band is full.........

 

I'm pretty sure all L6 have quad-band hardware and the tri-band limitation is a software-only thing, at least that's how Motorola's been doing it for years. Seem edit to enable all four bands is free... however cheap that GoPhone might be, it's still more expensive

 

yeah it is.........that seems so stupid that Moto would do that to their phones......why would they want to limit people's service unless by some stupid apocolyptic sign companies started offering band restricted plans where that would have plans that would only use 850 or 1900 and ones that would use both.......if that ever happens ill jump off a cliff.............its practically blasphemy that i suggested it.......:loony:

 

I think it's the way carrier's request it. V180, for instance, was quad-band on AT&T Wireless, 900/1800/1900 on T-Mobile and 850/900/1900 on Cingular. Why European providers would care about it doesn't make any sense.