Need help with GSM phone, No service

If you bought the phone in Europe/Asia, the "Tri-band" in the phone is 900/1800/1900, which means you have two Europe/Asia bands (900/1800) AND one American band (1900). The other American band is (800). AT&T uses both 800 AND 1900 bands in the U.S., which is why your phone works in some places and not in others. This is one of the problems with tri-band phones. Depending where it was bought determines which bands the phone will have. Quad band phones solve this issue as they have all four bands for full world GSM operation.

Unfortunately your 8800 is useless with AT&T. Most of their network is on the 800 band. T-Mobile is the only major US carrier utilizing the 1900 band, though they do offer roaming on the 800 band in certain markets.

There is no fix for this situation unless you change carriers.

 

Even changing carriers wouldn't be a fix, even if he went to T-Mobile if they do roaming in area's the OP travels he would be in the same boat, since T-Mobile does roam on 850 carriers as well.

Your best bet is sell it on Ebay, AT&T won't help since they didn't sell this phone that's why they weren't able to help you.

 

I thought about mentioning the roaming thing, but I thought the message was already depressing enough...