[Q] European GalaxyS in USA ? - Galaxy S I9000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Sorry if this sounds too noobish...but I have no idea about the differences of European (3G, UMTS) and American radio technology...
I have a sim-unlocked European GT-I9000 (PDA and Radio XXJVK, CSC OXXJM1).
In summer I will visit the US for several weeks and I'd like to use my phone there.
I think that voice+text will work since the I9000 can 1900, but I am not sure about the data traffic.
Can the I9000 hardware be used in the US when flashing a "US version" of the radio SW and/or CSC ?
Is that possible anyway ?
If that would work I would buy a prepaid card in the US to avoid roaming costs...

really interested in this answer, because I have the same problem.

No way to utilize your phone at most
hi ,
I recently visited USA with my international verison of galaxy s GT-I9000 and I was totally unable to utlize my 3G data services. WHY ????
Because:
In US they are having unique frequency band for data netwrok i.e. 1700MHZ ( T-Mobile) and 850 Mhz for at&T so No matters u go with their monthly plan or pay as go u cannot take advantage of your galaxy s but still u can have the low speed data connectivity on EDGE or GPRS.
Galaxy S supported Band: for non US ( No operater in US comply this)
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100

coucou143 said:
so No matters u go with their monthly plan or pay as go u cannot take advantage of your galaxy s but still u can have the low speed data connectivity on EDGE or GPRS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But there is another solution: Use Starbucks or MCDonalds Wifi
There are nice apps to guide you to the next free wifi in the market.
I was in the US recently and since I do not have an international data plan I used the offers mentioned above....
EDIT: Many hotels or motels offer free wifi, too!

Related

vodafone Australia, which diamond ?

Hi All
hoping you can give some advice here, I'm currently with vodafone Australia and looking at buying a diamond.
Currently they are available locally as the Telstra HTC touch diamond (competing network) or via grey import models.
I understand through numerous threads that there is no quad band model as yet and that telstra uses 3g on the 850mhz band, i think but am not sure that vodafone uses 2100mhz for 3g.
I'm confused as to which handset im better off with the telstra one or a grey import.
To make it more confusing I'm going to USA and Sth America, shortly and want to make sure it roams on 3g.
HELP!!!!
no-one even has an opinion?!?
After scouring the rest of the 'net it appears that;
telstra uses 850mhz hsdpa,
vodafone and optus uses 2100mhz umts,
optus will launch 900mhz hsdpa in the near future.
I gather from this that no matter which australian carrier network i use i will not be able to use one carrier or another does someone have any further insight on this?
I think I read on Whirlpool that the Telstra handsets should work on any network - except Optus' 900mhz.
Im with Telstra (work sim), so just went with the Telstra handset.
I've got a Virgin sim I could try in it if you'd like?
that would help . . . cheers
It cant do any harm... I guess my real issue is that I want to make sure I'm getting the highest possible data speeds in whatever country I'm in and I'm not sure what difference there is between the carrier frequency's being used. I get the general impression that only telstra has 7.2mps (theoretical) speed at present, but if i go with a handset that doesnt support 900mhz and i end up with 2100mhz am i missing out on vodafone hsdpa......
im consfused
I was in the same boat when trying to figure out which Diamond to get. I jumped ship and ordered a DIAM130 (Telstra ver.).
Its my understanding that the Optus 900MHz UMTS will be for use in regional areas, whereas 2100MHz for metropolitan. A quick search of the net also indicated that 2100MHz is the dominant UMTS band throughout most of the world, with the exception of the U.S. which uses 850/1900 I believe. So I figure the DIAM130 would be the best bet if you want some sort of 3G connection whatever country you may be in.
If I'm mistaken, can someone please correct me...
EDIT: Looking back at your posts, I'm not sure if you realise this, but the DIAM100 is 900/2100 MHz UMTS and the DIAM130 is 850/2100 MHz UMTS.
Yep, I think the Helstra one with 850mhz/2100mhz looks like the best bet. It would seem that all the carriers in Oz use the 2100mhz in the cities and 850mhz or 900mhz in rural areas.
The US and Sth.America seem to use 850mhz and Europe uses 900mhz/2100mhz.
The whole reason this came up was about 2 weeks ago I went into a Helstra shop and HTC had a marquis with their own staff, they actually stated do not buy a Helstra handset wait until October 1 when the other networks will have quadband handsets. I put this down to them not knowing what they were talking about.
I cant wait any longer though and I think I'm off to JB HiFi to pickup a telstra one, whirlpool forum users have been picking them up for between $750 and $800.
I bought my Diamond from JB (telstra phone bought outright) and I use it with voda prepaid.
I can access the GSM network fine and their 3G network as well. But I force my phone to use GSM only, apparently 3G drinks more battery power.
I am on the vodaphone network ( work). I bought a diamond from a H/K supplier & have never had anytrouble using the 3g network in any of the main capital cities.
Unless you intend to use 3g A LOT in the country areas of australia, then a presumably cheaper grey import DIA 100 will do the trick.
only would suggest that you upgrade to one of the great ROMS available on this site from the generous chefs!
sorry but i think telstra are ripping off the aussie customers with the 130 model.
I have a DIAM100, it works on all networks in Australia including Telstra NextG (yes it DOES work on 850MHz HSDPA). I currently use the phone on the 3 network which use 2100MHz and get very good speeds (in excess of 3.5mbps).
Hi poedgirl,
noticed your'e using an older radio version than whats currently available.
at the risk of telling you to suck eggs, i would suggest you try the 1.00.25.08 Radio rom as the increase in signal phone strength & GPS strength was unbelievable!
thats assuming you are located in Sydney
This Post in the ROMs section pretty much covers which models you can use or will need on the various AU networks.
There are 3 3G Network Frequencies in AUS
850 MHz (NextG) - DIAM130
900 MHz Optus - DIAM100, DIAM110, DIAM200, DIAM300
2100 MHz Optus, Vodafone, Three, Telstra(use Three's) - DIAM100, DIAM110, DIAM200, DIAM300, DIAM130
ALL Diamonds have the 2100MHz frequency!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a grey import DIAM100 running on Three and it has not missed a beat.
poedgirl said:
I have a DIAM100, it works on all networks in Australia including Telstra NextG (yes it DOES work on 850MHz HSDPA)..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just out of interest how were you able to determine this?
poedgirl said:
I have a DIAM100, it works on all networks in Australia including Telstra NextG (yes it DOES work on 850MHz HSDPA). I currently use the phone on the 3 network which use 2100MHz and get very good speeds (in excess of 3.5mbps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry to disappoint, I used to think the same, but see this and this You are right - it uses HSDPA, but only on the 2100 network, outside of that network the phone will show "E" for "edge" .(which is GPRS).
Thanks timn2087, that what I thought. I suspect the Telstra branding and web interface can lead you to believe you are on the Telstra NextG network, regardless of whether you are connecting with a phone capable of 850MHz or 2100MHz. My DIAM100 (Same hardware) on 3 behaves exactly as you describe when it roams onto Telstra GSM displaying "E" for "edge".
i bought the helstra one
well i just went for it, and bought the diam130. ive gone the hardspl, radio 05, swift rom. all seems to working.
got if for $760 outright at jb hifi pitt st mall sydney store. no stress haggle said to the guy whats the best price he said $800 i said how about $760 he goes "done".
thanks for all your help everyone
logger said:
Thanks timn2087, that what I thought. I suspect the Telstra branding and web interface can lead you to believe you are on the Telstra NextG network, regardless of whether you are connecting with a phone capable of 850MHz or 2100MHz. My DIAM100 (Same hardware) on 3 behaves exactly as you describe when it roams onto Telstra GSM displaying "E" for "edge".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct. The DIAM130 on Next G will show a 3G icon whenever it is on 850 Mhz, occasionally this icon changes to "H" HSDPA when a data connection is active.
timn2087 said:
sorry to disappoint, I used to think the same, but see this and this You are right - it uses HSDPA, but only on the 2100 network, outside of that network the phone will show "E" for "edge" .(which is GPRS).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, for one, the phone gets a HSDPA signal in Mandurah - where there is no 3 coverage (only ever get Telstra roaming there if you're with 3). Also, as others have said, if you are on 3's network, the network shows up as "3Telstra", which it does not on mine.

[Q] help me choose please!

Should I buy a captivate or a i9000 galaxy s?
It is for the use in the netherlands but I heard the captivate had some more specs..
Thanks in advance!
Galaxy S and captivate are pretty similar.
i9000 has front camera (if you use it), physical back button, better support (more users) and you are more likely to have warranty support in the Netherlands.
i897 IMHO looks better and is heavier (feels more expensive). Also it comes in 16gb (i9000 comes in 8gb/16gb) and has lots of AT&T crapware on it....easy enough to remove...but you have to do it
Take the one you like the looks of better.
I really like the looks of the captivate but I am worried that it's going to have 3g network problems here..
If I would import the phone, would it work perfect with the signal here to?
snaai8 said:
I really like the looks of the captivate but I am worried that it's going to have 3g network problems here..
If I would import the phone, would it work perfect with the signal here to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The issue will be the 900 band will be missing in the Captivate which is where a lot of carriers have 3G in Europe. In the US, it will work fine. i9000x 3G won't work in 850Mhz markets.
Captivate runs on the following data bands:
3G (850/1900/2100 MHz) <-AT&T works fine.
Galaxy i9000x runs on:
2G - GSM 850/900/1800/1900
3G - HSDPA 900/1900/2100 <- Missing 850 for AT&T
Vibrant
3G - HSDPA 1700/2100
If you seriously want a world phone for data, there is only one in the market at the moment that I'm aware of. It's the Sony Xperia X10a. It's a dual mode phone and uses GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS/HSPA 800/850/1900/2100.
I'm a complete dummy in this subject so here comes the stupid questions..
What would happen if I tried using it in my country?
I'm using a omnia 2 now with:
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
So if I tried using the captivate, would my 3g be gone?
EDIT:
I was looking through the specs at the AT&T site and it said:
GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G UMTS/HSDPA (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
So according to these specs it says that it also has a 900mhz frequention.
EDIT2: Vodafone in my area (my carrier) uses 2100 as 3g band and gsm 900/1800.
I foung this info using gsmworld
can someone please explain it to me?
Ik need to choose before friday!

[Q] Samsung i9000 variant for USA and Thailand?

I'm looking to purchase a Galaxy S next month. I live in the USA, but I travel to Thailand every year. I'd like to get one phone that will work on both AT&T and AIS for both voice and data. (3G on both would be great!) While traveling in Thailand, I really want to be able to tether my netbook through the phone.
Anyone have recommendations as to which Galaxy S I should get?
over in Europe + Asia they only have 1 model
they all come with triband 3G WCDMA 900/1900/2100
and quad band Voice/EDGE 850/900/1900/2100
so you wont go wrong in getting any Galaxy S as "There Is Only One" (hmmm... sounds which movie was it from?)
unless you get the wrong Galaxy Lite, or Galaxy 5000 series, or Galaxy 8000 series or Galaxy 7000 series
My concern is the 3G WCDMA 850MHz vs 900 MHz for data. I know that AT&T uses 850 MHz, but AIS in Thailand is using 900 MHz. While it's true that 3G is just starting to roll out in Thailand (limited coverage and all), I would like to get a phone that I'll be able to use when they do get it all covered.
If I get an unlocked Captivate for use on the AT&T network, would putting in a sim from AIS automatically switch the 3G WCDMA over to the 900 MHz band (if available)?
Or is the radio hardware-fixed on this? (I've searched for an answer on this, but can't find a straight answer.)
there is no phone with both 850 and 900 3g...
I think your only chance for a 3G phone that works in both USA and Thailand is the Captivate. True Move in Thailand has 3G on 850mhz, which the Captivate uses.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Thailand#Contact
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
lgkahn said:
there is no phone with both 850 and 900 3g...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure. I guess the GSM radio is separate from the 3G CDMA radio (since the GSM can do both 850 and 900).
Ben74 said:
I think your only chance for a 3G phone that works in both USA and Thailand is the Captivate. True Move in Thailand has 3G on 850mhz, which the Captivate uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll be traveling to Trat and Koh Chang. True doesn't have coverage there as far as I can tell.
Anyway, thanks for the info!
i would buy the i9000m from canada or the i9000t or i9000b from south america b4 the captivate.. captivate.. has poor 3g upload, and no front camera.
software_samurai said:
That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure. I guess the GSM radio is separate from the 3G CDMA radio (since the GSM can do both 850 and 900).
I'll be traveling to Trat and Koh Chang. True doesn't have coverage there as far as I can tell.
Anyway, thanks for the info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I can tell, there's no 3G coverage in Trat and Koh Chang from any operator in Thailand. You'll only get GPRS/EDGE coverage there.

Awesome - HD7 on AT&T!

Picked up my HD7 from the local T-Mobile Store, acquired my unlock code, applied successfully and was up and running (Exchange and all) within 30 minutes on AT&T.
T.J.
Why do you want to spend so much of money and use it on edge only network ?
why do you want to ruin his experience since apparently he hasn't noticed yet ...
unlockMe said:
why do you want to ruin his experience since apparently he hasn't noticed yet ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol (10 chara)
tjy said:
Picked up my HD7 from the local T-Mobile Store, acquired my unlock code, applied successfully and was up and running (Exchange and all) within 30 minutes on AT&T.
T.J.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you get the unlock code so fast?
tjy said:
Picked up my HD7 from the local T-Mobile Store, acquired my unlock code, applied successfully and was up and running (Exchange and all) within 30 minutes on AT&T.
T.J.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So exchange works no problem. How about data connection to the Internet ans speed?
tjy said:
Picked up my HD7 from the local T-Mobile Store, acquired my unlock code, applied successfully and was up and running (Exchange and all) within 30 minutes on AT&T.
T.J.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh and the tmobile store today told me unless i was a customer they couldnt sell it to me? $449
Biggzz said:
Oh and the tmobile store today told me unless i was a customer they couldnt sell it to me? $449
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Course they said that. They want the money from the contract/upgrade. Call up corporate and let them know the store would not sell you a phone. There are no restrictions on phones being sold outright, but sometimes, because these stores are not corporate stores, they can enforce their own rules, but reporting them can sometimes make them change their mind.
vikramdhani said:
Why do you want to spend so much of money and use it on edge only network ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how SLOW is edge? Is like like a very bad wifi connection? Hehehe... No really, I want to know.
No smartphone is worth the pain of Edge!
I don't know about at&t, but with t-mobile, edge is like not having an internet connection. About 100 kbps and alot of auto updates time out.
Does AT&T 3G require a special frequency that isn't covered by Quad Band? Or is it that T-Mobile 3G has a special, non Quad Band frequency?
Jonno2343 said:
Does AT&T 3G require a special frequency that isn't covered by Quad Band? Or is it that T-Mobile 3G has a special, non Quad Band frequency?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are two band sets for gsm phones, GPRS/EDGE and UMTS:3G/3G+/3.5G/HSDPA/HUDPA (sometimes these abbreviations are used individually to denote 3G service. This is not correct as they all mean a different type of 3G, the most generic term is UMTS).
Sometimes HTC phones have different band sets for different countries.
HTC HD7 Europe:
* HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz
* GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
HTC HD7 T-mobile USA Version:
* UMTS 2100MHz AWS1700/2100MHz
* GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz
For GSM there is no issue, 850 & 1900 are USA, 900 & 1900 are EU, but all the phones cover everything:
http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html
In the USA, UMTS 3G for tmobile is on AWS 1700/2100 only
In the USA other providers use 850 with some using 1900
For example, the HTC Surround on AT&T uses:
* UMTS 2100/1900/850
* GSM GPRS EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
In conclusion:
1. Buying a tmobile HTC in the USA means you can only get 3G signal when using the tmobile network. When travelling abroad you might be able to use 3G, dependent on country.
2. Buying a AT&T HTC in the USA means you can only get 3G signal in the US when using the AT&T network but not on tmobile 3G. When travelling abroad you might be able to use 3G, dependent on country.
3. Buying an HTC HD7 from europe will be able to use neither the tmobile or AT&T network's 3G signal (as AWS 1700/2100mhz is different from normal 2100mhz)
Interestingly, what you may have noticed is that the 2100 3G band is common to all phones, this is also the most widely used 3G band in the world.
Therefore all these phones are fine with 3G everywhere in the world except the USA where the 2 leading GSM networks do not, for some reason, use the 2100mhz band as duplex *
* common question, how is UMTS 2100mhz different from UMTS AWS 2100mhz?
Simple, normal 3G UMTS 2100mhz is duplex (i.e. up and down link use the same frequency). In AWS, the up and downlink use different frequencies, AWS 1700/2100mhz means that tmobile uses 1710-1755 Mhz down & 2110-2155 MHz Up.
Only two networks in the world use AWS, tmobile in the USA and WIND in Canada.
in the rest of the world, where tmobile has a presense, it uses the "normal" 2100 3G band!
Wow, thanks very much colonel, that's an excellent explanation!!
So the T-Mobile HD7 is basically the Europe version with an additional radio (or whatever) to connect to the T-Mobile 3G network?
Jonno2343 said:
Wow, thanks very much colonel, that's an excellent explanation!!
So the T-Mobile HD7 is basically the Europe version with an additional radio (or whatever) to connect to the T-Mobile 3G network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it has AWS 1700/2100mhz instead of the EU 900mhz
it retains the normal 2100mhz, although this is useless in the USA
rgds
colonel said:
it has AWS 1700/2100mhz instead of the EU 900mhz
it retains the normal 2100mhz, although this is useless in the USA
rgds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent, thanks for the clarification!
It seems that in South Africa all 3G goes over the 2.1GHz frequency but some operators are starting with 900MHz so all will be fine.
Can't wait to get one now!
vikramdhani said:
Why do you want to spend so much of money and use it on edge only network ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because its the carrier my work pays for Im mostly connected via Wi-Fi anyway.
T.J.
tissot201 said:
How did you get the unlock code so fast?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.HTCimeiUnlock.com/
Had the code in 10 minutes. Was $25 because of the new device I assume, they advertise 15.
T.J.

About buying sim card in USA

Hi. I am living in New York.
I am supposed to buy a sim card to make my Gnote available.
I want to choose straight talk sim card, but i can't proceed because i don't know for various options.
this is the link what I am struggling for.
if anyone know about it, please help me.
Thank you.
I would suggest option 2 if you have the international version of the note..
General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G Network LTE 700 (region specific)
ysuk9127 said:
Hi. I am living in New York.
I am supposed to buy a sim card to make my Gnote available.
I want to choose straight talk sim card, but i can't proceed because i don't know for various options.
this is the link what I am struggling for.
if anyone know about it, please help me.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there,
do you have an unlock Gnote? On that link you got there, you need to choose the 'Unlocked GSM phone' (that is if your using the international GNote).
Basically you got 2 options I can think of on which simcards/carrier your going to opt to use.
1. AT&T
2. T-Mobile
Personally, I'd choose T-mobile's compatible prepaid simcard. Last time I heard from my cuz whose using T-MO, he got a $45 per month unlimited everything and no contract deal. Unlimited means you get unlimited voice minutes,text and HSPA+ data ($45 /month). Data cap is limited to 2GB monthly usage or about 100MB a day.
Only thing you need to contend with if your going to the route of T-mo is that they got intermittent drpped calls (depends on where you at though in NY)
If you have the international Note, you will not be able to use t-mo's 3g band. Voice, sms and 2g/edge will work fine though.
The international Note is fully compatible with the at&t network.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA Premium HD app

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