Motorola phone

[Nick M]

I bought a Motorola 4 band unlocked outside the US. It did work everywhere. Except the US. It is the L7.

Well, I went and picked up a local sim card for it. T-mobile. My wife said they suck, I don't really care. I will hardly use it. But with the sim card installed, the phone still says No Service, as though I still had the foreign sim card in it.

The clown at the T mobile stand said it must be locked. Well, it isn't. I looked online for that, and it will say "locked" or a couple of similar things. If it is locked, then Motorola is wrong, which could be, but I don't see that.

My thought was it is just T-Mobile. After I go back and say the phone is not locked, cancel and refund, whom should I get service from. Not a phone. Which I think is all T-mobile wants.

What does the phone need?

 

[drunk_medic]

I'm not absolutely sure, but I thought that some of the phones from outside the US used high and low frequencies that could possibly be 100MHz lower than the high/low we use in the US. If the phone is looking for a cell signal in the 1800MHz range and the US towers are pumping 1900MHz, that could be it. The phones also usually look in the 800/900MHz range, I believe. I used to work a little with simulation of GSM phones and signals that were made for other countries, but not enough to really know how to diagnose a problem like this.
I thought that most GSM quad-band phones that were unlocked and fed a SIM card were supposed to be "good to go".

You may want to see if your phone has a setting somewhere internally that allows simple switching of the frequencies. Example, I used an old Nokia that had a setting deep in its menu for 800/1800 or 900/1900.

I don't understand why the local T-Mobile shop can't understand or diagnose this problem. Shitty techs or shitty understanding of their products and network structure is what it sounds like to me.

 

[Kai]

Some networks in the US don't use certain bands either - for example, my phone, while i was in the US, would only 'see' AT&T - and wouldn't see any other network. Our quad band phones are typically designed for 800/900/1800 & 1900 Mhz bands - the 850/950 bands that some of your phone networks use, aren't supported.

 

[Nick M]

I don't understand why the local T-Mobile shop can't understand or diagnose this problem. Shitty techs or shitty understanding of their products and network structure is what it sounds like to me.

Which is my understanding of T-mobile. If the clown can't deal with it tomorow, I will get rid of them. Yeah, it is a GSM, or whatever that is called. The 4 frequencies, including the US. According to Motorola. I will see if he can show me how to switch what it is reading. There isnt' a place in settings, including initial setup that says to switch that I can see.

 

[LilMissMkIII]

Some networks in the US don't use certain bands either - for example, my phone, while i was in the US, would only 'see' AT&T - and wouldn't see any other network. Our quad band phones are typically designed for 800/900/1800 & 1900 Mhz bands - the 850/950 bands that some of your phone networks use, aren't supported.

I had the same thing when I was in the states in 05.

My Aussie phone was a tri-band and would only see AT&T, no matter where I was.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Which is my understanding of T-mobile. If the clown can't deal with it tomorow, I will get rid of them. Yeah, it is a GSM, or whatever that is called. The 4 frequencies, including the US. According to Motorola. I will see if he can show me how to switch what it is reading. There isnt' a place in settings, including initial setup that says to switch that I can see.

Afaik, you can not "switch" the frequency the phone runs on. It is either equipped with the right frequency or it isn't.

If T-mobile does not support your phone, then try AT&T.

It's not the "clown's" fault your phone doesn't pick up a signal.

 

[LilMissMkIII]

^^Second time I went back to the States, I had a newer phone, and I was able to select which network I wanted to use from a few options depending on where I was at the time.

(Fyi - I had my Aussie sim card in my Aussie phone)

 

[drunk_medic]

Afaik, you can not "switch" the frequency the phone runs on. It is either equipped with the right frequency or it isn't.

If T-mobile does not support your phone, then try AT&T.

It's not the "clown's" fault your phone doesn't pick up a signal.

Did you read my post, which he responded to?

I have personally SEEN phones that would allow you to choose between frequencies. You couldn't vary the frequencies, but you could choose from different SET frequencies that were programmed into the phone. I was seeing if somewhere in his menu, there was a place to do this. He was responding to that.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Did you read my post, which he responded to?

I have personally SEEN phones that would allow you to choose between frequencies. You couldn't vary the frequencies, but you could choose from different SET frequencies that were programmed into the phone. I was seeing if somewhere in his menu, there was a place to do this. He was responding to that.

Ah, I did not. I've seen phones, many actually, that allow you to select which network to connect with (Like kristel just said), but never one that allowed you to select which specific frequency sets. :dunno:

I've dealt with numerous unlocked phones at work and never had issues with selecting any frequencies or carriers. Put SIM in, phone finds network, done. It sounds like T-mobile might simply not have service in that area or the SIM hasn't been registered correctly on their end. Generally, though, if the SIM is not active, or isn't supported the phone will immediately tell you so.

I'm curious to see what the solution is.

 

[Nick M]

T-mobile is locking it out, wanting me to buy their phone. It took all of reading the first two posts to figure that out.

He is a clown in a phone stand because he thought it was locked, despite the phone not saying so.

 

[drunk_medic]

The L7 looks to be a nice phone. I remember I was kicking myself for buying two RAZR phones, when a couple months later the L7 came out. I liked the style of the RAZR, which seems mimicked by the L7, but REALLY prefer "candy bar" phones to flip-phones, so the L7 seemed like it would fit the bill perfectly.

I would like to see a major carrier that had the balls to offer a decently discounted monthly fee for service if you either
A. provide your own compatible phone
B. completed your contract length [ie: your phone is now "paid for" and you are on a month-to-month basis]
C. Bought a full priced, or even slightly discounted, unlocked phone from them at time of plan initiation

It would also be nice to see shorter contracts, ie: 6-12 month commitments, or instant month-to-month for those who provide their own compatible equipment. There are a ton of really nice "unlocked" phones out there that are compatible with the major carriers, but are not offered.
I know that from their business standpoint, this doesn't make sense, as you are given discounted airtime based partially on contract length. I still think that quite a bit of the monthly fee you are paying for is like a monthly lease on your phone.