My cousin brought his N95 back from Greece and what a neat phone! He's using it on the T-Mobile network here with a basic plan. I'm going to be in Greece next week and I need a smartphone fast because my Palm TX crapped out me. I can't really wait for the American N95 though, so I was thinking about picking up a N95 there and bringing it back too. My concern is that the frequencies don't match up and when T-Mobile shifts their network, things will be bad for me. So does anybody have an insight into this? I would love to get an Internet plan for it too through T-Mobile, but I don't know if it would work with the phone. Thanks. :icon14:
Edit: Also, Does the Symbian version of Putty work on this phone?
The European N95 will work on American networks in GSM mode only - so the phone will be entirely usable, but downloads will be limited to GPRS or EDGE speeds, several times slower than 3G (GPRS is about the speed of a 56k dialup modem). So the Internet will work, but slowly. What it won't work on are CDMA networks, like Verizon and Sprint, but T-Mobile and AT&T operate GSM networks.
I think PuTTY should work, but I've not tried it myself. The N95 has no QWERTY keyboard of course, so it would be rather tedious without a Bluetooth keyboard? Here's a screenshot of it running on the N95:
http://james.lab6.com/2007/static/puttyn95.jpg
I had my N95 several times in the US where I used it with prepaid t-mobile. It works fine, but no 3G. If you live there you should wait for the US version with US 3G frequencies. Should work much faster for data.
T-Mobile in the US is supposed to rollout a UMTS 2100mhz solution (I think that is the frequency) that will enable the N95 to work with 3G networks. Right now, there is no plan for the TMobile 3G network and the existing AT&T 3G network to be compatible. My N95 is working quite well in the states, and does lots of fun stuff. Since I don't have a 3G network yet, I don't care about that, and by the time the T-Mobile one is rolled out, I will probably be buying a new phone.
MikeW wrote:T-Mobile in the US is supposed to rollout a UMTS 2100mhz solution (I think that is the frequency) that will enable the N95 to work with 3G networks.
Sorry, but I have to disappoint you. In europe 3G frequencies are normally quoted as 2100, however they use 2100 one way and around 1900 the other way.
In the US this is not possible, 1900 frequency is already taken (t-mobile GSM). So T-mobile auctioned off 1700 Mhz which they will use. This will of course require again new or updated phones that work in this frequency. So you are right, the US N95 is mainly intended to those who are on AT&T, for them 3G will work nicely. But neither EU N95 or US N95 as sold now will work with t-mobile 3G.
i don't follow specifics of frequencies. But according to your post, I should not be able to use 3G here in canada on Roger's wireless. Just so you know, the N95 is currently not for sale in Canada and I've gotten mine from online.
Like GSM, I don't think that each service provider owns 3G as 3g is the next generation of wireless technology in the ITU family. They have to obtain licensing to use 3G.
GSM is on different frequencies depending on where you are in the world, but you can buy "world phones" that have all four bands so you can use your phone anywhere that GSM is available. I think this would be the same for 3G, no?
I tried using my european n95 phone with an orange sim while on holiday in the usa. (GSM mode, I disabled UMTS to conserve batterypower).
Sometimes it worked (with AT&T). but many times it couldn't find any network while people around me used their phone without problems.
So, yes it does work in the USA, but it could do a lot better.
waxup wrote:GSM is on different frequencies depending on where you are in the world, but you can buy "world phones" that have all four bands so you can use your phone anywhere that GSM is available. I think this would be the same for 3G, no?
There are not 3G "world phones" yet. The reason is the mess in frequencies used (especially in North America). Europe is all 2100 but there is a talk here in the UK about opening up 900 for 3G. Again there are no phones yet supporting 3G on 900 Mhz. So the best you can do is to buy phone that supports frequencies your operator is using.
