E51 and AT&T 3G ?

mug wrote:New to the forums and I just picked up a new E51. I'm a customer with AT&T in TX and I cannot pickup a 3G signal although AT&T supposedly supports 850? While the phone is 850/2100 for HSDPA. Is there something wrong w/my phone specifically or am I just out of a 850mhz area?

I'm never in this thread but someone came into my store with an E51 a few days ago. He had 3G but remember that while the the phone has 850/2100, it's still missing 1900. ATT uses 850 and 1900 for 3G so you just have bad luck as far as the frequency that the towers that you're near are using.

UnrealTechno wrote:I'm never in this thread but someone came into my store with an E51 a few days ago. He had 3G but remember that while the the phone has 850/2100, it's still missing 1900. ATT uses 850 and 1900 for 3G so you just have bad luck as far as the frequency that the towers that you're near are using.

Although you work in a store, your understanding AT&T HSDPA service seems to a bit flawed. You're correct that AT&T uses 850 & 1900mhz for HSDPA, but not in addressing the issue mug is having...

AT&T needs to flag his account as being 3G capable. Until they flag it as a high speed 3G device the phone will only be able to send data via EDGE. If I was in his situation I would probably lie to them and tell them you have a Samsung A727.

gyrfalcon wrote:Although you work in a store, your understanding AT&T HSDPA service seems to a bit flawed. You're correct that AT&T uses 850 & 1900mhz for HSDPA, but not in addressing the issue mug is having...

AT&T needs to flag his account as being 3G capable. Until they flag it as a high speed 3G device the phone will only be able to send data via EDGE. If I was in his situation I would probably lie to them and tell them you have a Samsung A727.

AT&T does not flag accounts as being allowed or not allowed to use 3G. I would not begin to guess where you came up with such a notion.

Some areas of the country have 3G on 850, but many (if not most) have their 3G on 1900. UnrealTechno was 100% right in his post.

ATT does not use 3G on 850 mhz anywhere except a few cities in the US. everything is on 1900 with 3G. your e51 will not work with 3G in texas. south florida, michigan, and reno, NV are the only places i know of that run 3G on 850mhz. so you are stuck with gsm. gotta buy a phone with both 3g bands.

and ATT does not care what plan you have, a 3G phone grabs a 3g signal, regardless. however there IS a UMTS code that gets attached to your account, so i would make sure this is added to your account. you still prob wont get 3G though since 850WCDMA is very rare with ATT.

robthecomputerg wrote:Flawed?...AT&T does not flag accounts as being allowed or not allowed to use 3G. I would not begin to guess where you came up with such a notion.

Some areas of the country have 3G on 850, but many (if not most) have their 3G on 1900. UnrealTechno was 100% right in his post.

RogerPodacter wrote:ATT does not use 3G on 850 mhz anywhere except a few cities in the US. everything is on 1900 with 3G. your e51 will not work with 3G in texas. south florida, michigan, and reno, NV are the only places i know of that run 3G on 850mhz. so you are stuck with gsm. gotta buy a phone with both 3g bands.

and ATT does not care what plan you have, a 3G phone grabs a 3g signal, regardless. however there IS a UMTS code that gets attached to your account, so i would make sure this is added to your account. you still prob wont get 3G though since 850WCDMA is very rare with ATT.

Blah blah blah... AT&T does use 850mhz and is expanding it's use so please shut up unless you have a clue what you're talking about.

Secondly in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, TX I get 3G service fine so you're a crackpot if you don't think it's available.

HSPDA/UTMS is 3G, if your account is not flagged for 3G service you can't use it, end of story...

“The Supreme Irony of the Information Age is that it gives new respectability to uninformed opinion.”
John Lawson, US Journalist – 1995

gyrfalcon wrote:Blah blah blah... AT&T does use 850mhz and is expanding it's use so please shut up unless you have a clue what you're talking about.

Secondly in Dallas, Houston, and Austin, TX I get 3G service fine so you're a crackpot if you don't think it's available.

HSPDA/UTMS is 3G, if your account is not flagged for 3G service you can't use it, end of story...

�The Supreme Irony of the Information Age is that it gives new respectability to uninformed opinion.�
John Lawson, US Journalist � 1995

I'm trying to understand this here so help me out if you can.
If I have a 3g capable phone with the correct HSPDA bands of 850/1900 and I have a AT&T sim card installed I will not receive 3g service unless it is noted in my account?
So is the network looking at available services to that phone through the IMEI number on the sim card?
If that is the case then must the account settings for that phone reflect the correct services enabled such as MediNet Unlimited package or text messaging etc...?
Are those settings also held on the sim card?
If you access your account online and you make changes to optional services does it update that information to your phone OTA?
Honestly, I'm not trying to be a pain in the butt here, I'm really trying to understand this once and for all. Any information would be appreciated.

PS. It would be great if someone wrote a small software utility that would show you which frequency band your phone is operating at with the tower it is communicating with, that way you would know whats availble in your area and could plan future phone purchases accordingly.

tkboxer wrote:I will not receive 3g service unless it is noted in my account?

That can be the case. For example I had a Cingular Treo 650 that's an EDGE only device, I put it's SIM my Nokia E51 and it would only get EDGE service. I called and told them I got a new 3G phone and they were able to tag my phone for 3G service.

With newer accounts I believe they're just allowing EDGE/3G to be allowed on all 64k+ SIMS / IMEI's by default.

tkboxer wrote:So is the network looking at available services to that phone through the IMEI number on the sim card?

Exactly.

tkboxer wrote:If that is the case then must the account settings for that phone reflect the correct services enabled such as MediNet Unlimited package or text messaging etc...? Are those settings also held on the sim card? If you access your account online and you make changes to optional services does it update that information to your phone OTA?

If you add data service to your phone on the web interface, or by asking an AT&T representative it'll allow that service to be used by your phone OTA. AT&T can flag your phone for no data service and your phone will not even get EDGE/3G service from the tower. The services your phone can use are not stored on the SIM.

Make sure you have a new 3G SIM Card and update your IMEI with AT&T. You will be fine.

You do not need your account "flagged", I work for AT&T, this does not exist.

You do want to update your IMEI though, because it helps connectivity for your phone to certain things on AT&T's side (internally).

If you still have any questions please send me a message I'll gladly help you!

:icon14:

VeeralS05 wrote:...You do not need your account "flagged", I work for AT&T, this does not exist.You do want to update your IMEI though, because it helps connectivity for your phone to certain things on AT&T's side (internally)

First of all you don't update an IMEI unless you have a simcard programmer. You can get a new sim card that has more MNC Slots that will function better, but it has nothing to do with the IMEI, TMSI or IMSI unless they program the card with a new identifier.

What do you do at AT&T; pickup garbage and vacuum floors? Do you realize GPRS and UMTS are completely different technologies/networks?

If the account is not authorized for 3G/HSDPA/BroadbandConnect or whatever the hell you want to call it... It's not going to get 3G service or speed. I know for a fact that AT&T can flag accounts for either GRPS/UMTS access or both.