[Brotherman38]

salvy, on 05 February 2013 - 09:01 PM, said:

I don't have any other phone that supports 1900 band to verify if there is really 3G from T-Mobile in my area.
Nice to hear you got 3G working with a ATT sim card, I ordered one from Net10 yesterday, looking forward getting out of EDGE

PS: ATT serves its 3G from both the 1900 and 850 band, it could be we are picking the signal from the 850 band?

Yes in Atlanta AT&T uses only the 850 band, there's a reason they gave the 1900 band to t-mobile, being its not really reliable for 3G! As soon as my contract is up i'm jumping ship.

[clecaros]

I am not an expert, I understand GSM 850/900/1800/1900 is Voice/Text Message and Internet ( GPRS & EDGE), WCDMA/UMT,HSPA is the 3G frecuency 850/1900 Mhz to ATT Network & 1700/2100 & 1900 in some cities to T-Mobile Network.
Now, my question is, We can change the baseband???, Maybe some rom to U.S. can help to fix all this kind problems with the chinese phones. Basically all this phones are working with the same processor Mediatek in differents versions ( 6577/6588/6589), Maybe we can contact some "Kitchen" ( android experts) and finally fix this problem.
My other question is about the codec 3G= HSPA and "4G"...HSPA+, i know the difference is the speed but we can update the codec????, and convert this cellphones in "4G".
Is very important know than this chinese companies are not interested in american market, because they have big markets like China, another Asian countries, east europe, Russia, Brasil, etc, where don't have any problem with copyright by models.
Anyway, this is my first post and I am very happy to be here.

[Brotherman38]

clecaros, on 08 February 2013 - 11:08 PM, said:

I am not an expert, I understand GSM 850/900/1800/1900 is Voice/Text Message and Internet ( GPRS & EDGE), WCDMA/UMT,HSPA is the 3G frecuency 850/1900 Mhz to ATT Network & 1700/2100 & 1900 in some cities to T-Mobile Network.
Now, my question is, We can change the baseband???, Maybe some rom to U.S. can help to fix all this kind problems with the chinese phones. Basically all this phones are working with the same processor Mediatek in differents versions ( 6577/6588/6589), Maybe we can contact some "Kitchen" ( android experts) and finally fix this problem.
My other question is about the codec 3G= HSPA and "4G"...HSPA+, i know the difference is the speed but we can update the codec????, and convert this cellphones in "4G".
Is very important know than this chinese companies are not interested in american market, because they have big markets like China, another Asian countries, east europe, Russia, Brasil, etc, where don't have any problem with copyright by models.
Anyway, this is my first post and I am very happy to be here.

I think AT&T is pretty much using just the 850 band for 3g now, not the 1900 band. T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100 for 3G, and also now in certain areas 1900/2100, 1700/2100 bands. For 3g service yes it may just take a firmware update, but for 4G I think it depends on the chip set that's used.

[wseverin]

From a bad experience I can tell you one phone to avoid. That is the Star (Ulefone) N9330. It is a 5.5", MTK6577 dual core Note-2-ish phone, widely advertised from Chinese suppliers as supporting 850/1900/2100 WCDMA (as well as quad band GSM). The "engineering mode" "band mode" page even highlights WCDMA 1900-PCS as available, and you can check it and it will stay checked. However, the phone absolutely does not communicate on 1900 WCDMA. It's GSM(EDGE) only.

The problem is not the SIM card or service availability. I can take the SIM card and stick back in my old phone and get a nice 1900 MHz "H" connection.

The problem is not the APN settings. I've had multiple conversations with technical support and they are correct.

I've tried every combination of "mobile networks" settings imaginable. I've tried every reasonable adjustment in "engineering mode". I've tried multiple hacks to build.prop that I've found on the net. After two weeks of trying everything I can think of, nothing works.

The N9330 DOES NOT receive 1900MHz WCDMA.

[wseverin]

Brotherman38, on 11 February 2013 - 12:26 PM, said:

I think AT&T is pretty much using just the 850 band for 3g now, not the 1900 band.

Actually, it's the other way around. AT&T covers most of it's 3G with 1900MHz, and is only beginning to roll out 850MHz coverage in some places like southern California.

[Brotherman38]

Brotherman38, on 30 January 2013 - 01:11 PM, said:

I went ahead an ordered a Feiteng H7100 1GB, 5.3" screen and a CUBOT A8809 512MB 4.7" screen, they both suppose to work on 3G 850/1900/2100. I will report back when I receive them.

I just want to report that neither of these phones " Feiteng H7100 or CUBOT A8809" work on T-mobile 3G 1900 band! I've pretty much given up on these China phones, the specs are all over the place, most of the time they're fake! The Cubot A8809 the specs for the phone on www.cubot.net was listing the phone as supporting "3G 850/1900/2100". I even sent them an email to confirmed I received a reply that it did support 1900 on 3G. But they have since changed the specs to only 850/2100 :-(. and this is the manufacture!

For people on AT&T these phones work great for 3G, but for T-Mobile they don't!

[johnnyblades]

Thanks to everyone who is sharing their reports on these china phones. It doesn't sound too promising though.

This Star S5 looks beautiful in my opinion:
http://www.pandawill...-8g-p72575.html

If anyone has used this or has any info on it, please let me know. I'm looking to use in on Straight Talk with AT&T SIM.

thanks

[Golduck]

Brotherman38, on 18 March 2013 - 09:14 AM, said:

I just want to report that neither of these phones " Feiteng H7100 or CUBOT A8809" work on T-mobile 3G 1900 band! I've pretty much given up on these China phones, the specs are all over the place, most of the time they're fake! The Cubot A8809 the specs for the phone on www.cubot.net was listing the phone as supporting "3G 850/1900/2100". I even sent them an email to confirmed I received a reply that it did support 1900 on 3G. But they have since changed the specs to only 850/2100 :-(. and this is the manufacture!

For people on AT&T these phones work great for 3G, but for T-Mobile they don't!

Hi there people,

I´m from Argentina and I recently bought the Cubot A8809 (Pandawill - shipped/not arrived yet) because in the item description said that it supports WCDMA1900... A lot of people of Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico (WCDMA 1900) bought it and half of them confirmed that the 3G worked and the other half is still trying to make it work. I just entered the Cubot webpage (www.cubot.net) and it says that only supports 850/2100 band so, I don't understand....

Here's a Pandawill picture showing the 1900 band marked as available with the mobileuncle tool (apk)



Also a seller in Argentina says that the 3g 1900 band works like a charm (tested) so I don't know what to think...
I'll wait and I'll let you know.

Regards!!

[Brotherman38]

Golduck, on 23 March 2013 - 11:54 AM, said:

Hi there people,

I´m from Argentina and I recently bought the Cubot A8809 (Pandawill - shipped/not arrived yet) because in the item description said that it supports WCDMA1900... A lot of people of Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico (WCDMA 1900) bought it and half of them confirmed that the 3G worked and the other half is still trying to make it work. I just entered the Cubot webpage (www.cubot.net) and it says that only supports 850/2100 band so, I don't understand....

Here's a Pandawill picture showing the 1900 band marked as available with the mobileuncle tool (apk)



Also a seller in Argentina says that the 3g 1900 band works like a charm (tested) so I don't know what to think...
I'll wait and I'll let you know.

Regards!!

Yeah it sucks :-( Cubot changed the specs for the A8809 on there site from WCDMA 850/1900/2100 to WCDMA 850/2100! You can't even go by the manufactures info on there site! I'm waiting for the Samsung Note II to go on sale in a couple months since the Note 3 will be coming out soon. The price should start dropping!
But I feel your pain!

[Bratzilla]

Brotherman38, on 25 March 2013 - 02:13 PM, said:

Yeah it sucks :-( Cubot changed the specs for the A8809 on there site from WCDMA 850/1900/2100 to WCDMA 850/2100! You can't even go by the manufactures info on there site! I'm waiting for the Samsung Note II to go on sale in a couple months since the Note 3 will be coming out soon. The price should start dropping!
But I feel your pain!

I feel your pain. I was confused as well when I saw Cubot had changed their WCMA description - so much so that I actually emailed the company. Below is their response, unedited, that explains exactly what happened:

Quote

Dear sir

Thanks for you choosed cubot smart phone. Because the chip supplier removed 1900 band IC. so the new stock not have 1900 band. only 850 and 2100. please take attention. thanks

Here in the US, when such a substantive change is made to an existing product, there is typically a change in the product name (even if it's just to add a suffix to the existing name, a new number, etc.) that makes it clear to me the consumer that the product is now different. It seems that this may not be the case in China or other areas. In other words, the name on the tin does not always mean you are getting the same product. That would help explain why there seems to be such discrepancies between descriptions of the same phones on different sites - it is entirely possible that an early batch of the phone model did indeed have WCDMA 850/1900/2100 but later batches are now WCDMA 850/2100 (as what has happened with Cubot A8809).

I can confirm that my current A8809 does indeed give me that sweet, sweet "H" with my cell signal, and I have located another source that still has the original phones in stock. One thing I learned - if you need the 1900 Mhz band for 3G you must ask the vendor to state the phone has this band. I can tell you for a fact that there are a lot of phone sellers who are falsely advertising their phones as having WCDMA 850/1900. I cannot stress how crucial it is for you to make the seller confirm it in writing (i.e., email). Makes it MUCH easier to open a winnable case with PayPal or your credit card company.

[Brotherman38]

Bratzilla, on 27 March 2013 - 10:18 PM, said:

I feel your pain. I was confused as well when I saw Cubot had changed their WCMA description - so much so that I actually emailed the company. Below is their response, unedited, that explains exactly what happened:


Here in the US, when such a substantive change is made to an existing product, there is typically a change in the product name (even if it's just to add a suffix to the existing name, a new number, etc.) that makes it clear to me the consumer that the product is now different. It seems that this may not be the case in China or other areas. In other words, the name on the tin does not always mean you are getting the same product. That would help explain why there seems to be such discrepancies between descriptions of the same phones on different sites - it is entirely possible that an early batch of the phone model did indeed have WCDMA 850/1900/2100 but later batches are now WCDMA 850/2100 (as what has happened with Cubot A8809).

I can confirm that my current A8809 does indeed give me that sweet, sweet "H" with my cell signal, and I have located another source that still has the original phones in stock. One thing I learned - if you need the 1900 Mhz band for 3G you must ask the vendor to state the phone has this band. I can tell you for a fact that there are a lot of phone sellers who are falsely advertising their phones as having WCDMA 850/1900. I cannot stress how crucial it is for you to make the seller confirm it in writing (i.e., email). Makes it MUCH easier to open a winnable case with PayPal or your credit card company.

Thanks for the info; Most of these guys make a crooked used car salesman blush. They will tell you anything to make a sale.

[Bratzilla]

Brotherman38, on 28 March 2013 - 12:30 PM, said:

Thanks for the info; Most of these guys make a crooked used car salesman blush. They will tell you anything to make a sale.

It's even more convoluted than that. I found out there are several phones which are all the SAME phone, just with a different name on it. To make things even more interesting, based on recent experiences, it seems that some of these vendors do not know the specs of their own phones. The better ones I've encountered do bother to test at least a few phones in their batches to get first-hand knowledge of their product, but many do not. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that there could be phones that actually DO have the 1900 band, but it isn't advertised or noted because the focus of most non-US phone sellers is on the Asian or European markets, where 2100Mhz is dominant for 3G.

There is also the misconception that 850Mhz is enough to provide 3G coverage elsewhere. I've had to explain in detail how (at least here in the US) that is not true, and that we need both 850 and 1900 to get high speed 3G (aka HSPA). Don't even get started on T-Mobile; their 1900 rollout is far from being done, so if you don't have 1700Mhz/2100Mhz forget about it.

That said, I have been keeping my own list of phone brands which do (or based on the specs, should) work well here in the US. These include:

Xiaomi
Oppo
K-Touch
Huawei
Blu (not really "foreign," just not as well known)

The K-Touch latest phones, such as the K-Touch "Touch" V5 (the big honkin' 5.7" phablet) and the K-Touch V8 and V9 are ALL quad-band GSM / pentaband 3G phones. Sadly, though, I haven't found as many vendors who sell K-Touch. And the ones who do mark the phones up extravagantly - but I'm keeping watch as I've started to see them more and more. The makers on my list by and large produce fairly high-end phones, but are cheap in comparison to, say, the Galaxy Note II or S3 (apples to apples, etc.).

As a rule of thumb, always look for a phone that actually has a maker behind it. That's a bit of advice I got from other sources.

Also, only purchase from reputable vendors. If in doubt, I always search for the vendor's name and add the word "reviews" to it. I also crawl through blogs and forums like this one to see what other members are saying. No matter what, I avoid vendors who are not certified and registered with well-known exchange or payment agencies, i.e. PayPal, etc. I personally steer clear of any vendor who only accepts wire transfers or credit cards. (Yeah, if these guys cannot even be straight up about their freakin' phones, do I REALLY want them having my CC info? )

This post has been edited by Bratzilla: 29 March 2013 - 02:24 AM

[johnnyblades]

Bratzilla, on 29 March 2013 - 02:23 AM, said:

It's even more convoluted than that. I found out there are several phones which are all the SAME phone, just with a different name on it. To make things even more interesting, based on recent experiences, it seems that some of these vendors do not know the specs of their own phones. The better ones I've encountered do bother to test at least a few phones in their batches to get first-hand knowledge of their product, but many do not. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that there could be phones that actually DO have the 1900 band, but it isn't advertised or noted because the focus of most non-US phone sellers is on the Asian or European markets, where 2100Mhz is dominant for 3G.

There is also the misconception that 850Mhz is enough to provide 3G coverage elsewhere. I've had to explain in detail how (at least here in the US) that is not true, and that we need both 850 and 1900 to get high speed 3G (aka HSPA). Don't even get started on T-Mobile; their 1900 rollout is far from being done, so if you don't have 1700Mhz/2100Mhz forget about it.

That said, I have been keeping my own list of phone brands which do (or based on the specs, should) work well here in the US. These include:

Xiaomi
Oppo
K-Touch
Huawei
Blu (not really "foreign," just not as well known)

The K-Touch latest phones, such as the K-Touch "Touch" V5 (the big honkin' 5.7" phablet) and the K-Touch V8 and V9 are ALL quad-band GSM / pentaband 3G phones. Sadly, though, I haven't found as many vendors who sell K-Touch. And the ones who do mark the phones up extravagantly - but I'm keeping watch as I've started to see them more and more. The makers on my list by and large produce fairly high-end phones, but are cheap in comparison to, say, the Galaxy Note II or S3 (apples to apples, etc.).

As a rule of thumb, always look for a phone that actually has a maker behind it. That's a bit of advice I got from other sources.

Also, only purchase from reputable vendors. If in doubt, I always search for the vendor's name and add the word "reviews" to it. I also crawl through blogs and forums like this one to see what other members are saying. No matter what, I avoid vendors who are not certified and registered with well-known exchange or payment agencies, i.e. PayPal, etc. I personally steer clear of any vendor who only accepts wire transfers or credit cards. (Yeah, if these guys cannot even be straight up about their freakin' phones, do I REALLY want them having my CC info? )

great post! very informative.
I'm thinking I'll wait til the latest BLU phones arrive and I can read some reviews. Not sure about the processors on these phones, but thats not really a huge deal for me.

http://www.engadget....es-smartphones/

[Bratzilla]

johnnyblades, on 29 March 2013 - 11:30 AM, said:

great post! very informative.
I'm thinking I'll wait til the latest BLU phones arrive and I can read some reviews. Not sure about the processors on these phones, but thats not really a huge deal for me.

http://www.engadget....es-smartphones/

The one thing I do not like about Blu phones is the fairly weak, non-removable battery. Ideally, for me at least, a phone should have a removable battery and the option to expand storage (i.e., SD card). Although the Nexus phone has built-in, non-expandable storage, at least the battery can come out. IMHO, these new phones where you cannot remove what used to be removable have "planned obsolescence" (i.e., force you to buy a new one every two-to-four years whether you want to or not). I was excited about the Blu 5.7" phone based on the specs and price, but once I saw you cannot remove the battery, I had to strike it off my list.

Regarding the processors, I think I read either at Gizchina or XDA Developers that phones using the MTK family of processors (i.e., MTK6577, MTK6589) are more easily modified. Not sure if that's true, though.

[johnnyblades]

Bratzilla, on 30 March 2013 - 07:19 PM, said:

The one thing I do not like about Blu phones is the fairly weak, non-removable battery. Ideally, for me at least, a phone should have a removable battery and the option to expand storage (i.e., SD card). Although the Nexus phone has built-in, non-expandable storage, at least the battery can come out. IMHO, these new phones where you cannot remove what used to be removable have "planned obsolescence" (i.e., force you to buy a new one every two-to-four years whether you want to or not). I was excited about the Blu 5.7" phone based on the specs and price, but once I saw you cannot remove the battery, I had to strike it off my list.

Regarding the processors, I think I read either at Gizchina or XDA Developers that phones using the MTK family of processors (i.e., MTK6577, MTK6589) are more easily modified. Not sure if that's true, though.

I didn't know that BLU phones don't have removable batteries. I definitely want a phone with removable battery, especially if the battery is "weak". Oh well, I'll just keep looking then, I'm in no hurry. Thanks, Bratzilla

[Bratzilla]

johnnyblades, on 01 April 2013 - 10:12 AM, said:

I didn't know that BLU phones don't have removable batteries. I definitely want a phone with removable battery, especially if the battery is "weak". Oh well, I'll just keep looking then, I'm in no hurry. Thanks, Bratzilla

I probably should add that NOT ALL BLU phones have built-in batteries. Other models do have batteries that are removable (at least from what I could find). All of the phones in the Quattro HD line are the ones that specifically seem to have ones that are non-removable. When in doubt, study the specs.

UPDATE: I just read this about the BLU phones:

Quote

Be aware that BLU devices are not licensed for Google Play and you will have problems with some Google apps and Google Play Store...

This was a comment, and not an official statement, but still this may be cause for pause. Need to confirm this.

This post has been edited by Bratzilla: 02 April 2013 - 03:43 PM

[johnnyblades]

Bratzilla, on 02 April 2013 - 03:41 PM, said:

I probably should add that NOT ALL BLU phones have built-in batteries. Other models do have batteries that are removable (at least from what I could find). All of the phones in the Quattro HD line are the ones that specifically seem to have ones that are non-removable. When in doubt, study the specs.

UPDATE: I just read this about the BLU phones:



This was a comment, and not an official statement, but still this may be cause for pause. Need to confirm this.

Yeah, that would be a deal breaker for sure. thanks for all the updates. I'll keep researching, I'm in no hurry.

[turnip]

As far as I can see these Blu phones use a tegra 3, which from what i recall is widely known for its being NON-moddable. So the google play problem may be a very large problem, unless you are willing to sideload everything using APK's downloaded online. I dont use many programs anyways so if its cheap enough itd be worth considering, also the battery life sorta sucks for an integrated battery, tegra 3 is not known for being battery efficient either.

edit) oops there are a lot of blu models that dont use tegra 3. Though I doubt they will work in America.
http://www.newegg.co...attro&x=23&y=12

This post has been edited by turnip: 04 April 2013 - 09:55 PM

[Golduck]

Bratzilla, on 27 March 2013 - 10:18 PM, said:

I feel your pain. I was confused as well when I saw Cubot had changed their WCMA description - so much so that I actually emailed the company. Below is their response, unedited, that explains exactly what happened:


Here in the US, when such a substantive change is made to an existing product, there is typically a change in the product name (even if it's just to add a suffix to the existing name, a new number, etc.) that makes it clear to me the consumer that the product is now different. It seems that this may not be the case in China or other areas. In other words, the name on the tin does not always mean you are getting the same product. That would help explain why there seems to be such discrepancies between descriptions of the same phones on different sites - it is entirely possible that an early batch of the phone model did indeed have WCDMA 850/1900/2100 but later batches are now WCDMA 850/2100 (as what has happened with Cubot A8809).

I can confirm that my current A8809 does indeed give me that sweet, sweet "H" with my cell signal, and I have located another source that still has the original phones in stock. One thing I learned - if you need the 1900 Mhz band for 3G you must ask the vendor to state the phone has this band. I can tell you for a fact that there are a lot of phone sellers who are falsely advertising their phones as having WCDMA 850/1900. I cannot stress how crucial it is for you to make the seller confirm it in writing (i.e., email). Makes it MUCH easier to open a winnable case with PayPal or your credit card company.

Hi there!
Do you know how to realize if the phone that I bought belong to that "early batch" that indeed have 1900 WCDMA?
Also, you said that you located a source where to find the original phone... can you tell me where?

Thanks

[Brotherman38]

Golduck, on 04 April 2013 - 10:08 PM, said:

Hi there!
Do you know how to realize if the phone that I bought belong to that "early batch" that indeed have 1900 WCDMA?
Also, you said that you located a source where to find the original phone... can you tell me where?

Thanks

I don't believe any of this old/new batch stuff. I don't think any of these MTK6575, MTK6577, or MTK6589 phones from china support band 3g 1900, I think they only support 850/2100 or just 2100 band! I think they're pretty much clones of clones with different names on them, a few tweaks here and there, but the guts are all the same firmware band support wise!

This post has been edited by Brotherman38: 05 April 2013 - 10:30 AM