Nokia 8910i; Unable to use with Cingular

I

ichiban

New member
need help... :sad:
bought the nokia 8910i from overseas. did a lot of research before i bought it to make sure that i didnt get dooped. All web sites that i researched said that this phone will work with Cingular/at&t and t-mobile.

Called Cingular to get give them the ImEI number because the phone will not find a network. Reads the SIM card fine.

Any suggestions kudahsigh?

domo.
 
That phone doesn't have an 850mhz band, I would not have recommended it for Cingular, because they use 850mhz in some areas and 1900mhz in others. T-Mobile uses 1900mhz exclusively in the USA, so you should be able to roam on one of their towers if they are in your area. Unfortunately, Cingular now considers it a breach of contract to roam more than 50% of the time so if you're roaming all the time they will send you a little nasty-gram to let you know they don't want your business. :(

The next phone you order from overseas should be a quad-band phone, make sure it has 850mhz and 1900mhz; the other bands are not used in the USA. Did Cingular suggest anything that could be causing a problem besides lacking the 850mhz band? I am guessing that's your problem unless there's something else wrong with the phone. You said it accepted the SIM so it must be unlocked... :exasper:

Sorry I couldn't give you any better news than that.
 
I first bought a Motorola mpx220 (piece of junk) which operates on 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS systems...
The nokia 8910i says it operates on Dual Band Operation
EGSM 900, GSM 1800, and GSM 900/1800 dual-band networks in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Automatic switching between bands.
so it shares two of the different bandwidths and should (in theory)be compatible right?
I cannot even get it to pick up a network. The phone will give me a network failure or network unavailable error.
I did get the lock code and you are right the phone is unlocked.

Please tell me that i didn't buy this phone for nothing. :ah:
 
Ok I had a hard time finding a good reference source for this phone. It does not have either of the bands required for GSM in the USA. It's not going to work at all. A USA dual-mode phone has 850/1900. This European dual-mode phone is 900/1800 and so it's useless to you. Sorry :( :sad:
 
domo aregato for all of your help brad sahn,
any chance that i can sell this to a t-mobile subscriber and it will work for them?
domo again, for your help.
 
No, I did not realize the phone was missing the 1900mhz when I posted my first reply, that means it's no good in the USA at all, it's a European or Asian model. Sorry for the confusion, I had trouble finding reliable information on the 8910i.
 
i thought all was lost but the seller contacted me back and said that i can get my yen back.

what do you think about the nokia 8801. same style with the push button slide-open type phone but operates on GSM 850/1800/1900 MHz.
a little pricey i know but i have found the phone for cheaper than the regular msrp of $699.

i really wish that the U.S was like every other country(well europe and asia at least) where you choose your phone first then your provider.

good old FCC. Country of technology but yet we are so limited to what the consumers can actually taste.

let me know what you think.

domo.
 
Actually, that looks like a pretty good phone based on what phonescoop.com says. It has all the features I would look for in a phone, but the reviews are mixed. I would advise you to look at phonescoops specs to make sure the phone has all the features you like, then read their reviews to see what other people have said about this phone. Good luck!

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=747
 
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