Nokia N73 Network Selection Help

E

efaiii

New member
Well I just picked up an N73 from the Chicago flagship store...probably my first mistake. Anyway, I am trying to go into the network settings so I can tell the phone not to look for WCDMA 2100, but only GSM. I have this option on my E61...and as everyone knows, while in the US you should turn off the 2100 part to help battery life.

I actually need the 2100 for when I travel to Japan, but I manage that manually and only turn it on when I am there. Under the Network settings I have NO choices for manual network selection nor do I have the choice for GSM only or anything else. It only has the option for "Display Cell Info".

My E61 has all the proper choices...and in the same place. What's the deal? Anybody got any ideas? Does Nokia make a north american version of the N73 or something? I thought they were all the same. Then I noticed on the outside of the box (in TINY writing) "For use on 850/1800/1900 networks".

Any help here? This thing may be going back. Incidentally, the Nokia USA website shows the specs as 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100.

Regards.
 
On the box, it should say "N73-X" where X is a number. What number is that? I remember from the FCC filings that there was a version planned with no 2100.
 
i got mine from nokia nyc store and have the same issue. i am hoping that it still has wcdma2100 but no manual selection. i was told at the store that it should work in japan. i think the video calling and other Euro/Asian 3G features are disabled too. i should probably call them and confirm this because i am planning to go to japan sometime this year.
 
If you can return it, do so and get an import from hi-mobile.net or one of the other sites people here on the board recommend. It's cheaper than the Flagship store and you are guaranteed to get quadband + wcdma 2100.

-kap
 
Yea I saw that number and was wondering about the designation. On mine that number is a 5 (five)...as in N73-5.

So, anybody know what a "5" means? I am thinking that 5 means its going back. The nokia USA website (which is where you would expect a US consumer to be researching) shows the specs as quad band with 2100 and make no referrence to any other versions. If Nokia is selling different phones than what they are advertising...bad Nokia bad!!!

Regards.
 
i got a reply back from their customer service.

FROM NOKIA USA
There is no option in turning on or off the UTMS and GSM on your Nokia N73 device. Your Nokia device supports EDGE/GSM 850/900/1800/1900 + WCDMA 2100 MHz frequencies where available. All this means is that, if the network in Japan support the WCDMA 2100 MHz frequency, you would need to reboot your device and insert a supported SIM card, and your device should register with the network in Japan.

Your Nokia N73 device has the ability to switch from GSM to UTMS. You would just have to reboot your device for it to register with the network.
 
if there is no hardware difference, then do a product code change to a generic N73 firmware or some european/japanese one (google it) and flash it with NSU.

It should enable the extra options for WCDMA.
 
Under the battery, there is a sticker that should say RM-133. This is the N73-1: quadband GSM + WCDMA 2100.

If it doesn't say RM-133, then don't try any product code tricks. N73-1 and the GSM-only model have different hardware for sure. You cannot mix and match firmware between the two models.

More likely is that you have some USA firmware where Nokia decided to hide the Network mode option. They were probably afraid that people would switch it to UMTS-only and not know why their handset stopped connecting to Cingular....
 
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