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Unlocked HTC Aria - Only gets EDGE, NO 3G

R

Revetahw

Lurker
I have an "HTC Aria" from AT&T I unlocked it for use on a trip to Africa.
I have used it in Kenya on Safaricom, in Niger on Orange and Airtel, and in Israel on Cellcom.

Everything works except I never 3G, even when everyone around me does. I only get EDGE everywhere.

This is a quad-band "world-phone". Shouldn't it be able to work on any network? Could AT&T have changed some setting for the 3G to only work on their bands? Perhaps the radio firmware ver. or something? I have read where others with Aria's have this same problem. Help would be SO appreciated!

Here are the specs for the Aria's bands:
HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM; Dual Mode UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (1900/850MHZ) & GSM/GPRS/EDGE (Quad band 850/900/1800/1900MHZ); HSDPA/UMTS (3GPP Release 5 Compliant; 7.2 Mbps Enabled) EGPRS Functionality
 
it is a quad band "world phone" but it only supports at&ts 3g data bands. so anywhere you go that doesnt use those bands, you wont get 3g. only edge.
 
That phone ONLY has the 3G bands used in North/South America - UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (1900/850MHZ). The rest of the world (Africa, Europe, Asia, etc) uses 3G band 2100. So, you need a phone with that band to get 3G outside North America. I visit Nigeria myself, whern I am there, I use my treo 750, which has the 2100 3G band.
 
Thanks guys for the clear and accurate answers!

So, the HTC Aria physically doesn't support the 2100 Mhz frequency band which is required for 3G use in almost every country outside of the USA.
Nor will it work on the 900Mhz/AWS frequencies used by T-Mobile and others within the US.

So this means that "unlocking" the SIM restriction still doesn't set this phone free from AT&T! ..If you want 3G to work that is. Aren't they sly!!

This is probably a stupid question, but Is the limitation in the software or hardware?
And is there any way possible to add to or change the bands that this phone can use??
 
Yeah its the antenna.

850MHz/1900MHz are only used on AT&T, most Canadian GSM carriers and some Latin American GSM carriers AFAIK. Outside the Americas, it is EDGE only.
 
Revetahw said:
...Nor will it work on the 900Mhz/AWS frequencies used by T-Mobile and others within the US...
Click to expand...

3G on T-Mo USA is going to require the 1700 band. Two of the limited few newer phones that will support 3G on multiple carriers are the Nokia N8 and Nokia E7...3G on 850/900/1700/1900/2100. I don't believe that there are any Android based phones with pentaband HSPA/UMTS capability.
 
Backflop has 850/900/1900/2100 I think which gets 3G on all networks except T-Mobile USA.

My Acer Liquid (along with most Acer Liquids) has 900/1900/2100 which gets 3G (tho only 1900 for Americas so limited but I have yet to run into problems) on all networks except T-Mobile USA.

Droid Pro/Droid 2 Global has 850/1900/2100 (so gets 3G on all most carriers worldwide)




But yeah, no Android phone has pentaband HSPA
 
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