Which 830 to buy for AT&T?

[sketchy9]

According to this page there will be three different flavors of the Lumia 830: the RM-983, -984, and -985.

Lumia 830 on AT&T may use Power Mat wireless charging; T-Mobile variant spotted | Windows Phone Daily

Supposedly the RM-983 is the AT&T version (with powermat instead of Qi, of course), while the RM-985 is the T-Mobile version, according to the FCC documents. My question is which version to buy. I'm on AT&T but I want the Qi technology, not the Powermat. It's a little hard to parse the FCC docs, but from what I can gather it seems that the various models will have the following frequencies:

RM-983 (AT&T?)--
GSM: 850, 1900
WCDMA: 850 (band 5), 1900 (band 2)
LTE: 1900 (band 2), 1700 (band 4), 850 (band 5), 2500 (band 7), 700 lower (band 17)

RM-985 (T-Mobile?)--
GSM: 850, 1900
WCDMA: 850 (band 5), 1900 (band 2)
LTE: 1900 (band 2), 1700/2100 (band 4), 850 (band 5), 2500 (band 7), 700 (band 17)

The RM-984 does not look compatible at all. Looking at this comparison, the only difference I can see is in LTE band 4, which is 1700 for the RM-983 but 1700/2100 for the RM-985. Will the RM-985 work on AT&T given this difference? I haven't been able to find a good answer anywhere. If it is compatible, why would anyone who wants Qi ever buy the AT&T RM-983?

 

[Verkunder]

re:

I bought one of the RM-985's from eBay and I'm on AT&T. I'll let you know once I get it in.

 

[anon(5335877)]

re:

Band 4 is the same. Sometimes people call it 1700 and other times 1700/2100, but they're referring to the same set of frequencies. Also, I'm not sure how it could be the T-Mobile version if it's missing WCDMA Band 4.

 

[sketchy9]

re:

Band 4 is the same. Sometimes people call it 1700 and other times 1700/2100, but they're referring to the same set of frequencies. Also, I'm not sure how it could be the T-Mobile version if it's missing WCDMA Band 4.

Ok I think I got the info wrong. After reading the FCC documents a little more closely I came across these statements in the user guides:

RM-985:
"You can only use your device on the LTE 700 (17), 850 (5), 1700 (4), 1900 (2), 2600 (7); WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100; and GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz networks".

RM-983:
"You can only use your RM-983 device on the LTE 700 (17), 850 (5), 1700 (4), 1900 (2), 2600 (7), Carrier Aggregation 4+17, 17+2; WCDMA 850, 900, 1800, 1900; and GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz networks."

RM-984:
"You can only use your device on the LTE 800 (20), 900 (8), 1800 (3), 2100 (1), 2600 (7); WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100; and GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz networks"

Unfortunately in my mind that doesn't really clear anything up. I agree that RM-985 supposedly being the T-Mobile variant doesn't make sense without WCDMA band 4. Maybe it's some sort of internationally-branded equivalent of the AT&T version. I feel like the RM-983 is almost certainly the AT&T version, especially since it has "carrier aggregation" frequencies which AT&T uses. The question now becomes will there be any downside to the RM-985 on AT&T, considering the WCDMA frequencies are not exactly the same? For the record my AT&T Lumia 920 has the same WCDMA frequencies as the RM-985, so in theory it should be fine.

 

[anon(5335877)]

re:

RM-983:
WCDMA 850, 900, 1800, 1900; and GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz networks."

Unfortunately in my mind that doesn't really clear anything up. I agree that RM-985 supposedly being the T-Mobile variant doesn't make sense without WCDMA band 4. Maybe it's some sort of internationally-branded equivalent of the AT&T version. I feel like the RM-983 is almost certainly the AT&T version, especially since it has "carrier aggregation" frequencies which AT&T uses. The question now becomes will there be any downside to the RM-985 on AT&T, considering the WCDMA frequencies are not exactly the same? For the record my AT&T Lumia 920 has the same WCDMA frequencies as the RM-985, so in theory it should be fine.

It looks to be a mistake in the user manual for the RM-983. Looks like someone just copied and pasted the bands for GSM over to the bands listed under WCDMA. It really should be WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100.

In the SAR Test Report for the RM-983, it even says:

Outside of USA, the transmitter of the device is capable of operating also in
GSM/GPRS/EGPRS900, GSM/GPRS/EGPRS1800, WCDMA/HSUPA900 (Band 8) and
WCDMA/HSUPA2100 (Band 1) (emphasis mine) bands which are not part of this filing.

In addition, no one has deployed HSPA on 1800 anywhere, so it wouldn't make sense for a device to support WCDMA 1800.

See here: UMTS frequency bands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think the only differences between the RM-983 and the RM-985 will be carrier aggregation and Qi wireless charging.

 

[vw1610]

re:

The RM-984 is available on eBay right now for 444$. Will it work on ATT? I don't understand the previous posts, They never gave a definitive answer.

 

[sketchy9]

re:

The RM-984 is available on eBay right now for 444$. Will it work on ATT? I don't understand the previous posts, They never gave a definitive answer.

I think of the three devices the RM-984 will NOT work on AT&T. I would look for the RM-983 or, if you want to keep Qi charging, the RM-985. I ended up buying an RM-985 on eBay, I'll update with my findings once I receive it.

 

[vw1610]

re:

I think of the three devices the RM-984 will NOT work on AT&T. I would look for the RM-983 or, if you want to keep Qi charging, the RM-985. I ended up buying an RM-985 on eBay, I'll update with my findings once I receive it.

Thanks for replying so promptly.

 

[hasasimo]

re:

The RM-984 is available on eBay right now for 444$. Will it work on ATT? I don't understand the previous posts, They never gave a definitive answer.

Yes, the RM-984 actually will work fully on AT&T except for LTE.

 

[realwarder]

re:

If you want full speed LTE then buying the AT*T version and buying an alternative Qi back will be the best option.

T-Mobile will work but at 3.5G speeds.

Thank AT*T for this annoyance.

 

[anon(5335877)]

re:

If you want full speed LTE then buying the AT*T version and buying an alternative Qi back will be the best option.

T-Mobile will work but at 3.5G speeds.

Thank AT*T for this annoyance.

Why only 3.5G speeds? It supports Band 4 LTE.

 

[onysi]

re:

Anyone know if you need special cover for the Qi version? Older models of Lumia like the 920 has a patch in the back cover to suck in the the charge through wireless charging, but with changeable back plate of 830, it seems like it doesn't have some sort of patch on the back for wireless charging. Does what I say make sense?

 

[JamesPTao]

re:

Anyone know if you need special cover for the Qi version? Older models of Lumia like the 920 has a patch in the back cover to suck in the the charge through wireless charging, but with changeable back plate of 830, it seems like it doesn't have some sort of patch on the back for wireless charging. Does what I say make sense?

920 had it built in, 1020 had the Contac points for the case. I don't know. Knowing AT&t they made Nokia strip it out because they want to sell their powermat standard (which now one wants). Probably nokias way of giving users something they want (removable battery) and bypassing having to use a qi case (instead allowing you to buy a qi back plate so you can use any case you want). That would be my guess.

 

[vw1610]

Re:

It looks to be a mistake in the user manual for the RM-983. Looks like someone just copied and pasted the bands for GSM over to the bands listed under WCDMA. It really should be WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100.

In the SAR Test Report for the RM-983, it even says:



In addition, no one has deployed HSPA on 1800 anywhere, so it wouldn't make sense for a device to support WCDMA 1800.

See here: UMTS frequency bands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think the only differences between the RM-983 and the RM-985 will be carrier aggregation and Qi wireless charging.

So you're saying the rm-985 will be able to use LTE ON ATT?

 

[Verkunder]

Re:

So you're saying the rm-985 will be able to use LTE ON ATT?

I have the RM-985. Using an AT&T SIM, I'm getting LTE, MMS and Internet Sharing.

 

[vw1610]

Re:

That is such great news!

 

[Fred Wilson2]

The RM-985's on EBay now are prototypes though should get the full software/firmware update maybe by end of Nov.
I have the RM-984 and using it on AT&T and it works perfectly, without LTE, which is not important to me at all.


Fred

 

[sahib lopez]

I'm on tmobile and I get tmobile LTE , H+, H, E, and G with mms , and tethering


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[vw1610]

Re:

I have the RM-985. Using an AT&T SIM, I'm getting LTE, MMS and Internet Sharing.

I have the same phone but using a cricket SIM. I'm getting lte, mms but internet sharing is missing

 

[vertigo_x]

Re:

I have the RM-985. Using an AT&T SIM, I'm getting LTE, MMS and Internet Sharing.

I got my RM-985 in the mail yesterday. Set it up with an AT&T sales rep and got my account started with them, but I'm only getting HSPA+, though, and no LTE. I'm able to use MMS, too.

Did you do anything special for yours?