Well it's been amazing but 2g on tmobile means I'm moving on.

[modelomaestro22]

I bought my Lumia 920 in in February outright at an att store with the thought of running straight talk. It had terrible internet speed so I got my 920 unlocked and got on tmobile only to find out that forcing the network to 3g had been disabled.

I'm pretty upset that I can't use the phone that I bought in the manner I saw fit. I'm sure part of the blame falls on me for not doing my homework.

It's to bad Nokia and windows are going in the right direction, that said I won't be there to see it. This things going on eBay and I'll get a Nexus.

Thanks for the great articles, keeping me informed of new apps, and answering my questions.

In closing this locking down phones that are bought outright needs to stop. Guess you never really own anything.

 

[WP8Expert]

Try dialling ##3282. Tap the three dots, tap settings and change from "automatic" to "2G only, 3G only or 4G only"

 

[metalchick719]

I bought my Lumia 920 in in February outright at an att store with the thought of running straight talk. It had terrible internet speed so I got my 920 unlocked and got on tmobile only to find out that forcing the network to 3g had been disabled.

I'm pretty upset that I can't use the phone that I bought in the manner I saw fit. I'm sure part of the blame falls on me for not doing my homework.

It's to bad Nokia and windows are going in the right direction, that said I won't be there to see it. This things going on eBay and I'll get a Nexus.

Thanks for the great articles, keeping me informed of new apps, and answering my questions.

In closing this locking down phones that are bought outright needs to stop. Guess you never really own anything.

Why don't you sell your 920 and get a 925 when it's out on T-Mobile?

 

[modelomaestro22]

Try dialling ##3282. Tap the three dots, tap settings and change from "automatic" to "2G only, 3G only or 4G only"

As far as i can tell this has been disabled on att variants since update 1308.

 

[modelomaestro22]

Why don't you sell your 920 and get a 925 when it's out on T-Mobile?

I ddon't have 600.00 to do that again and I'm not gonna get 600.00 for mine.

 

[sinime]

Is it just that T-Mobile in your area doesn't have the upgraded towers yet?

I was under the impression that an unlocked ATT 920 would get 4G and/or LTE on T-Mobile...

http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-920/223294-lumia-920-t-mobile-4g-lte.html

 

[modelomaestro22]

Is it just that T-Mobile in your area doesn't have the upgraded towers yet?

I was under the impression that an unlocked ATT 920 would get 4G and/or LTE on T-Mobile...

http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-920/223294-lumia-920-t-mobile-4g-lte.html

I'm pretty sure I have tmobile 4g here. I believe the problemis the last update disabled tmobiles frequency for anything more than edge speed. I'm thinking of flashing back to the rom before 1308 so I can force 3g. It so confusing and frustrating at the same time.

 

[cooldeal]

Well, here's my story. I bought the red AT&T Lumia 920 off eBay to use it on Tmobile's 30 plan.

I was getting 4G speeds at some spots in the DC area, then downloaded Nokia's access point app and set the settings to 'Tmobile LTE' and am getting LTE.

The problem is that it seems to drop straight from 4G to Edge and I cannot access anything while it's on Edge. Annoyingly this happens while being indoors near work, I drop from LTE to 4G sometimes, but while indoors at my office or at the parking garage and restaurants near work, it's Edge and I only get calls and pretty much zero data.

Because of this, I am thinking if I should go to AT&T's PayGo prepaid plan. Is this problem because of the phone's lack of bands to connect to the Tmobile 3G towers and is that fixable with manual settings in the access point app? Anyone with the AT&T 920 on Tmobile can comment if they're able to connect to 3g? (I don't even know what indicator is shown in 3G mode).

 

[modelomaestro22]

No dude the last update took away the 920's ability too use 3g and 3g+. So that's why you get 4g or edge and I get mostly edge.

I'm so pissed and let down I was pulling for Nokia and WP8 but to be done dirty after buying it for almost 600.00 at launch and I can use it the way I wish. Screw em.

I'll put it on eBay but my losses and get an s3 or nexus 4.

Btw I'm on the same exact tmobile plane. Att is bs there prepaid is 65 a month and 1 gb of date LOL 1 gig.

Good luck buddy.

 

[modelomaestro22]

Typos everywhere... Sorry

 

[palandri]

No dude the last update took away the 920's ability too use 3g and 3g+. So that's why you get 4g or edge and I get mostly edge.

I'm so pissed and let down I was pulling for Nokia and WP8 but to be done dirty after buying it for almost 600.00 at launch and I can use it the way I wish. Screw em.

I'll put it on eBay but my losses and get an s3 or nexus 4.

Btw I'm on the same exact tmobile plane. Att is bs there prepaid is 65 a month and 1 gb of date LOL 1 gig.

Good luck buddy.

It's not Nokia or Ms, it's the carriers. U.S carriers want everyone locked into their network. Myself, I buy unbranded/unlocked phones. They are normally imports, but that's fine.

 

[apoelin]

There is a HUGE amount of wrong information in this thread. Here's what's happening with your phone. Btw, this comes from someone that has switched to T-Mobile from AT&T last week, with an unlocked AT&T 920.

First for the sake of simplicity, let's call 3G, 3G+, HSPA, HSPA+ and 4G as the same technology: 3G (because technically, give or take a few differences, that's what they all are). Below 3G you have 2G (Edge) and above 3G you have LTE. The reason you are only getting 2G is because your phone, since it was built for AT&T's network, does not support T-Mobile's 3G Bands. In particular, it's missing the 1700MHz band. So the reason you are stuck is not because someone is blocking you, but technical-related. 95%+ of the GSM phones out there comes with this limitation, because most of the rest of the world (including all of Europe), uses the same frequencies as AT&T. T-Mobile on the other hand has their own weird frequencies, pretty much unique compared to any other cellular provider in the world, and that's why they also have such a limited selection of phones. The other 5% of phones (which are often called pentaband) support everything and can work on both AT&T and T-Mobile without such issues; the Nexus 4 is one such device.

One more important bit: T-Mobile has finally made the decision, to re-structure their network and make their 3G frequencies identical to AT&T (and to the rest of the GSM world). This is an ongoing expensive and time-consuming process. So far certain areas such as San Jose have been completely upgraded. That means you can take your unlocked AT&T Lumia 920 there, and you'll get 3G/4G without any problems. Other areas like San Diego are half-completed, which means your phone will switch between 2G and 3G/4G depending on where you are. Presumably, in anything other than big cities, this process hasn't even started yet.

Note that none of the above applies to 2G or LTE, because for those, T-Mobile uses/will use frequencies identical to AT&T. In fact, today was the first day that I saw LTE on my AT&T 920 running on T-Mobile, but it only stayed around for a brief moment. I spend the rest of my time 70% on 4G and 30% on 2G.

 

[modelomaestro22]

There is a HUGE amount of wrong information in this thread. Here's what's happening with your phone. Btw, this comes from someone that has switched to T-Mobile from AT&T last week, with an unlocked AT&T 920.

First for the sake of simplicity, let's call 3G, 3G+, HSPA, HSPA+ and 4G as the same technology: 3G (because technically, give or take a few differences, that's what they all are). Below 3G you have 2G (Edge) and above 3G you have LTE. The reason you are only getting 2G is because your phone, since it was built for AT&T's network, does not support T-Mobile's 3G Bands. In particular, it's missing the 1700MHz band. So the reason you are stuck is not because someone is blocking you, but technical-related. 95%+ of the GSM phones out there comes with this limitation, because most of the rest of the world (including all of Europe), uses the same frequencies as AT&T. T-Mobile on the other hand has their own weird frequencies, pretty much unique compared to any other cellular provider in the world, and that's why they also have such a limited selection of phones. The other 5% of phones (which are often called pentaband) support everything and can work on both AT&T and T-Mobile without such issues; the Nexus 4 is one such device.

One more important bit: T-Mobile has finally made the decision, to re-structure their network and make their 3G frequencies identical to AT&T (and to the rest of the GSM world). This is an ongoing expensive and time-consuming process. So far certain areas such as San Jose have been completely upgraded. That means you can take your unlocked AT&T Lumia 920 there, and you'll get 3G/4G without any problems. Other areas like San Diego are half-completed, which means your phone will switch between 2G and 3G/4G depending on where you are. Presumably, in anything other than big cities, this process hasn't even started yet.

Note that none of the above applies to 2G or LTE, because for those, T-Mobile uses/will use frequencies identical to AT&T. In fact, today was the first day that I saw LTE on my AT&T 920 running on T-Mobile, but it only stayed around for a brief moment. I spend the rest of my time 70% on 4G and 30% on 2G.

Thanks for taking time to explain that. I do love the phone and I paid 600.00 for it I'm just gonna do the straight talk thing until tmobile is up to speed in my neck of the woods (cape cod). Thanks again

 

[sinime]

There is a HUGE amount of wrong information in this thread. Here's what's happening with your phone. Btw, this comes from someone that has switched to T-Mobile from AT&T last week, with an unlocked AT&T 920.

First for the sake of simplicity, let's call 3G, 3G+, HSPA, HSPA+ and 4G as the same technology: 3G (because technically, give or take a few differences, that's what they all are). Below 3G you have 2G (Edge) and above 3G you have LTE. The reason you are only getting 2G is because your phone, since it was built for AT&T's network, does not support T-Mobile's 3G Bands. In particular, it's missing the 1700MHz band. So the reason you are stuck is not because someone is blocking you, but technical-related. 95%+ of the GSM phones out there comes with this limitation, because most of the rest of the world (including all of Europe), uses the same frequencies as AT&T. T-Mobile on the other hand has their own weird frequencies, pretty much unique compared to any other cellular provider in the world, and that's why they also have such a limited selection of phones. The other 5% of phones (which are often called pentaband) support everything and can work on both AT&T and T-Mobile without such issues; the Nexus 4 is one such device.

One more important bit: T-Mobile has finally made the decision, to re-structure their network and make their 3G frequencies identical to AT&T (and to the rest of the GSM world). This is an ongoing expensive and time-consuming process. So far certain areas such as San Jose have been completely upgraded. That means you can take your unlocked AT&T Lumia 920 there, and you'll get 3G/4G without any problems. Other areas like San Diego are half-completed, which means your phone will switch between 2G and 3G/4G depending on where you are. Presumably, in anything other than big cities, this process hasn't even started yet.

Note that none of the above applies to 2G or LTE, because for those, T-Mobile uses/will use frequencies identical to AT&T. In fact, today was the first day that I saw LTE on my AT&T 920 running on T-Mobile, but it only stayed around for a brief moment. I spend the rest of my time 70% on 4G and 30% on 2G.

What your are saying is what I have thought to be true... I'm planing to switch to T-Mobile in September, bringing my ATT 920 with me. From what I understand, T-Mobile is in the right range for me to do this in San Antonio, TX and be able to access their LTE speeds.

 

[AbsoluteZerow]

Perfect post apoelin!
OP, Sell it and get a pentaband 920, or better yet, get the 925!

 

[Mystictrust]

One more important bit: T-Mobile has finally made the decision to re-structure their network and make their 3G frequencies identical to AT&T (and to the rest of the GSM world).

Excellent post. Just wanted to clear something up. From my understanding, T-Mobile is moving much of their 3G to 1900 band not because of an intention to match frequencies, but to free up room on the 1700 AWS band for LTE (as well as reducing the amount of available 2G space on 1900 to fit in as much 3G as possible). I seem to remember it being said, perhaps in an interview with a T-Mobile executive once, that being able to use AT&T phones and other 1900 band phones on 3G was a fortunate byproduct of this decision to make room for LTE - which they capitalized on PR wise until they got the iPhone officially.

Essentially, T-Mobile decided to use their valuable AWS spectrum for LTE and moved everything off it for that reason. Oh yeah, and Verizon is switching their LTE to AWS and is claiming it will have better performance, so there must be something good behind that 1700 band after all. I like to think of it as T-Mobile having been very forward thinking... of course, it could also have been because AT&T held too large of a share of PCS 1900 so there wasn't much left and T-Mobile just lucked out when they chose 1700 Probably a mix of both.

 

[trwrt]

There's a map at Sightings of T-Mobile 3G/4G/HSPA+ coverage on 1900MHz (PCS/UMTS band II) that keeps track of reports of T-Mobile 3G on the 1900 MHz band, so you can get an idea of where you might have coverage.

 

[Benjamin Mendez1]

I gotta say I get a lot of lte in my area. Its amazing! I live in clear lake Houston Texas. Nokia lumia 920.

 

[TachyonicCargo]

I ddon't have 600.00 to do that again and I'm not gonna get 600.00 for mine.

Assuming your credit is even half way decent, you do not have to shell out the full $600 (I did not realize an official price had been set by T-Mobile US) all at once. T-Mobile is more than happy to finance your device for you at 0% interest. I've been doing that and keeping myself contract-free on T-Mobile for years. I intend to do exactly just that for the Lumia 925, when they get it. The most I have ever paid out of pocket the day I ordered any device from Tmo, was $100, however I do realize that some devices it's up to $150 out of pocket at time of order. But in either case, it's followed by an easy to swallow $20 (or less) monthly payment until the device is paid off. And you are free at any point to pay off the reminder owed on the device. I'm thinking if you take the cash from selling your unlocked Lumia 920, put it towards the purchase of a Lumia 925, is going to go down a lot easier than having to come out of pocket for the full price of the phone all in one go. Anyway, just a thought.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Excellent post. Just wanted to clear something up. From my understanding, T-Mobile is moving much of their 3G to 1900 band not because of an intention to match frequencies, but to free up room on the 1700 AWS band for LTE (as well as reducing the amount of available 2G space on 1900 to fit in as much 3G as possible). I seem to remember it being said, perhaps in an interview with a T-Mobile executive once, that being able to use AT&T phones and other 1900 band phones on 3G was a fortunate byproduct of this decision to make room for LTE - which they capitalized on PR wise until they got the iPhone officially.

Essentially, T-Mobile decided to use their valuable AWS spectrum for LTE and moved everything off it for that reason. Oh yeah, and Verizon is switching their LTE to AWS and is claiming it will have better performance, so there must be something good behind that 1700 band after all. I like to think of it as T-Mobile having been very forward thinking... of course, it could also have been because AT&T held too large of a share of PCS 1900 so there wasn't much left and T-Mobile just lucked out when they chose 1700  Probably a mix of both.

A clarification: Verizon isn't switching their LTE to AWS, they're augmenting their current 700 LTE network with AWS to provide more capacity. When Verizon first launched LTE, it was really fast, but now as more and more phones get on their LTE network, it's starting to slow down in some places.