Will this Lumia 920 work on T-Mo in Chicago area?

[AVN37]

Hi everyone,

if I buy this Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 (Unlocked) (Yellow) version of Lumia 920, will it get the "4G" speeds on T-Mobile? I read about the T-Mo towers being reframed to support the 1900 range in major cities. I live in Evanston, IL, literally like 2-5 miles from Chicago north border. I'm asking because I would prefer the yellow version. Otherwise, if I buy this Rogers unlocked version, Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 (Rogers) (Unlocked) (Black) it'll work for sure, right?

Thanks

 

[hoosiers7120]

Hi everyone,

if I buy this Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 (Unlocked) (Yellow) version of Lumia 920, will it get the "4G" speeds on T-Mobile? I read about the T-Mo towers being reframed to support the 1900 range in major cities. I live in Evanston, IL, literally like 2-5 miles from Chicago north border. I'm asking because I would prefer the yellow version. Otherwise, if I buy this Rogers unlocked version, Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 (Rogers) (Unlocked) (Black) it'll work for sure, right?

Thanks

If you but the first then no you will not as it doesn't have the right frequencies. You will most likely be stuck on 2G most of the time which is god aweful.

The rogers will work for sure as it as all the bands and when T-Mobile launches its LTE network this summer you will have a LTE enabled phone as well. I know this because I am from Chi-Town and just switched to T-mobile and I get 4G speeds (15 mbps/5mbps) while my dad who has the unlocked one seems to only get 2G and rarely 3G.

 

[AVN37]

So let me get this straight:
Let's say I'm in the area where T-Mo 3G towers are already "refarmed" (because the map on airportal.de says so).

What bands does the Lumia 920 I buy need to have in order for me to:
a) run at the fastest possible T-Mo speeds now (3G)
and
b) get full LTE once T-Mo launches it
?

Thanks everyone in advance for a clear and simple answer. This could mean saving a lot of money if I don't have to worry about frequencies too much. Cuz y'know, this is much cheaper than this

 

[Noob1ee]

Rogers is also selling a yellow version, here in Canada, fyi.

 

[jfa1]

So let me get this straight:
Let's say I'm in the area where T-Mo 3G towers are already "refarmed" (because the map on airportal.de says so).

What bands does the Lumia 920 I buy need to have in order for me to:
a) run at the fastest possible T-Mo speeds now (3G)
and
b) get full LTE once T-Mo launches it
?

Thanks everyone in advance for a clear and simple answer. This could mean saving a lot of money if I don't have to worry about frequencies too much. Cuz y'know, this is much cheaper than this

I'm not sure what TMo's LTE bands are going to be the 3G is probably 1900 from ATT but the TMo is 1700 on AWS

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

You will definitely get 3G speeds. I have an ATT focus flash (wp7) and get 3g speeds on Tmobile. Download and upload on average are 5-7mb/2-3mb.

 

[AVN37]

So can I buy the cheaper one? Or what bands do I need to look for when shopping for my Lumia to get full 3G speeds now and full LTE speeds later, provided that I am in a refarmed area?

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

So can I buy the cheaper one? Or what bands do I need to look for when shopping for my Lumia to get full 3G speeds now and full LTE speeds later, provided that I am in a refarmed area?

Firstly what's your soc version. Go to settings >about phone and check it.

If its a 8260A or any other version, it doesn't support tmobiles lte. You will only get 3G speeds, only in areas where tmobile refarmed the networks.

 

[Xavier Gonzalez]

is my my phone is reporting the SOC as Chip SOC version: 8960, does that support tmobile LTE???

 

[AVN37]

I don't have a Lumia 920, so I have no way to check. What I'm asking is:
what revision/version/spec or whatever should I look for when buying a Lumia 920 so that it supports 3G and later LTE in refarmed areas such as Chicagoland? Does anyone have an answer to my question?

 

[MAERSK]

Yes, what you want is the Canadian version of the Lumia 920. The Rogers Wireless Lumia 920 has all the necessary fq bands you need for T-mobile use. Here are 2 pics with specs on the boxes of the info you need.

The most important bit of info on the boxes are the phone version (920.3) and the bands WCDMA (1900, 1700_2100) & LTE (1700_2100). Only the 920.3 has those bands you need. The AT&T model and the international models 920.2 & 920.1 don't have them.

 

[Xavier Gonzalez]

cant you just flash the phone with the ccorrect firmware?

 

[raul_junior]

o my goodness we all live in the chicago area and love windows phone (hopefully) im from wheaton il.

 

[MAERSK]

cant you just flash the phone with the ccorrect firmware?

no

 

[AVN37]

ok so if I understand it correctly the cheapest device I can get given my conditions is this one
, right?

I'm ready to buy but I wonder: how will the warranty work? Negrielectronics said I will have the manufacturer warranty (=Canadian), and I found something on Rogers website about the warranty only being valid if you're on one of their plans. That's BS though, right? I mean, there is some sort of mandatory warranty, isn't there?

Anyone got experience with buying Rogers in the USA?

 

[cddigi]

From the T-Mobile website:

Please note that 4G phones that do not support the 1700/2100-MHz bands will operate at 2G (EDGE) speeds in some areas on our network.

According to their coverage map, the Chicagoland area is all on 4G. So just make sure you get a phone with 1700/2100 MHz and you should be good to go.

 

[AVN37]

By the way, if I pretty much never leave the Chicago area and am fine with having slow speeds elsewhere, do I still have to get a Rogers one if I want it fast just in an around Chi (in the covered areas on the map)?
And what about that warranty thing?

 

[cddigi]

If you can find an unlocked AT&T one, that'd be fine too. I think North America is the only place that uses 1700/2100 for LTE.

 

[ROne21]

I have a factory unlocked Yellow Lumia 920 and I have no problem obtaining 3G signal....that's with t-mobile. If I could find someone who is on AT&T and with a micro-SIM card, I would be glad and curious to swap and see what kind of signal it would pick up

 

[AVN37]

cddigi and ROne21: So an unlocked AT&T version could do 3G now. But what about LTE? T-Mobile's wikipedia page says they are using 1700/2100 for their LTE network and the unlocked AT&T does not seem to support that band. Does that mean that I'll get the same speeds with AT&T and Rogers now but as LTE rolls out, I won't be able to get that with AT&T?

Does anyone know about the warranty?