Bringing Vodafone NZ Nokia E71 to the US

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318touring

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Topic # 58628 16-Mar-2010 13:04

I've been trying to find out whether this will work. I have a NZ Vodafone Nokia E71 with the following frequencies (E71-1 Quad-band EGSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 900/2100 HSDPA).

I'd like to take the phone to the US, and intend to buy a USA prepay SIM card and use the phone for both voice and data.

So the questions are:
1. Will the phone work for both voice and data in the US?
2. Can I buy just a prepaid SIM card over there?
3. Which network?

Thanks!!

johnr

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Reply # 307791 16-Mar-2010 13:05

Yes it will work on the 2G network

Linuxluver

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Reply # 311331 25-Mar-2010 16:11

T-Mobile do 3G on 900 and 2100....and also either 1700 or 1800. So a Vodafone phone is a reasonably good match with T-Mobile.

For GSM, you have more choice.

You'd need to set up the APNs for the network you join. Not hard to find on the Net. Telcos are understandably (from a vendor-focused perspective) often / usually not very helpful with configuring 'alien' phones (ones they didn't sell / source)....so you'll likely have to sortthat out for yourself.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 311338 25-Mar-2010 16:27

Linuxluver: T-Mobile do 3G on 900 and 2100....and also either 1700 or 1800. So a Vodafone phone is a reasonably good match with T-Mobile.

For GSM, you have more choice.

You'd need to set up the APNs for the network you join. Not hard to find on the Net. Telcos are understandably (from a vendor-focused perspective) often / usually not very helpful with configuring 'alien' phones (ones they didn't sell / source)....so you'll likely have to sortthat out for yourself.

T-Mobile don't do 900 3G in the USA.

Their network is a one of a kind using both 1700MHz and 2100MHz for downlink and uplink and known as AWS. This means 3G is only usable with a 3G handset that does 1700. There are a large number of these out there but they are specific models for the US market, there is certainly not an E71 model that will work over there on 3G.

johnr

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Reply # 311344 25-Mar-2010 16:35

Linuxluver: T-Mobile do 3G on 900

No way they do

318touring

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Reply # 312293 29-Mar-2010 09:41

Thanks.

So will the phone work straight off when I slot in an AT&T Sim card?

freitasm

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Reply # 312294 29-Mar-2010 09:44

It will work on AT&T 2G out of the box. It may connect to some 3G but limited coverage since AT&T is working on deploying more and more 850MHz 3G.

A Telecom XT handset would be a much better fit for AT&T since it does 2100/850MHz 3G, plus 2G (which is not used by Telecom but it's there for roaming).

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inquisitor

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Reply # 314122 2-Apr-2010 11:20

UMTS band VIII (900 MHz) is incompatible to band V (850 MHz). So the the UMTS 900/2100 version of the E71 will definitely not work on any 3G network in the US (neither AT&T nor T-Mobile or any other).

For an overview of UMTS frequency bands check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands

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Reply # 314129 2-Apr-2010 11:49

I am in the same boat in May in the States with the E71. Can I buy an AT&T prepaid card? I can't tell from the website. There are a few of us going and it would be handy to have 2 or 3 sim cards. Was wondering if I should pick up 2 or 3 and run them prepaid for the two weeks we are there. There seem to be a bunch of AT&T sim cards on Ebay. Any issues with buying those? Cheers, Matt

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Reply # 314218 2-Apr-2010 18:30

You just walk into an AT&T store with a credit card and ask for a prepay SIM. It's free, whatever you pay goes into credit. They might ask for a photo id - passport, driver licence, whatever is fine. They will use the store address as your address.

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