Ace 3

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abiniamh

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#143869 30-Apr-2014 09:41

Hi, I am looking to buy a Samsung Galaxy Ace 3. The cheaper ones are purchased through 2degrees or Vodafone and I am on Skinny. Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with buying a phone and switching the network but I have had trouble with this in the past year with my 2 degrees S3 mini, I had been using it on 2 degrees for a year when I switched to Skinny. The phone wouldn't accept the Skinny simcard. When I called up 2degrees, they said it wasn't their problem and Skinny said that they couldn't do anything to help. I am now wary about buying an Ace 3 on Vodafone or 2 degrees in case I find this problem again.
Has anyone purchased an Ace 3 (or know anyone that has) on Vodafone or 2 degrees and are using their Telecom or Skinny sim card in it? Thanks

scheduler

264 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1033711 30-Apr-2014 09:54

Looking at the Specs on GSM ARENA the Ace3 appears to be Tri Band 3G. Therefore a Vodafone or 2 Degrees Ace 3 will not work on Telecom or Skinny except in limited situations

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mattyjnz

133 posts

Master Geek

#1033712 30-Apr-2014 09:55

Hi, I would be careful crossing networks with this phone, there are several variants to it. I think Vodafone and 2degrees use model number 7275, while telecom use model number 7272. Cheers

abiniamh

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1033808 30-Apr-2014 10:40

mattyjnz: Hi, I would be careful crossing networks with this phone, there are several variants to it. I think Vodafone and 2degrees use model number 7275, while telecom use model number 7272. Cheers

Ive looked into it a wee bit, the 7270 is a single sim model, the 7272 is a dual sim model and the 7275 is a 4G/LTE model. That all means very little to me though

abiniamh

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1033813 30-Apr-2014 10:43

scheduler: Looking at the Specs on GSM ARENA the Ace3 appears to be Tri Band 3G. Therefore a Vodafone or 2 Degrees Ace 3 will not work on Telecom or Skinny except in limited situations

What do you mean by Tri Band 3G? I'm unfamiliar with the term

jeffnz

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#1033826 30-Apr-2014 11:01

If you are looking at this then it will do all Telco's here.

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#1033859 30-Apr-2014 11:36

Depends on the actual model Jeff, they're not all quad band. If you really want me to confirm it, I'll try my Telecom SIM in my wife's Vodafone Ace 3 tonight.

abiniamh

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1033873 30-Apr-2014 11:45

BigHammer: Depends on the actual model Jeff, they're not all quad band. If you really want me to confirm it, I'll try my Telecom SIM in my wife's Vodafone Ace 3 tonight.

If you could, that'd be great. Thanks

robjg63

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#1033880 30-Apr-2014 11:58

abiniamh:
scheduler: Looking at the Specs on GSM ARENA the Ace3 appears to be Tri Band 3G. Therefore a Vodafone or 2 Degrees Ace 3 will not work on Telecom or Skinny except in limited situations

What do you mean by Tri Band 3G? I'm unfamiliar with the term

Actually I think tri-band would be ok for you...Wouldnt it?

Tri-band means it has radio/transmitters that work on 3 x 3G frequencies.
Vodafone/2degrees use the same 2 3G frequencies. Namely 900 and 2100.
So usually a phone that works on Voda will work fine of 2 degrees and vice versa.

Telecom uses one of the same frequencies as voda/2degrees (2100) and 850 frequency.
Telecom only use the 2100 frequency for infill - typically the middle of crowded areas.

So if you got a vodafone/2degrees specd ace 3 that was dual band (900/2100 - I have no idea if they sell dual or tri-band) and tried it on Telecom - it may work in crowded areas (2100 frequency) but when it tries to switch to the 850 frequency it may just go dead.
A Tri-band phone would just switch happily between 2100 and 850 - it would not use the 900 on Telecom/skinny.

Anyway - be very careful that you get the model that will work on the network you want to run it on.

Dont know where you are or who you are looking at buying from but I bought my Note 2 from this place a couple of months back:
http://www.gadgetsonline.co.nz/gadget2289-Samsung-Galaxy-Ace-3-GT-S7275-Black.html
They were really helpful.
The model they are selling looks to cover all the frequencies you want from any of the telcos in NZ.
They are usually parallel import phones but that shouldnt be an issue.
Skinny sell micro sims (which this takes).

EDIT: Note the model in the link above is GT-S7275
I think the problem models for you would be GT-S7270, GT-S7272

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

abiniamh

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1033966 30-Apr-2014 13:21

robjg63:
abiniamh:
scheduler: Looking at the Specs on GSM ARENA the Ace3 appears to be Tri Band 3G. Therefore a Vodafone or 2 Degrees Ace 3 will not work on Telecom or Skinny except in limited situations

What do you mean by Tri Band 3G? I'm unfamiliar with the term

Actually I think tri-band would be ok for you...Wouldnt it?

Tri-band means it has radio/transmitters that work on 3 x 3G frequencies.
Vodafone/2degrees use the same 2 3G frequencies. Namely 900 and 2100.
So usually a phone that works on Voda will work fine of 2 degrees and vice versa.

Telecom uses one of the same frequencies as voda/2degrees (2100) and 850 frequency.
Telecom only use the 2100 frequency for infill - typically the middle of crowded areas.

So if you got a vodafone/2degrees specd ace 3 that was dual band (900/2100 - I have no idea if they sell dual or tri-band) and tried it on Telecom - it may work in crowded areas (2100 frequency) but when it tries to switch to the 850 frequency it may just go dead.
A Tri-band phone would just switch happily between 2100 and 850 - it would not use the 900 on Telecom/skinny.

Anyway - be very careful that you get the model that will work on the network you want to run it on.

Dont know where you are or who you are looking at buying from but I bought my Note 2 from this place a couple of months back:
http://www.gadgetsonline.co.nz/gadget2289-Samsung-Galaxy-Ace-3-GT-S7275-Black.html
They were really helpful.
The model they are selling looks to cover all the frequencies you want from any of the telcos in NZ.
They are usually parallel import phones but that shouldnt be an issue.
Skinny sell micro sims (which this takes).

EDIT: Note the model in the link above is GT-S7275
I think the problem models for you would be GT-S7270, GT-S7272

Thank you for that, I'll go talk to the guys in store and see if I'm looking at the right model for my sim card

dm2000

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#1033974 30-Apr-2014 13:29

I have the 2degrees Ace 3 and can confirm that is supports 3G 850/900/2100. The model number I have is: GT-S7275R

robjg63

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#1033986 30-Apr-2014 13:49

dm2000: I have the 2degrees Ace 3 and can confirm that is supports 3G 850/900/2100. The model number I have is: GT-S7275R

So that should be ok on all NZ telcos.
Skinny have not enabled 4G yet - but it should cope with that when they do.

Seems one of my colleagues has exactly this model as well - she got it from Vodafone.
No idea what the R on the end denotes but the GT-S5275R also comes up on the samsung NZ page about the Ace 3
http://www.samsung.com/nz/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/smartphone/GT-S7275HKNNZC-spec

Samsung is baffling with their phones at times.
They make a model - then there are suddenly regional variants with more or less features. Sometimes it seems to get a different model number - sometimes not. Then after something has been in production for while they suddenly revise it - which sometimes changes the model number - and sometimes not.

Add to the above the tweaks and fiddles that come with OS upgrades - the enabling (or not) of 4G for NZ sourced android phones depending on the telco for example. Have a look on the galaxy note 3 thread part way through. The phone has all the 4G radios but some people couldnt get 4G to enable - seems it was disabled in one of the android OS files and needed OS updates to enable....

It can do your head in trying to make sense of it all.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

robjg63

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#1033997 30-Apr-2014 13:55

abiniamh:
Thank you for that, I'll go talk to the guys in store and see if I'm looking at the right model for my sim card

What is you current phone?
Should be able to find what sort of SIM card you have from whatever the specs are for that phone.
As mentioned the ACE 3 looks like it needs a micro SIM.
If you need to change to a Micro SIM I think its just a matter of going to the Warehouse (or whoever sells skinny SIMS) and buying one.
Then logging on the skinny mobile site and requesting a SIM swap:
http://support.skinny.co.nz/app/answers/detail/a_id/185/~/sim-swap

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Stu

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#1034189 30-Apr-2014 18:29

The Vodafone model is the GT-S7275R, and is quad band. Connects fine to Telecom on UMTS 850Mhz. Also confirm if you weren't aware, that it requires a micro SIM.

abiniamh

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1034197 30-Apr-2014 19:01

robjg63:
abiniamh:
Thank you for that, I'll go talk to the guys in store and see if I'm looking at the right model for my sim card

What is you current phone?
Should be able to find what sort of SIM card you have from whatever the specs are for that phone.
As mentioned the ACE 3 looks like it needs a micro SIM.
If you need to change to a Micro SIM I think its just a matter of going to the Warehouse (or whoever sells skinny SIMS) and buying one.
Then logging on the skinny mobile site and requesting a SIM swap:
http://support.skinny.co.nz/app/answers/detail/a_id/185/~/sim-swap

I am currently using a Motorola defy that a friend gave me when I couldn't use my s3 mini. The Skinny sim card that i have is a micro sim sitting in an adapter to make it normal sized to be used in the Motorola. I went and talked to one of my mates in Dick Smith and he said he'd be wary about using a Skinny sim in a Vodafone phone.

OVER

109 posts

Master Geek

#1034218 30-Apr-2014 19:28

Basically I would just ask to look at the side of the box before you buy it. It should have a sticker on it stating which bands it uses.

If it says 2100/900 but not 850, then don't buy it thinking it will work on Telecom. It might work a little bit on Telecom but for the most part, it won't.

If it says 2100/900/850, then you're sweet for all NZ networks.