3G in the states?

[click]

When r the 3G networks gonan be in the states. Since like the phones im looking at are all 3G. Like the Z1010, K700, and the S700. And any idea who will offer it like tmobile, at&t?

[markol]

uh.. the K700 and S700 aren't 3G phones......

[click]

k's still when is the "3g" network in the states for like the z1010.
if the s700 and k700 arent 3g phones wont let be like updated by the time they are ever released. and when is the z1010 here in the state.

[Box215]

The Z1010 won't be released in the states because its a dual band (900/1800) phone. Won't work here unless 3G is made avaliable, which isn't anywhere in the near future.

[fadedevolution]

Lets bring this post back into line and ask the origional question. Where is it going to be. Something I want to know is WHAT exactly is being upgraded here? Lets play pretend and say I had a working 3G phone in my hand right now and I put my Tmobile or ATT sim card in it. Would it work? Would the towers pick up my phone? (assuming the phone has my band here in the states) So are they doing more than just upgrading the handsets, and upgrading the towers and infrastructure too? Any decent answers?

[vane]

To run a 3G network, you need to construct a completely new infrastructure. That's usually new masts/ base stations new computers and lots of other stuff too. The new masts are required for the higher frequencies that are needed.

That's why many European networks were panicking over the huge cost of the 3G licenses because they knew they had the infrastucture costs to come.

The cost is so huge that '3 UK', the first network set up in Britain, has only really covered the large cities and towns. Even this is a struggle as the public consider there are more than enough masts anyway without new ones going up.

Some networks intend to share the new infrastructure to save costs.

Last but not least, you need the handsets capable of using the new frequencies and manipulating the much larger amounts of data involved.

[fadedevolution]

Would a 3G device be able to recieve a 2G signal? or is the technology different, not just better?

[Box215]

A 3G device can run on 2.5G networks only if the phone supports it. There are some phones, such as the SE Z1010, thats supports UMTS and the current 900/1800 bands.

[jporrata]

Att wireless plans on launching 3g/umts in at least two cities by the end of the year, the first handset will be a motorola video phone, the cities have not been officially anounced yet but one of them may be miami since they already have a test network set up there, also upgrading to umts/wcdma does not require new towers it simply involves overlaying the old networks with new ones the same way that tdma was overlayed with gsm. also the official frecquency for 3g is 1900 mhz until the 2100 mhz band is vacated.

[Michael]

Originally posted by jporrata
Att wireless plans on launching 3g/umts in at least two cities by the end of the year, the first handset will be a motorola video phone, the cities have not been officially anounced yet but one of them may be miami since they already have a test network set up there, also upgrading to umts/wcdma does not require new towers it simply involves overlaying the old networks with new ones the same way that tdma was overlayed with gsm. also the official frecquency for 3g is 1900 mhz until the 2100 mhz band is vacated. I seem to remember hearing Seattle and San Diego some time ago.