900/1800/1900 Nokia 6822 in an 850/1900 network

Hi. I just bought myself (through ebay so I will probably have to wait a couple of weeks for it to arrive) a Nokia 6822 cell phone. Had owned a 6800 for almost 4 years and was so happy with it that I decided to replace it with its successor.

Notheless, the phone I bought has support for 900/1800/1900GSM networks but my cell phone provider where I currently live is 850/1900. I'm going to live in the Netherlands for a year in August so I was thinking more about compatibility with Vodafone or T-Mobile when I bought my cell phone. Nonethess, it would be nice to get to use it till the day of my departure comes.

If I use the new phone with my current provider will it work OK by just sticking to the 1900 network or are there any problems to be expected? Also, there's a cell phone provider here which works solely in 1900 so that could be an alternative too right?

Thank you very much for your help.

Hmmm...this is a really tough question to answer without knowing 1) who your current provider is and 2) exactly where you are located. I say this because depending on the provider or location, you could be just fine. You could also end up having zero to spotty coverage. It depends on how the network is built. I know, for example, that in NYC (where I live) AT&T uses both the 850MHz and 1900MHz bands/frequencies, but the 850MHz side of the network is better built out and more reliable. It also provides better indoor coverage. In fact, when AT&T launched 3G in NYC it was exclusively on the 1900MHz band/frequency and the coverage sucked; 3G was useless or nonexistent in most places. 3G devices also suffered from poor battery life, because they would constantly search for a 3G signal or switch between 2G/EDGE and 3G, which also led to many dropped calls.

As to your situation, your phone is strictly 2G/EDGE so you won't have the exact same problems I had, at least not the switching between 2G/EDGE and 3G part. You could, however, have a situation where you have poor indoor coverage, spotty coverage, or no coverage at all. A very rare, at least these days, but possible situation is that your phone might not work at all. Again, this depends on your provider. I say this because I remember years ago when I got an unbranded/unlocked tri-band phone (with the exact same bands as yours) and tried to use it on AT&T. It did not work at all. Why? Well, the control channels for the network were on the 850MHz band/frequency and my phone did not support that band. I believe in most cases the control channels are on both bands/frequencies, so that might not be a problem at all.

Most important, though, it depends on the provider and area and how well the 1900MHz side of the network is built. If it is just there for capacity issues and the 850MHz band/frequency is what's mostly used, then you could have serious issues in regard to service. All that being said, you might have no trouble at all. As a last point, there are quad-band phones you could buy or have bought that would alleviate all this. A quad-band phone supports all GSM/2G/EDGE bands that are used throughout the world, so you would have no problems, no matter where you used it. Nokia sells many quad-band phones. I'm using one right now and have used several throughout the years.

I do have three questions:
1) Why would buy a phone knowing that it might not work well? As you mentioned, the network is 850MHz and 1900MHz, so you made a conscious decision to buy a phone that potentially supports half the network.
2) Are you still in contract with your current provider? I ask because if you are, then switching to another provider will cost you an early termination fee. I don't know the provider, so I cannot say how much.
3) Why all the secrecy? If you want the best help, you have to help us to help you. Naming your provider and general location or even the other provider will not lead us to come over for dinner.

it may work, but you may find it hard with the reception.

-aurak.. well said!

@chss- this might help as well http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml


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Hi. thanks for the answer. My cell phone provider is Movistar in Colombia (a subsidiary of Telefonica Spain).

the reason why I bought this phone is because I'm going to go study in the Netherlands for a year and I wanted a phone which would work there. I'm almost certainly going to go with Lycamobile (which, as I understand, works on Vodafone's and T mobile's network at 900/1800) once I'm there, but they will only provide me the SIM card and I would have to get the phone myself. Given that I'm now used to the qwerty keyboard of the 6800, I wanted to keep it. However, the phone is 850/1900 which would make in incompatible and, to be honest, after 4+ years of very harsh treatment it's not in good shape. So I decided that the best alternative would be to get the 6822 from ebay and use it once I got there, knowing that perhaps I would be unable o use it anywhere in my home country.

However, it would be nice to be able to use it here for the month or so I have left and, perhaps, once I return, I wouldn't mind switching to the local 1900 provider which is Tigo (subsidiary of millicom) (not that happy with my current provider anyway).

Thanks for the replies!

Edit: just a bit of history if it's of any use. When the first two cell phone networks were set up in Colombia some 15 years ago (COMCEL and what is now Movistar), they could only use the 850Mhz spectrum. Almost 6 years ago a new operator came into the market (Tigo) working solely in the 1900 band. Given that the original two providers were having considerable capacity contraints, some 3-4 years ago the government awarded them the use of the 1900 band in addition to the 850 band while the third operator remained (and still remains) solely in the 1900 band. Market share is about 55% Comcel, 30% Movistar and 15% Tigo. And, I live in Bogotá, the capital, which is densely populated. Also, Movistr has just finished switching from a CDMA to a GSM network, given that the previous owner of the network was Bell South which set itself up as the sole CDMA provider but, once Telefonica bought its operations in Latin America, it started making the switch to GSM.

I suppose my point is that you could have purchased a quad-band phone, as it supports all four bands/frequencies: 850MHz/1900MHz/900MHz/1800MHz. With a quad-band phone you won't have to worry whether or not it will work, because it supports all the GSM bands/frequencies used throughout the world. If you specifically want a Nokia device, they sell many quad-band phones. Using a phone that doesn't support the 850MHz band on a network that was built with/for it could lead to problems, but then it might not. It's quite possible that the 1900MHz side of the network is well built and therefore you will be fine. In the future, though, try to purchase a quad-band phone as you'll be able to use it on any GSM network anywhere.