Desperate question about frequencies/bands and unlocked phones.

OK, where do I begin. I bought 2 cell phones off of e-bay. They are suppose to be brand new phones. They are a MOTOROLA L6, they look just like the SLIVERS. When I got the phones I put the sim cards in and the phone worked fine. But I didn't have any service. Then I noticed that they were set to the wrong bands. So I sent them back and got a refund. Here is my questions.. I am in Eastern Kentucky, if I buy another 2 phones the MOTOROLA L6's do they have to be cappable of being set to 850/1900, and do they have to be set to both of the frequencies or just one? Do you know if this phone is even cappable of being set to both these frequencies at the same time? I can't get nothing out of CINGULAR (service provider) they have told me so much crap. One lady told me that if the phone does not say CINGULAR on it they will not work (ANY TRUTH?) I don't thnk so. I don't even know if they make these phones that have the 850/1900 bands myself. So let's just assume for a second that they don't. If I were to buy an actual MOTOROLA L7 SLIVER will it have the 850/1900 bands and will I be able to set it to both 850/1900? I know this is alot to read but I don't want to lose any more money on the shipping of these things. PLEASE HELP!!
P.S these phones were already unlocked. Just need help with knowledge about bands.

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› See More: Desperate question about frequencies/bands and unlocked phones.

Whoa! Slow down, you'll blow a gasket.

Here's the basics first:

GSM carriers in the US use 2 bands. 850 and 1900. T-Mobile uses 1900, and roams on 850. Cingular uses both 850 and 1900.

A phone with 850 and 1900 bands is called a dual band phone. My puny LG c1300 is an example. These phones do exist.

A tri-band phone would have 3 of the following bands: 850/900/1800/1900. European tri-bands don't work so well in the US as they lack 850. I recommend that you avoid these. The L6 is a tri-band phone.

A quad band phone, like the L7 , contains all the bands and will work pretty much everywhere there is GSM coverage.

Cingular is partly right, but wrong. You can use non-Cingular branded phones, but they must be "unlocked." For instance, unlocking a T-Mobile phone to use on Cingular.

Here is my personal advice. If you are planning on using your phone primarily on Cingular in the US, with no intention of international travel, a dual band phone is enough for you. If you plan on travel, get a quad band.

When you buy a phone online, make sure that it has the 850/1900 bands. If you're a Cingular customer, you'll want both bands. That is probably why you do not get service. I'm gonna guess that your area is in the 850 coverage zone, and your phone lacked that band.

I hope this cleared up your confusion. Good luck.

Ok let's say that I buy a quad band L7, will this phone be able to run on both 850/1900, will it have that option in the networking part of the phone?

And will a dual band L7 have the same option.

Originally Posted by floppytaco

Ok let's say that I buy a quad band L7, will this phone be able to run on both 850/1900, will it have that option in the networking part of the phone?

And will a dual band L7 have the same option.

A quad band phone, of any make or model, run on whatever band is available.

To my knowledge, there is no "dual band L7." They are quad.

Maybe I am seeing things but I have read posts from other people on here saying that they bought L6's from e-bay that are quad band 850/900/1800/1900. I haven't a clue.

According to phone scoop both the L6 an L7 are quad band phones.
Just to clarify the reasons behind the different frequencies. Europe uses 900/1800 mhz. Most counties in the world use either 900 or 1800 or both. These bands are allocated to other uses in the U.S. so we have ther 850/1900 mhz bands. So any time you buy a phone off of Ebay make sure that it will work on the correct frequencies. The easy way, of course, is to set the options in your ebay search to U.S. only. And then check the description when before you buy.