1. #1
    jdavis
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    I apologize in advance if this has already been talked about at great length. I've been looking around for awhile, and can't really seem to find anything that helps.

    I recently bought an unlocked Samsung ES-250 from some generic cell phone retailer. In the store, we put in my SIM and everything appeared fine. Made/received phone calls/texts, and so I happily purchased the phone and left.

    It didn't take long before my phone was exhibiting terrible network connectivity problems. The display would show full bars, but also a message that said, "Limited Service," at which point I could only make emergency phone calls. It seemed, rather randomly, that I would actually get on the AT&T network. Through the course of the day, I would sometimes be able to make a call or send a text, but never for any great length of time. In the first 24 hours that I had the phone, I would venture a guess that only 15 minutes out of that time was usable on the phone; otherwise, I had "Limited Service" and couldn't make/receive anything.

    So, today, I called AT&T. I gave them my IMEI number, which had a trailing /2 if that means anything (?), and talked with the AT&T guy for awhile. He was quite confused as to where I purchased the phone, and once I told him it was just some unlocked phone at some cell phone store, he told me that was the problem. He said that by updating the IMEI number he had for me, which I assume the current one was from my now broken AT&T phone, that my phone would receive updates for the next couple of days, whenever I would cycle the power, but that there was little else he could do.

    Of course, the catch 22 is that since my phone is so unreliably able to get on the AT&T network to even recieve the updates it seemed a rather futile task.

    Then I began looking around on the options of the phone, mainly because I called the store today to tell them of my troubles. He explained to me that the ES250 was a "world phone" and should work fine simply because it's unlocked, but that I should look at the "Network Frequency" options. I tried all of the available GSM network frequencies, but today that only resulted with the phone saying, "No Service" on each frequency which was a bit discouraging considering before I was at least getting "Limited Service."

    At any rate, I again apologize if this is a rather useless thread, but I was curious if there's any help out there? In the mean time, I've just had to go get a GoPhone and using my SIM card with that in the mean time.

    I appreciate any help. Thanks.


    See More: Network connectivity problems with an unlocked phone?
    Last edited by jdavis; 11-16-2008 at 03:03 PM.




  2. #2
    efparri
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    Re: Network connectivity problems with an unlocked phone?

    Do you mean the SGH-E250? ES-250 sounds like a Toyota Camry-based Lexus. If you are talking about the E250, it only has the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands. AT&T uses both the 850 MHz and the 1900 MHz bands. Depending upon your location, the carrier may be using 850 MHz only or using the 1900 MHz in the WCDMA mode only.
    Earl F. Parrish



  3. #3
    jdavis
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    Re: Network connectivity problems with an unlocked phone?

    Ah,yes, sorry for the confusion. It is the SGH-E250. I guess I have little recourse then if all I have to look at is the network frequencies?



  4. #4
    alana0j
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    Re: Network connectivity problems with an unlocked phone?

    Yeah I looked up your phone on the phone arena website. It is indeed a Europe/Asia based phone which is why you only have the one frequency band "for roaming in America" to quote the website. There is very little you can about the reception unfortunately, that AT&T guy can tell you all day that just by updating the IMEI it will receive updates but that's not always the case. Next time you are going to buy an unlocked phone, make sure to check ahead of time what the frequencies are, and if you go to phonearena.com that is an excellent place to do research and read review and get specs and such. AT&T is tricky...I bought an unlocked Sony Ericsson and I had to go to the AT&T website and use device settings from 3 different phones to match it up in my phone to make my MMS and browser work.



  5. #5
    jdavis
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    Re: Network connectivity problems with an unlocked phone?

    Thanks for all the information and help, I really appreciate it.



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