Cell phone frequencies

Will a tri band phone with no 850 mhz frequency work in prince rupert ?

Hello is anyone gonna help me out here do we need 850 mhz in this town ?

That will depend on who’s network your going to try and use. Rogers, Telus/Bells HSPA, or Citywest. The phone may work on the HSPA or Rogers network, however that’s dependent on them allowing the phone onto the network (as they use SIM cards, I’m unfamiliar with how they’ll restrict hardware). It’s very unlikely that it’ll work on Citywest’s network (it may have the capability, but the network will likely not allow it to be provisioned).

Is it unlocked? Or are you already with a carrier? 850 should work in Rupert, with Rogers.

You say it’s a tri-band phone, what are the other two bands?

Typically it’s one of: 850/1800/1900 MHz or 900/1800/1900 MHz.

If he doesn’t have the 850 MHz, then it’s probably safe to assume that he has 900/1800/1900. The 1800/1900 MHz should work with either Rogers or the HSPA network. I can’t remember what they use… It’s just a matter of being allowed to use it on their network.

I figured it out thanks for the input they way it works is i buy unlocked phones a buy a sim card from rogers and i use pay as you go monthly just like a normal plan only no contract.

And the other thing is that we can only use the 850 and 1900 frequencies, the 1900 one transfers more data faster and is better quality and works fine outside or in wood buildings like Rupert , but if you are in a large city or around alot of concrete buildings it will have to use teh 850 frequency which for some reason is able to handle less data but goes through conrete and metal much better , and the reasn i asked is because the phone i bought doesnt have the 850 mhz just the others but 1900 should work fine here on the rogers network, if i have any problems i will let you know thanks !

My understanding is that 850 frequency in North America (like 900 which is widely used in Europe and elsewhere) has better range, which is why it is used as a backup up to the higher quality 1900 frequency (like 1800 in Europe and elsewhere).

Has anyone had success unlocking GSM phones? I know that Rogers, Bell and Telus are supposed to assist customers so that they can unlock their GSM phone in order to switch providers, but what about the phone unlocking services on the internet, so that a local SIM card could be used outside of Canada (anomolies like Citywest’s CDMA service aside)?

The online phone unlocking services that I have glanced at require the phone’s ID, then will provide an unlock code for about $5. Also, has anyone had experience using different providers’ SIM cards on an unlocked cell phone purchased on the internet or elsewhere, assuming they are available elsewhere?

Unlocked phones on Ebay my friend and yes they work great just better off buying a quad band phone, i wanted a real tough one called the sonim xp1, fairly cheap but it doesnt have the 850 mhz its only tri band .