Unlocking a g1 (help please?)

**matthewboii** · 10-26-2008, 06:32 PM

Ok so i have another question,

im buying another g1 for my boyfriend which im going to unlock so that he can use it for att.

i am aware that att doesnt have the same 3g band as t-mobile so that means that the phone will be forced to use edge, and then roam on t-mobiles network.

but,

on most unlocked phones you have the ability to choose which netowork your phone uses as the default and the roaming...

where i am going with this is i wonder if he can pop in his att card and then set the phone to choose t-mobile as the main network and use their 3g while roaming on att just as a t-mobile customer would..

judging by the settings i see in the phones menus it seems that this could be possible... could anyone confirm or deny this?

**jmejiaa** · 10-26-2008, 06:48 PM

I'm pretty sure that if you put in a ATT sim card you will just get ATT service and network. And I'm not sure why it would not pick up ATT's 3g? 3g is 3g right?

I knwo unlocked Iphones pick up T-mobiles 3g so why would it not work the other way around.

I know I didint answer your questions but this is from my experience. Can you unlock your first and try it out?

**matthewboii** · 10-26-2008, 06:51 PM

im getting the phone on thursday,

and no the phone does not support the 3g band that att uses,

in essence, its not as simple as 3g is 3g

but t-mobile phones can roam on att gprs network, and att phones can roam on t-mobiles network,

and of course that just brings me back to the original question

**cdlazzari** · 10-26-2008, 07:08 PM

Excellent question, i'm interested in knowing this too.

**Fare** · 10-26-2008, 07:08 PM

900/850 for cingular 3G, 1700/2100 for T-mobile USA 3g (2100 is international)

**matthewboii** · 10-26-2008, 07:22 PM

thanks but that was not the original question, anyone?

**tread** · 10-26-2008, 07:31 PM

no, you can not force the phone to select t-mobiles data network... you can try and configure it, but in the end this is controlled by att and t-mobile on their end, not on the user end

**tread** · 10-26-2008, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by jmejiaa

I'm pretty sure that if you put in a ATT sim card you will just get ATT service and network. And I'm not sure why it would not pick up ATT's 3g? 3g is 3g right?

I knwo unlocked Iphones pick up T-mobiles 3g so why would it not work the other way around.

I know I didint answer your questions but this is from my experience. Can you unlock your first and try it out?

this is incorrect... iphone 3g's use t-mobiles edge data access, so you will never get 3g speeds on an iphone using t-mobiles network

**mr.black** · 10-27-2008, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by tread

this is incorrect... iphone 3g's use t-mobiles edge data access, so you will never get 3g speeds on an iphone using t-mobiles network

I was just gonna say that, the iPhone 3g can ONLY use edge, the only way you would be able to used an unlocked g1 with 3g speeds on AT&T is if they started supporting the 1700 frequency for 3g data...ONLY WAY.