3G Phones

[HornBud]

T-mobile subscriber here, and I'm looking at the new G1. It's time for new phones, and I'm thinking of splurging for me and the girl seeing as how they aren't ridiculously overpriced, and I'm going month to month with them anyway. However, does anyone know about T-mobile's 3G network? I've heard it's taking a while to roll out nationwide, and my concern was whether or not the phone would work outside of the 3G world, an answer I haven't been able to find, and I've grown a natural mistrust of reps.

 

[UTeric32]

It will work out of the 3g network, it will just switch to another slower network. But if you are mostly in texas you should be fine. Pretty much every major city in Texas is already set to go.

 

[HornBud]

When it switches to these other slower networks, do they hit you with the roaming fees? Or is it just a slower network, which will have no effect on anything but surfing, right?

Is 3G a world standard? or are there still varying degrees technical standards to keep people frustrated enough?

 

[homer]

There are 2 main 3G standards: one based on GSM (used by ATT and T-Mo in USA) and one based on CDMA (used by Verizon and Sprint in USA). They are entirely incompatible.

In fact, even the two GSM-based 3G standards are incompatible in the USA because they use different frequencies. For example, an unlocked iPhone 3G will not work at 3G speeds on T-Mo.

Anyhow, there are no roaming charges if you are in the USA with a T-Mobile National plan. No matter whose network you are currently using -- T-Mo has roaming agreements with multiple regional providers and ATT.

Also, you're right -- only data speed is really affected in 2G vs. 3G. Voice quality will remain virtually the same with 2G or 3G.