Possible to use a UK Hero in USA?

[MKeditor]

I have an Orange pay as you go account in the UK for when I travel there. The Hero looks great. Can I use it stateside?

 

[Quboid]

The Hero released in Europe does not support North American 3G networks. 2G is quad-band so I believe that will work, but if you need a data connection faster than EDGE, you're stuck with Wifi.

 

[MKeditor]

I am a little confused. Here are the specs for the Hero and the T-Mobile Mytouch released in the USA:

Hero: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS 900/2100
DATA GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA 1.8 Mbit/s/HSDPA 3.6 Mbit/s/HSDPA 7.2 Mbit/s/HSUPA/HSUPA 2.0 Mbit/s

Mytouch: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS 1700/2100
DATA GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA 1.8 Mbit/s/HSDPA 3.6 Mbit/s/HSDPA 7.2 Mbit/s/HSUPA/HSUPA 2.0 Mbit/s

The only difference I can see on paper is the UMTS. It appears the UK version has a wider range....which I would thing shouldn't be a limitation on the US T-Mobile system. Then again I know very little about these things.

If someone could shed some light on this, I would be grateful. I travel to the UK, Canada and Australia and would love to have a phone that I could just switch sim cards and keep going. Jason Bourne does it all the time. Why can't I? (grin)

 

[MKeditor]

Ahh, come on. I thought you guys were good.

 

[Quboid]

Expanding what I said before - the UK Hero uses 3G (in the form of UMTS) on frequencies 900 & 2100. Networks in the US don't use this, they use 850, 1700 & 1900. These are like radio stations, you need to be tuned in exactly and the UK Hero simply isn't in the US. To the best of my understanding, you will get 2G (so calls and texts are fine), probably EDGE, and Wifi and Bluetooth.

UMTS frequency bands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jason Bourne's phone was probably also limited to 2G, although there are phones out there which give 3G on both sides of the Atlantic. The Samsung i7500 Galaxy, due out any day now in the UK, for example. That might be a better choice for you.

Incidentally, Orange won't sell the Hero to PAYG (pay as you go) customers, so you'll need to get an unlocked one. I just bought a Hero from Expansys, they've been good in the past. No idea who will have the Galaxy, or when it will be out.

 

[MKeditor]

Thanks Quboid. You seem to be the only one out of 10k members here that is willing to answer my questions. I really appreciate it.

I have looked into the information you have given me. It is making the situation clearer. I agree the Galaxy appears to be a better choice for my needs.

There is one thing that doesn't fit. One of my employees has a Blackberry Pearl 8120. She is able to use her phone wherever we travel. I am not sure if she can web browse, but she receives and makes calls and e-mails with no problem. Here are the specs for her phone:

GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Data GPRS/EDGE

I can't find anything about a UMTS frequency for this phone.

How is it possible for a USA phone from 2007 to function perfectly in the UK and OZ?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help with this.

 

[justjimjpc]

Thanks Quboid. You seem to be the only one out of 10k members here that is willing to answer my questions. I really appreciate it.

I have looked into the information you have given me. It is making the situation clearer. I agree the Galaxy appears to be a better choice for my needs.

There is one thing that doesn't fit. One of my employees has a Blackberry Pearl 8120. She is able to use her phone wherever we travel. I am not sure if she can web browse, but she receives and makes calls and e-mails with no problem. Here are the specs for her phone:

GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Data GPRS/EDGE

I can't find anything about a UMTS frequency for this phone.

How is it possible for a USA phone from 2007 to function perfectly in the UK and OZ?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help with this.

Maybe alot of those 10K members are from the US and do not have a HERO ... So they arent going to speak for something they dont have !!!

But other posts on the forum have said that the Euro version will not work on 3G but is most likely to work on gprs/edge ....

Having been a user of gprs and edge prior to this phone ... it was a grind to wait for internet pages to load via edge. Phone and SMS are ok on Edge/GPRS

 

[MKeditor]

...as a follow up....I just returned from Australia. I was able to unlock my T--mobile MyTouch. It worked very well in OZ. No 3G, but I limped with edge. The main thing is that I now have a phone I can use when I travel. I am really happy about that. I won't have be cut off from the world anymore when abroad.

The next step for me is to get the Samsung Galaxy or whoever comes out with a phone that will handle 3G on all shores before my UK trip in January.

 

[Slug]

Maybe alot of those 10K members are from the US and do not have a HERO ...

Or are from outwith the US and haven't the foggiest idea if it will work or not!

 

[TheBrit]

Regarding the the Blackberry Pearl 8120 - nice little handset - my daughter has one. You will not find any UMTS (3G) information for it because it does not support it. It's a GSM/GPRS/EDGE only device. Being quadband GSM it will indeed work just fine both sides of the Atlantic.

 

[cow]

I used my Hero on Orange pay monthly in the US, last week. Didn't use any data though.

 

[quicksite]

I know this question has long ago been considered "asked and answered". I've been a longtime member of XDA forums, a T-Mo USA customer, ready to switch to ANdroid, like so many people wanted the Hero for T-mo USA 3Gnetwork.

Your info below of course matches exactly what T-Mo USA has told me re its 3G net requirements. But there is THIS PHONE in the PDA database that meets the spec... But since it cannot be found anywhere, I am of the belief it was never delivered to market, prob because T-mo USA passed in it, though T-Mo UK chose the hero:

T-Mobile G2 Touch (HTC Hero 100) Detailed Specs | Technical Specifications | PDAdb.net - Comprehensive Database of PDA, PDA Phone, Smartphone, PNA & Mobile Device Specifications

I have written to the site admins of PDAdb.net to aks if they could verify this info, but I have not heard back yet.

What do you make of this, please? thank you

Expanding what I said before - the UK Hero uses 3G (in the form of UMTS) on frequencies 900 & 2100. Networks in the US don't use this, they use 850, 1700 & 1900. These are like radio stations, you need to be tuned in exactly and the UK Hero simply isn't in the US. To the best of my understanding, you will get 2G (so calls and texts are fine), probably EDGE, and Wifi and Bluetooth.

UMTS frequency bands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jason Bourne's phone was probably also limited to 2G, although there are phones out there which give 3G on both sides of the Atlantic. The Samsung i7500 Galaxy, due out any day now in the UK, for example. That might be a better choice for you.

Incidentally, Orange won't sell the Hero to PAYG (pay as you go) customers, so you'll need to get an unlocked one. I just bought a Hero from Expansys, they've been good in the past. No idea who will have the Galaxy, or when it will be out.

 

[quantumrand]

It does mention the UMTS1700 and UMTS2100 that T-Mo USA uses, but I suspect its either a typo, or an unreleased prototype.