<p>yea SE's are great</p>
<p>but the bands don't really matter because i'm pretty sure cingular operates on only 2 bands and all current phones are at least tri-band if not quad</p>
<p>well, aren't Tmobile and Cingular both GSM phones, I pick up the cingular signal most of the time on my T-mobile service, I haven't had too many bad experiences, a dropped call here and there coming in/out of buildings.</p>
<p>really? i'm 99% sure t-mobile cannot roam on AT&T in california.</p>
<p>so tmobile isn't bad to the point I need to cancel my 2 year contract and get verizon or something? how do you get cingular signal on tmobile???</p>
<p>you can't</p>
<p>only thing the two have in common are that they operate on the same technology (GSM)</p>
<p>well it seems like I'm only getting the cingular service signal. My phone is an imported worldphone though, (SLVR).</p>
<p>edit to my previous post, my phone is an unlocked phone.</p>
<p>hmm I've had 2 SE's in the past (currently using a w600i) I want to switch to a nokia though, (N95 please!) too bad it's so expensive haha</p>
<p>edit: hey VTECaddict, you go on slickdeals.net too? just realized that I've seen you around there (if that is you..) :P</p>
<p>^^ i'm everywhere :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Deuces, your SLVR probably says Cingular because its reading the alpha tag from the tower or from within the phone's carrier list. long story short, the tmobile network in CA used to be cingular's, but was sold to tmobile when they bought AT&T wireless a while back. if you mod your phone to read the alpha tag from your SIM instead, it will say T-Mobile.</p>
<p>sooskay, wow a person who also wants the n95. Whenever I see anyone with a N80 or a N9X phone, I have to stop, pause, and stare for a bit. It's so rare to see one of those! My contract doesn't end till October, so I have time for prices to fall. I hope I can snag it for 200$ out of pocket by that time. </p>
<p>I have Tmobile with a Samsung D900. Reception is low, but I can still make calls in most places. There are dead zones in some areas. It's not bad to the point where you have to cancel, but getting Cingular + Quad band phone would be the preferable choice. </p>
<p>Comparison: </p>
<p>My friend/roomie has a N80, quad band, and has Cingular, and in most areas, he would have full bars or 4 bars. </p>
<p>My other friend/roomie has a Nokia 6682, tri band, and has Cingular, and in the same areas, he will have 3 bars. </p>
<p>In the same area as them, I have about 2-3 bars. There are a couple areas where my phone will be dead though, and they will have 2-3 or 4-5.</p>
<p>again, the number of bands has nothing to do with the availability of signal or the phone's ability to receive it. we use two bands here in the US: 1900 Mhz and 850. 1900 Mhz is the main frequency, 850 Mhz only exists in rural areas. so as long as whatever phone you have can receive signals on the 1900 Mhz band, you will get reception in LA. how strong the reception is depends on the phone and wireless provider.</p>
<p>verizon can get reception just about anywhere because it uses older technology (CDMA). on the flip side, if you ever travel out-of-country, you can't use the same phone because the rest of the world uses GSM.</p>
<p>I should have been more clear when I mentioned quad band. :) But what phone now a days has the 850 band but isn't quad band?</p>
<p>the free ones. :D</p>
<p>Ah, I sometimes forget those exist. :D</p>
<p>haha Altema, I don't think I've even see a Nokia N80 or N9x in person before :P</p>
<p>really? CDMA is older than GSM?</p>
<p>i never knew that :confused:</p>
<p>I had t-mobile, and I lived on the first floor of Hedrick Summit, which, from the view, feels like it's practically underground. One of my roommates had t-mobile and the other had cingular. All three of us had very specific spots in the room where we could get reception. It was horrible. </p>
<p>I think the horrible reception from t-mobile was just exacerbated by living on the first floor. Some people with verizon managed to get through, though, even in our practically-underground room.</p>
<p>My roomie has a n80 and I have seen ONE person in Akerman with a n80. I also saw someone walking up Charles E Young towards the dorm carrying a n73 box. The N series is out there!!</p>
<p>i got an N73</p>
<p>symbian phones own :P</p>
<p>Very nice :) I was going to get the n73, but it had a 100$ higher price tag over my D900. Too bad I didn't just wait like an extra month or two because I could have gotten the n80 or n73 with 1 year contract for like 119$.</p>