iPhone, iPad, iPod Forums at iMore.com

[ddk997]

Hey everyone, I am new here and I have been trying for the past week to find a retail place where I can just buy the IPhone 3g.

Now I have been thinking since I am going to be using T-Mobile, purchasing the 3g would be pointless correct? since T-mobile network is not compatible with AT&T 3g network?

Please let me know, Maybe I don't need to buy the 3g and save money just buying the 1st generation.

If anyone knows, where can I purchase an Iphone without going to an AT&T store or signing any contract. Thanks

[Stuartino]

T-mobile 3G availability in the USA has been discussed at length in previous threads. I can't remember tha outcome, but I can confirm that T-mobile with 3G works fine in the UK.

[Jeremy Sikora]

Originally Posted by ddk997

Hey everyone, I am new here and I have been trying for the past week to find a retail place where I can just buy the IPhone 3g.

Now I have been thinking since I am going to be using T-Mobile, purchasing the 3g would be pointless correct? since T-mobile network is not compatible with AT&T 3g network?

Please let me know, Maybe I don't need to buy the 3g and save money just buying the 1st generation.

If anyone knows, where can I purchase an Iphone without going to an AT&T store or signing any contract. Thanks

You would be correct, the 3G networks are not the same and it will not work. You will be stuck with Edge only.

[Justin]

I remember having this discussion in this thread http://forum.theiphoneblog.com/iphon...locking-2.html

Since I haven't tried to run an iPhone on the tmobile network I don't know if it works so I would take BadAsh's advice on this and assume there is no 3g for iPhone on tmobile...

But from a technical standpoint (see link above) I understand why it doesn't work.

Tmobile does 1700 2100
Att does 850 1900
iPhone 3g does 850 1900 2100
G1 does 1700 2100

So the iPhone does run on 2100 frequency which Tmobile supports, but maybe they don't really support that yet?

Or maybe you need 1700 for 3g and 2100 is only for 2-2.5G?

Either way just suck it up and move to att, they aren't really that bad

EDIT:
Just looked back at the old post and the link bad ash provided (not sure how i missed it, maybe I saw it preedit?) says the following:

"ATT offers UMTS or 3G using 850mhz(the old TDMA band) and 1900mhz.
While T-mobile offers HSDPA (technically 3.5g part of the UMTS specification) using 1700MHz for uplink and 2100MHz downlink."

So basically you need both 1700 and 2100 for tmobile 3g to function and the iPhone only supports 2100.

[ddk997]

Thanks alot everyone for the help.

Dizzy, very good information... thank you very much.

So this makes me wonder, maybe its best suited and save money going with the first generation...since the only thing special about the 2nd generation seems to be 3g(wont work with TMO) and the design is slightly thinner.

1st Gen or 2nd Gen? or will I just be much better sticking to something like the G1, where I may be able to use G3.

Thanks again!

[Justin]

Problem is the 1st gen isn't being sold anymore and when the used ones are being sold they are going for more than the new one because they aren't in a contract.

[CJ225]

Yea I made the mistake of trading my 2g for a 3g and I use tmobile.....now Imight just go back to att lol

[JasontheGreat]

Yea, same problem. Learned the hard way... Stick to 2g if possible t-mobile users!