Talk:United States/@comment-24682153-20181114131833

Hi from the Admin. An unknown user posted this segment in the article, that is open for discussion:

''UPDATE October 2018 - if you plan visiting New York City using a T-Mobile SIM in a european smartphone you will be able to make/receive phone calls, send/receive SMS (text) and your mobile will show that EDGE connectivity is available but, probably due to network congestion, data won't get through. HSPA(+) connectivity is no more available in New York City making any european smartphone completely useless even for basic web browsing. In the same period (mid-october 2018) the same smartphone with the SIM card has been used successfully in San Francisco and in Los Angeles where it successfully connected to the T-Mobile network in HSPA(+) mode, providing an adequate data throughput. ''

After checking my US sources, I think the user is right with his oberservation, but wrong with his conclusions.

T-Mobile US is winding down 3G in many markets to "refarm" its spectrum to LTE. This is true and a different approach to AT&T that has closed 2G nationwide.

New York City was one of the markets where T-Mobile (partly) moved 3G from 1700 MHz (AWS, band 4) to 1900 MHz (PCS, band 2) about a decade ago. T-Mobile was worldwide one of the few providers that had used AWS for 3G and at that time not even the iPhones (5/6) could cope with it.

This 3G PCS spectrum was re-refarmed to LTE in many markets like New York City, but possibly not Los Angeles from 2017. This all depends on the local bandwidth available that differs from state to state.

So there is no 3G on PCS band left anymore in New York, but there possibly is in Los Angeles. But now the misconception: 3G has not been shut. There is still some 3G on AWS band, that most overseas devices simply can't cope with.

So check if your device can deal with 3G (not 4G!) on 1700 MHz, band 4 or AWS - whatever it is called. So I need to correct your statement. But we can add that you need a device capable of AWS and PCS bands to still get T-Mobile's 3G, but surely better a LTE device. Problems remain with roaming plans like those of Three UK that are limited to 2G and 3G, not 4G.