Sunday, July 25, 2010

Setting up (Vodafone) HTC Magic on Telecom XT

Google fodder: I have a Telecom XT SIM chip and setting the HTC Magic up to use the Telecom XT network for phone and Internet isn't hard if you know what the settings need to be.

Anyone using an HTC Magic sourced from Vodafone should be aware that this phone supports these frequencies: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz and WCDMA/UMTS 900 and 2100MHz.

Telecom XT does not do GSM at all. They have only WDCMA/UMTS 850MHz and 2100MHz. So the *only* frequency Vodafone NZ and Telecom XT have in common is WCDMA/UMTS 2100. Keep this in mind.

The only places this phone will work with Telecom XT are places where they provide coverage using WCDMA/UMTS 2100. Yes, Telecom XT do 2100 in many parts of the big cities, but (so I'm told) for the rest of the country they mainly use WCDMA/UMTS 850MHz. This phone can't do that flavour (WCDMA) of 850MHz at all. So coverage will be poor and this phone would not be a good choice for use with Telecom XT. This point can be confusing as Vodafone do use 850MHz to provide GSM coverage. But GSM isn't WCDMA/UMTS and Vodafone do not do WCDMA/UMTS on 850MHz. They are very different standards.  

Having said that, I'm on the North Shore in the Auckland region and have have had no trouble getting on the XT network anywhere that I live, work or play, but then I have been fairly Auckland-centric for the past several months. I have little doubt that were I to head out of the city I would soon find my HTC Magic would not work as it can't see the UMTS 850MHz. I keep repeating that as it can't be debated or argued about. That's just how it is.

Provided that is clear enough, onward...

Obviously, you need to turn your phone off, swap the SIMs and then power on. Once powered up, make sure the Wi-Fi is disabled as this appears to hinder the phone making a network connection to the telco. It will do it with Wi-Fi on, but you might have to try a few times. With WiFi off, it works first time, every time.

To turn Wi-Fi off:

  1. Go to the Home screen, then press the MENU button
  2. Touch the SETTINGS option on the on-screen menu, then...
  3. Touch "Wireless Controls", then...
  4. Touch "WiFi" to remove the green tick mark and turn Wi-Fi off.
  5. Press the HOME button to return to the HOME screen.
To choose a network:
  1. While on the HOME screen, press the MENU button, then tough the SETTINGS option on the on-screen menu.
  2. Touch "Wireless Controls", then...
  3. Touch "Mobile Networks", then...
  4. Touch "Network Operators", then...
  5. Touch "Telecom NZ" in the list. You should then see "Registered on the network" appear.
  6. Press the HOME button to return to home.
You can now make and receive phone calls, but you still need to set up the data side of things. The "APNs". The gateways you need to talk to do data.

Setting up the APNs:
  1. While on the HOME screen, press the MENU button, then tough the SETTINGS option on the on-screen menu.
  2. Touch "Wireless Controls", then...
  3. Touch "Mobile Networks", then...
  4. Touch "Access Point Names"
  5. You'll likely see a blank, black screen. Press the MENU button and and touch "New APN".

The list of APNs is on Geekzone here.

You can add each one. I did, but I set "Telecom Default" as the default.

You don't change most of the items in the basic template list, but you do set the descriptive name and the APN at the very least for the default.

Some translation is required. Where the Geekzone list says "Homepage", put the value into "Server" on your phone. Where it says "Proxy", put the IP address - if any. Where it says "Port", put the port number - usually "80". I did not specify a secure port or use the 8080 port value. The phone doesn't appear to have a field for it.

I'm not sure which of the other values work, but I was able to do internet data and that was all I really wanted to do.

I did try to send a PXT to my Vodafone number, but it didn't go, so I obviously don't have that part set up properly yet. I emailed it instead. No problem. But more fiddling around appears to be required to get MMS going.

[UPDATE: The MMS/PXT message did arrive after all, so that is working too. For that APN (Telecom MMS) I set the MMS proxy and port instead of the other proxy and port.]
Posted by Steve Withers at 7:48 PM
Labels: , , ,

9 comments:

  1. SteveNovember 26, 2009 6:06 PM

    I’ve got an HTC Hero from Canada which works quite happily on TelecomXT (850/2100Mhz). The only issue I have network-wise is that I can’t get it to download MMS messages using either Handcent or the native Messages app. I’ve got the APN settings from Geekzone and internet works fine (and FAST!). Any ideas?

    It sends MMS’s fine, it receives the actual message but won’t allow be to download the multimedia component of them.

    The phone is rooted, MoDaCo 2.9 ROM, updated kernel, radio etc. Works great other than this one little issue (which I barely use anyway).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Andrew ToogoodJune 21, 2011 11:32 PM

    I have a galaxy Tab which acording to the xt compatibility site can do:

    SAMSUNG P1000 Galaxy Tab

    Your device supports the following frequencies:

    GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
    WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz

    When I put the sim in and reboot I get Telecom (No Service) and when I follow your instructions to chose a network it only lists Vodafone and 2degress with not xt option.

    Any ideas, could it be locked down to one carrier?

    AT

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve WithersJune 22, 2011 9:00 AM

    Andrew: An explanation in two parts.

    Part 1: The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a tablet and a phone in one (as you know). The phone will be able to do GSM with any GSM-capable carrier. Those are the 4 GSM frequencies you note.

    Only Vodafone and 2Degrees do GSM. Telecom XT does do GSM at all.

    Part 2: All NZ carriers do WCDMA (a.k.a. "3G"). 2Degrees provides its own 3G/WCDMA network on 2100MHz only in their "zones". In the rest of the country they piggyback on Vodafone. Vodafone provide WCDMA service on 900MHz and 2100MHz. Telecom XT *only* use 850MHz and 2100MHz for *all* services: voice, txt, data. If you are using a Vodafone-compatible Galaxy Tab on Telecom's network, then the ONLY frequency all services would be able to function on would be WCDMA (3G) 2100MHz. If you can't see that frequency where you are, then you have no Telecom XT service available to you as they don't do GSM and you can't see their only other frequency (850MHz) which is the one that provides widest coverage. It looks to me like your Galaxy Tab is a Vodafone-compatible one, which explains why you can see Vodafone and 2degrees via GSM (which Telecom doesn't do anyway) but can't see Telecom at all (as your device can't see 850MHz WCDMA and you're not in a 2100Mhz coverage area - mainly urban, big cities.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Steve WithersJune 22, 2011 9:00 AM

    That should be Telecom XT does NOT do GSM at all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Steve WithersJune 22, 2011 9:09 AM

    Looks like I forgot to mention the Galaxy Tab can only be one or the other....not both. When gsmarena say a device does WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 they don't make it clear that the model will be in two flavours: WCDMA 900/1900/2100 ("Vodafone") and WCDMA 850/1900/2100 ("Telecom XT". This is what you may have discovered. You have a Vodafone device and you're trying to use it on Telecom. It will work, but ONLY where your device can see WCDMA 2100MHz for XT (a very small portion of NZ)...and nowhere else.

    ReplyDelete
  6. keirDecember 06, 2011 8:27 PM

    Hi Steve - looks to me like you're the guy who knows his stuff. I recently got given a Telecom HTC Sensation. I am a Vodafone loyalist with a brand new 24 month contract. I do however love the phone.
    It works kinda fine in the Auckland area with the vodaphone SIM card.(I'm also North shore at the moment.) It does however have service dropouts from time to time which dont appear to be location orientated, as after a while it fires back up. I'm also informed that when I leave the Auckland area, I'll lose service.
    I'd prefer to have a fully operational phone - this one is not a quad band (apparently - not sure how to check )
    is there a way to get it to be more stable or if not; is there a forum where I can swap it with a telecom customer who might have what I want.
    Cheers for any help you can point my way.
    Keir

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steve WithersDecember 08, 2011 4:19 PM

    keir: Make sure you have "Network Mode" set to "GSM /WCDMA auto" in Menu -> Settings -> Wireless and Networks -> Mobile Networks -> Network Mode.

    If you don't have GSM turned on you will be relying 100% on WCDMA 2100MHz alone....and that won't be a happy situation.

    ReplyDelete
  8. keirDecember 11, 2011 11:39 AM

    Hey Steve - thanks for getting back to me - I've already done that - I still get drop-outs and Im not confident the phone will give me 3G when I'm out of town.
    Do you know of a forum where perhaps I could swap the phone (apart from Trade me - they dont seem to have a 'swap' function), with someone who wants a telecom HTC, and who has a Vodafone handset?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Steve WithersDecember 15, 2011 2:29 PM

    keir: Try the Android Forum at geekzone.co.nz. (This might look like a different logi, but its me). Steve

    ReplyDelete

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