Travel Technology - Umm, what is UMTS and why is it so fast?

Wirelessly posted (HTC TyTN: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) Opera 8.60 [en])

Im at LHR and my HTC TyTNhas weird icons on the display and clicking around it says TMobile UK UMTS. And it seems very, very fast. What is it??

Wirelessly posted (HTC TyTN: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) Opera 8.60 [en])

Im at LHR and my HTC TyTNhas weird icons on the display and clicking around it says TMobile UK UMTS. And it seems very, very fast. What is it??

TyTN actually does 3G (UTMS) and HSDPA, HSDPA gives high-speed data transfer speeds to the 3G network, up to 1.8 Mbit/s or 3.6 Mbit/s. T Mobile UK has HSDPA in their 3G network.

Yes, the TyTn has it all. It even supports US UMTS (1900mhz) if you're lucky enough to be on a US network that supports it.

Edited to add: Oh, and welcome to Old Europe where you can use this technology in pretty much anywhere you want :D.

Cingular has HSDPA is going to eventually reach those speeds as well. I've seen a maximum of 1.2mbit on Cingular. I see "Cingular UMTS" on my TyTn.

Yep... T-Mo will eventually have UMTS/HSDPA, they just blew $4 billion on the spectrum. It'll be a few years though. Cingular has it now although not nearly everywhere they should; I WISH they'd roll it out faster. It is FAST... and that means the data roaming charges rack up astonishingly quickly. :o

Yep... T-Mo will eventually have UMTS/HSDPA, they just blew $4 billion on the spectrum. It'll be a few years though. Cingular has it now although not nearly everywhere they should; I WISH they'd roll it out faster. It is FAST... and that means the data roaming charges rack up astonishingly quickly. :o

That a test of SkyPE video calling while roaming at $15 a MB isnt a good idea ;).

I thought of that right after I saw the speed. Its nice, but I put my Orange prepaid card in the TyTN soon after. I get GPRS on that, although not 3G but it is a lot less dangerous.

That a test of SkyPE video calling while roaming at $15 a MB isnt a good idea ;).

I thought of that right after I saw the speed. Its nice, but I put my Orange prepaid card in the TyTN soon after. I get GPRS on that, although not 3G but it is a lot less dangerous.

Orange supports 3G (not HSDPA though) on pre pay so you could get Orange to enable 3G on your SIM card (though they may have to provide you with a new USIM card to do this).

Orange supports 3G (not HSDPA though) on pre pay so you could get Orange to enable 3G on your SIM card (though they may have to provide you with a new USIM card to do this).

Ah, thanks. I was wondering about that. I will give them a call while I am here. Im outside of Cambridge now but when I go back to London for the Do I will try to get a new card if I need one.

Orange supports 3G (not HSDPA though) on pre pay so you could get Orange to enable 3G on your SIM card (though they may have to provide you with a new USIM card to do this).


Thanks for the info. You were right. I checked on the Orange web page and they charge the same for GPRS and 3G. It is about half as much as roaming on TMobile. They dont activate it, but rather I have to stop in a store and buy a new SIM card and then activate that with my old number. The SIM card costs 1 GBP. I will try to do it when back in London for the Do.

Always a pleasure to help. Enjoy your TyTn and 3G coverage (I'm actually thinking of getting one myself - Minimalist angel on my right shoulder and Maximalist angel on my left shoulder are currently fighting that one out :D).

Yep... T-Mo will eventually have UMTS/HSDPA, they just blew $4 billion on the spectrum. It'll be a few years though. Cingular has it now although not nearly everywhere they should; I WISH they'd roll it out faster. It is FAST... and that means the data roaming charges rack up astonishingly quickly. :o

t-mo was actually saying 2007, but things could of course change
some people think, they paid so much for spectrum since they have already begun.

And of course, T-mo got licenses for 3G on frequencies nobody has ever used, so there isn't a single phone on the market that will work on it (yet).