Milestone 3G 850/1900 question

[HappyBallz]

First of all hello everyone, I joined this board after looking for awhile, it seems to be the spot if you are Droid/Milestone owner.

I'm heavily deciding on buying the Milestone but I would like to not make a mistake like I did with i8910 omnia HD, great hardware with the ****ties software available and no support from the manufacturer. So i now try to take my time and research a bit and not get into hype much, and let the pioneers mess with it first and give feedback (and thank you guys for that lol).

Anyways enough useless talk, I wanted to find out if anyone has some locations where I could buy Milestone with 3G band of 850 so it could be used in US on the AT&T network. And additionally if there is any differences between the versions of lets say European/Americas phone.
Please list all restrictions, missing features etc.

Can the european version of milestone band frequency be changed when rooted or this is more of hardware setting on the radio? I ask this because I know some phones are intentionally frequency locked by software by whatever reason and infact could support more bands.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[HappyBallz]

30+ views and nobody has anything to say? lol come on, someone has to have something to say.
I called motorola and they keep saying that U.S. will never see this phone released. How wierd is that?

 

[shatteredzman]

No current Milestone will work no matter what you do right now. It is a hardware problem. The Milestone will be released soon in Canada and it will have the correct frequencies to work with AT&T 3G. Keep on the look out for "Motorola Milestone released for Telus".

 

[arlissfreire]

No current Milestone will work no matter what you do right now. It is a hardware problem. The Milestone will be released soon in Canada and it will have the correct frequencies to work with AT&T 3G. Keep on the look out for "Motorola Milestone released for Telus".

Well the brazilian Milestone WILL work actually.
But I cannot imagine how you would manage to buy it internationally.

 

[big_adventure]

Well the brazilian Milestone WILL work actually.
But I cannot imagine how you would manage to buy it internationally.

Totally correct - any SA Milestone ought to work, because they use the same frequencies for UMTS as ATT. The Milestone totally lacks the hardware to support TMo 3G, so that's right out.

I also don't know how you're going to get one sent to you. Amazon does this kind of stuff between the US and Europe, and between EU nations, but I can't find a specific Amazon store for .br or .ar.

 

[HappyBallz]

Finally! Thnx for replies lol... :icon_ banana:
Anyways, I know that European phones will work on AT&T but I really would like to get my 3G service to work on it( when its available lol) as well.
Everytime I call Motorola their rep keeps saying that the phone IS NOT intended to be released in United States AT ALL, Canada yes but not US. Woun't give me a reason at all, I asked if they would still give support if bought they said yes no problem but has to be bought from "authorized retailer" lol.

And it might be a typo but Canadian version has less bands in 2G and 3G that it covers than the South American one. Really strange.

Anyways can this phone be bought unlocked in S.A. right now or you are reqired to purchase a plan with it?

If no plan is required, can some one from Argentina/Brazil or other countries in SA PM me or write in here and put it on ebay, I will throw in some extra bucks for effort if someone is willing to do it.

Thnaks guys.

 

[arlissfreire]

Forget it.
1. S A does not have Ebay. Instead there is another equivalent site, "Mercado Libre", (literally "Free Market") that used to be a partner of Ebay but has lost this title.
Sellers are not even close to being reliable as Ebay sellers are. And most do not send internationally.
2. There are reliable websites but they only deliver within Brazil.
3. Vivo is one of biggest carriers in Brazil and sells the Milestone but only within Brazil. (and locked).

 

[trhuseby]

There is anecdotal evidence now that the Motorola A853 Milestone which is sold in Europe and South America is the same device with different baseband software. This means the HW itself supports both 850/1900/2100 and 900/2100.. It just needs the right baseband SW. Folks in South American that are rotting and installing European (and HK) software are losing their 3G.. AllDroid - View topic - IMPORTANT info. about rooting south american milestones. Someone just needs to find out how to make this work!

 

[arlissfreire]

Which evidence is that?

 

[trhuseby]

The model #'s are exactly the same (A853) for European and South American Versions. Also folks in Argentina who root and use European SW lose local 3G freqencies (850/900/1900)... AllDroid - View topic - IMPORTANT info. about rooting south american milestones.

 

[HappyBallz]

Yeah its possible, like i mentioned in the first post I have seen this being done before. For example that waveband cost more money to license in one country or it's not available at all so it is disabled, I would imagine it cost less to put in piece of hardware and then be able to disable band at will then install different peices of hardware in every phone in every region, seems way too combersome, and would require re-tooling of the factory whis is $$$... I sure hope its same hardware.

arlissfreire: i heard about that place before but like you said they seem not to ship to US not to mention have some extreme pricing... $850 for this phone? no thanks lol

So anyone wants to flash S.A. firmware on their phone? hehe

 

[DAGr8]

Yeah its possible, like i mentioned in the first post I have seen this being done before. For example that waveband cost more money to license in one country or it's not available at all so it is disabled, I would imagine it cost less to put in piece of hardware and then be able to disable band at will then install different peices of hardware in every phone in every region, seems way too combersome, and would require re-tooling of the factory whis is $$$... I sure hope its same hardware.

arlissfreire: i heard about that place before but like you said they seem not to ship to US not to mention have some extreme pricing... $850 for this phone? no thanks lol

So anyone wants to flash S.A. firmware on their phone? hehe

I do , any sbf file available somewhere ? I am on rooted HK 1.14 I doubt the adbrecovery will work for me ...

 

[big_adventure]

Yeah its possible, like i mentioned in the first post I have seen this being done before. For example that waveband cost more money to license in one country or it's not available at all so it is disabled, I would imagine it cost less to put in piece of hardware and then be able to disable band at will then install different peices of hardware in every phone in every region, seems way too combersome, and would require re-tooling of the factory whis is $$$... I sure hope its same hardware.

arlissfreire: i heard about that place before but like you said they seem not to ship to US not to mention have some extreme pricing... $850 for this phone? no thanks lol

So anyone wants to flash S.A. firmware on their phone? hehe

I do , any sbf file available somewhere ? I am on rooted HK 1.14 I doubt the adbrecovery will work for me ...

Sure it will, just use v3 from poseidon, and follow the v3 directions. You will find the required details on alldroid, as well as an SA nandroid backup.

 

[lexcyn]

The Milestone is going to be released here in Canada most likely next month, with the same frequencies needed to run on AT&T in the US (3G & also EDGE).

Pricing (for now) seems to be $549 CAD for no-contract option. It is being released with Telus, so it will need to be unlocked somehow.

 

[arlissfreire]

Hey if there will be a non-contract option, it will be unlocked. Right?

Yeah, you should receive the update before South America too. Motorola is a prejudiced company.