Unlocked european tablet in the US

[tinpanalley]

If you've got a T-Mobile USA SIM card, how many bandwidths do you need have in common with a foreign unlocked GSM tablet in order to get your network to work properly on the device? I seem to recall that you needed three of the bandwidths to coincide on both device and your provider?

 

[paperwastage]

at minimum, you need band 4 LTE... this is T-mobile's main LTE band

(highly desired) you would also want band 2 LTE (this is T-mobile's LTE band in a lot of rural areas)

optionally, you want band 12 LTE (this is T-mobile's low frequency band... useful for building penetration and rural areas), but I doubt you'll find this on european tablets outside of iPad/Nexus



if you stick to cities, band 4 is typically enough. 4+2+12 is needed for 100% compatibility

 

[tinpanalley]

at minimum, you need band 4 LTE... this is T-mobile's main LTE band...

I should have been more clear, the tablet is only a 3G tablet. So, in that case what are the bandwidths? (No, I don't care that it's a 3G tablet)

 

[paperwastage]

I should have been more clear, the tablet is only a 3G tablet. So, in that case what are the bandwidths? (No, I don't care that it's a 3G tablet)

then you need band 4 and band 2 3G

T-mobile is shifting away from band 4 3G and towards band 2 3G... but no way of telling where this is happening, so I'd recommend both band 2+4


(preempting common questions:
yes, band 4 uses both 1700mhz and 2100mhz.
no, band 1 2100mhz is not compatible even though it has "2100" in it

T-mobile uses DC-HSDPA 3G, but it's backward compatible with "normal" 3G tablets - these "normal" tablets just max out at a lower speed like 7.2-14mbps instead of 42mbps theoretical)

 

[paperwastage]

Z170CG

supports 3G bands 1/2/5/8

so you might get signal on T-mobile... or not... who knows

 

[tinpanalley]

Z170CG
supports 3G bands 1/2/5/8
so you might get signal on T-mobile... or not... who knows

Hmmm... Sounds risky.