Wirelessnorth.ca

Fugly eh?

does rogers not use the same 3G, HSDPA, Vision bands as ATT and T-Mobile, thus making it able to use 3G right away?

Nope. Rogers uses the 850 band (which is actually much more common and which AT&T uses) whereas the AWS band is 1700/2100 (3G band of T-Mo and the Canadian new entrants (as well as the band that Rogers spent nearly a billion$ on)) for their 3G+ offerings.

What is AWS??? I just bought a G1 Tmobile unlocked phone. Rogers is realeasing their G1 tommorrow. I am curious if they have implemented the AWS or they ordered handsets from HTC for G1 that support 850/1900 MHZ for 3G?

AWS is 1700/2100MHz, Rogers bought spectrum last year, but is still using it's 850/1900 spectrum for HSPA (same as AT&T) T-Mo only has 3G on AWS so that's why their devices are different. You should check to see what bands – 900/1800/850/1900/1700/2100 – does your phone have? The first two are Europe only, the others are usable in north america.

We have been trying a tmobile android, and can definitely say that the tmobile G1 is still not supporting 3G in canada. For now, get the rogers version as the real-deal if you want HSPA today on the device. But I'm sure that Rogers will be turning on their chunk of AWS spectrum any day now (right Barry? ;)

Have to say that having played with the phone for a while, it's great. Android, an app market, a good browser and a keyboard is a great combination in a device… at least when you can find some open wifi or when/if you can get on 3G.

But, buyer beware, the one fatal flaw of all HTC androids so far (both tmobile and rogers): the #$@#%! headphone jack. Or lack there of. There is no headphone jack, only a USB plug that you need to use for charging/sync/crappy-htc-usb-headphones. The HTC is not a ipod killer and not a great media player. A bizarre design omission given that the device is good at everything else.

AWS is 1700/2100MHz, Rogers bought spectrum last year, but is still using it's 850/1900 spectrum for HSPA (same as AT&T) T-Mo only has 3G on AWS so that's why their devices are different. You should check to see what bands – 900/1800/850/1900/1700/2100 – does your phone have? The first two are Europe only, the others are usable in north america.

We have been trying a tmobile android, and can definitely say that the tmobile G1 is still not supporting 3G in canada. For now, get the rogers version as the real-deal if you want HSPA today on the device. But I'm sure that Rogers will be turning on their chunk of AWS spectrum any day now (right Barry? ;)

Have to say that having played with the phone for a while, it's great. Android, an app market, a good browser and a keyboard is a great combination in a device… at least when you can find some open wifi or when/if you can get on 3G.

But, buyer beware, the one fatal flaw of all HTC androids so far (both tmobile and rogers): the #$@#%! headphone jack. Or lack there of. There is no headphone jack, only a USB plug that you need to use for charging/sync/crappy-htc-usb-headphones. The HTC is not a ipod killer and not a great media player. A bizarre design omission given that the device is good at everything else.