I'm trying to decide which model Cooper to buy. I look at the Samsung brochure and see two choices are available for the 3G bands.

edit here

S5830 3G 900/2100 Mhz and S5830L 3G 850/1900 Mhz

I live in Phala near Banchang and currently True has the only 3G game in the area so that would suggest the 850 band phone is the one I should choose. But later when and if AIS updates the area to 3G I may want to change.

I have been reading about using a service code number to get into the phone service mode to add or change an active band for 3G.

Does anyone have experience with this feature on a Samsung phone and more specifically the Cooper?

Any and all info here will be helpful

Thanks

You cannot turn an 850 version into a 900 version. You cannot turn an 900 version into an 850 version. End of story.

Ideally you would want an 850/2100 or 900/2100; that 5830L looks like some hodge-podge of 850/1900. TOT is deployed on 2100 Mhz and any future 3G implementation in Thailand might well be on 2100.

You cannot turn an 850 version into a 900 version. You cannot turn an 900 version into an 850 version. End of story.

Ideally you would want an 850/2100 or 900/2100; that 5830L looks like some hodge-podge of 850/1900. TOT is deployed on 2100 Mhz and any future 3G implementation in Thailand might well be on 2100.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__5097122

Ok thanks,,,,,,,I guess I misunderstand some things I read. Somewhere I got the idea that a phone will have the basics of all the bands built in to the phone but not all bands are "enabled" so to speak.

So back to the dilema,,,,is the 900/2100 going to be a better choice looking forward to the future of 3G in Thailand? I most likely will keep the phone I buy for 5 years or more barring no failures. I will be upgrading from a 10 year old Motorola GSM phone

You cannot turn an 850 version into a 900 version. You cannot turn an 900 version into an 850 version. End of story.

Ideally you would want an 850/2100 or 900/2100; that 5830L looks like some hodge-podge of 850/1900. TOT is deployed on 2100 Mhz and any future 3G implementation in Thailand might well be on 2100.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__5097122

Ok thanks,,,,,,,I guess I misunderstand some things I read. Somewhere I got the idea that a phone will have the basics of all the bands built in to the phone but not all bands are "enabled" so to speak.

So back to the dilema,,,,is the 900/2100 going to be a better choice looking forward to the future of 3G in Thailand? I most likely will keep the phone I buy for 5 years or more barring no failures. I will be upgrading from a 10 year old Motorola GSM phone

Buy a quad-band phone like an SGS2, iPhone or Nokia. Or if TrueMove H/CAT My or even DTAC comes to town, go with an 850/2100 capable phone. Why worry about AIS?