ALIEXPRESS Warning: Mobile Phones

[dddave]

Basically, some of the Chinese 3G smartphones sold on AliExpress (and probably other similar suppliers) especially slightly older models being sold off cheaply, do not function on the WCDMA 3G networks that most of ASIA and Europe use...they are phones originally manufactured for CHINA MOBILE only and use the TD-SCDMA 3G network which is unique to China Mobile. They set it up to avoid paying royalties to the developers of WCDMA..

I discovered this the hard way. A friend with not much to spend wanted to buy first phones for her twin sons who are just entering their early teens. I found Lenovo A586 phones that had a 4 1/2 inch screen, 512ram and 4 gb rom for only US$35 each. The model was 2 years old.

They seemed like the perfect entry level phone for kids so I ordered 2. When they arrived and I installed 3G SIMS, they would not connect to the 3G network, giving a message "Unknown Type SIM". They did connect to 2G and wi-fi connected normally so they were usable, just no 3G data or mobile network.

I should have realized there was a problem when the LENOVO website did not list the model number at all. Turned out this model was never officially released outside of China.

Unfortunately, further research revealed there is no fix for this situation; rooting or jailbreaking has no effect. Googling revealed that there are quite a few Lenovo model numbers that have the same locked in network, also some other Chinese phone brands.

If a Chinese phone you are considering sells for an unusually low price, then ask some questions of the seller...especially the network the phone is set for.

When I went back to the sellers page and checked, it was actually there buried is a spec sheet: TD/SCDMA rather than WCDMA...I just did not see it and probably would not understood the significance even if I had. Now I do.

Fortunately, the kids have access to wifi and are totally thrilled with the phones...they probably could not have afforded 3G data anyway so all was not lost.

[RichCor]

Given that AIS, DTAC and TRUE have recently downgraded their low-cost Pre-Paid offerings (64mbps rather than 384mbps for unlimited fair-use-policy), yea, probably not all lost. And the kids get to learn all about smart phones without the worry of an expensive device gets loaned, forgotten, stolen, smashed, scratched, wet, swapped, passed on prematurely to another relative, um, um, what else has my 'kid' done so far.

And, yeah, those alphabet soup initials aren't easy to remember:

IMT-2000, GPRS, EDGE, *UTRAN, *FOMA, W-CDMA, UMTS, HSPA, HSDPA+ and now LTE/LTE-Advanced. And all the bands used world-wide. Gives me headaches.

[colinneil]

Hells teeth. I already have a headache with all the tech jargon.

You live in Thailand easy buy a phone here that works.

Even my old simple brain can work that out.

[Turkleton]

And this has exactly what to do with "ALIEXPRESS"?

You headline is absolutely nonsense (Clickbaiting?)

You've simply bought cheap and old, outdated crap, doesn't matter from where.

You got what you paid for, stop whining and get your kids some usable, decent phones from the "past stone age era"

Use the old phones as "Internet Radio" device at home, for example.

Kids use Line, Facebook, Youtube etc., so a smart phone without Internet connection (except Wlan) is absolutely useless, if away from home.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Turkleton