Know Your Frequencies! Nokia NAM For Me From Now On

April 11th, 2009 • Mark Guim • Filed Under •

I didn’t know that I was missing out on a lot of 3G until I got the Nokia 5800 NAM. I previously had a European Nokia N85 which had tri-band UMTS (900/1900/2100). Living in NYC, I thought I’d be covered by AT&T because they use 850/1900. I was dead wrong.

Cell Tower

I live in the Bronx, go to school in Westchester, usually eat out in Queens, and hang out in Manhattan. I have not seen anything but 3G or 3.5G data speeds using the Nokia 5800 NAM all over New York.

On the other hand, I had a different experience with the Euro Nokia N85. I would get 3G in the Bronx and Queens, while stuck with the slower Edge in Westchester and certain parts of Manhattan. It looks like my carrier, AT&T, has a limited 1900 coverage in New York.

Lesson Learned

So what’s the obvious lesson here? Know your carrier’s frequencies and buy the proper phone version for your region. If you’re in North America like me, you should only buy the NAM variation for better 3G coverage! As an early adopter, I know it’s going to be hard to resist the Euro version of the Nokia N97 if it comes before the NAM.

To find out what frequencies your country/region is covered with, GSM World has a nice coverage map for you to check out.

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View Comments »

  1. Sarm on 11 April 2009:

    Nokia should have released a NAM version of the N82 which is still the best Nseries after almost one and a half years of being available. That xenon flash makes all the difference in the world. Now I am more tempted by the the Eseries line especially the E55. There has no been much news about this handset. E75 has got all the attention. Are you guys at the Nokia Blog going to have your store open again soon (hopefully with the E55 NAM)?

  2. Mark Guim on 11 April 2009:

    Amazon has consistently sell the phones with prices hard for us to compete
    with, so I don't think we'll be selling directly again any time soon.

  3. Sarm on 11 April 2009:

    My main reason for asking is that I got an E71-2 from you guys last year and when the firmware updates came out for the E71-2 it is always available for my handset. I have seen on blogs and forums that some of the E71-2 handsets that were being sold by other online retailers could not be updated because the product code was different or something that extent.

  4. Jeff on 11 April 2009:

    Yep, bought a N96 NAM (RM-472)
    and im disapointted…can't believe!!
    the N-Gage still are pending for certificate in the latest firm!!!
    so sad…
    hope that N86 come quickly…

  5. Paul on 11 April 2009:

    Seems like you US people have hard there. So if you want to make a call or browse internet via cell phone, don't live in the US. Am I right? Just partly kidding :D

    Greetings from Finland :)

  6. Mark Guim on 11 April 2009:

    Haha! Partly true… we also have to pay a LOT up front for our unlocked
    phones.

  7. Paul on 11 April 2009:

    Well, in here Finland 5800 costs cheapest about 450$ and I have read that you can get it for under 399$(or even 329$) in there States. Exchange rate makes the difference.

    I took 5800 with 2 year contract and my costs are 17$(phone) plus 1,2$ (operator) per month. 17$ x 24months= 408$ for just the phone. Contract is cheaper than buying the phone.

    So, no data plan and so on. But got 600 minutes free calling time :) That's 50min per month. Unlocked ofcourse.

    Some figures there for you Mark :) But keep coming reviews and so on! Great blog.

  8. Snowy on 13 April 2009:

    Hey Mark, that makes the both of us. Lesson learned ;)
    Just to share my experience. N85-1 in the Silicon valley Using At&t actually had worse result than you described.

    By the way a buddy of mine tried out the n85-3 in the LA area the 3G was terrible, compared to his e71-2(always on lock). Looks like a firmware issue or bad hardware,

    Oh well.
    Thx for the share.

  9. Mark Guim on 13 April 2009:

    Wish my carrier had better 1900 coverage here in the US so that I can still use the N85 when I visit Europe and get 3G from both places.

  10. Andrew on 13 April 2009:

    To make matters worse, when you buy an unlocked phone, you're really stuck with AT&T because T-mobile uses such a weird 3G frequency band….i wish we had more GSM carriers to give us more options…

    p.s…i'm speaking for US only…..

  11. facebook-41000024 on 14 April 2009:

    Thank God i'm on tmobile where i'll NEVER pick up their odd band of 3g !

    then i wont feel bad about pickin up a euro n97, not like i'll have their 3g anyways. whichever one comes out first.. i'm on.

  12. Andre on 16 April 2009:

    Hi Mark, the post comes just in time. I live in Chile and am with Entel PCS and have a European N95 8GB it seems the most I get is Edge speed: From the link you provided it seems that my carrier supports 3g 1900 in entire Santiago http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?z=3&x... Should my European phone not work on 3G? What do I need to watch out for when buying the N97 ?

    Thanks for your help
    Andre

  13. JebBrilliant on 21 April 2009:

    Is there anywhere to get a more detailed map (especially of LA area) showing where each of the 2 NAM 3G bands cover? I doubt it but just curious.

    I'm really happy with the triband NAM devices but maybe I'm missing some coverage overseas I don't know about.

  14. Chris Knight on 10 May 2009:

    The NAM models are also a requirement for Australian users on the Telstra network, especially if you want to use data services in regional areas (GSM 850 and WCDMA 850).

  15. Jonathan Bruha on 14 May 2009:

    I think the real lesson is to know what frequency is dominant in your market, and if it's not 1900, then you should get a NAM phone with both bands.

    Both Chicago and Atlanta are heavily covered in UMTS 1900 and the 3G coverage difference between using just 1900 or both 850/1900 is negligible.

  16. Mark Guim on 14 May 2009:

    I thought that's what i was trying to say but you explained it better. Thanks.

  17. Tristan on 1 July 2009:

    Hi
    I am buying a Samsung i8910 from Asia and it supports tri-band 3G (900, 1800, 2100). I know that At&t uses 850 and 1900 for their 3G. But I also live in New York ( Long Island) and wanted to know if the 3G would work here. If the 3G here uses 1900 that would be great but if it's 850 then it won't. Do you know how I can find out what frequency At&t uses here in New York for their 3G?

  18. Tristan on 1 July 2009:

    Hi
    I am buying a Samsung i8910 from Asia and it supports tri-band 3G (900, 1800, 2100). I know that At&t uses 850 and 1900 for their 3G. But I also live in New York ( Long Island) and wanted to know if the 3G would work here. If the 3G here uses 1900 that would be great but if it's 850 then it won't. Do you know how I can find out what frequency At&t uses here in New York for their 3G?

  19. Sam on 14 February 2010:

    Hi everybody,

    I want to know how and where I can (in the option menu ,serial number,…???) check that a Nokia cell phone is NAM one ?

    thx :)

  20. Sam on 14 February 2010:

    Hi everybody,

    I want to know how and where I can (in the option menu ,serial number,…???) check that a Nokia cell phone is NAM one ?

    thx :)

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