[AC Question]

Hi all.

Recently bought my wife a V10 off ebay (Hong Kong seller). Not sure if I have made a mistake and the phone is not supported here in Australia though. It gets reception, just never more than one or two bars, and never signal above "G". No "H" or "4G". Reception is bad, doesn't hold calls and have to try a couple of times to send texts.

Even now though I've been researching as much as I can and still can't find a clear answer so I'm begging you guys to help.

The ebay page lists this as the supported frequencies:

2.5G (EDGE, GSM/GPRS) MHz: 850, 900, 1800, 1900
3.5G (HSPA+, UMTS/WCDMA) MHz: 850, 1900, 2100
4G (LTE) Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 29, 30

Like I said we are in Australia and the carrier she is with is Optus prepaid. Here's a copy of the frequency section on the Optus website:

Our 4G Plus network uses multiple frequencies (LTE 700 / 1800 / 2100 / 2300 / 2600 MHz) to provide coverage and capacity.

I'm very confused as the 700/1800 etc numbers are quite different to the 12, 29 etc number on the ebay page. Does this mean the phone isn't supported here?

I've gone through all the settings on the phone and tried a couple of carrier options none of which change anything. Is there a setting on the phone I need to change?

Please tell me where I'm going wrong.

Thanks in advance so much!

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Each frequency has a band number assigned to it. You can see both listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G_con...y_in_Australia

What's the exact model number of your phone? You can find it in Settings>About Phone. Assuming those supported bands are accurate, then the overlapping LTE bands are 1, 3, and 7. If the towers near you don't use these bands, then you won't get 4G LTE signal.

This article says that Optus uses the 900 MHz band for 2G, and 900 MHz and 2100 MHz for 3G (which would also include HSPA+). According to the specs you mention, your phone only supports the 2100 MHz band, not 900 MHz, so that partial support might also explain why you only get as high as "G" (which is probably the slower 3G speed).