Unlocked HTC Sensation T-Mobile Not Working Overseas

aLearner

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Hi,

I bought an HTC Sensation when I was in the US. My carrier at at the time was T-Mobile. Before I moved overseas (to India), I had the phone unlocked. However, I noticed that the internet/data does not work on the 3G mobile network here (I'm with Vodafone). I see no icon indicating that I'm on a 3G network (just like I used to see an icon indicating whether I was on a 4G or 2G network back in the US on T-Mobile.) I wonder if there's something I can do to get it to start working here. Any help would be much-appreciated.

Thank you,
 

HeyBob

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I had this same problem when I went to Germany and bought an O2 pre-paid SIM. Everything worked great but I had absolutely no data connection, not even an indicator that there was no data connection.

I finally found an O2 guy that could help me and all he did was set the correct Access Point Name (APN) for the network. The carrier should know what this is.

To set the APN, go to:
Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names > Press the settings button again and it should prompt you to be able to add a new APN.

All the O2 guy did was add a new APN name with no other settings changed and it worked great. I think this is like typing in the name of a WiFi network when the SSID is not broadcast to connect to the WiFi network.

I hope this helps or at least gives you a new path to look for help.
 
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aLearner

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Thank you so much for the detailed and helpful reply. Before I read your message, I spoke to one of the Vodafone chaps here and he did exactly what you described. So, your suggestion was really spot on and I'm grateful for your response. Hopefully, someone else reading this someday will find it useful.

Actually, first, he did it really quickly and I missed what he was doing. So, I asked him to repeat it while I watched. It's interesting how just adding the very basic APN information could get the phone working. Phew! Before talking to the Vodafone chap, HTC was going to charge me $30 to 'fix' the issue. Interesting. Anyway, I'm glad it's fixed.

Thanks again for everything!
 

i.am.the.one

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I had a question. I'm thinking of getting HTC Sensation in US from T-Mobile and using it in India. Can you please tell me if it's working on 3G or EDGE? Most people say that the phone needs to support 2100 MHz for it to work on 3G. I'm sure Sensation doesn't support 2100. So I was curious to know what does it connect to for data?
 

aLearner

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So, good question. I don't ever see the '3G' symbol on my Sensation but I do see the '4G' symbol. Sometimes, when that doesn't show up, I see the 2G/EDGE symbol. So, I'm not sure what the deal is. Vodafone assures me that they don't have a 4G network in place yet at times during the day I've got download speeds as fast as 6MBPS (the default speed is more like 1-2 MBPS, though). So, I guess I'm really not sure. All I can say is that I bought a sensation from T-Mobile (they were running really good specials back in May). Had it unlocked (by T-Mobile) before I came here. Entered the APN information and voila. I have a fully functioning Sensation.

Does this help?
 

i.am.the.one

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I'm sure they do have a '3G' symbol. My only concern was that EDGE has very low download speeds, but 1-2 Mbps is good enough for me. I think I can get a Sensation now. Thanks for the reply. That helped. If you find anything else, do let me know.
 

aLearner

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I'm sure they do have a '3G' symbol

What makes you so sure? Have you seen it displayed? I too never saw the '3G' sign displayed when I was in the States. I don't see it here either.

I can confirm that the sensation works great with Vodafone. Not sure what the deal is with the other operators. Also, these are the speeds I get living in a small town. Things may be different in one of the four metros or any other larger city.

Anyway, in order to get the 3G capability phone working with Vodafone in India, these are the steps that were taken:

[1] Go to

Settings --> Wireless & Networks --> Mobile networks (Set options for roaming, networks, APNs) --> Access Point Names

[2] Input the following under 'Name':

vmc

[3] Input the following under 'APN':

www

[4] Leave everything else as is.

[5] Reboot the phone and, voila, the phone detects the Vodafone 3G network!
 

aLearner

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I'm pretty sure I've seen that symbol. I just did a google search, this is how it looks on one of the android phones

Great! In general, it makes sense that Android phones have a '3G' symbol. The question here is whether the Sensation has a '3G' symbol. See

Only 2g or 4g.. never seen a 3g symbol!

From the above discussion, it might appear that the Sensations do not display a '3G' symbol.

As for your 5th point, if it doesn't show the 3G symbol, how does it detect the 3G network

In this case it might seem that detecting a 3G network is not necessarily tied to the '3G' icon showing up - especially, if these statements are to be believed.

[1] As a t-mob tech rep I can confirm that this is true. The phone will either display 2 or 4. It was even in the brief training we received. No need to return it :) (from the above link)

[2] Just a little extra info on this. EVERY 3G cell site in T-Mobile's network is HSPA capable so whenever you are on a 3G site your have HSPA access BUT not every site is HSPA+ (4G speeds). With that said, your phone does not know the difference so even if we wanted an icon to show the difference we couldn't have it. There is one more mode and that is UMTS. This only shows when your phone is idle and not doing data (not very often). It does NOT mean your don't have HSPA access on that site, it just means your phone is not currently doing data. So, we could have a 3G icon for when your idle but your phone would be constantly switching from 3G icon to 4G or H (whichever you have) and that would be annoying. Hope this helps. (from the above link)

[3] I have noticed that the data signal only swaps between 2g and 4g?no 3g ever. (HTC Sensation 4G Review | Android and Me)