Wanted: older 3G data stick that supports 850/1900 MHz bands
 

Odd request. :)

I'm looking for an older 3G data stick that supports UMTS but *not* HSPA. I occasionally find myself in places where coverage is weak and I find that UMTS is more reliable than HSPA in these situations.

I need the device to (ideally) support both the 850 and 1900 MHz bands, but a device that supported one and not the other could still be useful to me.

I need it to be unlocked as I plan to use it with both Rogers and SaskTel/Bell in Canada, and possibly with AT&T in the US at times.

Have one kicking around that you no longer need? Let me know!

I'd be entertained to find a GPRS non-EDGE 2G one too - could be fun for experimenting. GSM 1900 at a minimum, tri-band 900/1800/1900 or quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 would be even better.

I'm in Canada.

Thanks,

Jim

Usually the modems do fallback from HSDPA to UMTS or even EDGE when coverage is bad. On many you can also force to use EDGE over UMTS. Might be a good idea to have a look at the settings of the dialer software.

Chris

I haven't seen any 3G stick, that wouldn't support EDGE or HSP(D)A so far but even if you found such an old and presumably clunky device, I doubt it would bring any improvement because EDGE and HSP(D)A automatically fall back to GPRS and UMTS as soon as too many transmission errors occur. Further such an old 3G stick would have an outdated, less sensitive RF-chip lacking diversity-support, so you would probably end up in even worse reception. You should rather look for a modern device with RX-diversity support for those 3G frequencies you actually intend to use, because often diversity isn't supported for all the 3G bands of a multiband device. However the most effective measure remains an external antenna - so perhaps also look for a device with antenna connector. I would recommend a Huawei E176, which you might get relatively cheap from eBay Germany, where they sell the T-Mobile branded (but unlocked) version designated "Web'n'Walk Stick IV", which definitely supports 3G at 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz - all with diversity:
http://shop.ebay.de/i.html?_nkw=web+...t=PCMCIA_Cards

Thanks for the tips. In theory fallback should work and work elegantly, but I find that it doesn't always seem to work properly. Connections often drop when changing, e.g., from HSPA+ to HSPA. It could be some growing pains as the networks in question (SaskTel and Bell) are pretty new HSPA networks, only up for 11 months and 20 months, respectively.