What specific bands do I need for Lycamobile?
 

I am pretty new to mobiles and I want to purchase a phone that has everything needed to perform as well as possible on Lycamo.
I heard I needed 1700 & 2100 for Lycamobile to get 3g
*BUT* that was a deduction from someone who knew a little about Tmo
not knowledge from a Lycamobile source.

I like to not be confined to unlocked Tmo phones.

Thanks much.

2G: 1900 MHz
3G: 1900 MHz instead of AWS (1700/2100 MHz) where T-Mobile has finished their refarming process.

Not sure about which bands you need for Lycamobile. I can tell you that T-Mobile (US) is converting some of their 1900 GSM coverage to UMTS. So, there are many areas (mostly large cities) where a 1900 (Band II) device, such as an iPhone 3GS will work on 3G with a T-Mobile SIM.

Also, to select phones that have the bands you want, you can go to GSMArena.com and filter the reviews by all the bands you want.

I'm currently using a Nokia N8 which has all the necessary GSM & UMTS bands and has never been touched by T-Mobile. I'm not recommending a Nokia N8, just saying you don't have to limit yourself to ex-T-Mobile devices. In fact, there are some risks in buying a device originally sold by T-Mobile, as they will blacklist the device if the original owner did not satisfy his contractual requirements. So, beware of eBay purchases unless you get a strong guarantee from a very high rated seller.

Where do you live??
 

Whatever phone you get needs to be unlocked. Really.
Historicaly, you needed the AWS band to get T-Mobile 3G.
[AWS=1700---which is actually 1700/2100--one is upload the other download.
This is why it is described in many confusing ways.]
T-Mobile is also 'refarming' the 1900mHz band for 3G.
http://airportal.de/ will kind of give an idea where this is available.

Where do you live?? The answer to that might mean you NEED a T-Mobile unlocked phone.
OR at least a phone with the AWS band which are not all that frequent.
I live in Southern California and would not need an AWS band phone.
Any place that is not near 'red' on the airportal map would probably be best served with a phone that has the AWS band.

The UMTS coverage on 1900MHz (so-called PCS band) will not immediately replace existing UMTS coverage on 1700/2100MHz (so-called AWS band). While T-Mobile will probably rededicate some AWS spectrum to LTE, for now both frequencies will continue to co-exist. At this time for T-Mobile subscribers - including those of MVNOs like Lyca - AWS support is still much more important than PCS support.