Gsm 850 In A Gsm 900 Country

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by Stu

To the best of my knowledge, the UAE is 900mhz only. We have a 2100mhz 3g network. In March, a competitor opens who is partially on the 1800mhz band, but this signal was not from the competitor, it was from the incumbent provider.

The control channels are in different places on GSM 850 and 900, so even though there is some frequency overlap, it doesn't matter. The phone looks in the wrong place for control information and sees nothing.

You must be getting some GSM 1800 service (perhaps from further away if it's intermittent), or you're getting GSM 850 somehow.