What specific bands do I need for Lycamobile?

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by mitch77

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.

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.