Again a "could my BlackBerry work in Santo Domingo?" topic.

Taca?o

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Dec 30, 2012
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The first time when I went to Santo Domingo my phone didn't work with Claro nor Orange even tho it's unlocked, even the guy that could do miracles to all phones couldn't make my phone work to those networks.

I remember it had something to do with frequencies.

In all fairness, I came with a cheap throw away phone and didn't come with a BlackBerry. But this time I'm planning to come with a BlackBerry Bold 9900. Basically after Googling this stuff I actually did find my answer but I want to be sure.

According to this site List of GSM cell phone frequencies in use by country the DR has a 1800/1900 freq.

According to this site BlackBerry Bold - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the Bold 9900 is a quad band, it should work an all frequencies including of course 1800/1900.

But still my question remains, those anyone of you guys got a BlackBerry (Bold 9900) bought from The States and Europe and does it works?
 

wp3gi

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Oct 30, 2010
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ClaroRD spectrum...
- 850 MHz (Cellular Band V) for GSM (2G) & UMTS (3G)
- 1900 MHz (PCS Band II) for GSM (2G)
- ClaroRD has the best overall coverage & speed.


OrangeRD spectrum...
- 900 MHz (DCS Band) for GSM (2G) & UMTS (3G)
- 1900 MHz (PCS Band II) for GSM (2G)
- Orange has spotty service.


VivaRD uses GSM for smartphones and Qualcomm CDMA for USB sticks. No UMTS (3G) so service will be extra slow and coverage is very poor. This service is for lower income families.


Tricom is a Qualcomm CDMA provider (they don't use SIM cards).


There are several versions of the BlackBerry 9900, make sure you select your provider according to the particular frequencies your phone version supports. You need to subscribe to a BlackBerry plan in the DR if you want to use cellular data there.

I'm not sure if the unlocking works for Qualcomm CDMA versions of the phone since that version uses PRL tables to connect and uses SIM if no CDMA signals are found, but the GSM/UMTS versions should work perfect if carrier unlocked.
 
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Taca?o

New member
Dec 30, 2012
110
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ClaroRD spectrum...
- 850 MHz (Cellular Band V) for GSM (2G) & UMTS (3G)
- 1900 MHz (PCS Band II) for GSM (2G)
- ClaroRD has the best overall coverage & speed.


OrangeRD spectrum...
- 900 MHz (DCS Band) for GSM (2G) & UMTS (3G)
- 1900 MHz (PCS Band II) for GSM (2G)
- Orange has spotty service.


VivaRD uses GSM for smartphones and Qualcomm CDMA for USB sticks. No UMTS (3G) so service will be extra slow and coverage is very poor. This service is for lower income families.


Tricom is a Qualcomm CDMA provider (they don't use SIM cards).


There are several versions of the BlackBerry 9900, make sure you select your provider according to the particular frequencies your phone version supports.

Uhm, now I'm confused again. There are several versions of the BlackBerry 9900!?!

I'm in The Netherlands and I'm going to buy it in The Netherlands, but every Bold 9900 is quad right? I'm going to buy mine unlocked so that should be enough right?

So if I'll subscribe to a plan Orange or Claro it should work right?
 

Koreano

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Jan 18, 2012
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Uhm, now I'm confused again. There are several versions of the BlackBerry 9900!?!

I'm in The Netherlands and I'm going to buy it in The Netherlands, but every Bold 9900 is quad right? I'm going to buy mine unlocked so that should be enough right?

So if I'll subscribe to a plan Orange or Claro it should work right?
I don't know about blackberry but I would really look into which phone to bring to DR. I know a guy purchased a Galaxy S3 with sim off of craigslist to use in DR. Unlocked it and put in sim card and only got 2G speed. Later he have finally bricked it and he has been using it as paper weight for couple of weeks now.
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Uhm, now I'm confused again. There are several versions of the BlackBerry 9900!?!

I'm in The Netherlands and I'm going to buy it in The Netherlands, but every Bold 9900 is quad right? I'm going to buy mine unlocked so that should be enough right?

So if I'll subscribe to a plan Orange or Claro it should work right?

Yes, UNLOCKED, BB Bold 9900 will work**. There are two versions. (Actually 3, one for CDMA which is called 9930). Same two versions as with most of 3G capable phones.
**You can also unlock a locked BB Bold 9900 easily at Unlock Blackberry | Unlock iPhone | Unlock Samsung HTC |CellUnlock.net , I got mine from Orange unlocked there for free, I won a contest at crackberry.

Most 3G bands (UMTS) are 900/1700/2100 and 850/1900/2100. This has nothing to do with being a quad-band phone for talk and 2G data (GSM/GPRS/EDGE).

It's really HARD to say which version your Dutch carrier will sell, because in Europe 2100 MHz frequency is being used for UMTS, which means both versions of BB Bold 9900 would work there. In the DR, one version (900/xxx) will work on Orange, the other one (850/xxx) will work on Claro. You would need to test your own handset to see on which network it will work 3G. You can find that out easily by searching for networks - if it finds Claro 2G and Claro 3G but only Orange 2G, it will work on Claro 3G; if it finds Orange 2G and Orange 3G and only Claro 2G, it will work on Orange 3G.

I do have BB Bold 9900, have it on Orange.

You can activate full prepaid BB data plan (pay by day) for 50 pesos on both Orange and Claro.

Also if you plan on heavy using 3G on BB Bold 9900, a spare battery is a must. Or two...
 

Taca?o

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Dec 30, 2012
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wp3gi and rubio_higuey, I would like to thank you for your time. I thought I've read that Claro is better than Orange, so let's hope mine will accept Claro.

In the DR, one version (900/xxx) will work on Orange, the other one (850/xxx) will work on Claro.

Like you have these codes you can press to find out how many credit you've got, or what's the IMEI number, is there a code to find out if it's a 850 or 900 series?


 

Bizguyeh

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Dec 4, 2010
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The first time when I went to Santo Domingo my phone didn't work with Claro nor Orange even tho it's unlocked, even the guy that could do miracles to all phones couldn't make my phone work to those networks.

I remember it had something to do with frequencies.

In all fairness, I came with a cheap throw away phone and didn't come with a BlackBerry. But this time I'm planning to come with a BlackBerry Bold 9900. Basically after Googling this stuff I actually did find my answer but I want to be sure.

According to this site List of GSM cell phone frequencies in use by country the DR has a 1800/1900 freq.

According to this site BlackBerry Bold - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the Bold 9900 is a quad band, it should work an all frequencies including of course 1800/1900.

But still my question remains, those anyone of you guys got a BlackBerry (Bold 9900) bought from The States and Europe and does it works?

We use a Bold and a Curve brought in from Canada and both work with Orange. Had to set the speed to 2G, as 3G didn't seem to allow text messages to go through. Might be a local thing here in Cabarete? We gave up on the cheap Orange Nokia phones you buy here as their reception or signal strength inside a building, even near a window, is very poor. Much better signal pick-up on our BlackBerrys.
 

D.Rep

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Jan 6, 2011
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Uhm, now I'm confused again. There are several versions of the BlackBerry 9900!?!

I'm in The Netherlands and I'm going to buy it in The Netherlands, but every Bold 9900 is quad right? I'm going to buy mine unlocked so that should be enough right?

So if I'll subscribe to a plan Orange or Claro it should work right?

If the phone is supporting quad bands, then it will work as well in the DR.