Looking at the Centro and T-Mobile

frldngbob · 06/04/2008, 07:32 AM

So I've been looking at T-Mobile as a carrier because of their policy on tethering. I spoke to a tech support agent and a customer service agent and apparently they don't really care what is using the bandwith, which is actually rather progressive versus the specific no tethering clauses in AT&T, Verizon and Sprint agreements.

Anyway, it boils down to this. I want a Centro. I'm currently using a Treo 650 on AT&T. I'm assuming that most of my apps and data will migrate (hopefully all, right?). What's the word on the features of T-Mobile and the Centro working together? I don't want to blow money on an unlocked handset that works questionably on an network not designed for it.

Can I get the whole internet on the Centro through T-Mobile? Are any features of the handset rendered useless because T-Mobile doesn't support it (i.e. messaging, picture messaging, internet, etc.)? Are any features of the network not accessible for the same reason?

Or am I being paranoid and Centros work perfectly fine on T-Mobile?

blacknoi · 06/04/2008, 10:43 AM

My wife has an unlocked Treo 680 and has been using it on T-Mobile for a year PLUS.

She gets everything to work just fine. Be advised though, MMS pictures that you receive will be down-rezzed to 160x160 since its not an officially supported phone. Unless you can hack the "user agent" of a palm device, there's no way around this. Pictures you send to others will not be effected.

Web browsing works great on it, either using T-Mobile Web (5.99/month) with a proxy, or straight up with the Tmobile Total Internet (19.99 /month, but also includes unlimited hotspot access).

As long as you unlock your centro, you should be able to use it on T-Mobile just fine.

jamesgangut · 06/04/2008, 12:13 PM

I have a Centro unlocked and working fine on T-Mobile. I used centrounlock.com to get my unlock code.

MitzyGoose · 06/04/2008, 08:21 PM

I bought my phone from Palm during the sale. I unlocked it with the www.centrounlock.com code and things are great! The only things I've noticed are:
- there were preprogrammed numbers in the phone like *646# for checking minutes, message usage etc. These don't work. I changed the checking minute code to #646# and deleted the rest

- I signed up for the $5.99/mo web option. I got it working by entering the proxy server (otherwise it would fail to connect). The network settings are "locked" (not sure what that impacts since I can't see the "locked" values), but since it's working now, I don't care. It works best with sites that are optimized for mobile devices and doesn't work well with other sites that are not optimized (I can't get it to work at all with www.continental.com, but they have a pda.continental.com that works well)

- there was a web shortcut that is not deleteable and not accessible (maybe it would have worked with ATT?). I finally moved it to page 10, instead of being in the first position of pg 1

These things were a small price to pay to keep my cheap, not-under contract plan with T-mobile. I actually calculated that even with the $99 deal, after 2 years, I'd spend more money on the ATT monthly plan that had minutes and features I'd never use. I was willing to pay more than retail for the phone, but was leary of some of the stores selling "unlocked" phones (read the reviews carefully, one guy got a phone that worked, but without a US charger...that's no bargain to me and he paid more than MSRP!). So I was thrilled to see that Palm was willing to sell me the ATT no contract phone for $279 and grabbed one quick "while supplies last".

I had a Treo 600 before and it's so nice that the Centro's "Ignore" button actually works and sends the person directly to voicemail! I can also mute the ring but have the opportunity to pick up by hitting the volume keys. The voicemail button works too! I'm glad I upgraded!!!

Tribble · 06/05/2008, 01:07 AM

As a matter of interest, what is the proxy entry?

hermangarza · 06/05/2008, 11:44 PM

I have a att centro unlocked to t-mobile works great, i just need the settings for pic mail and t zones

MitzyGoose · 06/06/2008, 07:36 PM

The Proxy stuff is all over the internet. I used these instructions (see category "T-Mobile WAP settings"

http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/T-Mobile_Data

At the bottom of that section, it recommends to use this utility and it worked well.

http://tmobileuspublic.wdsglobal.com/

hermangarza · 06/06/2008, 11:20 PM

But picture mail?

jamesgangut · 06/07/2008, 03:07 AM

I didn't have to do anything to get it working.

homestar1217 · 10/14/2009, 02:30 AM

Referring to the post above about the pictures being down-sized upon retrieval, has anyone figured out a way to fix this? I get picture messages a lot, and I have an AT&T Centro that they unlocked for me to use on T-Mobile, but receiving them at this pitiful resolution isn't helpful at all. I'm tempted to go back to my Moto ROKR Z6, even though it can't send MMS it could receive them at normal res.

kdgbm · 10/25/2009, 06:24 PM

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum. I need some advice on switching cell providers. I have been with AT&T prepaid for a couple of years using a Motorola Razr. I am a long time user of Palm products (pda) and recently purchased my first Palm cell phone. I really like the Centro pda functions, and am happy with it. The problem is we have weak signal coverage with AT&T in my area. The Razr will show 1 bar and my Centro might work or might not have a signal in this same location. I can sit in my living room with both phones and watch the signal strength go up and down. The Razr is just a little more capable of dealing with a weak signal. My phone is a unlocked AT&T phone. I stopped at the T mobile store today and the sim card would not work. When I go to SYSTEM PREFS & NETWORK I can click on MODIFY and the phone shows UNLOCKED. The people at T mobile are not up to speed on Palm products, and since I have not done this before I am not much help to them. How do I get my Centro to use the T mobile sim card? I plan to use prepaid with T mobile just like I did with AT&T.

ronbo2000 · 10/26/2009, 05:23 AM

I have purchased two unlocked Centro using T-Mo as cell provider, one AT&T branded and another one unbranded. The unbranded one gets the signal more reliably than the AT&T branded one. I have no explanation why.

Anyway, if you go under the Select network function and select the T-Mobile, it gets the full signal.