N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Hey guys, I have a quick question.

Do we know if the N900 will be able to support and take advantage of T-Mobile USA (or any other) UMA functionalities for network calls over Wi-Fi??

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

I think this question keeps coming up. And I think the answer seems to keep being "unknow, but very unlikely", it would be nice though. However, you can do the same with Skype or with a SIP account.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Yes but UMA is extremely useful in places with no network coverage...

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

You mean like at home were you have Wifi?:D Or were else would it work?

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Here is an example.
My friend is on T-Mobile USA. Hes does not have coverage issues, however inside his home (probably due to the construction stone) the GSM signal is very-very weak. His office is located at the basement of that same house. There he has no signal at all meanwhile he spends a lot of hours in this office.

He is now using a UMA ebable phone. So now when he is on home his is getting T-Mobile coverage over his own WiFi network. This means he is getting full network signal over wifi even in his basement that the actual network has no bars at all. All network calls and SMS are routing from Wifi using UMA.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Okay, if you have wifi then you have Skype and SIP avaialbe or googlevoice. UMA may be more convenient for you, but as far as I know it is for carrier provided devices that are paired with the carriers router. In sum, I am not for sure, but I doubt it. Look at Skype at home if you have wifi....

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Thanks for the answers guys, but I am not looking for Internet over Wifi (meanwhile VoIP, Skype etc.)

I am talking about pure UMA support in order to route Network calls over Wifi.

I guess there still no clear answer on that.. I will wait for something more specific.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Have a look at the manual to see if it support UMA (or GAN)

http://nds1.nokia.com/files/support/...-US_es-LAM.pdf

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Yeap I search for it yesterday when I had a look at the manual.
No sigh of it in there..

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

It does not look like there is UMA for the N900, it would be an ideal device for something like that. Hopefully Google Voice can do number porting soon, they said they would do it later this year. If so you could emulate UMA to an extent. You wouldn't be able to do tower to wifi hand off though.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

If I am not mistaken UMA is software or protocol over wifi.
Knowing how easy is to develop on the N900's completely open platform I don't see a reason of why we will not see an third party UMA solution from the community.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Just because it's software based (at this point that's an assumption unless someone can provide definitive confirmation) doesn't mean it's an open protocol that can be easily (or legally) implemented on the N900 without T-Mo's blessing and assistance. Would be nice if that's the case, but something like that smells very proprietary to me.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

UMA is simply T-Mobile's name for Generic Network Access (GAN), a 3GPP specification. You can download the Stage 2 (TS 43.318) and Layer 3 (TS 44.318) specification documents for free.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

this would be some really kiss a**. if some one could implement the UMA on N900 since I am a noob on this matters.
but I still do not have any kind of hope for this phone to have a UMA or GAN support because when Tmobile started to use the nokia 6301 or some I cant remember I specifically called nokia and asked them if I could get the unlocked 6301 and have a UMA capability on that then they told me that it is a hardware requirement not a software tweak. I did not believe him because I know that we know better than CS through these kind of awsome sites then they do. so i called Tmobile customer service and then I was transfered to @home department which deals with UMA and he could not answer my question and transfered me to his supervisor he could not either so he transfered me to a tier3 tech for tmobile UMA support and he said the same thing that it is a hardware requirement not a software tweak.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

spiffy :) Thanks for the info!

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Considering what i read in the Tmobile UMA thread on Howard Forums, i think it's usually a hardware limitation. It would be nice if the N900 supported it, but if they aren't already advertising it as such, i don't think it does.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

No, UMA will NOT be supported on the N900.

Skype, Google Voice, SIP are not the same thing and are a poor replacement for UMA. If you have never had a UMA phone, you don't realize how awesome the technology is and you are missing a great capability in a phone. It is FAR MORE than Voip. It automatically switches from wifi to cellular, uses the same phone number, is optimized so the quality is significantly higher, and requires absolutely no intervention or thought on the part of the user.

There is definitely a lot of confusion around UMA and whether or not it is requires specific hardware (more then cellular and wifi) or if it is just software. I am in the camo that it is more than just a software solution. Carriers and 3GPP talk always talka about dual-mode UMA enabled devices. If it were just software, I would think some developer would have figured it out by now and provided it on the many wifi/cell phones that are available today, from iPhone, to Android, to just about any major manufacturer. Finally, if you look at 3Gpp.org and the companies that are involved in UMA, they include BOTH software and hardware (chipset) manufactures.

So, I believe, no, UMA cannot be enabled on the N900 as it requires a hardware chipset capable of providing the capabilities. It is more than just a wifi and cell radio. It is NOT a software only solution.

http://i.cellphonenews2.com/news/Unl...+Access/3.html

and

UMA defines the use of the existing GSM AMR codec as the voice coder when in Wi-Fi. The AMR codec is hardware-assisted on the baseband of the device.
http://www.kineto.com/php/ask_performance_for_dmp.php

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

@mhammo

Well, Google Voice takes care of much of that stuff...

1) ONE Phone Number
2) Semi-Automatic switching from cell to WiFi (you have to press a few keys)
3) Works on VoIP and Cell
4) Free txt and voicemail transcription

Its not as seamless, but it works with any phone or computer, landline, cellphone, skype-phone, etc...

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Google Voice really isn't a substitute for UMA if you already have a # you want to keep. As far as I'm aware there's no way to port your number yet (They are working on it though)

You have to switch to Google Voice for that to work (which I slowly have.. telling friends both my #s and telling them if they can't reach me thru GV somehow, to try my regular cell as a last result). Though it's lovely once you are using it though.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

google voice is not a VOIP service of its own it would simply not work if you do not have a US number that you want to associate with google.
UMA is like for example on my BB8900 i have my home wifi network setup and I am on the phone while I am driving home and I pull over on my driveway where my wifi signal is available then my phone automatically switches to the UMA without me loosing a phone conversation my wifi router is acting exactly like T-Mobile's own tower. Which i loved a lot while I was in Nepal this summer. The places I went had a free wifi service and my phone connected to that wifi and on my screen it showed T-Mobile -- Linksys, so the phone calls that I made using that phone on UMA to USA was costing me nothing not even a penny because the system thought that I was on Tmobile tower.
This is why I wanted the google voice to be an independent VOIP service provider so when ever I am traveling I can call USA for free and when I call other countries the rates would be dirt cheap. Google voice just not associated with any cell phone number just working by it self on wifi alone.

Edit: I dont know if that made sense to yall, but when I read it after i typed I got confused with what I wrote. I think I need to get off from work now been working a lot today,

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

The T-Mobile Android phones (such as the G1 and the MyTouch) have all the necessary hardware to support UMA, yet T-mobile does not support UMA on those phones either.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

I guess since Nokia support for UMA is very poor (the service is barely a success outside the US), it is very unlikely that the N900 in particular will support it. Obviously, the phone capatibilites of the N900 are very limited, given the fact that there is not even support for video calls or alternate line service. It is therefore very unlikely that UMA is supported...

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

I actually had never heard of UMA until i saw this thread. I went digging and what i found made me a fan. It's too bad it's not more widely supported, because i have poor reception at work.

I find your comment amusing because video calls aren't supported in the US, either. Welcome to the stone age...

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

I too think that UMA makes a hell of a lot more sense than the whole FemtoCell revolution going on. Every smartphone has wifi builtin and with UMA over wifi there is no additional hardware cost to the end user and seamless switching between wifi and towers. I travel a lot and would be able to significantly cut the costs of my phone calls using this technology. If I end up switching to T-mobile I'll probably get a cheap UMA capable phone to use for calls to the US when I am overseas.

As soon as google allows number porting and regular SIP calls I would port my number to GV in an instant and use a poor mans version of UMA. The only thing missing would be seamless handoff between wifi and cellular.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Speedtest on t-mobile 3g on the n900

http://www.intomobile.com/2009/10/15...34-mbs-up.html

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

here's my tmobile usa 3g speed test on video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z0Cu9A6UzE

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

UMA wasn't as glamorous for me as some of you are telling. I'm glad you had good experiences but mine was pretty poor. The quality was not as good as going straight to tower, multiple drops on a very low traffic network and occasional bad static. Also I was never able to successfully switch from WiFI to Tower or vice-versa. They still have work to do with this as the technology I don't feel is polished yet. The concept however is fantastic. I was able to use it in Europe extensively to send texts for work. I was using a Curve 8320. I've since switch to an e71 and use Google Voice with Gizmo5 and works well.

Also have you noticed that there is no UMA in any of the 3G enabled phones (G1, MyTouch?). I don't have verification on this but a guy at the T-Mobile store told me the 3G and UMA functionalities conflict. Anyone else hear this?

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

This is correct but not for the reason the T-Mobile sales guy indicated. Its isn't a conflict with the devices so much as UMA or GAN relies upon a feature within the MSC or call server. It is more likely that the T-Mobile network topology is not configured in a way that allows a single MSC or call server to perform UMTS, 2G and UMA concurrently. The radio network be it UMTS,GSM or UMA/GAN is homed to a MSC call server that support your geographical area. UMA to GSM handovers are difficult. Put the soft handovers of UMTS on top of this and it becomes a nightmare to provide a level of service without tons of maintenance to prevent an obscene high number of call drops between radio technologies.
Don't get me wrong, we still rock a UMA enabled BB Curve and for people without even 2G coverage at their homes (like my parents in Vermont) it serves them well. I just think everyone (users and operators) is better off using SIP, Skype, or Google Talk on UMTS.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Hi, I saw your Youtube video about Speedtest.net. Just curious, what is the fasted download speed you ever achieved using T-Mobile's 3G connection on Nokia N900? Have you ever achieved download speeds of 7.2 Mbps?

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Not exactly the case. The Blackberry 9700 is 3G and does UMA just fine. It actually handles UMA better then any other phone I have used.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

This is exactly what I use UMA for. I travel outside the country quite a bit. I always set my UMA blackberry to Wifi only (so it does not switch back to the cell network when there is poor wifi). I always get all my SMS, emails, voice calls directly to mobile phone with no roaming charges. I found a great article a few months ago on a blog site that really helped me when traveling internationally. Check it out: http://www.assassin711.com/?p=92

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

I've been researching this for a bit now, and I've yet to find anything to prevent a software solution to add this to N900 (Yes, it requires the AMR codec, but since N900 is 3G, it should already support that). I created a Brainstorm to discuss the implementation here, and a brainstorm discussion thread here. Please go to the Brainstorm page and give it a "thumbs up" vote if you'd like to see this happen! :)

I'm working on developing this on my own in my free time, but without active community or Nokia support, it will probably take quite awhile.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

Neither is correct :-)
There are several 3G-enabled UMA-phones available to date.
Check http://www.umatoday.com for updates.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

This would be a great idea.. I wish I had a little knowledge to be contrubute..

UMA callling is the best feature of t-mobile betwork( prob the only good feature). For instance, i have terrible service at my appartment and with UMA, I dont have to worry for call drop. But the best thing is being able to call US from abroad with no international charges. I guess for now, I will carry my bb 8320 around untill, Uma upgrade is avaliable for n900.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

The Nokia E73 is announced with the Cisco Connect UMA capability, what is the bottleneck on N900 that we cannot do this? Is it the software or the hardware, I still am confused with it. Once when I talked with UMA service tech on Tmobile, he told me it has to do with the hardware and I have said so on the forums but from the inner heart I still think it has to do with the software since all the hardware are same.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

I had UMA on a blackberry 8220 flip -- the only thing I miss from it.... I would love to see this on the n900.

I found this quite helpful and informative regarding UMA.
UMA Demystified: Inside UMA-enabled dual-mode handsets from Mobile Handset DesignLine

http://www.mobilehandsetdesignline.com/howto/205906491

It was written by Steve Shaw, Kineto Wireless. They seem to provide the software client software for some handsets.

From my read it is basically voip over vpn with some handover stuff... pretty neat.

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

so for now...there is no UMA for n900...maybe in future firmware cud enable this? or is it an hardware limitation???

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

So we consider this as a stalled topic?

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

I have recently bought a used N6301 on eBay just because it can do UMA and I have no signal around my home. It is a pain to swap the SIM over from my N900 when I at home (or remember to divert calls to the 6301). I find the 6301 UMA feature very useful and would pay for and app that enabled it on my N900. I don't really want to move to a Blackberry (who seem to be the only folks actively supporting it).

I don't need handover between 3G and wifi and I doubt that this would be a must have for many. If I start or receive a call at home, I am not likely to move out of wifi range while I am on the call. Conversely, if I receive a call when I am outside, I know not to go into the house until I finish the call!

Rgrds F

Re: N900 and UMA on T-Mobile USA?
 

T-Mobile has announced that it will be supporting wifi calling with Android phones.

http://press.t-mobile.com/articles/t...d-wifi-calling

I believe I had read elsewhere that 3G to wifi handover will not be supported.

If this can be put on Android phones, I suspect it could be developed for the N900.

The Android application that T-Mobile will use was developed by Kineto.com