[Tinyk]

Just got my 9700 from mobilefun.co.uk and updated to the latest official firmware posted above. Set some of the phone up but their is no option in the mobile network for UMA.

I can see small changes in menus from my old bold running V5 but cant seem to find UMA anywhere else.

I've seen posts of people saying no UMA on USA phones but I know my sim worked find in my 8900, anyone tell me what im missing here please?

Thanks

[Spawn12]

Probably because Orange have their own firmware that enables UMA...but because you have bought it sim free you wont have any operator branding on the device therefore wont have any access to UMA.

Plus Orange havent even released the handset so they might not be able to help you out on this issue...so dont expect any help from them.

[spasypaddy]

orange wont offer any technical support until the phone is released by them, even then if you have a debranded/sim free version they wont offer you technical support. i know this because i rang them earlier to ask about getting from a third party and getting insurance. they said they wont do insurance or bother doing technical support until they release the phone

[Tinyk]

Thanks very much for your help, you were spot on it was not getting the settings because of the braning not being on the phone.

Quite a bit of reading, googling and other posts and I found the uma settings and added them via the engineering screen and I now have working UMA.

Thanks again.

[SpiderRS4]

Thanks very much for your help, you were spot on it was not getting the settings because of the braning not being on the phone.

Quite a bit of reading, googling and other posts and I found the uma settings and added them via the engineering screen and I now have working UMA.

Thanks again.

After all that reading, googling and other posts, care to share how you changed the UMA settings? I've picked up a 9700 through Vodafone and want to give it a wack, with a little help on the backend. Any assistance would be most appreciated.

[Tinyk]

Yeah sure I will share but Vodafone dont support UMA so are you planning on using on Orange ?

Orange are the only UK network to support the UMA service and from my readings I think there is only a couple in the world all told, T-mobile being the main one in the states.

[SpiderRS4]

Yeah sure I will share but Vodafone dont support UMA so are you planning on using on Orange ?

Orange are the only UK network to support the UMA service and from my readings I think there is only a couple in the world all told, T-mobile being the main one in the states.

Thanks for that! At this point I'm up in the air on whether I'll be staying with Vodafone, as UMA is rather important to me. However, I'm going to flash the device and try meddling with it a bit to see what I can figure out, so anything you've learned in the process will help.

[Tinyk]

I must admit its certainly the main factor on me upgrading to the new bold, very handy getting calls and message when you have no orange signal.

Ill put my cut and pastes into some sort of order tomorrow and post up some instructions on how to add it, i'm guessing once orange release the bold and rim update their website with the latest orange firmware that it wont have to be done manually any more.

[grunty]

Thanks for that! At this point I'm up in the air on whether I'll be staying with Vodafone, as UMA is rather important to me. However, I'm going to flash the device and try meddling with it a bit to see what I can figure out, so anything you've learned in the process will help.

Flashing the device won't get you anywhere with getting UMA on Voda though.

[Ty-Ty]

Hi I wonder if anyone can answer this as I'm at the end of my Tmobile contract...

I spoke to someone at Orange a few minutes ago to ask about how UMA calling actually works.

Apparently you can only use it on Orange's broadband package. Is this correct?

So technically you can't just make free calls over any unsecure broadband network?

[Tinyk]

No they are not correct, at the start it worked like that but it works on and compatible wifi now.

Only thing I can't be 100% on is roaming abroad as I have not tried it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Ty-Ty]

@Tinyk

Thanks for replying. I just called Orange back and spoke someone else who says it will work over an unsecure network. However, UMA calls will come out of my minutes, which is fine.

I should've asked but can you make UMA calls to other mobiles?

More precisely, do you know if I can call internationally to mobiles?

Thanks, Ty

[grunty]

Hi I wonder if anyone can answer this as I'm at the end of my Tmobile contract...

I spoke to someone at Orange a few minutes ago to ask about how UMA calling actually works.

Apparently you can only use it on Orange's broadband package. Is this correct?

So technically you can't just make free calls over any unsecure broadband network?

It will route calls over any ISP - it doesn't need to be orange. The calls aren't free though they will still be charged on your bill as normal.

In otherwords - rather than force the issue with Orange just go with a carrier who gives you good coverage at your home / work - I looked in to this as well and concluded that for me UMA just wasn't worth it (Orange don't have the best of tarrifs either)

[grunty]

@Tinyk

Thanks for replying. I just called Orange back and spoke someone else who says it will work over an unsecure network. However, UMA calls will come out of my minutes, which is fine.

I should've asked but can you make UMA calls to other mobiles?

More precisely, do you know if I can call internationally to mobiles?

Thanks, Ty

You can make any calls you want over UMA that you could normally make on your orange handset. Think of UMA as an alternative way of accessing oranges network (it's not a network in it's own right).

[Tinyk]

Uma simply means your phone connects over the wifi connection to orange rather than the cell towers to orange.

Working wise it makes no diffrence at all to calling its exactly the same as calling would be on the gsm network.

Its a bit hard to take in the first time you use it but its no diffrent. With regards to what your getting confused with is orange used to offer a package wherby you paid a fee every month and any calls made over UMA were free, its not offered any more (though some still haave it) so all calls come out of your plan minutes as normal.

The one diffrence is when you connect via uma when your abroad, so long as the phone is on uma the calls are taken out of your plan and not charged for at roaming rates.

Hope that helps you figure it a bit.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Ty-Ty]

Yep, thanks @ Tinyk / Grunty

That all makes sense.

Now I just have to work out whether I should get a 9700 on TMobile as an upgrade (without UMA) or move over to Orange. At the moment I'm calling abroad at lot so my bills are ridiculous.

[Tinyk]

Using UMA won't reduce your call charges as the calls will be charged at your normal plan rates.

I wouldn't jump on the UMA band wagon just yet wait till orange release the phone before jumping ship as I've spent today trying to sort some issues getting it working. From what I have found you can't go from 3g to UMA only 2g to uma so if you live in an area with 3g signal it won't swap across. The solution that works fine is change the phone to 2g which makes it swap to UMA like it should but you obviously then loose the 3g bit.

I hope orange are working on this hence the delay in them releasing the phone but until it comes out I've no way of telling.

Maybe a new firmware is around the corner which will solve the issue.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Ty-Ty]

Just posted but not sure if got removed?

Thanks Tinyk and Grunty, that all makes sense.

Now I just need to figure out whether I should upgrade to the 9700 on T-Mobile without UMA or switch over to Orange. At the moment I'm making a lot of international calls so my bills are high.

Skype or iSkoot maybe an option. I'll look into these.

Thanks

[spasypaddy]

tiny, can you explain why if you have 3g signal you would want to move to wifi?

[Ty-Ty]

Thanks Tinyk,

Your advice is very helpful

[grunty]

Yep, thanks @ Tinyk / Grunty

That all makes sense.

Now I just have to work out whether I should get a 9700 on TMobile as an upgrade (without UMA) or move over to Orange. At the moment I'm calling abroad at lot so my bills are ridiculous.

What t-mobile plan are you on at the moment?

If your not already on it look at Flext - think it's a fixed rate of 40p per minute for internaional calls but for �50 a month you get �325 or credit.

Even better though if you could get the phone sim free then look at the t-mobile Solo tariffs as there are some there specifically for international calls.

Like other have said though - VOIP is a good option, see here for some suggestions:
VoIP on BlackBerry - Making Cheap And Free Calls On Your BlackBerry

[Ty-Ty]

@ Grunty

I'm on the Combi 35 with the G1 at the mo. Wanna make the switch to Blackberry (to see what all the fuss is about!).

Will look into VOIP too.

[SpiderRS4]

What t-mobile plan are you on at the moment?

If your not already on it look at Flext - think it's a fixed rate of 40p per minute for internaional calls but for �50 a month you get �325 or credit.

Even better though if you could get the phone sim free then look at the t-mobile Solo tariffs as there are some there specifically for international calls.

Like other have said though - VOIP is a good option, see here for some suggestions:
VoIP on BlackBerry - Making Cheap And Free Calls On Your BlackBerry

I have to say that Truphone is the best app I've found yet for calling internationally. The quality and price are perfect, however two things to keep in mind: Mobile numbers in many countries will cost you more (except in US, Canada, etc.), so make sure you call landlines where possible and they are still in the testing phases for OS5, so I'm currently switching between my old 8830 and 9700 for calling abroad.

[S20JAD]

After all that reading, googling and other posts, care to share how you changed the UMA settings? I've picked up a 9700 through Vodafone and want to give it a wack, with a little help on the backend. Any assistance would be most appreciated.

Just got a generic 9700 on Orange (but not from Orange) and no UMA. Spent hours on phone to supplier and Orange, they will take the phone back, but I dont want to. Can you let me know how you got the UMA to work.

[spasypaddy]

orange wont support it yet until they release it, even then they may not support you as you didnt buy an orange branded phone. best bet is to wait for the orange specific OS to be released and then install that