Nokia 5030 and GSM 850/1900

Question

Hi,
My brother bought a Nokia 5030 phone for his trip to the USA, on the Nokia website at http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-5030/specifications Nokia 5030 according to specifications it support the following frequencies: EGSM 900/1800
GSM 850/1900 
The phone worked fine on the EGSM 900/1800 Frequency. 
Before buying we checked with Nokia support and they told him that the phone should work in the USA. Now he is there and his Nokia 5030 couldn't detect any operator either by auto or manual search, he tried putting his SIM card in another phone and it detected a network, so its not the SIM.
I have tried contacting Nokia support in my country, and they still told me that the phone should work in the USA.
They told to try and perform a factory reset, but it didn't help.
Also the box says "made in Romania" and it has only EGSM 900/1800 written on it.
Also in the manual there is in mention of GSM 850/1900 frequency.
(http://nds1.nokia.com/phones/files/guides/Nokia_5030_UG_en.pdf)
My brother had to buy another phone (a Nokia) to communicate with me.
Is there something wrong with that particular Nokia 5030 phone,
or it does not support GSM 850/1900 frequencies,
in that case why Nokia support tells me that it should work and the Nokia website lists that frequency in the specifications.
Thanks.
Message Edited by sergy1 on 01-Oct-2009 09:04 AM

Answer 1

Hi,
I see I’m not the only one that encountered that issue.
I think that unless you have a manual or box that says that the device supports GSM 850/1900 frequencies, it will unfortunately not work and I think that software update won’t solve it as it appears to be a hardware issue.
Its looks like that they’ve listed this phone as a quadband in their internal documentation so that the tech support and sales thinks that this phone is a quadband while its not.
(I called twice before buying and spoke with two different customer service representatives that assured me that the phone supports the US frequencies, and that it must have been a mistake that the manual does not list it as such.)
I hope that Nokia will notice and finally update the Nokia 5030 online specifications page, so that it would explicitly state that Nokia 5030 is not a quadband phone, like they did with their other phones.
Here is a little update:
After escalating my support request, and speaking to the customer support manager (and repeatedly asking for them to verify it with global Nokia), Nokia Israel (It’s actually represented in Israel by a company called Eurocom) acknowledged my request to return the phone for a full refund to the retailer, and offered me a small compensation (which I guess is better that no compensation at all).
Today I should return it to the retailer, and I hope there won’t be additional problems with that.
One thing I liked about the phone, (I guess this feature is available on most new Nokia’s phones) is its alarm clock feature that pronounces the current time as it tells you to wake up…
One more thing,
Notice the fine print that appears on the nokia 5030 specs page:
“The availability of particular products, services and features may vary by region. Please check with the Nokia dealer nearest you. These specifications are subject to change without notice”
I hope that you will be able to solve the problem like I did.