I see that Argentina has three mobile phone providers. They all appear to operate GSM on 850 / 1900 MHz.

From what I've read, and been told here in this forum, a Blackberry has one chip in it that is capable of quad-band operation. But the software on the Blackberry will be according to the network provider who supplied the Blackberry (i.e. 850 or 900 Mhz, but NOT both.)

This would suggest that a Blackberry that currently operates on 900 MHz, is not going to work in Argentina.

Anybody have any experience with this? I read on the internet that 850 MHz is regarded as 'rare' in comparison to 900 MHz?

the 9700 is quad band anyway? Even on Telecom NZ you should be able to get on roaming fine there.

Sigh, if only the Blackberry were TRULY a quad-band. I mean, I know it is when it is manufactured, but by time it gets into your hands, it has been 'flashed' with software from your wireless provider and will now only work on EITHER 900 MHz OR 850 MHz, not both! Incredible but true.

I've just jumped through many hoops to work this out. Even the NZ Telecom engineer working my case has learned something. They sadly agree that I need to switch provider from Telecom NZ to Vodafone NZ, who operate on 2100 MHz/900 MHz versus Telecom's 2100 MHz/850 MHz.

Allow me to clarify - my Blackberry came from my employer in Melbourne Australia. It is an Optus handset. It is unblocked/unlocked (I checked using the procedure detailed in this mighty fine forum.)

My Blackberry works only sometimes here in NZ. Only when I'm in the city. And even then it drops out sometimes. Reason is, I have a Telecom NZ SIM card in it. And Telecom NZ operate, as mentioned, on 2100/850. Optus in Australia operate on 2100/900, as do Vodafone and 2degrees in New Zealand.

I have been supplied a handset from Telecom NZ and have proven this point beyond doubt. The handset supplied gets a full strength signal where my Blackberry had no signal.

Of course, you might think that my Blackberry has a fault. But when you manually scan for networks, the Blackberry gets a fantastic signal strength from four networks: Vodafone NZ 2G, Vodafone NZ 4G, 2degrees 2G and 2degrees 3G. The 'SOS' icon appears on the Blackberry. This means you can make a call, but only an emergency call because you are not our customer.

And both Vodafone and 2degrees operate on 2100/900 just like Optus Australia, where the Blackberry came from.

I think you're confusing between 3g hspa bands with 2G frequencies as you originally stated.

Sure, this is similar to the case with at&t and T-Mobile ...

The pearl 3g on the other hand can operate on all frequencies unlike the 9700 unfortunately.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

Yes, I too think you are confusing 2G and 3G frequencies.
The 9700 is quad band and will work for voice and 2G data on these bands:
850/900/1800/1900MHz

Hi again,

The bottom line is that my Blackberry will NOT work on Telecom's XT network, because it CANNOT operate on the 850 MHz national frequency for that network. And I mean NOT work, not for voice or anything, no signal. Yet the same device can 'see' the other two network providers who are operating on 900 MHz.

That is correct. As XT only has 3G 850/2100 frequencies. Your device can not fall back to 2G as XT do not support it.

However 2degrees and Voda has 2G frequencies to fall back to.

With Argentina. I believe your 9700 should be ok.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

Hi again, and thanks so much for clarifying what I have found to be true via a rather long path!

Cheers!

Oh yeah, also, on 2degrees or Vodafone, there will be no need to fallback to 2G, because their 3G networks operate on 2100/900 just like my Blackberry! Do you agree?
I actually live in central Auckland and that's why it was surprising to have patchy network coverage. As I mentioned earlier, the loan phone delivered from Telecom NZ worked with full signal in locations where my Blackberry has no XT signal (yet full signal from Vodafone and 2degrees!)

Thanks enormously for your help!