They’re Taking The Piss: Google Nexus One Does 3G Only On One Carrier In The U.S.

Google’s magic open Nexus One, hailed by the pundits as world changing because it separates the phone from the carrier, has a slight flaw: it doesn’t support 3G on the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands, and therefore only offers 3G access on the one carrier in the United States.

GigaOm pointed out the flaw, noting “the underlying technology a cell-phone network runs on, such as HSPA for 3G or EDGE for 2G, and the frequency the radios in the device use to communicate. In the case of the Nexus One, it uses the 900MHz, 1700MHz and 2100MHz frequency bands for 3G data and the GSM 850MHz, 900Mhz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz bands for 2G. Because the T-Mobile 3G network in the U.S. is listening for 3G data in the 1700MHz and 2100MHz bands, it’s the only U.S. network with which the Nexus One phone can communicate.”

Yeah, the Nexus One really separates the phone from the carrier when your choice of carriers if you want to use it on a 3G network (and lets face it, most would) in the United States is one.

The weird thing is why in the world did Google and HTC deliver a limited phone to begin with: phones that support both AT&T and T-Mobile are common place, with the iPhone among them.

If there were any doubt before that the magic Google phone allowed users to break free of carriers, this news should put an end to it. If you’re in the United States, it’s T-Mobile or nothing for you.