Hi,
I am sending a product to US (from Asia) which has a US version of 3G Electron. Before I do this, please advise if I can do steps 1 & 3 ?
Setup US version of electron in Asia, so that the user doesn’t have to go through the trouble of setting it up.
Flash application code, which I plan to do over USB.
Test if the device connects to the Cloud/Cellular.
Is the answer to my question a simply NO or is there a work around (even if means using some additional hardware) ?
This will be great but things should work the moment they connect in US. All you will need to do (i guess) would be to activate the SIM beforehand and claim the electron after it gets connected.
Yes that works. You can consider doing particle update using the latest CLI as well, depending on which system firmware you are developing with.
Yes, if the same band is available in the country in Asia?
I will find the electron model vs country table and update this post again.
Thanks for the info.
I understand that Particle Electron 3G (Asian Version) is suitable for frequencies: 900/1800/2100 MHz. I came to know that 2100MHz is available in US, does it mean Electron Asian version works in US ? (See below image for US Carrier frequencies)
Similarly, Electron US version works with frequencies of 850 & 1900MHz, there is 1900MHz 3G frequency in Asia, but the US version of the Electron (that I have) doesn’t seem to connect to the wireless network (and therefore I am unable to claim the device before I ship it).
Can someone please shed some light on my understanding as to why they don’t connect inspite of the frequencies being available ?
Can you specify which asian country you are operating in and the specific electron models tested?
If these are sensitive information, you can reach out to Particle for a private discussion here: https://docs.particle.io/support/support-and-fulfillment/menu-base/
Operating in India.
Testing US version of 3G Electron and also Asian version of 3G Electron.
Hmm… You stated India…
India: 900MHz and 1800Mhz
US: 850MHz and 1900Mhz
They are on different bands which is why the electron (US model) does not work as expected.
If you see the light green column (of GSM Table for India) 1900MHz is available with the wireless carrier (Airtel) that Particle Electron operates on.
Ah… The network that Particle’s partner is operating on in India is Barthi
If you have a 3rd party SIM card from Airtel, you might be able to get on the 2100MHz band.
Barathi or Airtel is the same company!!
I am using the SIM supplied by Particle.
Why not with the Particle sim card ?
The Americas/Australia (U260) and Europe/Asia/Africa (U270) can not be used in the other location. Both the 3G and 2G bands are different. The U260 uses 850/1900 MHz and the U270 uses 900/2100 MHz for 3G. The 2G Electron (G350) is quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) so it works everywhere there is still 2G coverage. But even though the 3G Electrons can fall back to 2G, they’re only dual-band 2G so the U260 falls back to 850/1900 and the U270 falls back to 900/1800 for 2G.
Thank you, that means I cannot connect a US 3G Electron to cellular network in India.
So I cannot use the U260 in Italy, I will have to use the U270?
You cannot use the 3G Americas U260 in Italy, or most locations in Europe, Asia, and Africa, for that matter.
You can swap the Particle SIM card between Electrons, but the U260 radio modem doesn’t operate on the frequencies that are used in Europe. You’ll be stuck in blinking green forever.
So in order for me to create an app with the particle U270 for use in Italy, I cannot test it here (U.S.) and have it sent there?
So I have to test it with a U260 here, then replace the Electron with a U270 with same code and ship there?
Correct. The U260 and U270 are basically identical except for the frequency of the cellular modem so switching rarely causes problems. You can also load system and user firmware on an out-of-area Electron over USB, though you can’t claim it until it comes online in its supported region.
right, thanks for the info…
Before shipping, also check if the electron that you are shipping to the US has the correct system firmware version. New electrons generally come with an old firmware loaded on them.
Doing OTA updates for system firmware could be problematic sometimes.
