What happens to a TD-SCDMA phone in USA?

[Tiltowait]

I have a Hongmi that I'll be taking on vacation with me. What will a TD-SCDMA/GSM phone be able to do on, for example, T-Mobile? Can it make phone calls and send SMS? Or will it just degrade to 2G networking? Does it matter which of the two slots you use for the SIM card?

 

[Zirias]

Generally, the supported CDMA flavour doesn't matter for GSM. As long as the phone supports all GSM bands (I /assume/ the Hongmi does, as this is standard for all newer phones), it will just work on 2G (or, "2.5G" aka Edge if supported by the network).

 

[yash3339]

Assuming your carrier's 3G data works on WCDMA networks, you will be restricted to 2G. You will be able to make calls though, via your carrier's GSM network.