Hello,
I am a US customer of T-Mo, and I have a N7 pre-order in with them. However, the locked bootloader has me concerned. I definitely want to root, and would later want to run custom roms, TWRP, etc.
Could someone please definitively clarify if one of the International Note 7 models (even better if it is a Dual-Sim unit) will cover the LTE bands for T-Mo (and possibly the other US carriers) in one of the SIM slots? I am willing to buy the international version outright if I can still get full speeds while I am in the states and when I travel internationally.
Thanks!
-Rob
The 930F will cover all of the LTE bands for T-Mobile. I presume the FD does as well, but I don't have a source for its specs.
If it's anything like the international S7E, you won't get VoLTE or wifi calling.
Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk
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Hi all,
Thinking about picking up the G4. I do some occasional travel to Europe for work, about once a quarter. As such, I am looking at the G4 variant that will work on both sides of the Atlantic. It looks like I can pick up the International H815 that should do just fine. But being here in the States, I'd probably have to special order one.
I took a look at the specs for the AT&T H810 variant, and it says that it has the LTE bands 1, 3, 7 for Roaming. Incidentally, the band I need for my carrier in Europe is band 3.
So my question is does included hardware support band 3? Would I be able to use my Europe SIM in the phone and connect to band 3? Or does the roaming imply I can only access band 3 with my USA SIM when I am roaming in Europe?
Any insight would be helpful! Thanks!
kwan888 said:
Hi all,
Thinking about picking up the G4. I do some occasional travel to Europe for work, about once a quarter. As such, I am looking at the G4 variant that will work on both sides of the Atlantic. It looks like I can pick up the International H815 that should do just fine. But being here in the States, I'd probably have to special order one.
I took a look at the specs for the AT&T H810 variant, and it says that it has the LTE bands 1, 3, 7 for Roaming. Incidentally, the band I need for my carrier in Europe is band 3.
So my question is does included hardware support band 3? Would I be able to use my Europe SIM in the phone and connect to band 3? Or does the roaming imply I can only access band 3 with my USA SIM when I am roaming in Europe?
Any insight would be helpful! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just ordered a brown leather 815 on eBay for 700. By the time you figure taxes and getting leather option and not having to deal with ATT sounded like a decent deal. I hope I can get the free goodies from Lg. Plus it should be here by the June 1st or so.
kwan888 said:
Hi all,
Thinking about picking up the G4. I do some occasional travel to Europe for work, about once a quarter. As such, I am looking at the G4 variant that will work on both sides of the Atlantic. It looks like I can pick up the International H815 that should do just fine. But being here in the States, I'd probably have to special order one.
I took a look at the specs for the AT&T H810 variant, and it says that it has the LTE bands 1, 3, 7 for Roaming. Incidentally, the band I need for my carrier in Europe is band 3.
So my question is does included hardware support band 3? Would I be able to use my Europe SIM in the phone and connect to band 3? Or does the roaming imply I can only access band 3 with my USA SIM when I am roaming in Europe?
Any insight would be helpful! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Provided AT&T allows you with Unlock code to use Europe SIM. I doubt.
Sent from LG G3 D855 Powered by L Speed 2.2
FWIW ATT actually gave me the unlock code within 2 days. Pretty fast.
Hi Group.
I'm in a geographical predicament and thought your suggestions would be useful in purchasing my new phone... I am going to buy the Pixel XL, but don't know if I should buy it in the USA when I go or buy it in London where I live. I am Canadian and go back and forth quite often, but my homebase and Home is in London. Knowing that there are always two versions, North America and International, I was wondering which one I should buy... When in Canada I use Bell, and when in London (where I am 90% of the time) I am with 3 (Three.co.uk).
Which should I get/where should I buy it, seeing that I heard that sometimes the different versions burn battery life differently.
Thanks!
I'd say the main thing to consider (which I'm concerned about as well) is the Carrier Aggregation for LTE, I placed a preorder for the XL, but I won't be using it in the states. My carrier supports LTE Band 1 and 3, however if you look at the CA combinations in the technical specs, the US model won't support B1+B3 aggregation, only the international model will. You might be in a different boat though, so check your carrier's LTE Band support and see if the US model supports those for CA. US model is cheaper after all.
yeah it all comes down to the bands, as a rule the international always has more available bands, but there are still a handful that are exclusive to the US or International version, so all you can do is research what the networks you use work on and then go from there picking the version that has all the bands you need.
Hey, I plan to buy my Galaxy so from Samsung rather than my carrier (ATT). I have a couple questions. Will I just be able to add the Sim currently in my Galaxy say or will I need a new one? Also, will I have to take it into the store?
Just put your existing soon card in and away you go. No need for anything else. It's what I did when I got my Note 8 from Samsung.
If you buy it from Samsung, the phone it's unlocked, so you can use any valid SIM (including the one you are currently using now).
Samsung has an unlocked model available on their website along with carrier specific models. I would think the carrier specific models are the same as the phones you would get at a AT&T or Verizon store. Correct me if I'm wrong.
dmb219 said:
Samsung has an unlocked model available on their website along with carrier specific models. I would think the carrier specific models are the same as the phones you would get at a AT&T or Verizon store. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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I'd like to know this as I would like an unlocked bootloader but.... I would like the Carrier version for some additional features like VoLTE/VoWifi.
Right now I'm torn between just going to Best Buy (since in the states) or just getting it directly from Samsung.
The carrier versions will have the standard carrier bloat pre-installed.
I can't find the exact band specifications of each of the models... Does anyone know if the hardware/antenna chips will be the same on T-Mobile vs. unlocked from Samsung? I am assuming there are certain bands missing from the unlocked version if you plan on using T-mobile's network, but I can't confirm this....
Best Buy's doing a $100 off if you preorder on Friday just heads up.
StykerB said:
Best Buy's doing a $100 off if you preorder on Friday just heads up.
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And if you have an s8 or other qualifying phone you can get a total of $450 off I believe on Friday from Best Buy.
Nightwind Hawk said:
I can't find the exact band specifications of each of the models... Does anyone know if the hardware/antenna chips will be the same on T-Mobile vs. unlocked from Samsung? I am assuming there are certain bands missing from the unlocked version if you plan on using T-mobile's network, but I can't confirm this....
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I too had the same questions and this is what I found. I don't know how accurate it is.
https://www.frequencycheck.com/models/Ar9mx/samsung-sm-g965u-galaxy-s9-td-lte-samsung-star-2
uzupan said:
I too had the same questions and this is what I found. I don't know how accurate it is.
https://www.frequencycheck.com/models/Ar9mx/samsung-sm-g965u-galaxy-s9-td-lte-samsung-star-2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like the answer to our question is on this page: https://www.techwalls.com/samsung-galaxy-s9-sm-g960-g965-model-number-differences/
The T-Mobile version seems to be missing the following, in comparison to the unlocked US version:
4G FDD LTE B71 (600 mhz) - This is T-Mobile's new spectrum... this seems important to have (just google t-mobile 600mhz)
2G CDMA and 3G CDMA - I don't believe this matters to us
3G TD-SCDMA B34 and B39 (2010 and 1880mhz) - I assume these will be missed if outside LTE coverage?
But in general, the unlocked version seems to support more bands than the Tmo version
So, it seems if one is on the T-Mobile network and plans to stay there, they really should get the T-Mobile version of the phone.... someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Deathman20 said:
I'd like to know this as I would like an unlocked bootloader but.... I would like the Carrier version for some additional features like VoLTE/VoWifi.
Right now I'm torn between just going to Best Buy (since in the states) or just getting it directly from Samsung.
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You do know that unlocked isn't meaning unlocked bootloader right? It's meaning unlocked bands
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
I'm with AT&T and I'm pretty sure there will be no wifi calling on any phone other than the AT&T version. That's a feature I want. If it doesn't matter to you an unlocked phone may be for you. I don't know for a fact that wifi calling won't work on an unlocked S9 but if it does, it will be the first. I don't want the extra carrier apps but they aren't going to cause me any grief on a beast like this phone. I'd rather have the services the carrier provides if I'm going to use them. If It turns out that wifi calling works on the unlocked S9, I may revise my plan but I doubt that will happen. I'm pretty much done with the rooting/modding stuff so that isn't an issue. Even the master hackers are going with stock phones d/t the features and security.
I've really enjoyed my S7 and want to upgrade to the S9. Later in the year I'll be overseas for almost a year, so I want something that will work with all Verizon bands of LTE, but also not have a firmware lock that would cause it to not work on other bands of LTE overseas. (planning to just use prepaid dataplan sim cards overseas)
I think my two options are to either get a US 'unlocked' version or wait for the 'international' version. My understanding is the primary differences between the unlocked and international version is the 2G/3G coverage for CDMA and possibly slightly different hardware. I'd rather have a phone with CDMA backwards capability, but my prime concern lacking full access to all LTE bands available wherever I am.
I'm not really interested in going any route that would require me to root the phone if there is a way to do it without.
Well the only way to get VZW compatibility is the VZW phone or a US unlocked model. So you're looking at the US Unlocked model at this point.
A listing of all the different model numbers available (per country and carrier) is available here: https://www.techwalls.com/samsung-galaxy-s9-sm-g960-g965-model-number-differences/
You will probably want to get the phone that works with your primary location the most. I am not sure which countries use which frequencies for LTE in Europe; you will need to research that to see what you may be missing out on.
With my T-Mobile S7, I haven't had any issues when traveling in Europe or Asia. It connects to LTE usually.
So I just did a deep dive of that list:
It looks like the Verizon and Unlocked versions are almost identical (the unlocked US version has B46(5200) 4G TDD LTE, but I'm not sure anyone who uses it)
Looking at 4G FDD LTE it looks like a Verizon or US unlocked phone will have almost complete coverage around the world, notable gaps are B30(2300) in China/Canada/US AT&T, B32(1500) in UK and B71(600) (US Tmobile). I thought that was a bit confusing as you'd expect a US Unlocked phone to service all LTE bands available in the US yet it lacks AT&T and Tmobile bands.
So based on all that information looks like I should just get an unlocked US phone to be totally safe, and I'd likely also be fine getting a Verizon version also.
StykerB said:
Well the only way to get VZW compatibility is the VZW phone or a US unlocked model. So you're looking at the US Unlocked model at this point.
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Relcan said:
So I just did a deep dive of that list:
It looks like the Verizon and Unlocked versions are almost identical (the unlocked US version has B46(5200) 4G TDD LTE, but I'm not sure anyone who uses it)
Looking at 4G FDD LTE it looks like a Verizon or US unlocked phone will have almost complete coverage around the world, notable gaps are B30(2300) in China/Canada/US AT&T, B32(1500) in UK and B71(600) (US Tmobile). I thought that was a bit confusing as you'd expect a US Unlocked phone to service all LTE bands available in the US yet it lacks AT&T and Tmobile bands.
So based on all that information looks like I should just get an unlocked US phone to be totally safe, and I'd likely also be fine getting a Verizon version also.
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So I'm new to Android but i use Verizon prepaid. Will I lose anything by going with the unlocked version or should i stick with a Verizon S9?
I don't use video calling. All i do is text and talk but I've heard that people on Verizon prepaid have issues with unlocked Android phones.
Thanks
Would Wifi Calling work with the US unlocked on verizon? I thought that required a Verizon FW to be flashed. I imagine all the other features such as voLTE / HD calling, etc to work on the US unlocked.
testinguser said:
Would Wifi Calling work with the US unlocked on verizon? I thought that required a Verizon FW to be flashed. I imagine all the other features such as voLTE / HD calling, etc to work on the US unlocked.
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Curious about that also
testinguser said:
Would Wifi Calling work with the US unlocked on verizon? I thought that required a Verizon FW to be flashed. I imagine all the other features such as voLTE / HD calling, etc to work on the US unlocked.
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Throwinrocks said:
Curious about that also
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I did a cursory review of the wifi-calling FAQ on their website. They don't mention anything about compatibility with Unlocked versions of phones (that I saw). I'd call tech support to ask, but I'd expect there to be a 50% chance of getting the wrong answer from the tech based on my interactions with their support.
There might be some good experience based anecdotes in the Galaxy S8 forum, if it works on an unlocked S8 its a safe bet it will work on an unlocked S9
I think I'll ask in the Verizon subreddit, it seems like they normally have really good information as well.
I'm mostly curious about the LTE TDD Band 46 (5200) - its the only band an unlocked US phone has that a Verizon phone doesn't. 5200 is in the U-NII frequency range, no cellphone service providers use it, but I wonder if it may be used for local LTE networks in the near future. The other advantage is avoiding all the verizon bloat wear, but that may be what allows the Wifi Calling to work!
All this has me thinking I might have to add the extra $80 and just buy the Verizon version. I don't get phones on contract and I've always just paid full price. (Page 2 404 error?)
Apparently the Nov/Dec Samsung s8 firmware update added an option for BYOD carrier provisioning for unlocked s8. Given the similarity, I'd imagine the same to be true for s9. Can someone who has an unlocked s8 confirm?
Well after a little more research I see that if you use Verizon prepaid you lose visual voicemail and WiFi calling even if you use a Verizon phone so there's no need in me paying extra for a Verizon S9. Unlocked it is.
Throwinrocks said:
Well after a little more research I see that if you use Verizon prepaid you lose visual voicemail and WiFi calling even if you use a Verizon phone so there's no need in me paying extra for a Verizon S9. Unlocked it is.
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You might wanna check this as Verizon is starting to implement network locks on some devices as to deter thefts more
Dont know when or what devices but it was a statement Verizon made
So, you're saying the prepaid SIM might not work in an unlocked S9?
I don't think Verizon is keeping Verizon prepaid SIMS from working in unlocked phones they are just locking their phones like Sprint and AT&T still do.
I had no problems with my unlocked Pixel 2 XL that I purchased from Google and my Verizon prepaid, just no visual voicemail.
I need unlocked/dual sim. If I buy the UK variant, SM-F926B/DS, will it work on AT&T network? Will I get 5G/LTE? Will it update? Thanks!
It should. The spec sheets for the phone does not show any variance in the radio's and frequencies they are compatible with in regards to where it's sold other than the ROM's with the carrier configurations pre-configured.
Doesnt the US version have a mmwave 5g antenna the UK version doesn't have?
If correct, how would this affect me? Thanks!
I would be very careful. In 2020 I bought unlocked Note 20 Ultra in Czech Republic and brought it to USA to be used on AT&T network. Unfortunately the 5G bands are not compatible and I didn't get 5G at all. Otherwise the phone works fine, you get LTE speeds and little bit spotty coverage. If you can live with that, you will be ok.
I use an international note 10+ n975f in USA on ATT and my line was shutoff last month because of a new company policy that will be fully in effect Feb 2022. Only u/u1 variants will work on their network...must have volte working and be a device provided thru ATT...not imported. I recommend a different carrier.
These phones will keep working on AT&T after the 3G network shutdown
AT&T will shut down its 3G network and require HD Voice support by February 2022. Check this list to see if your phone will make the cut.
www.xda-developers.com
It sucks. They did send me a free note 9, but...I need a new carrier.
Interesting. I’m on an unlocked, dual-SIM, Note 8, N950F which came from Singapore. I don’t remember how long I’ve had it, but I think it’s been around 5 years. It’s not a 5G device, but it is 4G/LTE and supports VoLTE. I think AT&T knows about it because I think I had to provide them with a S/N, M/N, and IMEI years ago. I’d like a 5G device and this one isn’t holding a charge for a full day anymore, but otherwise works fine on AT&T for now. I’d really like to stay with an unlocked, dual-SIM.