Hey guys,
I couldn't find a thread here on XDA in regards to this, but I am wondering if my T-Mobile LG G3 that has been unlocked by T-Mobile will work on Verizon....at all? This is not a personal choice, but more like I keep being asked by many in regards to my ad on Craigslist if the phone will work. I have done some research on this and found that the G3's LTE antenna can utilize a few select bands of Verizon's LTE, so data and MMS are my last worry. My main concern is voice and texting. COnsidering those are separate antennae, what should I know in order to inform possible buyers? I obviously do not want to be falsifying information in any way (literally against my morals; I was screwed over twice with smartphones and CL).
Again, what should I know. I seem to be finding myself using gsmarena.com to compare the Verizon G3 and T-Mobile G3 LTE band support.
Any help will amazing so I can get this phone sold! Thanks all!! :good:
According to willmyphonework the LTE will work fine but if they ever go anywhere without LTE, they will not have service at all. The CDMA part of verizon isn't compatible with the GSM edge capabilities of the T-Mobile g3.
My family has a contract with T-Mobile, and I am looking at buying a factory unlocked version of it that has not been activated on any network.
I have heard about wi-fi calling not working unless I flash a T-mobile stock rom to it; is this simply referring to the roms on the htc support website or is it about something else?
Will 4g lte work? I checked and it seems that it uses the same bands as the T-mobile but are there other factors in this?
Will there be any other potential issues I should check for?
I am not phone-savvy so any and all help will be incredibly appreciated!
I have the developer edition M9 on T-Mobile (USA) and can confirm that there are no reception issues (full 4G/LTE compatibility). You are correct about wifi calling - this is baked into the T-Mobile ROM. If you achieve S-OFF and change the CID & MID, you can install that and have wifi calling too. There are guides aplenty and we're happy to help you if you go that route.
T-Mobile is pretty great with getting software updates out in a timely manner, but they have not yet released Android 7 (Nougat). It is coming though, so I don't see any downside whatsoever to having the unlocked M9 on their network.
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.
Hey, a strange turn of events...I recently asked if I could use this on Verizon, and the answer was "no". But I just learned I'll be switching (against my will) to AT&T very soon.
So if I get an Exynos S9 in hopeful anticipation of dual-freq GPS being unlocked at some point, will it work on AT&T in the US? It's gotta be a stock ROM, as it's a work-managed phone...
Thanks again!
Yes, it will work but no VoLTE, WiFi Calling and carrier aggregation.
Hello all!
I have an LG G7 from India, model G710EAW. I moved to the US from Canada and the phone isn't entertaining T-Mobile or ATT SIM cards. When I insert them, service works for a little bit and then immediately switches to "Emergency calls only". T-Mobile's website says my phone IMEI is compatible with its service.
The strange thing is that the phone has two SIMs from Canada roaming - one on the T-Mobile network and another on ATT. No issues whatsoever. And when I check the bands in Engineering Mode, I can see one roaming SIM running on LTE Band-4 on T-Mobile. The other roaming SIM is switching between LTE Band-2 and LTE Band-5 on ATT.
T-Mobile uses bands 2,4,5 mainly, and ATT uses 2,4,5 among other bands.This leads me to believe it's some kind of a network restriction preventing my phone from latching onto these networks directly.
I've made tons of calls to T-Mobile and ATT so I'm no longer interested in pursuing them with this.
I'm wondering if cross-flashing a different firmware might help fix this issue. I remember reading on this subreddit that the Google FI firmware may work for T-Mobile bands. I'm not sure I understood that correctly.
Can someone confirm if that's possible? Does this make sense? I'm hesitant to buy a new replacement phone when my G7 works so well.
Thanks!