Sorry if this is in the wrong place, or if this is a stupid question but my sister's phone recently died, and I'm looking for a cheap replacement that will also be an upgrade for her. I found an S3 for $200, however it's from the USA and it is from AT&T. If I just put cyanogenmod on there, will it work with a Bell Canada sim, or will i have to pay to get it unlocked or something? Thanks in advance!
TacoTown said:
Sorry if this is in the wrong place, or if this is a stupid question but my sister's phone recently died, and I'm looking for a cheap replacement that will also be an upgrade for her. I found an S3 for $200, however it's from the USA and it is from AT&T. If I just put cyanogenmod on there, will it work with a Bell Canada sim, or will i have to pay to get it unlocked or something? Thanks in advance!
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You should see if the seller can carrier-unlock it for you. If it's paid for, and has a clean IEMI, it shouldn't cost him to get it unlocked through AT&T.
As for the phone itself, it's compatible with Bell's band 4, but not band 7. So that part depends on what Bell uses in the areas you want to use it in. From what I can tell, band 4 is their main band, with band 7 to offer more bandwidth in some areas (cities?). But in theory, it should work as long as it's unlocked, and will work on GSM/UMTS if not LTE.
EDIT: Check out the Moto G LTE as well. Band 4 support, quad core 1.2GHz processor, MicroSD slot, $220 brand new.
Related
Will the i9020A version of the Nexus S (which is I think the model sold by Koodo Mobile in Canada) get 3G connection on the AWS spectrum used by Mobilicity? (I believe this should be the same as TMobile)?
Also, is there such a thing as a carrier locked Nexus S? I want to buy the Koodo Mobile Nexus S for $425 off contract (cheapest I can find), but I want to use it on the Mobilicity network. Will I need to carrier unlock the device somehow? I can't seem to find any "unlock Nexus S" sources, so I assume this is unnecessary?
The more I look into this issue, the more confused I get. A lot of places say the Nexus S is quad-band GSM + AWS, so doesn't that mean I should be able to get 3G from anywhere? The FAQ on this forum states that the original Nexus S can only get 3G speeds on TMobile's AWS band--conversely, does that then mean that the new "AT&T" Nexus S phones can't get 3G speeds on AWS? i.e. Do I need to buy a phone from an AWS carrier to get 3G?
Blindsight51 said:
Will the i9020A version of the Nexus S (which is I think the model sold by Koodo Mobile in Canada) get 3G connection on the AWS spectrum used by Mobilicity? (I believe this should be the same as TMobile)?
Also, is there such a thing as a carrier locked Nexus S? I want to buy the Koodo Mobile Nexus S for $425 off contract (cheapest I can find), but I want to use it on the Mobilicity network. Will I need to carrier unlock the device somehow? I can't seem to find any "unlock Nexus S" sources, so I assume this is unnecessary?
The more I look into this issue, the more confused I get. A lot of places say the Nexus S is quad-band GSM + AWS, so doesn't that mean I should be able to get 3G from anywhere? The FAQ on this forum states that the original Nexus S can only get 3G speeds on TMobile's AWS band--conversely, does that then mean that the new "AT&T" Nexus S phones can't get 3G speeds on AWS? i.e. Do I need to buy a phone from an AWS carrier to get 3G?
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I am in canada, just bought NS finally, that too from Koodo, and it is an Unlocked Rogers/AT&T/Bell/Telus/Fido compatible version. Not to mention it will work with any other bands in the world except the situation Wind/Mobilicity have.
Their phone system is not backwards compatible, they came out in the market just about 2 years ago, they started off with 3G/3.5G straight where Rogers initially started with Standard, moved on to Edge/2G/2.5G and upgraded themselves to 3G and eventually 3.5G, same goes for Telus/Bell/Fido.
If you purchase any of Wind/Mobilicity phone, they will be compatible with any other careers in the world, but you will not get 3G if tried on UMTS. Their phones will only work on the AWS 3G frequency. Which in case means if you bought wind/mobilicity compatible phone, you will get 2G/Edge on Rogers.
Other way around - Koodo phone with Wind/Mobilicity SIM - will give you Wind/Mobilicity Away network only, means it is useless for you. The only phone in canadian market works with Rogers and Wind 3G frequency is Nokia N8 which is a Pentaband phone. Nexus S on the other hand is a Quadband phone, and is made specifically for the career, thats why we have 3/4 different versions, AWS, UMTS, 4G to work with Sprint in US and i guess there is one other model for India and China as well.
All the Nexus S variants come unlocked, outright or on contract, as its a Google's own baby and they don't lock it except the bootloader.
I bought mine with Koodo from Future Shop as it is listed as not an outright sale on Koodo's website, but FS and BBY do sell them outright. It is unlocked out of the box, just pop your SIM in and you are good to go assuming you are going to go with Rogers/Bell/Telus/Koodo/Fido.
My two cents, go with Wind, they offer you wind tab, pay 350 + tax and use the phone to pay the rest of the money with wind tab and you are set if you really want Wind compatible phone.
I had the same problem and dilemma like you as I had a Desire Z with Bell and wanted to use it on Wind, ended up trading it with G2 from T-Mobile and used Wind mobile 3G network and Rogers 2G/Edge network up until now(I am with Rogers and have got a better deal with them for data, so no need to carry two phones on me anymore )
Hope this helps.
CreativeDevil
Blindsight51 said:
Will the i9020A version of the Nexus S (which is I think the model sold by Koodo Mobile in Canada) get 3G connection on the AWS spectrum used by Mobilicity? (I believe this should be the same as TMobile)?
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Click to collapse
it will not work
you need i9020T not A
AWS only comes on the i9020T
creativedevil said:
I am in canada, just bought NS finally, that too from Koodo, and it is ...
...
Hope this helps.
CreativeDevil
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Thanks so much. That explains it very clearly. I guess I'll need to shell out a bit extra and get a phone from Wind or Mobilicity.
+Thanks
Go for it bud... u wont regret...
Creativedevil
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Hello gents, I'll start with a short story to get you into the thread:
Me and my girlfriend live in Venezuela, our service providers are not up to par with american or european carriers in terms of available devices, so we bought an HTC Magic for each of us last year to try out Android, everything was fine, I learned how to root it, install roms and such, and we had a pretty good run with the phone and the OS.
Last week we got robbed and they took away our phones, I decided to get a Nexus S for her and I found one at a good price on eBay(270$+shipping) however this one is branded for Sprint, will I be able to go to my service provider and just tell them to attach my account to the phone I bought on ebay? or are the Sprint and Verizon Nexus S locked to those carriers exclusively?
If the answer to the second question is yes, then a third question is raised, can I in any way unlock this phone to use it on my non-american service provider?
I have seen other threads and the replies are always "the Nexus S is factory unlocked." but I dont know if this refers exclusively to the ones sold in the UK or retail stores in the US.
I apologize for any noobish behaviour, I'm a big fan of devices and gadgets yet I lack a lot of the technical skills you all seem to demonstrate.
Thanks in advance.
-Gaash
There is no such thing as a Verizon Nexus S. Sprint Nexus S have different radio bands than the regular Nexus S (I9020T/I9020A/I9023) and features a 4G radio with it. You have to make sure that the phone is compatible with your carrier's bands. Another thing to note is that the Sprint Nexus S is CDMA (No SIM card) as well.
All Nexus S models come unlocked regardless if you're on the contract or not. Sorry to hear about your incident
The model I bought is GT-I9020T, according to people on the internet(random links on google) this model works on GSM frequencies of 850, 900, 1800, & 1900. It supports UMTS 900, 1700, and 2100 frequencies.
My current provider works on 850 and 1900 for GSM and 850 for CDMA.
Do you think I will have trouble using the phone I bought for my girl?
I feel terribly dumb when I ask this, I cant explain why, hehe.
Oh, I think I figured it out, I bought for her the non branded GSM version, so yes, it will probably work on my provider.
But what happens if I buy a Sprint CDMA one for myself? Those are definitely cheaper, and CDMA seems to be better down here, at least more stable.
Thanks for your replies, and simpathy, it's been a rough week without a smartphone for both of us.
Gaash said:
Oh, I think I figured it out, I bought for her the non branded GSM version, so yes, it will probably work on my provider.
But what happens if I buy a Sprint CDMA one for myself? Those are definitely cheaper, and CDMA seems to be better down here, at least more stable.
Thanks for your replies, and simpathy, it's been a rough week without a smartphone for both of us.
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I'm not sure and I wouldn't say the CDMA version is more stable. I personally never used the Nexus S 4G but from what I can tell from threads is that there are problems with WiFi or something of that sort.
You might want to ask the carrier yourself via phone to see if it would be compatible or so. Just let them know about the bands the phone supports.
And that's interesting if your carrier supports CDMA and GSM.
CDMA = No SIM card
GSM = SIM card
GSM is more popular around the world. Just including that just incase!
Alright, so I talked to my carrier they said the following:
-If I buy a CDMA phone with no contract on the US I will be able to register it on their network.
-If I buy an unlocked GSM phone I can register it on their network.
I guess I'll have to buy a couple of GSMs just to be sure... even tho they are about 100$ more expensive.
Thanks for all the replies, catch you later!
Not too long ago, I had heard that the Verizon Galaxy S3 would support global roaming in a future update. With the Verizon Galaxy S3 release imminent, I was wondering if this was still the case.
I recently ordered a Galaxy S3 for my Dad, considering his contract with Verizon was up and the data plans were changing. Now, my dad often travels back and forth between the US and South Korea; so often in that he carries two different Android phones for each country (DROID Incredible on Verizon and Nexus S on KT).
Would it be possible for him to dump both the Incredible and Nexus S phones and use only Verizon Galaxy S3 on both of the carriers (if unlocked), by just swapping out the SIM card when traveling between Korea and the US? He will be keeping KT as his cell provider in Korea and from what I've heard, KT does allow foreign phones to be registered on their network, as long as they're unlocked. Both Verizon and KT support CDMA & LTE, but I'm not sure if their frequency bands overlap and if the Verizon S3 would be able to hook onto both without having to flash the radio.
I see that there's already a Voodoo S3 SIM Unlock app on Google Play (probably not compatible with Verizon S3 yet, but maybe eventually possible?).
Either way, it'd be awesome to be able to use the S3 as his main phone on both carriers with a simple SIM card swap! Does anyone have any insight on this, whether it would be possible or not?
CKTurbo128 said:
Not too long ago, I had heard that the Verizon Galaxy S3 would support global roaming in a future update. With the Verizon Galaxy S3 release imminent, I was wondering if this was still the case.
I recently ordered a Galaxy S3 for my Dad, considering his contract with Verizon was up and the data plans were changing. Now, my dad often travels back and forth between the US and South Korea; so often in that he carries two different Android phones for each country (DROID Incredible on Verizon and Nexus S on KT).
Would it be possible for him to dump both the Incredible and Nexus S phones and use only Verizon Galaxy S3 on both of the carriers (if unlocked), by just swapping out the SIM card when traveling between Korea and the US? He will be keeping KT as his cell provider in Korea and from what I've heard, KT does allow foreign phones to be registered on their network, as long as they're unlocked. Both Verizon and KT support CDMA & LTE, but I'm not sure if their frequency bands overlap and if the Verizon S3 would be able to hook onto both without having to flash the radio.
I see that there's already a Voodoo S3 SIM Unlock app on Google Play (probably not compatible with Verizon S3 yet, but maybe eventually possible?).
Either way, it'd be awesome to be able to use the S3 as his main phone on both carriers with a simple SIM card swap! Does anyone have any insight on this, whether it would be possible or not?
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Click to collapse
As far as I understand it, the Verizon S3 needs a software update to unlock the GSM bands within the radio, which currently is not available...Also the LTE Bands are Not Compatible, according to my research Verizon uses 700/750 KT uses 1800. The Verizon S3 has 700/750 LTE Support...Also note while the Verizon S3 likely will have GSM support via a software update it will be Edge bands not WCDMA/HSPA+...as for the CDMA side out of luck there too according to KT they use the 1800 band and the Verizon S3 only has 850/1900 band for CDMA...in short getting the Verizon S3 will in no way help your father ditch his second phone...If your father is an international traveler he would be better suited to using a GSM carrier then buying a phone like the Galaxy Nexus which is pentaband WCDMA, this will work in any country that has WCDMA, I can vouch personally that my GNex (GSM Unlocked) works in S. Korea with HSPA+ Data Speeds as I was just there this past February.
So though the GS3 would most likely not be able to use 4G (through HSPA+, I may also be misunderstanding...) would it be able to have 3G overseas? I ask since I will be traveling to China later this year and being able to use 3G over there would be more convenient than getting another phone...
Hi,
I have a north american version Nexus 5 bought in Canada. I will be travelling to Hong Kong and want to use the 4G network there
Am I able to do this or the north american verison cannot use the 4G LTE bands in Hong Kong
Is there any way to flash it or ROM it to change the bands if so?
Thanks
US version should NOT work in HK
If it is only for a short visit, you might have a look for pocket Wifi instead, Many shopping mall offer free Wifi there.
http://www.wifibb.com/en
4G of US version (D820) will not work, only 2G and 3G working.
p.s. my wife got the D820 which bought from google online when in canada, so I quite sure about that.
DummyPLUG said:
4G of US version (D820) will not work, only 2G and 3G working.
p.s. my wife got the D820 which bought from google online when in canada, so I quite sure about that.
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Click to collapse
You are indeed correct. Everything but LTE will work just fine.
I have a similar question, but flipped a little for the D821. I want to buy my wife a Nexus 5 phone that will work in both China and Hong Kong -- preferably 4G.
What if I purchase the D821 for use in Asia that, from my research on the 4G LTE bands, will work on 4G in those two countries. Then I bring it back to the US for use. Can anyone confirm whether it will work on US GSM based networks' 4G? I'm almost positive it will not work on either T-Mobile or AT&T, but I can't find much info on any other GSM based network here in the US (which I think use AT&T or T-Mobile networks anyway).
I'd appreciate any help you can offer. I'm still doing research, but there's a good deal going on on ebay for brand new, unlocked D821s for about $375 USD -- reputable Top Seller too. So, I probably need to act fast. In the end, this will be my wife's first smartphone, and so 3G will be fast enough for her, and works perfectly fine in both US and Asia.
THANKS!
okayplay? said:
I have a similar question, but flipped a little for the D821. I want to buy my wife a Nexus 5 phone that will work in both China and Hong Kong -- preferably 4G.
What if I purchase the D821 for use in Asia that, from my research on the 4G LTE bands, will work on 4G in those two countries. Then I bring it back to the US for use. Can anyone confirm whether it will work on US GSM based networks' 4G? I'm almost positive it will not work on either T-Mobile or AT&T, but I can't find much info on any other GSM based network here in the US (which I think use AT&T or T-Mobile networks anyway).
I'd appreciate any help you can offer. I'm still doing research, but there's a good deal going on on ebay for brand new, unlocked D821s for about $375 USD -- reputable Top Seller too. So, I probably need to act fast. In the end, this will be my wife's first smartphone, and so 3G will be fast enough for her, and works perfectly fine in both US and Asia.
THANKS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its the same answer, flipped.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
okayplay? said:
I have a similar question, but flipped a little for the D821. I want to buy my wife a Nexus 5 phone that will work in both China and Hong Kong -- preferably 4G.
What if I purchase the D821 for use in Asia that, from my research on the 4G LTE bands, will work on 4G in those two countries. Then I bring it back to the US for use. Can anyone confirm whether it will work on US GSM based networks' 4G? I'm almost positive it will not work on either T-Mobile or AT&T, but I can't find much info on any other GSM based network here in the US (which I think use AT&T or T-Mobile networks anyway).
I'd appreciate any help you can offer. I'm still doing research, but there's a good deal going on on ebay for brand new, unlocked D821s for about $375 USD -- reputable Top Seller too. So, I probably need to act fast. In the end, this will be my wife's first smartphone, and so 3G will be fast enough for her, and works perfectly fine in both US and Asia.
THANKS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G will work, 4G will not work. Basically the N5 is a world phone except when it comes to LTE, then you need either the North American version or the rest of the world version.
Hello, I currently have Sprint in the USA and locked into a contract but when travelling, the service is spotty. I have to take a 2nd phone that I have with tmobile. I understand I can buy like a new Sprint iphone or the new nexus and just swap sim cards and that will work? That is one option. I was also wondering if there is like a single phone that will work with both sprint and tmobile at the same time. Kinda like the samsung duos phones but those only work with 2 gsm carriers. Tried a search but didnt get anywhere. Thanks. Just weighing my options here.
stephenjones007 said:
Hello, I currently have Sprint in the USA and locked into a contract but when travelling, the service is spotty. I have to take a 2nd phone that I have with tmobile. I understand I can buy like a new Sprint iphone or the new nexus and just swap sim cards and that will work? That is one option. I was also wondering if there is like a single phone that will work with both sprint and tmobile at the same time. Kinda like the samsung duos phones but those only work with 2 gsm carriers. Tried a search but didnt get anywhere. Thanks. Just weighing my options here.
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Click to collapse
Not with Sprint. As you've no doubt seen, dual SIM phones aren't exactly common in the US. The few that are are imports, and fewer still will even support North American GSM bands. And of course, Sprint uses CDMA for telephony, and only Sprint phones work on their own network. Your only option would be to switch to AT&T and/or T-Mobile or their MVNOs that work on those networks, and find the rare phone that has LTE for both. But if you're sticking with Sprint, you'll either have to swap SIMs on a device that works with any (as you said, iPhone, Nexus...I think the Moto X Pure does too), or carry a 2nd phone for a different carrier.