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I am always confused between CDMA and GSM...
Why a 4 band phone ,Evo 3d will not work in Europe?
BTW I am searching to buy one at Ebay. the search shows only Spirit branded phones. do they work in Europe (GSM)?
What is ESN clean or Bad ESN? Whats is the meaning of "unlocked" and if i buy a locked one can i unlock it by my self?
Thank You
adempozhari said:
I am always confused between CDMA and GSM...
Why a 4 band phone ,Evo 3d will not work in Europe?
BTW I am searching to buy one at Ebay. the search shows only Spirit branded phones. do they work in Europe (GSM)?
What is ESN clean or Bad ESN? Whats is the meaning of "unlocked" and if i buy a locked one can i unlock it by my self?
Thank You
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm far from the expert so I'll give your questions my best shot and maybe somebody else with more experience on GSM can fill in some of the gaps.
bad/clean ESN only applies to CDMA. CDMA does not use a SIM card. once a CDMA phone has had its ESN marked as bad, it will not operate on that carrier. example, sprint (only CDMA network) evo 3d, the owner doesnt pay his bills, they mark the ESN as Bad for that device. if he sells the evo 3d, it can't be activated on sprint's cdma network. if you want to activate it on another CDMA network, like metropcs, it is doable, but sometimes considered a legally *gray* area.
"unlocked" in regards to the carrier of the device only applies to GSM type devices. on GSM type devices, once they has been "unlocked" they will operate on any GSM carrier.
i'm not about the band count, i.e. 4 band GSM. i would suggest looking at which frequencies are used in those bands and matching them up by frequencies and GSM/CDMA. as your profile is marked albania, i think most of europe uses GSM so CDMA will probably not be useful for you.
hope that helps some of the questions!
thank you... you were very clear.
still searching for the last question. If i buy a locked GSM phone, can i unlock it here by myself or i have to buy unlock code?
Well, doesn't all phones come unlocked in Europe anyway? Locking applies to GSM phones, and I've always thought only north American carriers do that. For example, if you, living in Europe, wanted the infuse 4G which is locked to ATT in America, you would need to unlock it to use it. Moreover, you must make sure the phone's frequencies match your carrier's. If I'm not mistaken, I think unlocking an Android phone is similar to rooting it. It's a different process all together, but its something you would do on your own.
Before Android tho, you simply need to call your carrier, tell them you're traveling overseas and you wanna use your phone there, and they'll give you the unlock code. Use some special commands to bring up the carrier unlock screen, input the unlock code, and bam, you're good to go.
I don't know if you still need an unlock code with Android phones, but if you want it, you would get it from the carrier of the phone.
You won't see any unlocking tutorials for the EVO 3d in the forums for the obvious reason that its cdma phone in America. But I'm sure once its released on Tmo-us, then there'll be a method.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Sorry for asking stupid question....
I did some research, but I still can't figure out why DNA can't uses other CDMA network.
Is it the problem if radio???
According what I see, DNA is able to unlock bootloader, s-off, root.
What stuff should I waiting for? Radio?
Your answer will help me know what kind of threads I should pay attention to. Thanks a LOT in advanced!
BTW, I am planning use DNA in Taiwan with a CDMA network provider.
I had checked the hardware is fitted to my network (CDMA2000 800Mhz). Thanks for all concerned!
siekaiser said:
Sorry for asking stupid question....
I did some research, but I still can't figure out why DNA can't uses other CDMA network.
Is it the problem if radio???
According what I see, DNA is able to unlock bootloader, s-off, root.
What stuff should I waiting for? Radio?
Your answer will help me know what kind of threads I should pay attention to. Thanks a LOT in advanced!
BTW, I am planning use DNA in Taiwan with a CDMA network provider.
I had checked the hardware is fitted to my network (CDMA2000 800Mhz). Thanks for all concerned!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
First of all, you must understand that GSM & CDMA are dissimilar technologies, whereas with GSM you can easily swap between carriers so long as they have the same/supported radio frequencies and your phone is sim-unlocked, this is not possible with CDMA. CDMA devices do not use a sim card to retain your account information or activation abilities. When it comes to CDMA (from my understanding) the ESN is key, the ESN must be added to your networks (for lack of a better term at the moment) ESN database. In the United States, most CDMA carriers will not add ESN's of other carriers phones to their network, your results may be different, because of your location. If your carrier were to allow or be willing to add the ESN of the DNA you obtain to their database than there is a possibility that it may work. (I am unsure if that can just be done or if it would have to be removed from Verizon's network & so forth, because I've never personally had to do such a thing)
There is a second problem though, the LTE radio / sim card interface. Because of the way these phones work on Verizon with LTE, I am unsure if you could even activate it, because it looks like the LTE sim is needed to authenticate your account to the carrier like a regular GSM phone. I have no idea how you would activate this phone without LTE / GSM on your carrier, even with the CDMA ESN added. It seems like it would be a double edged sword, but I could be wrong in this respect.
Also at this current time, this phone has root, and an unlocked bootloader through HTCDev, but is still **S-ON**.
Though none of those things have to do with you being able to use this phone on your carrier.
If your carrier was GSM I would say go for it because this is a GSM Global phone as well, but because its CDMA that you need I really incredibly doubt you'll be able to use this phone, but I may be wrong, but until someone else states otherwise I would look for a different phone.
Hope this Helps!
I am also interested in it. How can we check it out? I should go to my CDMA carrier and ask to activate my ESN?
Where can i find ESN? In Settings-About there is only MEID, IMEI, Phone serial number and IMSIAdded
I work for a CDMA carrier in the USA and with lte on the phones now, they truly act as gsm phones. If your CDMA carrier has lte then they can give you a sim and it will activate your DNA. However, if they only operate on 2g/3g then the post above me is correct with the ESN database and will USUALLY not activate the phone (in store sales reps usually don't even have the ability). Even if they have lte, activating another carrier's phone is not in the best interest of the sales Rep and they usually won't.
YMMV
Sent with my DNA
kyleco said:
I work for a CDMA carrier in the USA and with lte on the phones now, they truly act as gsm phones. If your CDMA carrier has lte then they can give you a sim and it will activate your DNA. However, if they only operate on 2g/3g then the post above me is correct with the ESN database and will USUALLY not activate the phone (in store sales reps usually don't even have the ability). Even if they have lte, activating another carrier's phone is not in the best interest of the sales Rep and they usually won't.
YMMV
Sent with my DNA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should mentions that we don't have LTE in Taiwan so far.
My carrier provides CDMA2000 1xEV-DO rev.B (I guess it is)
Is it operate as LTE OR 2G/3G you mentioned?
siekaiser said:
I should mentions that we don't have LTE in Taiwan so far.
My carrier provides CDMA2000 1xEV-DO rev.B (I guess it is)
Is it operate as LTE OR 2G/3G you mentioned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience, they will not be able to activate it if they do not have lte, as they would need to have a settings file made for that phone to get it to work on their network. Nevers hurts to call and ask though.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda premium
Hi,i am from Austria,i have a Droid Dna by Verizon and the Phone works fine here in Austria, 2G and 3G/HSDPA
Just wondering, because I have a Japanese model. I was originally quite fine with using GSM providers, however, now I've moved to a place where Verizon performs significantly better than AT&T and there aren't any other choices as far as I can see (MVNOs aside, but the problem I have with AT&T is with signal, and an MVNO isn't going to help with that). Now I want to switch to Verizon, and I'm wondering if the advice provided to the others with KDDI radios on Sprint Photons would also be the same for a plain old KDDI Photon.
verizon uses cdma and keeps a database of their cdma phones. Thus they dont allow phones on their network that arent already in their database (i.e. they wont allow non-verizon phones). Sprint is the same way.
The only caveat to this is roaming. They will allow non-verizon phones to roam their network as part of roaming agreements with other carriers. You just wont be able to use verizon as your carrier.
OK, then what of a Verizon MVNO, like Page Plus? That seems like it should be OK, from some of what I've read, as long as no one's blacklisted my phone's MEID (it's my first time bringing it to the US, so that shouldn't be an issue).
yangj08 said:
OK, then what of a Verizon MVNO, like Page Plus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although pageplus does allow "bring your own phone", I dont know if they accept non-verizon phones. you will have to ask them.
findthedr said:
Although pageplus does allow "bring your own phone", I dont know if they accept non-verizon phones. you will have to ask them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Page plus will take anything, sprint phones, verizon phones, any cdma phone for the most part that arent blacklisted. Might even take blacklisted sprint phones, just no blacklisted verizon phones.
Ooh, sounds good. In that case it seems like I just need to figure out how to flash in the right settings. All I remember is that someone else wrote in one of the KDDI radio threads that data doesn't work, but voice+text does.
Is there any way to get the AT&T variant working on Verizon? Heard users could flash the T-Mobile radio for them but what about Verizon?
No. Not at all possible.
Thank you, it was worth a shot
Airo18 said:
Thank you, it was worth a shot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the correct answer is, no one knows yet. Modern smartphones are capable to supporting multiple network types, frequencies and technologies. Hardware-wise, the AT&T, T-Mobile, and (probably) the Sprint versions are identical and differ only by provisioning and preloaded software.
d2kplus said:
I think the correct answer is, no one knows yet. Modern smartphones are capable to supporting multiple network types, frequencies and technologies. Hardware-wise, the AT&T, T-Mobile, and (probably) the Sprint versions are identical and differ only by provisioning and preloaded software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon and AT&T while both "4G LTE" using basically the same technology, have different frequency radios in them. They aren't cross platform capable.
d2kplus said:
I think the correct answer is, no one knows yet. Modern smartphones are capable to supporting multiple network types, frequencies and technologies. Hardware-wise, the AT&T, T-Mobile, and (probably) the Sprint versions are identical and differ only by provisioning and preloaded software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rogue Leader said:
Verizon and AT&T while both "4G LTE" using basically the same technology, have different frequency radios in them. They aren't cross platform capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not possible, period. Sprint and Verizon operate on CDMA networks, whereas AT&T and T-Mobile operate on GSM. As long as the proper frequencies are supported, any GSM phone can run on any GSM network provided they're SIM unlocked.
4GLTE is currently only used by Verizon for data connections, and not for voice/text--that relies on the 3G CDMA antennae. The same goes for Sprint. The AT&T/T-Mobile-/International HTC One does not physically possess an CDMA atennae. Now before you get your hopes up about using a Sprint phone on Verizon, here's another little wrinkle. As you know, every phone has a serial number. That serial number is known as the IMEI on GSM carriers, and ESN on CDMA carriers. Both Verizon and Sprint operate a massive list of ESNs for everyone phone that can operate on their network. If your ESN is not found on that list, then you cannot activate it on that particular network period, paragraph, end of story. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Things get a little murkier with CDMA when it comes to flashing the radios over to other CDMA carriers, but you're looking at services like MetroPCS, PagePlus, etc and that's outside my realm of expertise.
Airo18 said:
Thank you, it was worth a shot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rogue Leader said:
Verizon and AT&T while both "4G LTE" using basically the same technology, have different frequency radios in them. They aren't cross platform capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Verizon and AT&T networks use the different frequencies and technologies. However, the HTC One (like the iPhone 5) is able to run on nearly all permutations of modern phone networks. Apple makes only two versions of the iPhone, one for AT&T and one for everyone else. The AT&T version only exists because AT&T strong armed Apple into removing AT&T's LTE block from the main model.
For example, the Sprint version of the One is a world phone, usable on global "GSM" networks, as well as Sprint's "CDMA" networks. I put GSM and CDMA in quotes because modern wireless networks are more complicated than either of those two designations, and high-end phones are now designed to deal with those complexities via soft configuration vs. dedicated hardware.
d2kplus said:
The Verizon and AT&T networks use the different frequencies and technologies. However, the HTC One (like the iPhone 5) is able to run on nearly all permutations of modern phone networks. Apple makes only two versions of the iPhone, one for AT&T and one for everyone else. The AT&T version only exists because AT&T strong armed Apple into removing AT&T's LTE block from the main model.
For example, the Sprint version of the One is a world phone, usable on global "GSM" networks, as well as Sprint's "CDMA" networks. I put GSM and CDMA in quotes because modern wireless networks are more complicated than either of those two designations, and high-end phones are now designed to deal with those complexities via soft configuration vs. dedicated hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sort of, sort of. You're going in the right path, but still not quite there. Hardware is still very important.
GSM phones are considered world phones because most of the networks operated in foreign countries run on GSM, right. CDMA world phones possess both antennae in order to access the networks over seas, but GSM phones don't have CDMA antennaes because... well, they don't need them. Your chances of going to a CDMA-only country is so very small that it's not worth while to make the investment. Let's take the opposite example using the iPhone 5: You can't take an AT&T/T-Mobile/International iPhone 5 and put in a Sprint SIM card. You can even do a iTunes restore using the Sprint IPSW onto that phone(actually don't know if that would work or not, but I digress) and it STILL won't get a signal because it physically lacks the antennae.
unremarked said:
Sort of, sort of. You're going in the right path, but still not quite there. Hardware is still very important.
GSM phones are considered world phones because most of the networks operated in foreign countries run on GSM, right. CDMA world phones possess both antennae in order to access the networks over seas, but GSM phones don't have CDMA antennaes because... well, they don't need them. Your chances of going to a CDMA-only country is so very small that it's not worth while to make the investment. Let's take the opposite example using the iPhone 5: You can't take an AT&T/T-Mobile/International iPhone 5 and put in a Sprint SIM card. You can even do a iTunes restore using the Sprint IPSW onto that phone(actually don't know if that would work or not, but I digress) and it STILL won't get a signal because it physically lacks the antennae.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I was talking about modern phones (like the HTC One), which are designed to be multi network and multi frequency global phones by default. HTC makes three versions of the phone: UMTS/GSM Only (MDM8215), UMTS/GSM+LTE (MDM9215), CDMA + UMTS/GSM +LTE (MDM9615). Sprint sells the version using the MDM9615 chipset which supports CDMA + UMTS/GSM + LTE. The Sprint variant has the capabilities to support all of the US/Canada frequencies, but I don't know what would be required to activate non Sprint frequencies. Neither do you. It's foolish to make grand pronouncements stating what is or isn't possible with phones until someone has actually attempted something.
Regarding your antenna statement, the HTC One has three antennas, one for WiFi and BT and two for wireless. The phone selects the best antenna to use in any given situation.
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d2kplus said:
Again, I was talking about modern phones (like the HTC One), which are designed to be multi network and multi frequency global phones by default. HTC makes three versions of the phone: UMTS/GSM Only (MDM8215), UMTS/GSM+LTE (MDM9215), CDMA + UMTS/GSM +LTE (MDM9615). Sprint sells the version using the MDM9615 chipset which supports CDMA + UMTS/GSM + LTE. The Sprint variant has the capabilities to support all of the US/Canada frequencies, but I don't know what would be required to activate non Sprint frequencies. Neither do you. It's foolish to make grand pronouncements stating what is or isn't possible with phones until someone has actually attempted something.
Regarding your antenna statement, the HTC One has three antennas, one for WiFi and BT and two for wireless. The phone selects the best antenna to use in any given situation.
MY EDIT: REMOVED IMAGE.
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I think you're a little confused on exactly what we're talking about here. Yes, you're absolutely right that the Sprint HTC One possess all the necessary ingredients to operate on just about any network/carrier in the world--GSM or CDMA. And, actually, I do know what's required in order to it to happen. For a GSM network, the only requirements to do so is a correctly provisioned SIM cards and the applicable access point names for the network you're trying to utilize. I've personally taken an CDMA world device and used it on a GSM network(VZW iPhone 5 on Straight Talk/AT&T). The Sprint HTC One would even work on Verizon, provided you get the ESN added to the master database of approved devices which is highly unlikely. Source: I worked for Verizon Wireless. Other CDMA carriers like MetroPCS, PagePlus, Cricket, etc do not have this requirement and it's relatively easy to flash Sprint/VZW phones over to their network.
But that's not at all what's being debated. WiFi and Bluetooth likewise have nothing to do with this conversation. As you've correctly noted, the MDM9215M chipset(step 10, highlighted in green) which powers the wireless antennae and allows them to connect to cellular networks does not support CDMA in the AT&T/T-Mobile/International version of the phone. Because of this fact alone, regardless of software configuration, these phones will never operate on a CDMA network. Now if you're an enterprising individual and decide to open your phone, remove the chip, and replace it with one that does support CDMA... you'd still run into the issue of the master database.
EDIT: I removed the image just to clean up the look of the post.
unremarked said:
Sort of, sort of. You're going in the right path, but still not quite there. Hardware is still very important.
GSM phones are considered world phones because most of the networks operated in foreign countries run on GSM, right. CDMA world phones possess both antennae in order to access the networks over seas, but GSM phones don't have CDMA antennaes because... well, they don't need them. Your chances of going to a CDMA-only country is so very small that it's not worth while to make the investment. Let's take the opposite example using the iPhone 5: You can't take an AT&T/T-Mobile/International iPhone 5 and put in a Sprint SIM card. You can even do a iTunes restore using the Sprint IPSW onto that phone(actually don't know if that would work or not, but I digress) and it STILL won't get a signal because it physically lacks the antennae.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unremarked said:
I think you're a little confused on exactly what we're talking about here. Yes, you're absolutely right that the Sprint HTC One possess all the necessary ingredients to operate on just about any network/carrier in the world--GSM or CDMA. And, actually, I do know what's required in order to it to happen. For a GSM network, the only requirements to do so is a correctly provisioned SIM cards and the applicable access point names for the network you're trying to utilize. I've personally taken an CDMA world device and used it on a GSM network(VZW iPhone 5 on Straight Talk/AT&T). The Sprint HTC One would even work on Verizon, provided you get the ESN added to the master database of approved devices which is highly unlikely. Source: I worked for Verizon Wireless. Other CDMA carriers like MetroPCS, PagePlus, Cricket, etc do not have this requirement and it's relatively easy to flash Sprint/VZW phones over to their network.
But that's not at all what's being debated. WiFi and Bluetooth likewise have nothing to do with this conversation. As you've correctly noted, the MDM9215M chipset(step 10, highlighted in green) which powers the wireless antennae and allows them to connect to cellular networks does not support CDMA in the AT&T/T-Mobile/International version of the phone. Because of this fact alone, regardless of software configuration, these phones will never operate on a CDMA network. Now if you're an enterprising individual and decide to open your phone, remove the chip, and replace it with one that does support CDMA... you'd still run into the issue of the master database.
EDIT: I removed the image just to clean up the look of the post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ESN information for LTE enabled smartphones is included on the SIM/UICC/R-UIM rather than the phone itself, so the issue is one of provisioning a given phone's capabilities to work on the VZW vs the Sprint network. I don't know if this is user configurable or if carriers would be willing to do.
Regarding the antennas, the same antenna configuration is used on all models. There is no additional antenna on the CDMA capable model. That functionality is provided by the Qualcomm MDM9615. It's a bit unfortunate that HTC didn't take Apple's approach in using the MDM9615 on all HTC One variants. I assume that VZW's decision to pass on the phone may have had something to do with it.
Now back to your original point, I was mistaken and you are correct. While the Sprint version could potentially be used on AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. The AT&T (UMTS/GSM+LTE) version cannot be used on the Verizon network, and that's a damn shame.
unremarked said:
It's not possible, period. Sprint and Verizon operate on CDMA networks, whereas AT&T and T-Mobile operate on GSM. As long as the proper frequencies are supported, any GSM phone can run on any GSM network provided they're SIM unlocked.
4GLTE is currently only used by Verizon for data connections, and not for voice/text--that relies on the 3G CDMA antennae. The same goes for Sprint. The AT&T/T-Mobile-/International HTC One does not physically possess an CDMA atennae. Now before you get youSprint
esopes up about using a Sprint phone on Verizon, here's another little wrinkle. As you know, every phone has a serial number. That serial number is known as the IMEI on GSM carriers, and ESN on CDMA carriers. Both Verizon and Sprint operate a massive list of ESNs for everyone phone that can operate on their network. If your ESN is not found on that list, then you cannot activate it on that particular network period, paragraph, end of story. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Things get a little murkier with CDMA when it comes to flashing the radios over to other CDMA carriers, but you're looking at services like MetroPCS, PagePlus, etc and that's outside my realm of expertise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMEI/ESN is carrier specific. Can't be changed. However can't we trick the phone itself through software to unlock the capability of using a Verizon LTE Sim in a Sprint phone. Flash a Verizon ROM? Sprint and Verizon are the exact same CDMA/LTE band, same internal hardware.
Speaking only of using a Verizon LTE sim for data on a Sprint device. I have a Sprint One. Not with Sprint any longer. Want to use my device as a PDA, internet capable.
I have been reading a lot of different things about doing this with no definitive answer. It looks like, as of recently, it should be as simple as popping in the sprint Sim card and it should work but I want to be sure before hand. Are there any downsides at all about using tmobile Note 8 on Sprint?
Hi there, I'm not sure but Sprint SIM cards are lock. You can try and see, I had Sprint before and try using there SIM card in my unlock tmobile Galaxy S7 Edge running the unlock S7 Edge firmware, it keep reconfiguring over and over. Maybe you might get better than me.
cmdauria said:
I have been reading a lot of different things about doing this with no definitive answer. It looks like, as of recently, it should be as simple as popping in the sprint Sim card and it should work but I want to be sure before hand. Are there any downsides at all about using tmobile Note 8 on Sprint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint doesn't allow other carriers phones on their network. Unlocked or not. T-Mobile does though...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/help/cdma-unlock-verizon-note-8-sprint-t3732364
First question would be: Does Sprint allow to use their SIM cards within non-Sprint devices? That I can't answer. Because I never used Sprint services.
The second question is: Would the T-Mobile radios work with Sprint? LTE radios would most likely work if Sprint allows you to use their SIM card with that device. When LTE is weak or not available the answer is: No. The active radios within T-Mobile and even AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 8 are both LTE and GSM (Both 3G and 4G). Both Sprint and Verizon uses LTE and CDMA (each has their own CDMA) radios. You can't use GSM radios with Sprint and Verizon right now. Though that will end up changing as CDMA gets phased out.
To top things off each GSM carrier maybe using different frequencies with some (but not all) of their GSM radios. So changing a cellular device from a GSM carrier to another GSM carrier may have limits with GSM services.
Sprint and Verizon services have problems with international areas (outside of the USA) where LTE is weak or no LTE. The reason is that CDMA is very limit or doesn't exist in most international areas (outside of the USA). The areas that CDMA still works internationally (outside of the USA) will be phased out (mostly in the near future). Only a few places outside of the USA, like China, would CDMA not be phased out so quickly. But CDMA will end up completing phased out all together sometime in future (including in the US).
If you want to be truly Global then go for carriers that have both GSM and LTE, like T-Mobile, AT&T, etc. Then once you unlock the SIM then you can use your carrier's roaming (which don't need SIM unlock) or switch the SIM card with a carrier in that country to get service internationally. Just a side note: T-Mobile does have Unlimited 3G international roaming without any extra cost (this is subject to the type of plan you have with T-Mobile).
The only way this would work for you is if the CDMA radio is built into all Note 8 devices. If so then you just need to flash the correct radio firmware to active the correct carrier radios. But I don't believe this is the case. And this wouldn't solve the Sprint SIM lock issue.
The short answer is no. Read this thread. I thought you could just pop in an activated SIM, but it's not that simple.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/help/cdma-unlock-verizon-note-8-sprint-t3732364
JaguarXT said:
First question would be: Does Sprint allow to use their SIM cards within non-Sprint devices? That I can't answer. Because I never used Sprint services.
The second question is: Would the T-Mobile radios work with Sprint? LTE radios would most likely work if Sprint allows you to use their SIM card with that device. When LTE is weak or not available the answer is: No. The active radios within T-Mobile and even AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 8 are both LTE and GSM (Both 3G and 4G). Both Sprint and Verizon uses LTE and CDMA (each has their own CDMA) radios. You can't use GSM radios with Sprint and Verizon right now. Though that will end up changing as CDMA gets phased out.
To top things off each GSM carrier maybe using different frequencies with some (but not all) of their GSM radios. So changing a cellular device from a GSM carrier to another GSM carrier may have limits with GSM services.
Sprint and Verizon services have problems with international areas (outside of the USA) where LTE is weak or no LTE. The reason is that CDMA is very limit or doesn't exist in most international areas (outside of the USA). The areas that CDMA still works internationally (outside of the USA) will be phased out (mostly in the near future). Only a few places outside of the USA, like China, would CDMA not be phased out so quickly. But CDMA will end up completing phased out all together sometime in future (including in the US).
If you want to be truly Global then go for carriers that have both GSM and LTE, like T-Mobile, AT&T, etc. Then once you unlock the SIM then you can use your carrier's roaming (which don't need SIM unlock) or switch the SIM card with a carrier in that country to get service internationally. Just a side note: T-Mobile does have Unlimited 3G international roaming without any extra cost (this is subject to the type of plan you have with T-Mobile).
The only way this would work for you is if the CDMA radio is built into all Note 8 devices. If so then you just need to flash the correct radio firmware to active the correct carrier radios. But I don't believe this is the case. And this wouldn't solve the Sprint SIM lock issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALL US Note 8s (N950U and N950U1) are identical. Same radios. Same hardware. Same everything. Only difference is the preloaded firmware. I actually think the Canadian Note 8s (N950W are the same, too, sonce they can run the N950U firmware).
So it's not an issue of missing a CDMA radio. It's an issue that Sprint will not accept the IMEI for another carrier branded Note 8 (or S8/+). You can only activate Sprint or Factory Unlocked devices on Sprint.
As Note 8 has both GSM and CDMA capabilities, why shouldn't an unlock T-Mobile work with Sprint?
RossTeagan said:
As Note 8 has both GSM and CDMA capabilities, why shouldn't an unlock T-Mobile work with Sprint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint won't accept any devices on their network unlocked or not if they came from any other carrier. Sprint only allows Sprint phones and factory unlocked devices. Its Sprint, they suck.
Gizmoe said:
Sprint doesn't allow other carriers phones on their network. Unlocked or not. T-Mobile does though...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/help/cdma-unlock-verizon-note-8-sprint-t3732364
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Gizmoe said:
Sprint won't accept any devices on their network unlocked or not if they came from any other carrier. Sprint only allows Sprint phones and factory unlocked devices. Its Sprint, they suck.
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i just switched my tmobile note 8 to sprint today, lol..
Thread cleaned due to much spam! I remind you to follow XDA Rules and especially to respect all XDA users.
ilikebigjugs88 said:
i just switched my tmobile note 8 to sprint today, lol..
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On Sprints website it still does not list the tmo note 8 as compatible for BYOD. It says only the note 8 special edition is. However it is not unlikely they stopped blocking the other U.S. carrier versions. People have gotten devices to activate in the past, but with minimal network functionality. Is your Note 8 fully utilizing the LTE network?
Either way this thread brings trouble so its now closed
Sprint allows sprint capable devices such as clean sprint,Boost and such and subsidiaries that run on sprint only.
@cp1024 @Gizmoe
The Special Edition devices are the ones sold directly by Samsung as factory-unlocked models. Samsung over the years has used the term inconsistently across their site and marketing materials.
Only Sprint calls them "Special Edition", otherwise they are the U1 models, vs U for carrier branded.
Which means they as of the time this was printed will only accept this model
Maybe some others have managed to pull something off but this is official answer
my post above is how it has always been in the past
And it ends here