one lte band enough?

[tokyoprogressive]

Hi. Being located in Japan, where I am shopping for my FIRST smartphone ever, and where there are few SIM FREE models to choose from, I notice the OnePlus 3 only supports (for my preferred Docomo network) LTE band 1 and, maybe, LTE band 3. However frequencycheck does not consider LTE band 3 since it is not west of Kansai (Osaka) yet. That on,y leaves LTE band 1. Is that enough? Most other makers support multiple bands. While frequencycheck also mentions LTE band 28, which IS a Docomo band, the OnePlus site does not, so I assume it is a mistake.

This is for the global version, which is available on the OPPO site (subsidiary?) but not easy to ship via the OnePlus site itself.

1) Is just LTE band a bad idea? Assume more bands is better, and maybe I should look at Zenfone 3 ( similar peice for 5.2 inch version), Huawei P9-Lite ( cheaper) or Huawi's Honor 8--soon to be available. Theae are some of the only SIM free models available that have an international presence.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

 

[SpookDroid]

It depends on where you want to use the phone. If you're certain (and I mean CERTAIN) that one LTE band works in the area you'll be using it and you won't be traveling or moving to areas where LTE 1/3 isn't available, then it will be just fine. But if you plan to move or if your carrier doesn't use those bands where you are, then yeah, it's a really bad idea to get a phone with just one compatible band (not to mention that NTT Docomo has no 2G Network and the only 3G band compatible with the OP3 is 2100MHz).

 

[tokyoprogressive]

Thanks. I thnk most japanese phonese pnly have a single 3g band, possibly I am wrong. But probably won't move. Travel in the US with a travel sim maybe....but anyway, the bigger problem is the ordering system- would have to spend more to get through the OPPO store.

Then again, Japan is so mountainous and I travel a lot within it. Unless I am on the Softbank network, which gets greater coverage, maybe there is a risk I will not be near a good docomo signal.

And since many of us will not go near Softbank, your warning is a good one. Maybe I give it a pass.