Will 5G work anywhere 5G is available with unlocked S20 Ultra?

[Lundon44]

Hi all,

I own the dual sim Snapdragon variant of the S20 Ultra. I believe it came from Taiwan. I live in Toronto, Canada.

While the device is labelled as a 5G right on the box I was shocked to learn that 5G was only recently added through an update a few weeks ago. The notes actually specified that 5G was being enabled but that it would only work in Taiwan. This part is confusing to me.

Also, there is now a "5G" quick toggle in the pull down quick panel that was never there before. I have turned it on but have yet to see a 5G icon appear from either of my carriers (Telus and Bell). I confirmed that Telus and Bell both have officially launched 5G services in Toronto free to all customers. I thought maybe my issue was that I required a new 5G compatible sim card from both carriers.

I spoke to Telus and they told me my sim is already capable. However, there are back-end issues that are preventing non-Telus branded devices from connected to 5G. She said that whenever it is resolved it should in theory "work".

I haven't spoken to Bell yet to see what the issue is on their end but I have a feeling a new sim might be needed.

Does anyone else have an unlocked S20 series device not from their own country and use 5G without any issues?

Curious.

 

[VidJunky]

I don't believe you have a Snapdragon device. If it is Taiwanese it is most likely the Exynos processor and those are not compatible with carriers in the US. I'm not sure if that includes Canada. Exynos version of the device is known as the international version and features a dual SIM. The Exynos version also cannot be flashed for US carriers as no firmware is available for the Exynos in the US and no international firmware is available for the Snapdragon version abroad.

To get 5G and Samsung Pay to work in the country that the device is in it must have the firmware for that region. So if you're device can be flashed to a Canadian carrier these things should work for you. If not then No, the device will not get 5G and Samsung Pay will likely not work.

 

[Lundon Clark]

So, I definitely have a Snapdragon device. The model is the SM-G9880 512GB.

Does that change your answer?

 

[VidJunky]

It's my understanding that Snapdragon devices can be flashed to US firmware. Again I'm not sure how this plays out with Canadian requirements, but if Canada and the US are similar in this way, you still need to flash the firmware of your carrier or for Canada and then it should work.

When I looked into this question before the user had bought a device from Hong Kong and wanted to use it in the US or possibly Canada. Researching that is when I found out about the Exynos vs Snapdragon issue. I guess I may have assumed too much. If you can flash the correct firmware it should work, but as is I don't believe that it would simply work with Taiwanese firmware in Canada. I'll try to locate the articles I found before and will update this comment with links so that you can read the article.

Edit Update:
I found this thread at another forum and it says that putting Taiwanese firmware on their model got to work in Canada. It's not the same article I found before but it sounds promising for your needs... https://www.sammobile.com/forum/thr...a-Model-Need-to-Put-Canada-Firmware-Desperate

I found this article that talks about Samsung Pay. Again not the same one I found before but it may hold some useful info for you as well... https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxys10/comments/bi4dkh/installing_canadian_firmware_on_us_model/