My Asus Phone is not working with US Sim Cards?

[Android Central Question]

Hello! The last year I've been living in Thailand and bought a decent Asus Andriod phone that worked well. I used that phone in Nepal as well. As I've returned back to the US, I've tried a Mint Mobile SIM card, and was on Extended service everywhere I went even though their coverage map says it should work 100%. I decided to go back to Cricket Wireless, and that SIM didn't work at all - after talking to their customer service they looked up my IMEI number and said my phone may not work with US Cell Towers. I just looked up my IMEI number and it is on the GSM network, the same one AT&T and T-Mobile/Mint Mobile use. So why are these two Sim Cards not working for my phone? Is it possible that I need to unlock this phone for it to work in the US? I assumed it was already unlocked since it worked in Thailand and Nepal. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[mustang7757]

Hi, welcome to Android Forums

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[anon(10614692)]

It may not be able to handle the bands in the US. What is the exact model?

 

[chedstr2]

Asus Zenfone 5Q ZC600KL is the model

 

[chedstr2]

It may not be able to handle the bands in the US. What is the exact model?

Here are the exact bands for this model https://ibb.co/YTD81nJ

 

[mustang7757]

Asus Zenfone 5Q ZC600KL is the model

It should work but definitely make sure phone is unlocked

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Did you also check to make sure your APN settings are correct for the carrier?

Also, are you absolutely sure you have the US variant? I'm not sure why they'd sell the US variant in Thailand. If you actually have the ZC600KL that's meant for Europe, then it doesn't match any of Cricket's bands at all:

https://www.gsmarena.com/asus_zenfone_5_lite_zc600kl-9068.php
https://www.signalbooster.com/pages...quencies-of-cell-phone-carriers-in-usa-canada

You can see more details on ASUS's site: https://www.asus.com/Phone/ZenFone-5-Lite-ZC600KL/Tech-Specs/. I'm not sure if there's an easy way to tell which letter variant you have.

 

[Rukbat]

Since it works on Mint, and Mint is on TMobile, either one, Mint or TMobile, should work. (Mint if you want to save a fortune, TMobile if you need lots of data.)