Need input please from anyone using Unlocked Z Play on AT&T

[PAC757]

Hello, there seems to be some conflicting information on what LTE bands this phone actually comes with, looking around the Internet it does appear that the unlocked Z play has bands 2, 5, and 17. I am looking for any input from people actually using a unlocked Z play on AT&T and how well the phone signal is, actually using it as a phone. It seems reviewers no longer put much information, if any, on how well a phone works as an actual phone. Thank you for any input.

 

[tex0322]

This is from Motorola's website

Network Bands - US GSM Unlocked:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz)
4G LTE (B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 19, 20, 28, 38, 40)

I've only been using mine for a day on AT&T and haven't travelled around much with it yet but it has a better signal and works better where I live than my Samsung S7 did.

 

[PAC757]

This is from Motorola's website

Network Bands - US GSM Unlocked:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz)
4G LTE (B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 19, 20, 28, 38, 40)

I've only been using mine for a day on AT&T and haven't travelled around much with it yet but it has a better signal and works better where I live than my Samsung S7 did.

Thank you for your input. I've always had problems with my Samsung phones on AT&T where I live.

 

[mandoman28]

Thank you for your input. I've always had problems with my Samsung phones on AT&T where I live.

I have used this for a bit on ATT and have had no issues, I get better reception than an LG V20 and my old S7 Edge.

 

[PAC757]

I have used this for a bit on ATT and have had no issues, I get better reception than an LG V20 and my old S7 Edge.

Thank you for your input. Just received my Z Play today. It just did the 7.0 update and I did a cache wipe and in the process of doing a Factory Data Reset now, then I'll set it up.

 

[captainkirkw]

I have an unlocked Z Play on AT&T in Austin Tx and it works really well. I am holding off on the Nougat update for a bit just to get a better feel for how it is going.

I was in Las Vegas last week and didn't have any issues there either. The amazing battery life on this phone was great as I didn't have to worry about recharging like everyone else I was with.

 

[soma4society]

Overall it works fine for me in Phoenix. The LTE signal *is* noticably weaker than my 6P was in some places (which surprises me), but not dropped call or data bad. Its just in some locations I used to have four bars and now I fluctuate between 2 and 3.

But since I can pull 8-9 hours of SOT over two days with this phone, I'm not complaining​.

 

[anon(522296)]

Hello, there seems to be some conflicting information on what LTE bands this phone actually comes with, looking around the Internet it does appear that the unlocked Z play has bands 2, 5, and 17. I am looking for any input from people actually using a unlocked Z play on AT&T and how well the phone signal is, actually using it as a phone. It seems reviewers no longer put much information, if any, on how well a phone works as an actual phone. Thank you for any input.

This phone is amazing, using the unlocked on ATT and have a great LTE signal in NJ, getting 10 hours of SOT and close to 40 hours of total usage on a single charge. The 625 with the 1080 screen is a phenomenal combination.

 

[Sailindawg]

I purchased the unlocked GSM version of the MOTO Z Play from Best Buy when they came out in October 2016. I got the Incipio wireless charging battery mod for free with the phone.

My story with AT&T LTE service has been one of frustration. I had a 2014 MOTO X, unlocked, purchased directly from MOTO. That phone worked fine on AT&T's LTE network.

I recieved my new MZP and put the sim from the MOTO X into the MZP and all was good. Full LTE service. The new radio takes advantage of AT&T's LTE speed more so than the older phone.

Three weeks of owning the phone, I suddenly have no service. The LTE service just cut out. I called AT&T and spent 2 hours of futile effort. All I was recieving for data was H+. My take away from AT&T at this time was, well we didn't sell you the phone, we can't guarantee that you will see full service. But wait, the phone is advertised as being AT&T capable & ready. As far as AT&T was concerned it was an unknown phone.

Next step, I go to AT&T corporate store & get phone reprovisioned with a new sim card. Still no LTE, the same mantra, AT&T didn't sell you the phone, we can't guarantee service.

I went back to Best Buy, the store rep spent 2 hours on telephone "trouble shooting" with a higher tier of AT&T tech reps. Out of this, I received the higher tiered phone number for the AT&T techs.

No LTE at this point, two months into owning phone. Only H+. I put out several threads in forums to find other people experiencing the same. What annoyed me was that when I put the sim card into my old MOTO X, I received LTE service.

Time goes by, I get the 7.0 update. I download the update & I'm receiving LTE service again. But only for one day. I factory reset, no LTE, only H+

I kept Internet researching and found a thread on AT&T's own tech support web site, same problem. The solution was to get AT&T to either change the IMEI for the MZP to the old IMEI of your last phone that worked on their system. I called about a week ago to the tech support number I have.

I spoke with a great woman that did changed my IMEI for my current phone to the old phone. Still only H+ service. However, she looked at the AT&T wireless connection logs and saw that my phone was being seen in their side as an LTE phone.

That was about a week ago. I kept thinking about it more and finally tried this. While my MZP on, I took out the sim card. I put it into my MOTO X phone. Started the phone up and was greeted with LTE service. With the phone on, I took the sim card out and put it back into into my MZP, while it was on. I went about since chores inside my house (the phone was on my wireless network), left the house and saw that I was now getting LTE service.

With LTE Discovery app, I am receiving signal from bands 2, 5 & 12.

I hope your experience is smoother than mine. I'm also going that my LTE service doesn't disappear again.

 

[Sailindawg]

Re: Need input please from anyone using Unlocked Z Play on AT&T

I purchased the unlocked GSM version of the MOTO Z Play from Best Buy when they came out in October 2016. I got the Incipio wireless charging battery mod for free with the phone.

My story with AT&T LTE service has been one of frustration. Previously, I had a 2014 MOTO X, unlocked, purchased directly from MOTO. That phone worked fine on AT&T's LTE network.

I recieved my new MZP and put the sim from the MOTO X into the MZP and all was good. Full LTE service. The new radio takes advantage of AT&T's LTE speed more so than the older phone.

Three weeks of owning the phone, I suddenly have no service. The LTE service just cut out. I called AT&T and spent 2 hours of futile effort. All I was recieving for data was H+. My take away from AT&T at this time was, well we didn't sell you the phone, we can't guarantee that you will see full service. But wait, the phone is advertised as being AT&T capable & ready. As far as AT&T was concerned it was an unknown phone because they did not sell it to me.

Next step, I go to AT&T corporate store & get phone reprovisioned with a new sim card. Still no LTE, the same mantra, AT&T didn't sell you the phone, we can't guarantee service.

I went back to Best Buy, the store rep spent 2 hours on telephone "trouble shooting" with a higher tier of AT&T tech reps. Out of this, I received the higher tiered phone number for the AT&T techs.

No LTE at this point, two months into owning phone. Only H+. I put out several threads in forums to find out that other people were experiencing the same. What annoyed me was that when I put the sim card into my old MOTO X, I received LTE service.

Time goes by, I get the 7.0 update. I download the update & I'm receiving LTE service again. But only for one day. I factory reset, no LTE, only H+.

I kept Internet researching and found a thread on AT&T's own tech support web site, same problem. The solution was to get AT&T to change the IMEI for the MZP to the old IMEI of your last phone that worked on their system. I called about a week ago to the tech support number I have.

I spoke with a great woman that did change my IMEI for my current phone to the old phone IMEI. Initially, after this change, still only H+ service. However, the rep looked at the AT&T wireless connection logs and saw that my phone was being seen in their system as an LTE phone.

That was about a week ago. I kept thinking about it more and finally tried this. With my MZP powered on, I took out the sim card. I put it into my MOTO X phone. Started the phone up and was greeted with LTE service. With the phone powered on, I took the sim card out and put it back into into my MZP, while it was powered on. I went about some chores inside my house (the phone was on my wireless network), left the house and saw that I was now getting LTE service.

With the LTE Discovery app, I am receiving signal from bands 2, 5 & 12. I'm in the Boston area.

I hope your experience is smoother than mine. I'm also hoping that my LTE service doesn't disappear again.

 

[PAC757]

Re: Need input please from anyone using Unlocked Z Play on AT&T

I purchased the unlocked GSM version of the MOTO Z Play from Best Buy when they came out in October 2016. I got the Incipio wireless charging battery mod for free with the phone.

My story with AT&T LTE service has been one of frustration. Previously, I had a 2014 MOTO X, unlocked, purchased directly from MOTO. That phone worked fine on AT&T's LTE network.

I recieved my new MZP and put the sim from the MOTO X into the MZP and all was good. Full LTE service. The new radio takes advantage of AT&T's LTE speed more so than the older phone.

Three weeks of owning the phone, I suddenly have no service. The LTE service just cut out. I called AT&T and spent 2 hours of futile effort. All I was recieving for data was H+. My take away from AT&T at this time was, well we didn't sell you the phone, we can't guarantee that you will see full service. But wait, the phone is advertised as being AT&T capable & ready. As far as AT&T was concerned it was an unknown phone because they did not sell it to me.

Next step, I go to AT&T corporate store & get phone reprovisioned with a new sim card. Still no LTE, the same mantra, AT&T didn't sell you the phone, we can't guarantee service.

I went back to Best Buy, the store rep spent 2 hours on telephone "trouble shooting" with a higher tier of AT&T tech reps. Out of this, I received the higher tiered phone number for the AT&T techs.

No LTE at this point, two months into owning phone. Only H+. I put out several threads in forums to find out that other people were experiencing the same. What annoyed me was that when I put the sim card into my old MOTO X, I received LTE service.

Time goes by, I get the 7.0 update. I download the update & I'm receiving LTE service again. But only for one day. I factory reset, no LTE, only H+.

I kept Internet researching and found a thread on AT&T's own tech support web site, same problem. The solution was to get AT&T to change the IMEI for the MZP to the old IMEI of your last phone that worked on their system. I called about a week ago to the tech support number I have.

I spoke with a great woman that did change my IMEI for my current phone to the old phone IMEI. Initially, after this change, still only H+ service. However, the rep looked at the AT&T wireless connection logs and saw that my phone was being seen in their system as an LTE phone.

That was about a week ago. I kept thinking about it more and finally tried this. With my MZP powered on, I took out the sim card. I put it into my MOTO X phone. Started the phone up and was greeted with LTE service. With the phone powered on, I took the sim card out and put it back into into my MZP, while it was powered on. I went about some chores inside my house (the phone was on my wireless network), left the house and saw that I was now getting LTE service.

With the LTE Discovery app, I am receiving signal from bands 2, 5 & 12. I'm in the Boston area.

I hope your experience is smoother than mine. I'm also hoping that my LTE service doesn't disappear again.

I think you found a couple of solutions here :
1) I never give AT&T my unlocked phones IMEI numbers and 2) I always swap my Sim card while both phones are powered up.

 

[Sailindawg]

I agree about the swapping sim cards, but the IMEI thing is behind the scenes when the phone communicates to their (AT&T or Verizon or any carrier) system. With a new phone, the phone communicates its IMEI as an identifier.

AT&T "approves" IMEI's for the various
manufacturers for their network. All carriers function this way. My MZP phone's IMEI has not changed. What has changed is how the sim is seen by their system. I'm hoping my current service status is permanent, not temporary until the AT&T LTE system updates itself & renews certificates. If I lose service again after a period of time, I will assume that it's because of signature or certificate that is not renewing properly on the AT&T LTE system. If that's the case, I'll hot swap the sim card again with my 2014 MOTO X.

But I shouldn't have to be doing this. Bloody carriers & the monopoly that they enjoy.

 

[PAC757]

I agree about the swapping sim cards, but the IMEI thing is behind the scenes when the phone communicates to their (AT&T or Verizon or any carrier) system. With a new phone, the phone communicates its IMEI as an identifier.

AT&T "approves" IMEI's for the various
manufacturers for their network. All carriers function this way. My MZP phone's IMEI has not changed. What has changed is how the sim is seen by their system. I'm hoping my current service status is permanent, not temporary until the AT&T LTE system updates itself & renews certificates. If I lose service again after a period of time, I will assume that it's because of signature or certificate that is not renewing properly on the AT&T LTE system. If that's the case, I'll hot swap the sim card again with my 2014 MOTO X.

But I shouldn't have to be doing this. Bloody carriers & the monopoly that they enjoy.

I agree, we pay AT&T for PHONE Service, as long as the phone has the proper LTE Bands and GSM radio frequencies they should in no way prevent you from using the phone to it's full capabilities. This is one area that really aggravates me with AT&T, but I must admit, we use Verizon for our work phones and they are worst, they act like they are doing you a favor by taking your money every month and you should feel lucky that they allow you to use their service.

 

[Sailindawg]

Re: Need input please from anyone using Unlocked Z Play on AT&T

Total agreement. There are some aspects that I like about the AT&T service, but this stuff puts a real wet blanket on it.

 

[xeene]

Why not switch to TMobile?

 

[PAC757]

Why not switch to TMobile?

T Mobile where I live is terrible, my daughter has it and nearly can make a phone call and misses half her calls. I use my phone as a phone 90% of the time

 

[PAC757]

Finally got around to swapping my Sim card, set up my APN using ATT Phone, instead of Nextgenphone, works great much better signal strength than my AT&T branded Samsung Note 5. About 10 db better on my Moto Z Play.

 

[Sailindawg]

Good to hear. I'm using the NXTGENPHONE APN name, spelt as I did at AT&T's direction. I not experimenting with this one! I'm finally getting full LTE service and love you have noticed that the MZP LTE antenna yields pretty strong signal reception.

I interested to hear from new buyers of this phone what their experience has been with AT&T LTE service some 6 months after this phone has been released.

 

[PAC757]

OK instead of starting a new thread I will continue here as maybe someone on here has or had this problem :
My phone always shows LTE on the status bar, in about phone under Sim status it says LTE, in LTE discovery app it shows LTE with a pretty good signal strength, - 87db but I am consistently getting 2 - 7MB download speeds over the past 3 days, that's all I've owned this phone. So I have LTE But these are definitely not LTE speeds, I've tried the official NXTGENPHONE APN, and the ATT Phone APN, both giving me the same download speeds. If I put my Sim card in my Honor 8 I'm averaging about 28MB DOWNLOAD speeds, so it's not the sim card.

 

[Sailindawg]

Re: Need input please from anyone using Unlocked Z Play on AT&T

What are your average download speeds with the MZP?
NVM, reread your thread. Could be a tower down in your location. How many indicator bars for LTE?

I can see those speeds with only 1-2 bars.