Unlocked vs Carrier? Pros/Cons?

[Rose4uKY]

IMO, if you are staying with your carrier you should get the carrier branded phone. On AT&T, you lose a lot of features with the main one is HD Voice. When you are calling someone you don't get LTE instead you get 3G(4G in AT&T). Other features like visual voicemail and etc it is optional.

Yeah we were having signal issues with Sprint in certain locations one being no Wifi at a concert venue. We wanted to switch to Verizon but they were so expensive. I'm also on an old grandfathered unlimited plan with Sprint and get a 23% work discount so decided to stay so yes maybe we should of gotten the Sprint ones and maybe we would of gotten sooner too. Oh Well

 

[kelcel]

Hi i am also with Rogers in Canada with a Unlocked duel sim S9 i would love to have Native Visual Voicemail i see if i read your quote you have that Please Help Thanks !!!

My experience in Canada is the opposite. I get the security updates with or before my carrier's version.

And, I have all the functions that other Rogers subscribers do — including VVM and WiFi calling.

 

[LilSweetLin]

To those with a T-Mo branded S10+, how many carrier apps are installed overall? Are any useful? I'm assuming the only differences between it and the unlocked variant are visual voicemail and WiFi calling?

 

[mustang7757]

To those with a T-Mo branded S10+, how many carrier apps are installed overall? Are any useful? I'm assuming the only differences between it and the unlocked variant are visual voicemail and WiFi calling?

Like 3 , 2 out of 3 are useful visual voice mail and tmobile account.
Its close to unlocked version

 

[recDNA]

I wish I had known that if I had vvm turned on in my old phone it would automatically be turned on in the new unlocked phone on vzw. I don't really need it but once activated the option is gone

 

[Ken776]

I've got an unlocked S10 and I have both WiFi calling and HD voice with Consumer Cellular. I used the SIM from my iPhone that was previously on Consumer Cellular.

 

[geraldem]

So I bought an unlocked S10+ from Best Buy. I am on ATT and not going anywhere. I bought the unlocked to avoid the bloatware. I was also able to get the visual voicemail working. But cannot get VoLTE/Wifi calling on this device. I could go back to BB and return the unlocked and get ATT provisioned S10+. Worth it? Would love some opinions. Thanks

 

[anon(1733)]

So I bought an unlocked S10+ from Best Buy. I am on ATT and not going anywhere. I bought the unlocked to avoid the bloatware. I was also able to get the visual voicemail working. But cannot get VoLTE/Wifi calling on this device. I could go back to BB and return the unlocked and get ATT provisioned S10+. Worth it? Would love some opinions. Thanks

For me it is. But only because I need wifi calling. So unless it's the pixel I have to have a att branded device. It's ok. The bloat isn't as bad as years past so it doesn't bother me as I can disable or uninstall it anyways.

 

[geraldem]

For me it is. But only because I need wifi calling. So unless it's the pixel I have to have a att branded device. It's ok. The bloat isn't as bad as years past so it doesn't bother me as I can disable or uninstall it anyways.

Thank you...great points. I have not been a big user of wifi calling the past, but also never really tried it either. Also another consideration I have been thinking about is the update frequency on unlocked vs carrier. I have noticed in the past (Note9) the unlocked devices get a much longer cycle ...

 

[hmung]

I dont know why nobody mentions this but where I live if my phone is factory unlocked , even on my AT&T prepaid account ( unlimited ) I can still use my hotspot. AT&T doesn't have their grubby hands embed into it to stop you. This has been the case with s6 all the way to the s9+

My ? On the matter is you'd think without the massive amounts of bloatware on the device it would run much smoother and have a more stable data connection . However with the semi newer tech I'm curious if I will have a better connection/experience with an AT&T branded 10+ ( currently owned ) or would it be better with unlocked s10 + or would there be a difference at all?

How is there not a YouTube video with side by side comparisons of this lol

P.S. I don't care about WiFi calling or HD calling or whatever. I can't have WiFi where I live solely data. Even on data though signal is at times horrible. So any edge I can get helps tremendously. I play fps games like mad so the only thing that matters is the connection, display and what's under the hood . I know the display and the tech are the same ...like I said the connection is what I'm curious about

 

[ChuckG73]

Unlocked works on all carriers and no bloat, and last to get updates. Pick your poison.

 

[Rose4uKY]

We did unlocked and now that I know I am staying with Verizon I want to just get a Verizon branded next time. Wish I had one now for my S10 Plus for the quicker updates mostly but something I read is coming to text messaging that we won't have in unlocked is RSC which sounds cool. Can unlocked phones be flashed to Verizon firmware than be the same as getting a Verizon phone? Has anyone ever done that?

 

[mustang7757]

We did unlocked and now that I know I am staying with Verizon I want to just get a Verizon branded next time. Wish I had one now for my S10 Plus for the quicker updates mostly but something I read is coming to text messaging that we won't have in unlocked is RSC which sounds cool. Can unlocked phones be flashed to Verizon firmware than be the same as getting a Verizon phone? Has anyone ever done that?

Yes it can be done.

 

[Rose4uKY]

Yes it can be done.

So then I would get quicker updates and have everything else regular Verizon people get when buying a Verizon phone? I don't know I am just thinking about it!

 

[mustang7757]

So then I would get quicker updates and gave everything else regular Verizon people get when buying a Verizon phone? I don't know I am just thinking about it!

It be quick updates because carrier version get it faster then unlocked, it be exactly same how you buy Verizon version.

Edit: you can go back forth

 

[Rose4uKY]

It be quick updates because carrier version get it faster then unlocked, it be exactly same how you buy Verizon version.

Edit: you can go back forth

Thanks, That should of said have not gave. I just hear people talking about the texting and RSC . Off topic but my husband BTW ended up having to send his phone into Samsung and they replaced the motherboard he now has no signal issues and we still have better signal with Verizon than Sprint. Anyway thanks have a good weekend. I am off to work! :-(

 

[mustang7757]

Thanks, That should of said have not gave. I just hear people talking about the texting and RSC . Off topic but my husband BTW ended up having to send his phone into Samsung and they replaced the motherboard he now has no signal issues and we still have better signal with Verizon than Sprint. Anyway thanks have a good weekend. I am off to work! :-(

Glad your husband phone is fixed now , if you need help if you go that way to flash Verizon version let me know. You have a great weekend also , im going work also

 

[Rukbat]

@Rose4uKY, updates depend on the IMEI, not carrier/unlocked, so by flashing the Verizon version all you'll "gain" is more bloatware and being at the end of the update list (since Verizon doesn't have the IMEI of unlocked phones on their update distribution list).

As for RCS, that depends on two things - whether the carrier supports it and whether the text app you use supports it. Flashing the Verizon version of Android has no effect on whether Verizon supports which part of RCA (there are many parts, some of which haven't even been designed yet). Using Google Messages as your texting app (and keeping it updated) makes sure that you'll always have the latest parts of RCS as soon as they're released.

 

[Adam Frix]

So I bought an unlocked S10+ from Best Buy. I am on ATT and not going anywhere. I bought the unlocked to avoid the bloatware. I was also able to get the visual voicemail working. But cannot get VoLTE/Wifi calling on this device. I could go back to BB and return the unlocked and get ATT provisioned S10+. Worth it? Would love some opinions. Thanks

if your SIM card came from an AT&T branded phone, then your account should be enabled for those things and they should work.

If not, simply find someone with an AT&T branded phone. Insert his SIM card into your phone. This will marry the phone IMEI to the AT&T database, at which point it will have those features.

Thank the Blackberry community for discovering this.

 

[Rose4uKY]

@Rose4uKY, updates depend on the IMEI, not carrier/unlocked, so by flashing the Verizon version all you'll "gain" is more bloatware and being at the end of the update list (since Verizon doesn't have the IMEI of unlocked phones on their update distribution list).

As for RCS, that depends on two things - whether the carrier supports it and whether the text app you use supports it. Flashing the Verizon version of Android has no effect on whether Verizon supports which part of RCA (there are many parts, some of which haven't even been designed yet). Using Google Messages as your texting app (and keeping it updated) makes sure that you'll always have the latest parts of RCS as soon as they're released.

Oh Ok Thanks! My next phone will be Verizon one but it will be a while we own our S10 plus's and my husband said we have to keep these for a while. I'm too much of a phone junkie and he said I can't keep switching. LOL!