About ROG Phone 5

[willanaya]

I am currently on Mint Mobile. When I use 5G, the data goes fast the the throttle is hard. The new ROG 5, unlike the 2's, are only the tencent versions. This means I won't get the 71 band needed for the T Mobile towers to get 5G. But the thing is, I don't use 5G. I set my connection to 4G LTE that way I don't burn through my data.

Opinions:

Considering this, would you get the tencent version?

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I would be very wary of anything to do with tencent given their close links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

 

[Chuck Finley69]

I am currently on Mint Mobile. When I use 5G, the data goes fast the the throttle is hard. The new ROG 5, unlike the 2's, are only the tencent versions. This means I won't get the 71 band needed for the T Mobile towers to get 5G. But the thing is, I don't use 5G. I set my connection to 4G LTE that way I don't burn through my data.

Opinions:

Considering this, would you get the tencent version?

Nope, since the device isn’t optimized for the region, what happens when other bands are refarmed? The carriers make their plans around their supported devices requirements. When a company doesn’t want your business, get the hint and buy what a company that wants your business provides and will properly support.

 

[Mooncatt]

I would simply do some Google searching for something like "Asus ROG V T-mobile" and see what comes up. There are multiple variants of the phone. If one is found to work well, it'll be easy to find out.

On principle, I would only buy from official retailers within your region. I live in the U.S. If I were to buy the Tencent version, it would have zero warranty because it would mean I bought it from a random third party. Back when I considered the ROG II, there were a lot of those third party "retailers" re-flashing the phone with the U.S. version of the OS. Not only were they trying to pass these off as legit U.S. units, you're now buying something lower spec and modified in a way you couldn't control. That brings up a host of reliability and security concerns. That goes not just for this specific phone, but any such grey market item.