My experience with an unlocked Note 9 on AT&T

[anon(5719825)]

Try the first link that I posted, I think you have to sign up for it.

I will. My Note 9 is an AT&T model but I have an unlocked S9+ and I'd like to find out about this.

 

[Harlemknight]

I will. My Note 9 is an AT&T model but I have an unlocked S9+ and I'd like to find out about this.

https://support.google.com/voice/forum/AAAAjq5-_rMaI7m1PrV21Y/?hl=en

 

[anon(5719825)]

https://support.google.com/voice/forum/AAAAjq5-_rMaI7m1PrV21Y/?hl=en

i did what it said. It said I would get an email when it's available.

 

[Blues Fan]

I know on the unlocked v20 wifi calling was hidden. There are apps you can download that find hidden apps on your phone. See if that finds wifi calling if you're using Verizon, Att or Sprint and switch it on.

I use tmobile so no worries.

 

[tanyannganley]

First, I'll say I love the Note 9. I came from an AT&T-branded Note 8, and before that iPhones for 10 yrs. The Note 9 is an improvement in areas that mean a lot to me, including the camera, battery life, internal storage, and the pen. Getting $400 for my Note 8, Samsung financing, and the free noise cancelling headphones helped for sure!

I was a bit concerned after I order the unlocked phone. I caught wind on forums about the challenges with bringing an unlocked phone to AT&T (and Verizon, for that matter). Here are my observations:

- The SIM card transferred to my Note 9 easily. Once I inserted the card in the Note 9, the phone rebooted so it could configure to accommodate subscribed voice and data features. As a result, I did not have to identify or program any of the "APN" settings that AT&T recommends on their web site.
- Mobile hot spot works fine and is fast. Works just like the branded phone.
- LTE is available and works fine.
- WiFi calling, video calling, and HD voice are not available, but those are not features I really care about for now.
- There is no visual voice mail (you have to manually dial in to vmail). I fixed this by signing up for a Google Voice number and having unanswered calls and busy calls forwarded to that and use that as voice mail instead. It is much better than AT&T visual voice mail, so I would probably do this even if I had AT&T visual voicemail.
- Despite several threads on the web stating Numbersync wold not work, it is actually working fine between my unlocked Note 9 and Gear S3. It activated without incident and is working as it did with my branded Note 8.

So far, everything else seems to work the same. I will update over the next several days as I come across things. So far, I am happy with the unlocked phone. Feels cleaner and I'm not tied to one carrier.

So I need to know if I buy a un-loked note9 will wifi work or not! I live in the hills and lots of trees and need wifi calling

 

[Gary02468]

So I need to know if I buy a un-loked note9 will wifi work or not[.] I live in the hills and lots of trees and need wifi calling

It works for some carriers and not for others. Ask your carrier.

 

[strikeIII]

Re: My experience with an unlocked Note 9 on AT&T

So I need to know if I buy a un-loked note9 will wifi work or not! I live in the hills and lots of trees and need wifi calling

Who's your carrier? It doesn't work for AT&T for sure and I don't think Verizon or Sprint either. The only carrier I know for sure is TMobile.

Actually if you read above your comment your question has been answered with regards to the other carriers.

 

[Shepx13]

I have experienced similar results to a few other people in this thread, just with different phones. I have used a number of unlocked phones over the last many years: Moto X OG and 2014 models, Pixel XL and XL2. Before those I had a Galaxy S4 I believe, and most recently had a Galaxy Note 7 before the recall. Until a few months back, I commuted 65 miles over a somewhat rural area. I have noticed that ALL of the unlocked phones struggle to hand off calls between cell towers that are not in large cities much more frequently than the carrier Galaxy phones do.

I honestly feel that AT&T purposely gives all unlocked phones worse service in some way. Yes, my evidence is anecdotal, but after so many years, and being with many other people who's carrier locked ATT phones are working fine, it's too much to be just coincidence.

Unfortunately, I feel like I have no choice but to play their game. I now sell real estate and this past weekend was the breaking point for me. Every time I am out in the country showing acreage, my Pixel struggles to switch between towers. And even when I show I have a strong signal, my data download rate is much slower than others. I wish I could switch to TMO, but their coverage in my area is laughable, so I feel stuck to play their game and pick up an AT&T branded phone instead of an unlocked one.

 

[joewoo]

If we're going anecdotal, I'd like to say my unlocked note gets better signal than my att branded lg v35

 

[Shepx13]

It's not about signal, it's about actual service. My signal strength shows better on my Pixel than my note, but didn't translate into actual performance

 

[frederickdawg]

Re: My experience with an unlocked Note 9 on AT&T

Who's your carrier? It doesn't work for AT&T for sure and I don't think Verizon or Sprint either. The only carrier I know for sure is TMobile.

Actually if you read above your comment your question has been answered with regards to the other carriers.

WiFi calling works on Sprint for factory unlocked note 9 model. I have one.
RCS messaging doesn't work on the stock Samsung messaging app.