Pros & Cons for Unlocked Phone ?

[AirMech74]

I'm thinking of getting the unlocked version through Best Buy....I know most of the pros...but what are the disadvantages, if any, of an unlocked phone?

 

[jtcannonball]

Pros no bloat, less money usually and can take it to any carrier. Cons no WiFi calling or hotspot seem to be the two biggest. Seen other cons listed but they are not consistent with peoples individual experiences.

 

[AirMech74]

Pros no bloat, less money usually and can take it to any carrier. Cons no WiFi calling or hotspot seem to be the two biggest. Seen other cons listed but they are not consistent with peoples individual experiences.

No hotspot or wifi calling wouldn't affect me at all....I can live with that...have there been any reports that OTA updates are delayed for unlocked phones? I'm with AT&T.

 

[jtcannonball]

Conflicting reports of same schedule as carrier or more frequent. Haven’t heard of any worse.

 

[Climb14er]

If you live in a more rural area that is fortunate to have internet but no or very few cell towers with low signal strength, wifi calling is VERY important.

 

[AirMech74]

I'm in a suburb area with strong signal...now I say that, when I built my house, my contractor used upgraded insulation that absolutely killed my ATT signal...I had to fight ATT to give me a microcell....so I no longer have to go outside to make or receive calls.

 

[Lobwedgephil]

Unlocked version gets security updates later in my experience.

 

[Morty2264]

I'd say unlocked is still the smartest way to go when it comes to purchasing a phone. As long as the frequency bands of your carrier match those of your intended phone, it's all good. I'd say that's the biggest concern - making sure your phone will work. I've had some experiences where I wanted a specific unlocked phone but their bands didn't match those of my carrier.

 

[Gary02468]

Cons no WiFi calling or hotspot seem to be the two biggest.

Depends on the carrier. With T-Mobile, WiFi calling still works with the N960U1.

Conflicting reports of same schedule as carrier or more frequent. Haven’t heard of any worse.

On T-Mobile, I've sometimes gotten firmware updates a week or so before the locked model did, sometimes a week or so after.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

For me personally I see no reason to buy unlocked, it would only cost me more and inconvenience me.

I'm on Verizon, switching carriers would cost more while reducing the quality of my service so no plan to switch in the near future, my Note 9 is $600 because of device payments. There is also almost zero bloat on a Verizon phone now, if you don't use some of their apps it only reduces the benefit of Verizon IMO.

 

[AirMech74]

I ended up buying an unlocked version.... First time for me... No bloatware is nice.... It went through every update last night.... Very happy so far.

 

[mustang7757]

I ended up buying an unlocked version.... First time for me... No bloatware is nice.... It went through every update last night.... Very happy so far.

That's great , enjoy it ..

 

[anon(5719825)]

I've been buying unlocked Samsung S series phones beginning with the S7 Edge, the S8 and now the S9.

I've only bought locked versions of all the Note phones.

As far as the firmware updates go, sometimes the unlocked gets the updates first but most times it's the carrier versions that get them first.

I bought an AT&T Note 9 back in September and had AT&T unlock it. I loaded the unlocked firmware onto it because the unlocked has a spam blocking setting in settings that the carrier models don't have.

I also loaded the unlocked firmware onto my T-Mobile Note 9 several months ago and recently went back to the T-Mobile firmware because it had the December update long before the unlocked did.

 

[EMGSM]

For the N9, I like that there is no carrier bloatware not even during boot up. Can't think of a con right now.

 

[Morty2264]

I ended up buying an unlocked version.... First time for me... No bloatware is nice.... It went through every update last night.... Very happy so far.

That's wonderful! So glad you are enjoying the experience, and good for you for going unlocked! You may become addicted to that now... .

 

[pizza_pablo]

No hotspot or wifi calling wouldn't affect me at all....I can live with that...have there been any reports that OTA updates are delayed for unlocked phones? I'm with AT&T.

Security patch updates are a minor issue, since they usually cover old threats.
System OS updates are subjective. I usually don't want the next version. I'm not looking forward to Pie, but I can't reasonable stop it. I went out of my way to never have a phone with that disgusting lollipop.

 

[methodman89]

I have always gotten a much better deal buying from the carrier. A free Samsung watch with lte when getting a new S7, and getting a new S9 during buy 1 get 1 free. Shop around. Bloatware, when not set up and force stopped shouldn't be an issue. The storage they use is small and you know you can increase storage with an SD card. Good luck.