Unbranded LTE Phones

[amartko]

What do you guys peg as a chance when LTE becomes more pronounced VZW will allow unbranded unlocked phones on their network?

My guess is pretty slim to none, but I hope I will be proven wrong.

 

[kg4icg]

There is the saying of a snowballs chance in hell comes to mind. Better off swimming in the Amazon with a school of hungry pirhana then that will happen. Plus there is no such thing as a unbranded LTE phone.

 

[nfalbo]

There will be unlocked LTE phones in the future when both voice and data run off of LTE and don't have to use either CDMA or GSM for voice. When that happens then we will see unlocked phones. It is going to take a while for that to happen though. And Verizon does allow you to bring non Verizon CDMA phones onto their network now as long as the device meets or exceeds guidelines setup by Verizon.

 

[the one and only M]

Their site says that non-Verizon devices have to be certified by them. I'm hoping they will allow unlocked LTE hardware on their network but it's wait and see.

 

[nerdydesi]

Unfortunately what I've read is that for ATT LTE devices, they would not be compatible with Verizon's LTE bands and vice versa, so intercompatibility between carriers isn't guaranteed. I was hoping for a unified standard like GSM to use unlocked phones on the carrier of your choice. : (

 

[nfalbo]

Unfortunately what I've read is that for ATT LTE devices, they would not be compatible with Verizon's LTE bands and vice versa, so intercompatibility between carriers isn't guaranteed. I was hoping for a unified standard like GSM to use unlocked phones on the carrier of your choice. : (

You are right the Art Verizon bands are not compatible. Once lte phases out hspa and cdma there will be more room to add other radios like Verizon does with its world phones. There was a time when it was thought to be next to impossible to have a cdma phone with quad band GSM and dual band hspa all in one phone. Give it time for the comepanies to get the technology figured out.

 

[anon(94115)]

agreed, something like 2 years wait for that beast though