Unlocked or Carrier (Help)

[philliplavelle]

Trying to work out if I go get an unlocked or carrier variant..

What’s everyone’s experience? I’m going to order from Samsung online .. their prior customer service experience has been dire for me but they will give me $200 off for my old phone whereas TMobile won’t in store.

The sensible side of me says to go for unlocked because there won’t be any bloat (not that TM has much bloat anyway) but it will be unlocked so I will be able to resell easier if I choose to.

I just wonder - do the carrier versions work better for the relevant carriers? Are they better optimised? Or is that not the case these days?

I hear TM WiFi Calling works on the unlocked variant and also that Samsung is a lot quicker with pushing out updates to unlocked devices these days, so I assume all is ok there.

What’s been your experience, folks?

Thanks.

 

[philliplavelle]

PS when I talk about better optimised, I’m thinking mostly battery life.. as In perhaps the unlocked version has everything firing, but the carrier version shut off things not needed on their relevant networks so battery life lasts longer

 

[Fr0gburp3r]

I have an unlocked version and battery is great. Carriers alter the software and disable features that you otherwise get with sim free unlocked version. Carrier bloatware can also run the battery down faster as well.

 

[digdug11]

I went with the unlocked version. Really only because I have the old unlimited UDP on Verizon and I can use the hotspot for free.

 

[TylerLV76]

I didn't notice much difference from the unlocked and the T-Mobile version of the S8 so this time I went with the T-Mobile version of the Note 8.

The only thing I ever saw was the T-Mobile version handled band 12 better than the unlocked.

Keep in mind, once you unlock the phone, you can load the unlocked software on the T-Mobile phone if you want.

 

[philliplavelle]

Thanks folks

 

[philliplavelle]

Ive just purchased the unlocked version today. But I have to say, reading through the Samsung pre order thread, seeing all the horror stories and wondering if I’ve done the right thing.. ??????

 

[philliplavelle]

It’s more the horror stories about Samsung’s online ordering being a nightmare