Unlocked vs Verizon

[climb]

I know this has been commented on, but I don't quite understand all the reasons not to go with an unlocked beast, beyond the loss of advanced calling and more frequent carrier updates.

My reason to go unlocked is somewhat nonsensical. My note 5 back case was replaced after a crack with a beautiful Sammie back. I have enjoyed looking at that visual Sammie goodness and not having to stare at big red's logo constantly.

Someone please educate me away from an unlocked beast

This wait is killing me - hurry up September 15th!

 

[aokusman1]

Unless you intend to live with verizon for a long time get the unlocked.

 

[ol_jackburton]

I know this has been commented on, but I don't quite understand all the reasons not to go with an unlocked beast, beyond the loss of advanced calling and more frequent carrier updates.

My reason to go unlocked is somewhat nonsensical. My note 5 back case was replaced after a crack with a beautiful Sammie back. I have enjoyed looking at that visual Sammie goodness and not having to stare at big red's logo constantly.

Someone please educate me away from an unlocked beast

This wait is killing me - hurry up September 15th!

for what it worth the S8+ did not come with the Verizon branding on the back. All i see is the Verizon splash screen when i restart the phone.

 

[natehoy]

Two reasons why a carrier-specific phone might be better:

Proprietary features (Visual Voicemail [sometimes], WiFi Calling, advanced calling, etc) which are generally proprietary features added by the carriers to the firmware.



Band support.

The Verizon Note 8 will support these LTE bands: B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B13(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B26(800), B28(700), B38(2600), B39(1900), B40(2300), B41(2500)

The Unlocked Note 8 will support these: 4G FDD LTE: B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B17(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B25(1900), B26(800), B28(700), B29(700), B30(2300), B66(AWS-3)

(source https://www.techwalls.com/samsung-galaxy-note-8-sm-n950-model-number-differences/ )

The BOLD frequencies under "Verizon" are the ones that the Verizon model supports and the Unlocked will probably not. All of them are higher-frequency (lower range and inferior building penetration) bands, which means they will probably be used in urban areas where there is a lot of use of all of the bands they have licenses for already. So in all likelihood, you won't *need* those bands to get service. But if you do have them, you may get better service in a highly-saturated network situation where the other bands are clogged up with older phones.

 

[Almeuit]

I know this has been commented on, but I don't quite understand all the reasons not to go with an unlocked beast, beyond the loss of advanced calling and more frequent carrier updates.

My reason to go unlocked is somewhat nonsensical. My note 5 back case was replaced after a crack with a beautiful Sammie back. I have enjoyed looking at that visual Sammie goodness and not having to stare at big red's logo constantly.

Someone please educate me away from an unlocked beast

This wait is killing me - hurry up September 15th!

I prefer to have VoLTE so that is why I go with the branded.

Also there is no Verizon logo on the S8 and I believe that is the same with the Note 8.

 

[climb]

Two reasons why a carrier-specific phone might be better:

Proprietary features (Visual Voicemail [sometimes], WiFi Calling, advanced calling, etc) which are generally proprietary features added by the carriers to the firmware.



Band support.

The Verizon Note 8 will support these LTE bands: B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B13(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B26(800), B28(700), B38(2600), B39(1900), B40(2300), B41(2500)

The Unlocked Note 8 will support these: 4G FDD LTE: B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B17(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B25(1900), B26(800), B28(700), B29(700), B30(2300), B66(AWS-3)

(source https://www.techwalls.com/samsung-galaxy-note-8-sm-n950-model-number-differences/ )

The BOLD frequencies under "Verizon" are the ones that the Verizon model supports and the Unlocked will probably not. All of them are higher-frequency (lower range and inferior building penetration) bands, which means they will probably be used in urban areas where there is a lot of use of all of the bands they have licenses for already. So in all likelihood, you won't *need* those bands to get service. But if you do have them, you may get better service in a highly-saturated network situation where the other bands are clogged up with older phones.

Wow - very much appreciate your educational response

 

[L0n3N1nja]

When I worked for Verizon, I wasn't required to provide tech support to unlocked phones, and we couldn't put our insurance on them. Warranty couldn't be handled by Verizon either. These things matter to the average consumer, and much less to the tech elite who browse these forums.

Other than a few pre-installed apps for Verizons network that don't bother me personally, and the Verizon splash page when starting the phone, I see no downsides to buying from Verizon. The phones come unlocked, they don't even require you to have them paid off to get them active on another carrier. Last winter my S7 on a device payment plan had a T-mobile SIM in it running off T-Mobiles network because I wanted to give them and their unlimited data a try.

 

[amtrucker22]

Two reasons why a carrier-specific phone might be better:

Proprietary features (Visual Voicemail [sometimes], WiFi Calling, advanced calling, etc) which are generally proprietary features added by the carriers to the firmware.



Band support.

The Verizon Note 8 will support these LTE bands: B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B13(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B26(800), B28(700), B38(2600), B39(1900), B40(2300), B41(2500)

The Unlocked Note 8 will support these: 4G FDD LTE: B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B17(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B25(1900), B26(800), B28(700), B29(700), B30(2300), B66(AWS-3)

(source https://www.techwalls.com/samsung-galaxy-note-8-sm-n950-model-number-differences/ )

This is why I cancelled my Unlocked version and bought the Verizon version.