Will Unlocked S8 Work Prefectly on AT&T?

[richv77]

I am thinking of waiting for Bestbuy to sell the Unlocked version of the S8.
I wonder if the unlocked version will receive faster updates from Samsung and if it will have all of the necessary LTE bands for AT&T?

Thanks for your comments.

-Rich

 

[daddyd302]

I am thinking of waiting for Bestbuy to sell the Unlocked version of the S8.
I wonder if the unlocked version will receive faster updates from Samsung and if it will have all of the necessary LTE bands for AT&T?

Thanks for your comments.

-Rich

Samsung's unlocked phones usually get their updates last. Carriers get theirs first, T-mobile is more often the first.

 

[LineKill]

You shouldn't buy an unlocked phone based on updates. Samsung has been really behind in updating the US unlocked S7/S7 edge.

 

[jiovine]

AT&T, currently, will not support VoLTE, HD Voice or WiFi calling on Non-AT&T branded devices. This is a pretty well known. So, it will work but you won't get all the features available to AT&T S8. I've heard that T-Mobile is a little more forgiving and supports WiFi calling on some Non-Tmobile devices. If those features don't matter to you, then you should be fine on AT&T.

 

[jcp007]

I could be wrong but if the device name has a "U" which is for the US, it should have all bands for all carriers onboard. Samsung no longer creates a device by US carrier. Otherwise, those of us who purchased an AT&T GS8 would have had an "A" in the device name.

 

[dpham00]

Will Unlocked S8 Work Prefectly on AT&T?

I could be wrong but if the device name has a "U" which is for the US, it should have all bands for all carriers onboard. Samsung no longer creates a device by US carrier. Otherwise, those of us who purchased an AT&T GS8 would have had an "A" in the device name.

All USA phones have the U at the end and hardware wise they are the same. Software wise though they are not. You won't get all the bands or all features unless you have the software for the specific carrier.


I tried my Verizon s8 with a T-Mobile sim, and never got volte or band 12. I also got the persistent non Verizon sim message though that can be disabled with pdp

The other issue is updates... You won't get updates on the Verizon s8 without a Verizon sim installed. Unlocked though comes from Samsung so you would be OK there, though potentially delayed over carrier variants

 

[richv77]

You shouldn't buy an unlocked phone based on updates. Samsung has been really behind in updating the US unlocked S7/S7 edge.

Thanks to all for your comments.

I will probably buy the AT&T version.
I noticed that Bestbuy is selling the Unlocked version for $724.99 which is $25 cheaper than the AT&T version.

-Rich