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foreign 4g phone on sprint
- Thread starter inoh
- Start date
By foreign, I assume you mean Korea which uses 4G. I don't think it would work on Sprints network though. Different frequencies if I am not mistaken.
TS
TS
I currently have an Epic. It is a very capable phone, but here in the U.S. Samsung is just as proprietary and Apple. This phone kills the 3GS hands down. But its full of glitches that Samsung is never going to fix and doesn't utilize the full functionality of the hardware.
I am looking into phones (must be a 4G CDMA) from overseas. So what I've gathered so far it must be able to use the same frequency and CDMA.
I hear there are some good phone available in the UK and Russia.
I am looking into phones (must be a 4G CDMA) from overseas. So what I've gathered so far it must be able to use the same frequency and CDMA.
I hear there are some good phone available in the UK and Russia.
if you look at this table, it shows which countries have 4G (or 3.9 3G) systems. So far its only Australia (VividWireless), Japan (UQ Ciommunications), South Korea (SK Telecom/Bell), Norway (Samsung/TeliaSonera), Russia (Yota), Sweden (Samsung/TeliaSonera), Taiwan, and US (Sprint Clearwire).
What I can't tell is if a device from any one of those countries will work on the Sprint network. Something tells me it won't.
TS
What I can't tell is if a device from any one of those countries will work on the Sprint network. Something tells me it won't.
TS
Simple answer, no. It will not work. Sorry.
gilbequick
Well-Known Member
Care to elaborate?
gilbequick
Well-Known Member
Is it just a frequency issue or something else?
1.) Must be FCC certified. Not going to happen. 2.) Must use the same frequencies as sprint and wimax. 3.) Must have the same radio ID as current and supported models. 4.) Must run current and proprietary software. 5.) Must have support firmware. 6.) Must be added to sprints cdma library. (Or partnered program) 7.) Must be added to clearware wimax library. (This is hard with current phones sold in the united states) You are simply not going to find a phone in the world that meets all requirements to be on the sprint network and find it outside the united states. The only wimax phones that can be used in the united states is ones sold in the united states. It will be several years before we can expand the usage to other countries. Wibro phones do not have the firmware nor hardware to run on a wimax system. Not currently, maybe in the future when the fcc gets the frequencies straighten out.
AndroidSPCS
Android Expert
Exactly. Verizon has the same policy with their phones as well.
It would be nice to have legislation that requires carriers to accept all valid phones that are compatible with their network...
Imagine using a Droid X on a Sprint network LOL!!!
silencer271
Well-Known Member
so you'd have a Motorola evo then. lol
Even though that would seem like a good idea, define compatible. The reason that simless cards where made popular, is to reduce the amount of phone the company had to support. In the perfect world... With simed phones, you send the customer to the phone manufacture which requires the customer to play the middle. Is it a network problem or a phone problem? Ask any iphone user how this feels. Apple tells it them it is att network, att tells them it is apples problem. The customer has to jump back and forth between the two companies until they get tired. Hence why simless phone where invented. With simless phone, the telephone company offers the support with both the phone and the service. So you only have to deal with one company to fix your issues. Now if you say they have to support all phone that could in theory work on their network, then they should just go back to cdma sim cards and play the same game as gsm folks do. Simless phones where suppose to increase customer happiness, which it has by a long shot.
AndroidSPCS
Android Expert
Europe already does this, there are no carrier locks.
They don't have the issues we do.
The issues you bring up are probably non-issues, especially since Europe has this model in place already.
In America, phone companies push to have their profits secured. They make money off selling phones and locking people into contracts. MetroPCS tried a flashing program, and they got sued.
The two major GSM carriers use different 3G frequencies in order to prevent a phone from one company from being used on the other's network. It is still possible to access the other carrier's EDGE network, but no 3G deters people.
The two major GSM carriers use different 3G frequencies in order to prevent a phone from one company from being used on the other's network. It is still possible to access the other carrier's EDGE network, but no 3G deters people.
To be honest with you, they do have a problem with it. A big problem.
1.) They have profit problems, unfortunately, the usa model makes more profit, which is why we have have wimax and lte launching now, and most of Europe is trying to figure out what bandwidth and who pays for it.
2.) Security. GSM is about as secure as macs are. They run around saying that it is 100% safe, but is always hacked. It takes about 200 dollars with of equipment and, it is humored, people can clone your sim from 400 feet away. then can use your connection for anything they want to. Who are they going to arrest, them or you?
3.) Anonymity. GSM allows people to make calls from anywhere, using any device. This creates a problem with governments and police. Sept 11th, mumbai, and the dozen or so terrorist attack that happen daily, happen because of the anonymity of gsm, simed phones. Tracking, tracing, and shutting terror networks require one account, one phone system.
4.) Speed. GSM is incredibility efficient at delivering data.
5.) Interference. GSM is susceptible to heavy interference. CDMA, WIFI, bluetooth, wimax, lte, RF, IR, power cables, and even satellite interfere with gsm. Which is why att has the same number of towers of verizon, in any given area, there is less reception.
GSM as a technology is going to be reduced in size because of limitation of it and do to terrorist sim cards are going to have to be replaced to.
AndroidSPCS
Android Expert
True, none of these problems are directly related to the notion of carrier-free phones.
In terms of profit, that is a problem of business, not one of users. I don't even understand why we as consumers even need to worry about that. Europe is moving to LTE but we here in the US are even worse with the Wimax vs LTE debate, similar to Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD..
You just keep trying and you just dig yourself in deeper. 1.) It is never wimax vs. lte, no more then it ever was wifi vs cdma/gsm 2.) Your blu-ray remark shows you know very little about the technology. 3.) And you biggest failure, Europe is not moving to lte any more then anyone else. In fact, wimax has the largest base in europe, russia, india and china. But you where soo close, I will give you that. In europe, it will matter very little which you choose all phones will support both formats and both formats will use the same bandwidth. If you buy a phone in europe now, it has wifi and gsm. In the near future it will have wimax and lte. But hell, I am only leaving the usa next year to head to europe to help build the damn thing out, what the hell do I know?
AndroidSPCS
Android Expert
Ok you win. I only lived in Europe for a year, what do I know...
Oh you do, great, tell me how many wimax companies are there in europe right now? Please? How many are currently deploying lte in europe. Here is a hint, I will be leaving to europe to help build out lte.
Lol. Bookmark this post, verizon will offer both lte and wimax by the end of 2013. You have no idea what you are talking about. Yes, sprint should offer lte, but wimax is going no where. To make such a claim is like saying lte is going to crush wifi. Lte is an upgrade of 3g, wimax is an upgrade of wifi.
WiMax is dead. Nobody else is adopting it. Verizon is going all-in on LTE and won't bother with WiMax. Hey, Beta was superior to VHS, but which one ended up the standard?
The other three Tier 1 carriers in the US are going LTE. Sprint will announce their transition to LTE in mid to late 2011 and begin deployment in 2012. I'm inside on this news, having had a conversation with someone on New Year's who had a few cocktails and spoke out of turn. He's been building out WiMax and has been told to prepare for LTE.
The other three Tier 1 carriers in the US are going LTE. Sprint will announce their transition to LTE in mid to late 2011 and begin deployment in 2012. I'm inside on this news, having had a conversation with someone on New Year's who had a few cocktails and spoke out of turn. He's been building out WiMax and has been told to prepare for LTE.
It may sound lime I'm just some random douchebag, making stuff up and posting it, but I believe my source. He's been spot-on with some other details and never bs'd me. When he doesn't know something he says so. But he knows network plans from the inside.
As always, it's up to everyone to decide to believe this or not. But that won't change the fact that WiMax is on the way out (already!) and LTE is soon to be on the way in.
As always, it's up to everyone to decide to believe this or not. But that won't change the fact that WiMax is on the way out (already!) and LTE is soon to be on the way in.
I am my source. Sprint will not give up on wimax, it would completely insane for them to do so. That would be like you saying, I am going to give up my car and pay take a taxi to work every morning. Oh sure it will cost thousands of dollars a month to do it that way, but I am tired of my brand new car and what I need is to shuffle myself into a taxi.
But ignoring that. Sprint gets a free ride on the wimax network, because comcast, google, time warner, samsang, and more then 30 other tv companies want to use it for high speed wireless signal. Now why would they walk away from a partnership that has more then 131 tv, interent, and tech companies building out a network anyway? You source does not understand the problem. Wimax will have to backhaul lte. There is not enough bandwidth for lte to do it. Lte does not have the protocols for backhauling and using fiber is going to cost 1,000,000 dollars per mile. So I wonder what lte is going to use to back haul all the towers. HMMMM...oh what everyone is already using wimax.
I could go on and on, but I will not. Please just search it out your self.
You seriously come in here and act like only sprint is rolling out wimax. You really have not clue what wimax is and why it is not going against lte. Lte is made to control all of your phone, voice, data, and texting will be rolled into one product and shipped to you. Wimax is an upgrade to wifi, so internet companies like comcast can offer wifi to cities. Will sprint offer lte in the future, only after they can make a swap to get around the hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees.
Once lte-a fires up, verizon will have to back haul with wimax. Then sprint can force lte down to reasonable fares and start to offer wimax/lte products. But if they decide to switch now, it would be hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not tens of millions of dollars, wasted on a technology that will not be ready until 2016 at the earliest. They will have to pay verizon millions a month to use it, and be actually slower then wimax is today. The version of lte that is being released now is just hspa+. Once it starts to get used, you will see the speed fold down just like hspa+ does.
But dont believe me, do the research, read the papers.