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Help Samsung S10 (G973U1) No 4G?

SimeITaly

SimeITaly

Lurker
So...long story (as much as I can make it) short:

Wanted an S10, could get it in Dubai the Exynos version for around 500bucks, decided instead to go all over to NJ (USA) and get it from a notorious chain store retailer (BB) spending 850 bucks total (including tax).

350bucks more than what I could have spent just to get my hands on the Snapdragon version...

...back in Dubai I plug my simcard in, turn it on, and bang: No damn 4G signal...it only goes LTE...

Now it is the phone for sure as my old S8 (which I still have) goes 4G+ (same phone carrier) without problems...and speed tests are obviously faster than this freaking LTE...

How in the world would they realize such a phone limiting it with just LTE connectivity? I really don't get it...I'm super duper disappointed (don't tell me LTE is the same as 4G as it is simply not the same).
 
I know you said not to say this, but LTE is 4G. UMTS, HSDPA and HSDPA+ are 3G, LTE and LTE-A are 4G. And how they are labelled depends on the manufacturer or carrier (my old HTC labelled all 4G as LTE, my current Pixel labels them all as 4G. Some US handsets label HSDPA+ as 4G too, thanks to the dishonesty of their carriers).

However, that doesn't mean you necessarily will get the same bands with a US handset. If you know which bands your carrier uses for its faster LTE (I assume you have LTE advanced, which is what you are calling 4G here) then you can see whether a US model supports those. Even more than other technologies 4G is a nightmare of many different bands used in different places, so always worth checking before importing phones.
 
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Hadron said:
LTE is 4G, and 4G is LTE (if we ignore a couple of US carriers who tried relabelling HSDPA+, a 3G technology, as 4G as a marketing stunt).

And I know you told us not to tell you this but I have to because it is simply the truth. If you are thinking of LTE-A (in the places where that's available) do you think the phone will label that differently? More likely that a US phone would label an advanced 3G technology as 4G than distinguish LTE variants.
Click to expand...

Ty for the prompt reply Hadron,

if what you saying is true then, why am I getting slower tests results on the s10 compared to my old S8? I don't get it..
 
G973U1 is definitely an unlocked North American Qualcomm Snapdragon variant S10. So you need to check that it's fully compatible with your whatever it is carrier in the UAE.
If it's showing "LTE"? Well LTE is a 4th generation mobile network technology, 4G.
 
Different carriers rely on different types of cellular networks, and the cellular radio chips inside our phones have to correspond directly with their respective cellular connections. There is no 'universal' phone that works with every carrier across the planet, it's just not a reality. As far as your S10, if there's a major speed difference than you're at least lucky 4G connectivity is working. Also, I don't know if carriers in Dubai are more compliant with the established, documented standards (ITU) for 4G but here in America the carriers ignore them and instead our 'dumbed-down' 4G is basically anything faster than 3G. So along with cellular network compatibility issues, it's also likely you're just seeing a typical quality of service difference between a U.S. carrier and your own local carrier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G
 
SimeITaly said:
Ty for the prompt reply Hadron,

if what you saying is true then, why am I getting slower tests results on the s10 compared to my old S8? I don't get it..
Click to expand...
As I said, your network may use a faster LTE variant in some frequency band that a US handset doesn't support.

A few minutes search will tell you what bands your carrier uses and which a US S10 and an EMEA S8 support, which may give you the answer.
 
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