• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

t-mobile band compatibility question

N

ninteck

Lurker
So I have a slight understanding of bands and frequencies but I'd like the opinion on more knowledgeable people:

Basically, theres a bunch of new, unlocked gsm moto x's on ebay that is significantly cheaper than getting it straight from motorola (especially not paying tax).

They seem to be all from puerto rico.

If I buy one, put in a US T-Mobile sim card, will I get full LTE or HSDPA or what ever. I just want fast!

Do the radios on these phones differ from country to country?

Claro is the cell carrer in Puerto Rico that I'm assuming people are getting these phones from and from Claro's website, here's specs for the moto x:

GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 MHz, LTE 700Mhz

I don't see 1700.

Anything else I should be wary of when buying a phone to bring in to a carrier myself, especially made for another country and carrier?

Thanks!

EDIT:
Got some good info from a thread at XDA forums.

There's different model versions for the Moto X:

XT1058 (made for ATT) will get T-Mobile 2G and LTE. It will not get 3G/H+ UNLESS in a refarm zone.
XT1053 (made for T-Mobile) will work 100% with all of T-mobiles bands, refarm or not plus 100% of ATT.

The XT1058 is what seems to be the ones popping up on ebay from Puerto Rico.
 
I've moved this to the T-Mobile forum for more specific answers.

To answer your question, it looks like it would get 2g data with voice and texting service, but it doesn't support any of T-Mobile's 3g or 4g frequencies. If you planned to use it on T-Mobile, I would avoid. Might be fine for AT&T since it seems to suppor their frequencies without issues. Though I'm not sure how specific that 700 MHz LTE frequency is.
 
Thanks jhawk! I also updated my original post with some info I got from XDA forums.
I'll probably go with peace of mind and get it through moto specifically for t-mobile...
 
ninteck said:
Thanks jhawk! I also updated my original post with some info I got from XDA forums.
I'll probably go with peace of mind and get it through moto specifically for t-mobile...
Click to expand...

Yeah, not to mention the bootloader is unlockable on the T-Mobile version through their dev web site while the AT&T's isn't supported by it.
 
@ninteck - I had (T-Mo) LTE all over PR when I visited back in August. All over Condado, Viejo San Juan, Fajardo, etc..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom