[Q] Note 3 most Inter-operable with other networks - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey all,
I have tried searching the internet exhaustively to find an answer to this question, but cant seen to get an answer.
I am currently a T-Mobile user, but am thinking of switching over to Verizon for better coverage while traveling in the US. I would like to purchase a used note 3, and don't know which of the variants is going to be best for me. I know that there are many variants including n900t, n900v, n900a, n9000, and n9005.
I have found a pretty good comparison of the frequencies here: http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3/313564-unlocked-t-mobile-version-most-inter-operable-other-networks.html.
But this does not answer my question. I understand that if I get the N900T, it will not have the ability to get the LTE Band 13 700 MHz frequency. But how much of verizons towers operate on this frequency as opposed to the other ones that the N900T can operate on?
In other word, between all of these models, which is the most inter-operable with BOTH T-Mobile and Verizon?

You cannot use a gsm phone on a cdma carrier.
The SM-N900T is a tmobile 4g/LTE GSM phone with an unlocked bootloader.
The SM-N900A is an AT&T 4g/LTE GSM phone with a locked bootloader.
The SM-N9005 is an international 4g/LTE GSM phone with an unlocked bootloader.
The SM-N900 is an international gsm 3g only phone (exynos based) with an unlocked bootloader.
The SM-N900V is a Verizon 4g/LTE CDMA/GSM phone with a LOCKED bootloader. (Same as the SM-N900P but with sprint)
In the US, T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, whereas Verizon is a CDMA carrier that uses gsm for LTE ONLY.
The only model that will work on both Verizon and T-Mobile is the SM-N900V, but you'll have to unlock it, and the bootloader is locked, so no tinkering outside of rooting.
Sent from my leanKernel 3.4 powered stock 4.4.2 (NF1) SM-N900T

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i337 works with AWS (TMOBILE, WIND, MOBILICITY )?

I'm surprised it hasn't been brought up to attention yet, but is it possible for the i337 to work on AWS band?
The reason I'm asking this is because I've found services through kijiji to modify the i337m (Canadian version) to work with WIND and MOBILICITY.
mod edit: advertising paid services is not allowed
I highly doubt those people will tell you exactly how to mod it and I don't have a S4 yet but maybe it's the same method use to mod the gnote 2.
I'm really hoping someone could try it out and see what happens, maybe even with a tutorial if it's successful.
I have seen this ad as well. I have galaxy s4 from Bell (SGH i337m). I have tried the Note 2 method but that does not work on it. There must be a new trick which someone has figured out but they are using it commercially.
the only carrier that has both aws and regular 2600mhz lte is rogers (at least in canada) and they are rebranding it to lte max
http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/05/02/rogers-launches-lte-max/
and yes, the gs4 does switch between 1700-2100 and 2600 bands and its the only phone to do it
polish_pat said:
the only carrier that has both aws and regular 2600mhz lte is rogers (at least in canada) and they are rebranding it to lte max
http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/05/02/rogers-launches-lte-max/
and yes, the gs4 does switch between 1700-2100 and 2600 bands and its the only phone to do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone in the T-Mobile S4 forum claims that the T-Mobile S4 will do it as well.
polish_pat said:
the only carrier that has both aws and regular 2600mhz lte is rogers (at least in canada) and they are rebranding it to lte max
http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/05/02/rogers-launches-lte-max/
and yes, the gs4 does switch between 1700-2100 and 2600 bands and its the only phone to do it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bell and Rogers will both carry the i337m model so I guess it won't make a difference either way if the phone is unlocked.
But what do you mean it can switch between 1700-2100? I didn't think aws is a original supported banned for the i337.
Originally they are able to switch between LTE Aws 1700/2100 and 2600 but the HSPA 1700/2100 is disabled in software of SGH i337 and 337m. We are talking about Kijiji ads where people are able to sim unlock and enable Hspa 1700/2100 on these phones.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
killer8297 said:
Bell and Rogers will both carry the i337m model so I guess it won't make a difference either way if the phone is unlocked.
But what do you mean it can switch between 1700-2100? I didn't think aws is a original supported banned for the i337.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1700 and 2100mhz are the regular LTE bands, maximum theoretical speeds of 75 and 100mb/s respectively. 2600mhz is AWS, aka Rogers' LTE Max which has 150mb/s. As of now, the only carrier in Canada to have AWS is Rogers and in the US, T-Mobile seems to have it and verizon are planning for it sometime this year, AT&T seem to have it too but at 2300mhz, i'm not sure why tho. The GS4 can switch between AWS and LTE, which also mean that it will be doing that when the 700mhz spectrum war will be over. And the 700mhz war is probbaly the most important technological advance for the mobile industry as that frequency can go through very thick walls other material that greatly diminishes current LTE bands.
MY I337 does not work on T-Mobile 3G/4G only get EDGE.
Has there been any way to enable aws bands like on the note 2
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
wait for a canadien modem to be a flashable zip
I see
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
hyelton said:
MY I337 does not work on T-Mobile 3G/4G only get EDGE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because AT&T's S4 doesn't support those other bands. It has been reported that T-mobiles S4 does plus it also works on AT&T's network (LTE included).
scott14719 said:
That's because AT&T's S4 doesn't support those other bands. It has been reported that T-mobiles S4 does plus it also works on AT&T's network (LTE included).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know it doesn't have it out of the box but does it have hardware for aws to be enabled
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
dkotoric said:
Yes I know it doesn't have it out of the box but does it have hardware for aws to be enabled
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im pretty sure it does, it would be less expensive for samsung to disable the AWS bands by software then to create a new motherboard with other hardware that doesnt support it. I'm ready to bid 100$ that it has the hardware for it, just not active
Just to clarify some of the incorrect info / misunderstandings here:
The S3 and Note 2 (ATT / Rogers / Bell / TELUS variants) had a Qualcomm tweak that enabled AWS HSPA so that the hardware would work on T-Mobile / WIND / Mobilicity.
The question is if a similar tweak will work on the I337/M (ATT / Rogers / Bell / TELUS variants). I am curious because when I travel to the US, I use T-Mobile.
From what I read, out of the box, the T-Mobile variant of the S4 will work on all the carriers, but the ATT variant will not (like the S3 / Note 2 before it, a tweak is required).
polish_pat said:
wait for a canadien modem to be a flashable zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope it's not going to be the quality as the original gnote note, i717.
WorldIRC said:
Just to clarify some of the incorrect info / misunderstandings here:
The S3 and Note 2 (ATT / Rogers / Bell / TELUS variants) had a Qualcomm tweak that enabled AWS HSPA so that the hardware would work on T-Mobile / WIND / Mobilicity.
The question is if a similar tweak will work on the I337/M (ATT / Rogers / Bell / TELUS variants). I am curious because when I travel to the US, I use T-Mobile.
From what I read, out of the box, the T-Mobile variant of the S4 will work on all the carriers, but the ATT variant will not (like the S3 / Note 2 before it, a tweak is required).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ive come to realize with the s4 that att and perhaps other us carriers are plain simple assholes. Sure, you might have a 2 year contract when us canadiens have 3 years contracts, but at least we have unlocked bootloaders, we can use hotspotting without carriers shutting us down, we dont have throttling and we have the 50gb dropbox offer regardless if our carrier has its own cloud storage.
polish_pat said:
ive come to realize with the s4 that att and perhaps other us carriers are plain simple assholes. Sure, you might have a 2 year contract when us canadiens have 3 years contracts, but at least we have unlocked bootloaders, we can use hotspotting without carriers shutting us down, we dont have throttling and we have the 50gb dropbox offer regardless if our carrier has its own cloud storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our rates are cheaper now anyways. Our $65-$85 plans in Canada are $120 in the US. But back on topic...
Is our bootloader I337M for sure unlocked? Are you sure?
WorldIRC said:
Our rates are cheaper now anyways. Our $65-$85 plans in Canada are $120 in the US. But back on topic...
Is our bootloader I337M for sure unlocked? Are you sure?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100%, there are many many people in the forum that have the canadian variant and are running a custom recovery. I would do it, but i wont touch any rooting or recovery until an OTA come and fixes the lag issues
Sorry guys but I do not exactly understand if the S4 can work on Wind Mobile or not?
I have a Nexus 4 which I want to sell (tired of terrible battery life with an average camera) and I want to buy the Rogers S4. If I were to unlock the S4 can it run on Wind Mobile 3G?
Thanks in advance.

[Q] AT&T Note 3 unlocked to use on tmobile aws bands

I know the AT&T note 2 and att galaxy s4 were unlocked to utilize tmobile's aws bands. I checked the specs of the AT&T note3 and it appears that technically that it can access those tmobile aws bands. Can somebody let me know if I buy an AT&T note 3, will I for certain in the future be able to access those tmobile aws bands if I install the correct baseband? Are there people working on this unlock?

No compatibility between Verizon Carrier and SM-N900W8

As far as I know, Verizon is using the N900V on their network which requires CDMA band.
I bought a SM-N900W8 from Telus Canada and after having it unlocked, I was unable to have it registered under my Verizon account.
So, not wanting to pay the outragious roaming price that we have from our greedy Canadian Carriers, I purchased an AT&T Pay as you GO sim card.
TaDa!!!!
This is due to the use by Verizon of CDMA band which isn't supported by most Canadian Cellphone that requires at least WCDMA OR LTE/GSM Band.
So, if you're planning to travel the USA and are looking to get an American SIM Card, most likely, verizon will not be an option for you (they're expensive anyway)
AT & T and T - mobile supports the GSM as far as I know.
??

Which Note 3 would work on MetroPCS?

Which variant should I get to operate on MetroPCS?
Right now, I have a Galaxy S4 SGH-i337 AT&T unit. It would only pick up Edge on MetroPCS (we're running on T-Mo's towers, of course). I had to use QPST to unlock the AWS 1700 band so I could pick up 4G in my area. Works fine now.
I am told that as of now, unlocking AWS is NOT possible on the Note 3, so basically I can only pick up whatever bands the phone can get, out of the box.
When buying the Note 3, I should get the T-Mobile variant [SM-N900T] correct?
A seller from Craigslist has a Factory Unlocked SM-N900T, but he told me that I should NOT buy it because it will not work on MetroPCS. So I am confused. But I figure if I buy the AT&T variant, I'll be stuck on Edge again with no way to unlock AWS 1700.
Advice, please?

Factory Unlocked Note 3? Is it truly?

Im finding out that having an unlocked android phone is better than having a branded one that you are stuck with which is why I plan on getting a Factory unlocked Note 3, but, I have some issues that I cannot seem to figure out. To me, factory unlocked on a device means unlocked for use with any carrier AND no carrier branding on or in the device, which is exactly the kind of Note 3 im looking for, but having a hard time finding it. Dose anyone know what model note 3 is truly factory unlocked, no carrier branding??
1. SM-N9000 3G = International/Made for Travelers: This is the international model. This one has a dual quad core processor running at 1.9 GHz Cortex/1.3 GHz A7. The reason for the processor being change is because this phone is meant to work everywhere their is a GSM signal and kicks threw the different processors to maximize signal strength. The N9000 CAN NOT to 4G speeds of any kind. This is due to most country not having 4G signal and that a lot of county's run on different cell frequencies. By removing the 4G radios this phone can pick up way more cell frequencies then the other models. This phone is not made for people looking for Data speed this is made for travelers whom want a reliable way to have cell service no matter where they are. Don't despair about the data or processing speed this phone still has Wi-Fi connection available and can breeze though 3D games; you shouldn't even notice a speed difference when doing tasks.
2. SM-N9005 4G LTE = European Model/International: This model contains the regular 2.3 GHz Snapdragon Processor. This phone unless unlocked is Region locked to only European SIM cards, after unlocked their is no region lock. Although this phone is an LTE phone it can only get LTE frequencies while in Europe. When you take this phone out of Europe it will get international signals but will not get LTE, when this phone is in the USA is will get H+ (Reference above) signal maximum.
3. SM-N9002 3G = China Model/Select Counties: This model is not LTE or 4G compatible. This was the First generation of the Note 3 released and is considered the Beta. With all the same hardware as the LTE version this phone will still preform flawless tasks.
4. SM-N900W8 4G LTE = China Model/Select Counties: This model will only get LTE in select counties and I advise you check with your service provider to see what signal you will be getting. This model is completely subjective as to what frequencies of LTE you will be about to get. Example: Imagine you are in Europe and you are in a city and get LTE. Then you move to another city and you lose LTE this is because the first city runs on an LTE frequency the the phone can get but the second city although may offer LTE to most cell phone; does not offer LTE on a frequency this phone can't run on.
5. SM-N900A 4G LTE = USA AT&T/Worldwide: This phone is International but you need to consult AT&T to see if you city or county can get LTE service or not. This phone once unlocked will work on Straight Talk, Solavei, T-Mobile, and any other GSM based network. Note: When using T-Moble, Solavei, or other services that piggy-back on the T-Mobile towers you can get LTE service but depending on your area you may not get 3G. If you live in a 3G area consult your carrier to see is the frequencies for 3G match up with this phone. (This review for the AT&T model can change at anytime due to AT&T's bootloader)
6. SM-N900T 4G LTE = USA T-Mobile: This phone when unlocked can get all USA frequencies. Example: You will have no problems using a AT&T SIM card with this phone and even get 4G LTE threw any service whom provides is. The N900T model is the most versatile model out of them all and if you plan on getting one I recommend going to a T-Mobile store and purchasing this model outright. Unlocking this phone is easily done threw calling T-Mobile and even using YouTube for an unlocking video.
micxploed said:
...
6. SM-N900T 4G LTE = USA T-Mobile: This phone when unlocked can get all USA frequencies ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify - N900T can NOT get LTE from Sprint or Verizon.
micxploed said:
...
SM-N900W8 4G LTE = China Model/Select Counties
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
W8 is mostly used by some major Canadian companies and Telcel in Mexico.
First of all there are more models: Sprint and Verizon come to mind just for US market. Second of all, as far as I know all US models are carrier locked, some are easier to unlock than others but still. Third of all, my t-mobile phone had 18 entries under region lock, so I think it had been region locked at least in some places, easy to fix with region unlock, never the less not really factory unlocked. Only few markets get phones without region lock (China is one of them), but the biggest issue IMO is frequencies. It doesn't matter if your phone is locked or not, if you don't match all frequencies for all the places you'll be using it, it will fail sometimes and since no model has all frequencies, you have to go case by case, there is no best phone for all. For example above mentioned t-mo will not work on Verizon or Sprint at all, where Verizon and Sprint phones will work, at least on some T-mo towers.
Best version for AT&T?
Would then the "best" (allow custom ROMS) version for AT&T be SM-N900A ?
I've decided to jump fully over to Android and would like to get a Note 3.
Really trying not to ask a question that has already been asked, however, I'm having a hard time figuring out which version to purchase.
Thanks!

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