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Help Unlocked and Developer HTC One M8 on AT&T LTE

grokr989

Well-Known Member
Nov 20, 2009
219
65
NJ
Hi,

I have placed an order for the unlocked M8 from the HTC website in the US. From what I have read it supports AT&Ts LTE band. But, I want to be sure before they ship it to me. Has anyone activated the developer or unlocked version on ATT and been able to use LTE? Was There anything special ATT needed to do? Were they willing to do it or give you any problems? I'm currently on Verizon but I need to port my number since Verizon coverage is horrible where I work, they have installed ATT repeaters in the building and others get great service.

Thanks.
 
Minus Sense? I thought the only one without Sense is the GPE. Right?


I love stock android, I really do, I've owned every nexus and just enjoy a clean android experience. However I must admit that sense 6 is not at all over bearing, I actually like it believe it or not. HTC has really done pretty good here in making it a bit flatter and not being so over drawn with the UI overlay as Samsung and LG are doing at the moment.

The GPE phones I'm just really not a fan of, they are basically the same hardware as the original with stock android, very different then a nexus. A nexus is hardware built around the software, a GPE is hardware that gets the software thrown on, very different. Which means in a GPE version of the M8 or GS5 you wont get any magic or pixydust from the manufacturer that may enhance the phone, meaning your getting a straight 4MP phone on the M8, no HTC hocus pocus enhancing the pics, pretty expensive tradeoff IMO.

But everything else as far as the carrier goes like SMS, calls, LTE, all that should work just fine. Only thing that doesn't really work right is MMS, because the phone is lacking the hardware to work 100% percent correct with the software and filtering and all that, pics that you send through MMS will come out blurry, no rhyme or reason but I dealt with it on both GPE editions of the M7 and GS4, maybe it was fixed these days, but that was issue for me last Spring.
 
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I love stock android, I really do, I've owned every nexus and just enjoy a clean android experience. However I must admit that sense 6 is not at all over bearing, I actually like it believe it or not. HTC has really done pretty good here in making it a bit flatter and not being so over drawn with the UI overlay as Samsung and LG are doing at the moment.

The GPE phones I'm just really not a fan of, they are basically the same hardware as the original with stock android, very different then a nexus. A nexus is hardware built around the software, a GPE is hardware that gets the software thrown on, very different. Which means in a GPE version of the M8 or GS5 you wont get any magic or pixydust from the manufacturer that may enhance the phone, meaning your getting a straight 4MP phone on the M8, no HTC hocus pocus enhancing the pics, pretty expensive tradeoff IMO.

But everything else as far as the carrier goes like SMS, calls, LTE, all that should work just fine. Only thing that doesn't really work right is MMS, because the phone is lacking the hardware to work 100% percent correct with the software and filtering and all that, pics that you send through MMS will come out blurry, no rhyme or reason but I dealt with it on both GPE editions of the M7 and GS4, maybe it was fixed these days, but that was issue for me last Spring.

Is the MMS issue only a problem on the unlocked/developer/GPE M7 or is it an issue on the carrier versions as well?
 
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Does the unlocked version of the M8 work on sprint?

Unfortunately no. It will not work on Sprint or Verizon. It doesn't have the CDMA bands necessary. The only unlocked phone I have found that will work on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint (Verizon won't allow it) plus most of the Pay as you go such as AIO, etc is the Nexus 5.
 
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Unfortunately no. It will not work on Sprint or Verizon. It doesn't have the CDMA bands necessary. The only unlocked phone I have found that will work on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint (Verizon won't allow it) plus most of the Pay as you go such as AIO, etc is the Nexus 5.

I read something the other day that gave me the impression that if you get a Verizon world phone, which is most or all of their current lte phones, that they will work on any network, cdma or gsm, US or outside US. Only catch is to verify band support, so you may or may not get lte, everything else should work. Well another catch, you have to get it unlocked too. Or maybe not - this says verizon phones that are bought outright are unlocked?

http://www.cnet.com/news/will-a-verizon-moto-x-really-work-on-at-t-and-t-mobile/

For the m8, check the table in this review that lists the supported bands. Someone smarter than me could say for sure, but it seems like the verizon m8 supports enough lte bands to get lte on any US network. Maybe not sprint, not sure.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7893/the-htc-one-m8-review
 
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I read something the other day that gave me the impression that if you get a Verizon world phone, which is most or all of their current lte phones, that they will work on any network, cdma or gsm, US or outside US. Only catch is to verify band support, so you may or may not get lte, everything else should work. Well another catch, you have to get it unlocked too. Or maybe not - this says verizon phones that are bought outright are unlocked?

Will a Verizon Moto X really work on AT&T and T-Mobile? - CNET

For the m8, check the table in this review that lists the supported bands. Someone smarter than me could say for sure, but it seems like the verizon m8 supports enough lte bands to get lte on any US network. Maybe not sprint, not sure.

AnandTech | The HTC One (M8) Review

Talking about two different things here. The question was would the Google Play Edition or Unlocked version work on Verizon and the answer is no. Neither will work on Sprint either because they don't include US compatible CDMA radios. Now going the other way, all US versions, when unlocked, will work overseas on at least 2G and 3G. Sprint version will not work on any other LTE here or overseas. The other versions your mileage may vary. I also vaguely remember reading that Verizon may be the only one that will connect to LTE overseas but don't quote me on that one. Now when you are talking about using an unlocked Verizon phone (which is harder to get done than you think in my experience), it should be compatible with all GSM networks here with HSPA+ up to 14.4 Mbps. Now it gets tricky when it comes to LTE; it comes with 700/AWS/1800/2600 MHz LTE. Technically some of these frequencies should work on T-Mobile and AT&T as well as Asia and Europe carriers but I am not entirely sure.
 
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Right, just adding discussion about another option. It's a little misleading since one would assume that getting an unlocked phone straight from the manufacturer would get you the widest compatibility, but it seems that's not the case.

Coincidentally,I learned a little bit about the subtle differences in the chipsets (for each carrier) from the AnandTECH link you provided.

THX! :)
 
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