Should I get Sony xperia z3 D6603 or wait for the US version?

[DavidNCali]

A guy is selling me a factory unlocked D6603 with bundled up accessories including screen protectors, book case, phone case, micro usb and micro usb to magentic adapter, UK wall outlet adapter with original BOX and sealed accesories on EBAY. He only used it for a couple of hours and decided to sell it because the phone is too big for him (he's getting a z3 compact). He originally bought the phone from the UK for approximately 720 dollars, and instead of returning it and wait for a refund, he decided to cut his LOSS and sell it in the US.. I negotiate the price down to $625 because it's my birthday lol. He also mentioned that the D6603 only shows 4g in his area at Las Vegas but in the settings it shows LTE and running on Band 4. I'm not sure what to think of this because I really like the 4glte logo on my notification bar.

Question should I purchased the D6603 or wait for the US version from T-mobile?

D6603: Includes Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 20) no wifi calling, does not use include band 12 and only 16gb of storage. Not branded..

D6616 from T-mobile - (Bands 2, 4, 12) Wifi calling and has 32gb of storage. Branded.

If anybody has an ideal price for the T-mobile version please reply below... Because I have until Sunday before he re-list the item to a buy it now price on eBay.

 

[oleb84]

Tried and tested: if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

I personally do not believe for a second he would rather sell it on eBay than get a store refund.

 

[Sango]

I'm a bit confused of about the 4G showing in some areas while you said it does LTE.

That's actually not the case. Depending on the firmware customization, it would either show 4G or LTE, but not both. If I recall, I think the UK rom does show 4G. It's only if you flash your phone to a different country ftf, which has LTE icon, it will show LTE.

D6603 is a good option. An alternative would be the D6603 which is Dual SIM. I personally have the Dual SIM because I have a provider in both Canada and US.

 

[DavidLuvLB]

Tried and tested: if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

I personally do not believe for a second he would rather sell it on eBay than get a store refund.

I believe it. I'm an ebay seller and to be honest, I have most buyers who scam me than sellers.. I believe he didn't want to return it because he doesn't want to deal with international shipping. Unfortunately it's my loss because I waited too long to pay him. Now he had second thoughts and told me that he did a lot off thinking and its better for him to return to the actual seller. Reason being is because ebay/paypal will take a chunk load of fees and he has to pay for shipping. His bundled up accessories is nice too.. Had basically all the accessories and case that I would buy. The seller even apologized to me... I look at his feedbacks, and it seems he buy a lot of international factory unlocked phones tested, probably don't like it and resell it on ebay to cut his loss.. Oh well, I'll just wait for T-mobile version.. It's better since they offer a 32gb and band 12 network.

 

[DavidLuvLB]

I'm a bit confused of about the 4G showing in some areas while you said it does LTE.

That's actually not the case. Depending on the firmware customization, it would either show 4G or LTE, but not both. If I recall, I think the UK rom does show 4G. It's only if you flash your phone to a different country ftf, which has LTE icon, it will show LTE.

D6603 is a good option. An alternative would be the D6603 which is Dual SIM. I personally have the Dual SIM because I have a provider in both Canada and US.

I have the original z, and the network on the notification bar shows 4gLTE. But if I were to be in an area with weak lte, it will sometime switch to 4g but the speed is really bad (almost like 2g). When I messaged him and asked how's the lte signal for this model? He said it was great, but it doesn't say 4gLTE, it only shows 4g, but he confirmed it is running on T-mobile 4gLTE band 4 network.

 

[Sango]

I have the original z, and the network on the notification bar shows 4gLTE. But if I were to be in an area with weak lte, it will sometime switch to 4g but the speed is really bad (almost like 2g). When I messaged him and asked how's the lte signal for this model? He said it was great, but it doesn't say 4gLTE, it only shows 4g, but he confirmed it is running on T-mobile 4gLTE band 4 network.

This definitely confirms that this is a country firmware customization which has those icons are different per the region. The branded ones even get more confusing.

Since it's UK, they use 4G icon over there instead of LTE.

Your original Z seems to have branded firmware of the 4G LTE and 4G. This sounds the T-Mobile branded one which confuses people.

4G LTE = LTE
4G = HPSA/HPSA+
3G = 3G
2G = Edge
G = G

 

[mush10]

My D6603 uses the following.

4G - LTE
H+ - HSPA+
H - HSPA

Or something to that effect. I am using it on AT&T.

 

[DavidLuvLB]

T-mobile just came out with the phone.. 630 dollars with 32gb running on band 2, 4 and 17... The rumors of it offering Band 12 is a no go. I really wanted the D6603 with the sealed accessories oh well.. I'll just wait for the z4... How's your phone? You like it?

 

[DavidNCali]

This definitely confirms that this is a country firmware customization which has those icons are different per the region. The branded ones even get more confusing.

Since it's UK, they use 4G icon over there instead of LTE.

Your original Z seems to have branded firmware of the 4G LTE and 4G. This sounds the T-Mobile branded one which confuses people.

4G LTE = LTE
4G = HPSA/HPSA+
3G = 3G
2G = Edge
G = G

Yeah.. 4GLTE looks something like this on my phone.. That way I know when I'm receiving actual LTE or just plain 4g. When my phone says 4g the speed is very BAD.. Luckily I'm in an area that has LTE almost everywhere.

 

[Sango]

T-mobile just came out with the phone.. 630 dollars with 32gb running on band 2, 4 and 17... The rumors of it offering Band 12 is a no go...

It does have LTE Band 13 for the T-Mobile version. If you want global support and don't really mind of the bells and whistles only for T-Mobile, the D6603 or D6633 is the way to go.

Yeah.. 4GLTE looks something like this on my phone.. That way I know when I'm receiving actual LTE or just plain 4g. When my phone says 4g the speed is very BAD.. Luckily I'm in an area that has LTE almost everywhere.

Getting HPSA/HPSA+ speeds isn't bad at all as it's still pretty fast. Since LTE is still growing, there will be some areas where the carrier needs to upgrade their towers to have LTE.

What I would say is bad is carriers use of the 4G icon which makes people to think it's on LTE when it's connected to HPSA/HPSA+, also known as 3.5G.

Note, I said just T-Mobile, but it also looks like other carriers does it for their branded phones too in general, so it is misleading when HPSA/HPSA+ is labeled as 4G.

 

[oleb84]

This is what mine does in the uk

 

[oleb84]

My D6603 uses the following.

4G - LTE
H+ - HSPA+
H - HSPA

Or something to that effect. I am using it on AT&T.

This is what mine does in the uk

 

[Sango]

Looks like D6633 maybe coming to North America. See attached. I downloaded the firmware and will flash to it.