Phones from oversea?

Hello Bottest welcome to AF.

With the exception of the OnePlus, these are all phones that are only available in Asia mostly. If you buy a OnePlus from oneplus.net, that will be OK for US carriers like ATT. Thing with the Huawei Honor 3c is that it doesn't have the US 3G & 4G cellular bands. Same thing goes for many Chinese phones that are mainly sold in Asia, such as Xiaomi. I know some Huaweis are available Stateside, like the Ascends, and do work fine with US carriers. The Honor 3c is actually a rather basic phone, nothing special at all.

I'm in China and so all those phones like Xiaomis are an everyday thing, and only a very few Chinese phones that really interest me. One that is coming out very shortly and do find interesting and might consider is the Oppo N3.
http://www.oppoforums.com/threads/oppo-n3-launch-event.21594/
"Confirmed specs include
5.5inch Full Hd screen
16MP, 1/2.3 inch sensor size, motorized swivel camera with OPTICAL Image Stabilization and Dual tone led flash for more natural colors.
206 degree swivel and the motor speed can be controlled. The camera rotation can also be controlled via on screen gestures
Snapdragon 805 @ 2.5ghz / there are also some reports that it might actually be a 801 processor on weibo
3GB ram
32GB of internal storage (unsure if unified)
Fingerprint scanner
VOOC charger 2nd gen which is a smaller charger block instead of the bulky one with the find 7
A new heat dissipation system called the ice nest (direct translation) which should help alot with gaming.
Global 4G LTE availability, hardware support for all lte bands (similar to what zte did with the nubia z5s.)
Aircraft grade metal body
Android 4.4.4"

 

You forgot the Oppo. Works with GSM. I have the 7 and I like it very much.

 

The Find 7 is a very good phone, I have one myself. There's a specific US version of it, so carriers and 3G, 4G service is not a problem. It's high specced, the camera is very nice, it's easily rooted without voiding warranty and quite a few custom ROMs available for it as well. The stock Oppo firmware(Color OS) could a problem sometimes I found, but I think they're getting their act together on that now.

 

What about an unlocked GooPhone?

 

GooPhone..yeh...your Guide in China suggests reading our FAQ...
http://androidforums.com/faqs/631594-off-brand-phones-tablets-worth-low-cost.html
Problem with anything called "GooPhone" is that there's no one company producing them, and all are anonymous, and so quality, reliability, support and warranty, etc. may well be an issue. Usually they're knock-offs of Samsung, HTC, Sony, Apple, etc.

But then with importing any Chinese phones that are not usually available in the US, UK, etc. be aware of sketchy and unauthorised sellers, caveat emptor, e.g. Oppo Style are the only authorised Oppo agent outside of Asia. And there's also the issue of many Chinese phones don't have Google Play on them as well as many of them not having the North American cellular bands.

Some Chinese phones are particularly dreadful and definitely NOT recommended.

 

I have the 1S and I think the US frequency it supports is 1900, so it will have limited support for ATT/Tmobile.

 

Used to be ok with Edge/GPRS and will work with 2G. TMO uses the 1700 band. The 1700 band has to be AWS, too.

The phone will usually work just fine for voice and text. Chinese phones - not so sure. I had European Nokias (symbian) and Samsungs that did work voice and text. Data will work over wifi.

 

Not sure if it's confirmed or not, but I've read that certain US carriers such as TMO and ATT, might be withdrawing 2G/EDGE service in some places, like cities, to make more spectrum available for 4G/LTE services. Because so few subscribers are now using 2G only phones, or imported phones that don't support north American 3G and LTE cellular bands. Which basically means if the carrier doesn't provide 2G service, the 2G only phones are just not going to work.

In fact here in China, the carriers are no longer rolling out 3G, any new service in particular areas is LTE, so if go to some villages and small towns and find it's 2G/EDGE and 4G/LTE only, no 3G.

 

TMO is repurposing, but won't get done in major areas until next year. They are keeping 3g so far.The Nokia still does Edge. Kid has it. Uses it in US. They are going to have to do better in some areas. I use 3G. H and LTE don't work well if you live above a tower. (I do) H or H+ shows 3 bars unused, drops to 2 on a call. 3G stays constant. Phone does not pick up any 2G. Calls do well all over. They rarely drop. Oh the flat, in an 8mile stretch of road, I saw the phone go from E, to 3G, to H+ and back to 3G.

If you really don't care about network data and use your wifi, it doesn't matter as long as voice and text work. The Vulcan is perfectly happy with a flip phone. I'm more worried about VoLTE.

I don't care about data, it's handy, but I can wait until I get home for wifi.

 

A friend of mine got a Huawei phone from somewhere in Asia because he saw an ad for how cheap it was or something like that.

When it arrived, after a very long time might I add, it didn't work for any carrier and he was basically stuck with it last time I spoke to him.

So if you do buy a phone from there just make sure it works in your country before you get it.

 

I don't think 2G/edge is being withdrawn but its capacity is being decreased for 3G/LTE. Do you have figures on subscribers still on 2G phones being so few in US?

 

No actual figures, just going on what's available now and has been the same for sometime, no US carriers are supplying 2G only phones, same in the EU. There's probably some people still hanging onto their old Motorola Startacs, and maybe the odd person importing incompatible and cheapo 2G only phones from China. But I'm sure they're all very much a minority. I know we've had a few posts on here about imported Chinese phones in the US, things like can only get 2G/EDGE service with ATT.

http://www.fiercemobileit.com/story/att-announces-end-2g-service-2017/2012-08-06
I know it's still three years away, but be surprised how quick that time can go.

 

Just wanted to report on the GooPhone my son received from Singapore. Got the Wi-Fi to work with no problem and he can make calls and text. It took less than 5 minutes to move his number over. So far, things look pretty good. He doesn't have a data plan, so he can't test that.

 

I think some upgrade depends on the area and signal over terrain. If it isn't very populated, it might not get upgraded until the cellco has to. There can be 25 miles or more of nothing between small prairie towns. I've read that parts of the deep south have the same problem.

We have HILLS. Friends on Sprint lose voice when going down a hill or going under an underpass. I've heard the same about other carriers. The Vulcan has a flip phone, and they seem to have stronger radios than smartphones so he will get and keep reception. It's the smartphones that suffer. I refuse to use the phone if I'm driving, so I can't say if I would drop calls or not. I don't from the house. The same friend on Sprint had to sit in her kitchen to make and keep a call. Terrain again.

The local TMO store - 1 mile downhill - is still on 3G. They can't even demo LTE.