iPhone 5S differences: ATT, Tmobile, Verizon, Sprint

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GWestphal

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Jul 22, 2009
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I'm likely to go with a GSM one from Tmobile, but are there differences in terms of being able to use it in other countries? I know some were unlocked some not in the past, just trying to get the best one for my use which, is in a major metro area with LTE and fast HSPDA+, but would like to be able to use it abroad a few times a year.

Maybe someone could explain the bands thing too. I know Tmobile in my area has "refarmed" some of their bandwidth to be faster or something like that.
 
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bearxor

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Jul 8, 2001
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Basically, the iPhone 5S and 5C for AT&T, Verizon and TMobile are the same iPhone. Sprint requires a few extra 800mhz bands, so they have their own phone in the US.

So where are you going? Worst case scenario, I think, you should be able to get HSPA+ wherever you go.
 
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GWestphal

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Jul 22, 2009
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So am I reading that correctly,

The Tmobile GSM iPhone supports all of those bands?

1 (2100 MHz)
2 (1900 MHz)
3 (1800 MHz)
4 (AWS)
5 (850 MHz)
8 (900 MHz)
13 (700c MHz)
17 (700b MHz)
19 (800 MHz)
20 (800 DD)
25 (1900 MHz)


I thought it was just a subset of bands that was used in the US like 1, 3,4,5,17 and then 4, 17 are used internationally or something like that.
 
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bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
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Yes, the TMobile, AT&T and Verizon iPhone 5 and 5C support all those bands. As well as 850/900/1700/1900/2100 DC-HSPA+.
 
vailr

vailr

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,365
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I believe only the iPhone 5 from Verizon was (immediately after purchase) unlockable for use (when traveling outside the U.S.) with a foreign GSM network SIM.
Haven't seen any confirmation about similar unlockablity of a Verizon 5C or 5S, or of the status of those devices when purchased via other U.S. phone carriers.
 
Joe1987

Joe1987

Senior member
Jul 20, 2013
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vailr said:
I believe only the iPhone 5 from Verizon was (immediately after purchase) unlockable for use (when traveling outside the U.S.) with a foreign GSM network SIM.
Haven't seen any confirmation about similar unlockablity of a Verizon 5C or 5S, or of the status of those devices when purchased via other U.S. phone carriers.
Click to expand...

Supposedly all Verizon LTE phones are unlocked.
 
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bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
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umrigar said:
Can Verizon still not talk and use data at the same time?
Click to expand...

I'm going to guess not. I don't think we'll know until it's out but if it maintains the same antenna system from the 5, then Apple ends up using every available antenna for voice and CDMA doesn't support data and voice simultaneously.

All Verizon LTE phones are unlocked out of the box, as is required by the FCC for the 700mhz spectrum they purchased.
 
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GWestphal

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Jul 22, 2009
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So if I bought a verizon iPhone I could put an att sim in it and it would work? Or just the LTE would work?

Most of the world is GSM though right, so if I want the best "world phone" to go to England or Germany, or Sweden or Australia I want a GSM phone so I can have voice and text right? But GSM or CDMA iphone would have LTE abroad?
 
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AkumaX

Lifer
Apr 20, 2000
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GWestphal said:
So if I bought a verizon iPhone I could put an att sim in it and it would work? Or just the LTE would work?

Most of the world is GSM though right, so if I want the best "world phone" to go to England or Germany, or Sweden or Australia I want a GSM phone so I can have voice and text right? But GSM or CDMA iphone would have LTE abroad?
Click to expand...


if you bought a verizon iphone 5 (5s/5c? not sure yet), then the gsm-portion is unlocked (for both domestic AND international)

you could stick in an att sim and get 4g hspa+ off bands 850 and 1900
you could stick in a tmobile sim and get 4g hspa+ off bands aws 1700/2100 and 1900 (if youre in the right area)
you could stick in a uk vodaphone sim and get 4g hspa+ off bands 2100 and ???

you could stick in a ??? sim, and if it supports lte bands 1,3 or 5, it should work for lte!

tmo and att use lte bands 4 and 17, so no luck there

for verizon, you'd use their 3g cdma band (whatever that is.. lol) and vzw's lte (band 13, 700mhz)

---------

now that the 5s/5c is out, assuming that the vzw 5s/5c are still gsm-unlocked, and that the 5s/5c are identical...


you could stick in an att sim and get 4g hspa+ off bands 850 and 1900 and get lte off bands 4 or 17
you could stick in a tmobile sim and get 4g hspa+ off bands aws 1700/2100 and 1900 and get lte off band 4
you could stick in a ??? sim and get 4g hspa+ off bands ?????? and lte off bands 1,2,3,4,5, etc...
 
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GWestphal

Golden Member
Jul 22, 2009
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I guess I just don't understand why they differentiate between the GSM and CDMA in that chart if it is the same?
 
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AkumaX

Lifer
Apr 20, 2000
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81
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bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,605
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81
GWestphal said:
so would the verizon iPhone 5S get voice with an ATT or Tmo sim?
Click to expand...

GWestphal said:
I guess I just don't understand why they differentiate between the GSM and CDMA in that chart if it is the same?
Click to expand...

It's possible the CDMA radio isn't turned on in the AT&T/TMobile version. In which case they may not get voice on the Verizon network.

AkumaX said:
the article is a year old and for the iphone 5

however, this article is for the 5S and sadly NO, no simultaneous voice/data (svdo) :(

http://www.iphonehacks.com/2013/09/...imultaneous-voice-data-on-verizon-sprint.html
Click to expand...

Sure it's a year old for the iPhone 5 but, again, Apple didn't announce any refinement of the antenna system so it was a really good guess that it hadn't changed for the iPhone 5C/5S.
 
alkemyst

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
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In reality the Verizon iPhones should be able to do voice/data now. Verizon doesn't want to do the upgrade internally.
 
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AkumaX

Lifer
Apr 20, 2000
12,643
3
81
bearxor said:
Sure it's a year old for the iPhone 5 but, again, Apple didn't announce any refinement of the antenna system so it was a really good guess that it hadn't changed for the iPhone 5C/5S.
Click to expand...

Yeah but one could only hope :p

I think Brian Klug should put up a Sept 2013 update saying that the Sprint/Verizon 5S will STILL NOT DO SV-DO. The AnandTech article is still one of the 1st results when querying for iphone 5 and svdo.
 
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crash331

Member
Sep 26, 2013
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alkemyst said:
In reality the Verizon iPhones should be able to do voice/data now. Verizon doesn't want to do the upgrade internally.
Click to expand...


When on LTE, AT&T treats voice as data. From my understanding, you can't have LTE and GSM active at the same time, so data and voice has to be sent as data.

Apparently Verizon isn't confident enough in their LTE network to let it handle voice and data over LTE.

Some Android phones get around the limitation by adding antennas. No such feature in the Iphone.
 
GregGreen

GregGreen

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2000
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crash331 said:
When on LTE, AT&T treats voice as data. From my understanding, you can't have LTE and GSM active at the same time, so data and voice has to be sent as data.
Click to expand...

For voice calls, AT&T hands you off from the LTE network to the UMTS network (which supports data and voice simultaneously).
 
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