What I'd like to know is if an unlocked 950XL will work with AT&T LTE Bands. GSM will work for voice/text but many unlocked phones are stuck with WCDMA/UMTS for data when used with AT&T. This is the case with the 930, for example. My understanding is the unlocked 1520.3 works with AT&T LTE though, but I'm not aware of any other WP models that do. Also I thought I'd mention that PayPal Credit may be an option if you order a phone directly from Microsoft. I've used it on other devices such as the Microsoft Band. They typically give no payment/interest for 6 months if you pay it in full by the deadline but be careful because if you don't they will add the interest for the entire 6 months.
The 930 never got Bands for the US because of that exclusivity Vzw had on the Icon. Exclusivity deals really cripple consumer choice and is a part of the old model that Microsoft most especially needs to avoid. Look what happened:
AT&T gets an exclusive for the 1520 and hamstrings it by yanking Qi and shoving PMA in. Then they rub salt in the wound by halving internal storage. Bye Bye nice flag in the US.
Verizon gets an exclusive on the 930 in the US. Update? What update? Oh that update! (Narrowly avoids pitchfork toting mob of their own customers.) Sure the SIM tray is unlocked. Good luck getting MMS anywhere off Vzw after they finally added their own touch to the firmware they pushed late. Another nice flag trampled in the mud.
AT&T get an exclusive on 830. But wait, every 830 in the world has full denim and Lumia Camera 5 with Rich Capture except the AT&T model and (for IDK what reason) the Argentinian Country Variant. Check the 830 forum, AT&T users with 830 are talking fraud and class action lawsuit.
3 strikes, they should be out. The US carriers are all playing on the same team against
YOU the American consumer and they are wiping the field with you. The game is rigged and few enough people on Our team are checking the rule book.
They got you buffaloed Maaz. Please, for your own sake, do some research. The 1520.3 - yep it works on AT&T and ATT mvno, ditto T-Mo + mvno. And if you unlock an AT&T 1520 you can enable the 1700 MHz band on 3G and take that puppy walking over to T-Mo no problem.
There are plenty of Factory Unlocked phones that work perfectly fine on AT&T including LTE. There is a Factory Unlocked 830 (RM-985) that works on AT&T 100% AND has full Denim.
The 640 XL in RM-1045 gets every frequency top to bottom for AT&T, T-Mo and just about anyplace in the world with 13 (yes
13) bands of LTE. Ditto the 640 in RM-1075 every frequency for US GSM and a still impressive 11 bands of LTE for world travel.
Lumia 830 in RM-985 we already mentioned. Full AT&T and only an issue on T-Mo if the area is not refarmed to LTE (and that area is shrinking monthly).
Lumia 735 in RM-1039 is 100% AT&T compatible. It might have a hiccup on T-Mo as band 17 LTE is not quite as broad as band 12, but everything else is a match.
Lumia 435 in RM-1068 is an H+ phone that is full on compatible with AT&T. Likewise the 532 in RM-1032, 100% AT&T ready in an H+ device. Same with the 535 in RM-1092.
How about a BNIB 1320 in RM-995 that is Unlocked and ready for AT&T and T-Mo?
There are more Lumias, I'm tired of digging. Do I need to mention Blu? Unlocked and their track record is that with no firmware they test and OTA fast. Great for slim footprint OS on the phone and commited to updating you...
The phones are out there. You can research them and get them. Don't ever let the US GSM carriers lead you to believe they have the only phones that work on their network. It simply is not true.
If you are ok a carrier and you are happy with them I really see no reason to get a factory unlocked phone. Why?
The only way I would think of is the fact you may want Faster updates
Not just faster,
more assured. There are a lot of phones out there which US carriers are not updating when all the other variants around the world have stepped up.