Just a heads up: Unlocked Lumia 1020 Phones in US may not be updated to 8.1

[Freddy1020_Unlocked_US]

 

[Jason Velocity]

Updating now.

KennyJohnson: Can you update the thread title?

 

[y2jdmbfan]

Name: Nokia Lumia 1020 Unlocked
Model: NOKIA 909
Manufacturer Name: RM-877_nam_usa_957
Mobile Operator: 000-US

Did you get it from the Microsoft Store? Is there really any benefit to getting this version vs the AT&T version? I hate carrier branded stuff. How much different is it vs the AT&T version?

 

[Freddy1020_Unlocked_US]

Did you get it from the Microsoft Store? Is there really any benefit to getting this version vs the AT&T version? I hate carrier branded stuff. How much different is it vs the AT&T version?

Yes, bought from Microsoft store directly.
Well... I use T-Mobile, because the prepaid plan really accommodate to my needs.
I really dislike buying carrier branded, because there is always something that wont work the same way.
Or some "extra" software which I'm really not interested in.
Finally, this is the only way I can buy a new phone with manufacturer warranty, and be able to activate anywhere I go (like Korea or Dominican Republic, have family in both places).
You could buy unlocked used phone, but then you might get a lemon like I did (Lumia 925) which had battery issues.

I think is exactly the same as ATT minus the "extra" carrier specific stuff.

 

[ssapre]

I can confirm we have CYAN!!!

Thanks....I see that in another post in Nokia forum and updating now

 

[ssapre]

I use T-Mobile, because the prepaid plan really accommodate to my needs.

I think is exactly the same as ATT minus the "extra" carrier specific stuff.

Can you check and confirm 2 things ....
1 - Does internet sharing work after Cyan update with your TMO sim?
2- Do you get LTE?

 

[Freddy1020_Unlocked_US]

Can you check and confirm 2 things ....
1 - Does internet sharing work after Cyan update with your TMO sim?
2- Do you get LTE?

I can only confirm that 4G/LTE works. Near my house service is not that great.
It's only 3g, same as my wife with T-Mobile branded note 2.

However if I get 4g/LTE is always faster than hers, i always get at least 5-7mb more on speed test.

In regards to internet sharing the option is available, however my plan does not support it ... If I select the option, it will direct me to T-Mobile page to update my plan.

 

[Mystictrust]

Can you check and confirm 2 things ....
1 - Does internet sharing work after Cyan update with your TMO sim?
2- Do you get LTE?

I am on T-Mobile, and just picked up an RM-877_nam_usa_957 from the Microsoft Store today. Internet sharing did not work at first. However, after updating to Cyan, I can confirm that internet sharing does work.

Also, in regards to your 2nd question, the phone definitely has LTE on T-Mobile. But that is just a side benefit to AT&T sharing the same LTE band (4) as T-Mobile... because the HSDPA 1700 band is still locked. This means you only get 3G or LTE everywhere. 4G is only in refarmed areas. The only way to get 4G in all areas is to unlock the HSDPA 1700 band. Canada has firmware that unlocks it so that it is pentaband (meaning: both 4G HSPA+ and LTE will work) but I'm not sure if it will flash or not. I'm attempting a little later tonight. But that's getting off topic The point is, Cyan seems to fix the T-Mobile "bug" with internet sharing.

 

[y2jdmbfan]

I am on T-Mobile, and just picked up an RM-877_nam_usa_957 from the Microsoft Store today. Internet sharing did not work at first. However, after updating to Cyan, I can confirm that internet sharing does work.

Also, in regards to your 2nd question, the phone definitely has LTE on T-Mobile. But that is just a side benefit to AT&T sharing the same LTE band (4) as T-Mobile... because the HSDPA 1700 band is still locked. This means you only get 3G or LTE everywhere. 4G is only in refarmed areas. The only way to get 4G in all areas is to unlock the HSDPA 1700 band. Canada has firmware that unlocks it so that it is pentaband (meaning: both 4G HSPA+ and LTE will work) but I'm not sure if it will flash or not. I'm attempting a little later tonight. But that's getting off topic The point is, Cyan seems to fix the T-Mobile "bug" with internet sharing.

Can you post some screen shots of the home screen and apps that come loaded on the Microsoft Store version? I am surprised the 4G 1700 band doesn't work...Also, what is the default ringer and theme on the unbranded version?

 

[Mystictrust]

Can you post some screen shots of the home screen and apps that come loaded on the Microsoft Store version? I am surprised the 4G 1700 band doesn't work...Also, what is the default ringer and theme on the unbranded version?

I never saw the phone stock - I restored a backup from my 925... the only app that jumps out at me is "Lumia Beamer", but I may have downloaded it once and forgotten about it.

Default ringtone is 'Nokia Tune'

Yeah, I was surprised as well.. until I viewed the 1020 page on the MS Store website.
3G: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - RM-875, RM-877,
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - RM-876; <-- (RM-876 doesn't have LTE, so don't get excited)

I know it says 3G... but T-Mobile upgraded theirs to HSPA+ and later referred to it as 4G (which is different from 4G LTE). Confusing, but believe this: When my phone read 3G earlier today I got 2mbps downloads on my 1020. When it reads LTE, I get around 36mbps. Occasionally, in non-LTE areas, it will jump to showing H+ for a little bit, but not long enough for me to test it out. I haven't gone too many places today so I haven't been able to see where the H+ is and what speed it is, but I imagine that is refarmed stuff. Meanwhile, I have no idea why it reads 3G when it probably should be reading 2G... I haven't gotten 2mbps speeds on T-Mobile since, I dunno, 2005 or something.

 

[heywhitmarsh]

If you look on the box that the phone comes in, it shows support for "WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100"
I don't think Nokia would print that incorrectly on the box.

I don't know of any areas around me that haven't been refarmed, in fact I've never seen anything but LTE yet on T-Mobile, but I'm pretty sure it does have the AWS band.

 

[Beanis]

I know this is off topic, so if there is another thread this is being discussed, pleas show me....

I have an unlocked 1020 that is CV GBIE on Tmobile that only gets H+ in an LTE area. I am assuming that is because it's not using band 4? If anyone has any information on reflashing this to something that will unlock that band, could you please direct me?

 

[Mystictrust]

If you look on the box that the phone comes in, it shows support for "WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100"
I don't think Nokia would print that incorrectly on the box.

I don't know of any areas around me that haven't been refarmed, in fact I've never seen anything but LTE yet on T-Mobile, but I'm pretty sure it does have the AWS band.

I actually wasn't aware of that being on the box - indeed it is. Regardless, my experience reflects the bands shown on the MS Store website. Maybe those were old bands, and Microsoft unlocked the band in the firmware and added it to the unlocked version in a later "batch" of phones, or maybe mine was defective... but I could not pull HSPA+ speeds anywhere. I flashed my 1020 to Rogers firmware and NOW I get HSPA+ speeds when not on LTE. It's a little odd, because when not on LTE it likes to swap between the 3G and 4G indicator every few seconds/minutes, but the speed is good.

My other option is to return to MS Store and get a new 1020 from them and hope the 1700 works out of the box, but something tells me that it wouldn't. In fact, when researching why my phone wasn't getting HSPA speeds, I initially found a thread here on WPC that had a few people in it having issues on T-Mobile with the new unlocked 1020's. It could very well be that Microsoft "forgot" to unlock the band in the firmware, at least for a few batches sent out (if not all of them)