Lumia 1520 on Sprint (and other Questions)?

[anon(8730639)]

I'm thinking of buying a Lumia 1520, and I was wondering if the unlocked international version works on Sprint. I'm going to be switching from AT&T to a smaller carrier and all of my choices use Sprint's stuff. My other question is which ones are matte/glossy (including the green one)?

 

[Laura Knotek]

No. You can only use an unlocked 1520 on AT&T or T-Mobile (not Sprint or Verizon).

 

[latlazer]

What about the 1520.3 version aka the RM-938? It has the bands available and I have found a reputable source for them. Plus my family has a Sprint family plan, so could I just add it onto our existing plan?

 

[Donny James]

What about the 1520.3 version aka the RM-938? It has the bands available and I have found a reputable source for them. Plus my family has a Sprint family plan, so could I just add it onto our existing plan?

Sprint and Verizon are CDMA and AT&T and T-Mobile are not. The phone uses sim cards and Sprint and Verizon don't. You better do alot of research before you spend you money on that phone. Why not just get the Lumia Icon unlocked? It's a smaller 1520.

 

[Donny James]

This page has a link to all the North American carriers that the RM938 supports.
Nokia Lumia 1520 RM-938 32GB Smartphone A00016719 B&H Photo

Here's the PDF for your convienience.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWork/northAmericaLinks.pdf

 

[HoosierDaddy]

This page has a link to all the North American carriers that the RM938 supports.
Nokia Lumia 1520 RM-938 32GB Smartphone A00016719 B&H Photo

Here's the PDF for your convienience.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWork/northAmericaLinks.pdf

Or you can download the list of ones it doesn't work with. Its post-it size with 100 point font.

 

[latlazer]

Thank you for the help. I think I'll use ATT. However, ATT doesnt seem to offer nano SIM cards, the type that the 1520.3 uses.nDo you have any idea whether they actually do, since they have their own version of the 1520?

 

[AR2186]

What about the 1520.3 version aka the RM-938? It has the bands available and I have found a reputable source for them. Plus my family has a Sprint family plan, so could I just add it onto our existing plan?

Sprint is CDMA, you can only use Sprint phones. Same issue with Verizon

 

[AR2186]

Thank you for the help. I think I'll use ATT. However, ATT doesnt seem to offer nano SIM cards, the type that the 1520.3 uses.nDo you have any idea whether they actually do, since they have their own version of the 1520?

IPhone uses nano SIM, they offer it

 

[latlazer]

Thank you for the clarification. Have a great day.

 

[Gungzwei]

Sprint and Verizon are CDMA and AT&T and T-Mobile are not. The phone uses sim cards and Sprint and Verizon don't. You better do alot of research before you spend you money on that phone. Why not just get the Lumia Icon unlocked? It's a smaller 1520.

I would like to have the 1520 on Verizon, so that's why I found this thread. I understand an issue with the frequency bands would preclude it from working with a carrier, but I'm not sure the argument about sim cards is true.

I have the Lumia 928 which is a dual sim phone. Also all of my family's devices (iPhones, Droid) use Verizon sim cards. Is there something specific to the sim cards that would prevent the 1520.3 from working on Sprint or Verizon?

 

[MDK22]

I would like to have the 1520 on Verizon, so that's why I found this thread. I understand an issue with the frequency bands would preclude it from working with a carrier, but I'm not sure the argument about sim cards is true.

I have the Lumia 928 which is a dual sim phone. Also all of my family's devices (iPhones, Droid) use Verizon sim cards. Is there something specific to the sim cards that would prevent the 1520.3 from working on Sprint or Verizon?

I say you gopher it - let us know how your calls & texts DON'T work.

Nothing specific about sim cards, just NOT the correct radio for Verizon (read the previous posts, Verizon is CDMA !)

 

[Gungzwei]

I say you gopher it - let us know how your calls & texts DON'T work.

Nothing specific about sim cards, just NOT the correct radio for Verizon (read the previous posts, Verizon is CDMA !)

I do apologize for posting a question in a Q&A forum. I'll remember not to do that in the future.
But thanks for being an arse about it. It really gives this place a real iPhone/Droid forum vibe.
​No really, ur great! .... muchas gracias!

 

[MDK22]

NO NEED to apologize ... after reading the previous posts, the issue IS Sim Cards ... GSM uses them, CDMA not as much (just for LTE)
Your sarcasm isn't tangent, simply correcting YOUR assertion.

Perhaps, I should've agreed w YOU - that w/b WRONG !
:eck: :eck:

 

[MDK22]

Succinctly, the Lumia 1520 (in any variant) lacks a CDMA radio ...
& your Lumia 928 is NOT dual sim, it has both CDMA & GSM radios (GSM for int'l roaming).

 

[AR2186]

Ok here is how it works.

US CDMA Carries (VZW, Sprint, etc): Use SIM cards on LTE enabled phones. The SIM Card uses LTE for data, voice and text on older CDMA networks. Instead of having to manually register the phone on the CDMA network, the LTE SIM card takes care of that in the background. Verizon's network would never allow it, but it's conceivable that you could find a GSM phone that is compatible with VZW's LTE bands and the data would work (again, they don't allow this).

US GSM Carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T, etc): Use SIM cards to register on the network (GSM, HSPA, LTE, etc). If the frequencies are compatible, the phones are compatible.

Now with the advanced cellular chips, its likely that one chip can handle GSM/LTE and CDMA, however they are not licensed by QUALCOMM to do so, so the abilities are disabled in the firmware.

Until everything runs off of LTE (VOLTE and messaging on LTE), you will not be able to use a purely GSM phone on US CDMA carriers.

 

[tai4de2]

Sim Cards ... GSM uses them, CDMA not as much (just for LTE)

That is incorrect, or more accurately, is no longer correct for Verizon.

Starting with Windows Phone 8, Verizon (but not Sprint) CDMA WP devices use SIM cards *even for CDMA* (not just for LTE). The relevant application on a Verizon SIM card is known as a 'CSIM' and it replaces the older NV-RAM CDMA configuration. Sprint WP devices still use NV-RAM for CDMA.

Of course, none of that changes the fact that a WP device intended for a GSM network won't work on Verizon or Sprint.