Buying unlocked 920 in US

Yang_H

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I am determined to get an unlocked 920 and go with a pre-paid plan. I just owned my first smart phone a Lumia 710 five months ago and was instantly hooked to WP7.5. I have four iPads spanning three generations in my family but WP easily beats the iOS for me! I also bought a Google Nexus phone for my wife and I found I still like the WP better... Right, I'm kind of hopelessly sold on WP8 and the 920 looks like a godsend.

Anyway, this will be my first time buying an unlocked smartphone in US, so I'd really appreciate any helps on finding some good online stores. I have already searched google shopping and the pre-order price of 920 varies from $600 (GSM Nation) to $700 (Mobile City Online, Negri Electronics) to $800 (Popular Electronics). Price on eBay is like $900, while Expansys has no price info.

I don't know anything about these stores. By all means, GSM Nation price sounds a bit too low? Any comments on these online retailers will be greatly appreciated. Also, I don't know how soon I can get the 920. I'd very much like to get one before mid-Nov.

Yang
 

x I'm tc

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Are you looking to order or preorder? The best advice I can give is to wait until the thing is actually on sale and shop around then. Amazon, for instance, will probably carry it.

As of right now, no one actually knows the price.
 

Yang_H

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Are you looking to order or preorder? The best advice I can give is to wait until the thing is actually on sale and shop around then. Amazon, for instance, will probably carry it.

As of right now, no one actually knows the price.
I almost want to pre-order, but is holding off since no way to really know the "right" price for 920 in US yet. I'll probably wait until the phone actually becomes available in US. I bought a lot of things from Amazon but it's confusing place for a person like me to buy phones, as it has many vendors selling so many different variations of the same model, and the price easily varies +/- 50%...

I double checked GSM Nation again and it looks like that their $600 price is just a pure speculation, since you can't place order or pre-order on 920 anyway on their site. I guess once the phone becomes available their price will be adjusted. Their prices on other phones seem to be normal.

I never thought about buying from UK. Will we in US be charged for VAT (sales tax?)?
 

cj-m

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Just a reminder, be careful of getting a "No Commitment" Lumia 920. I think a lot of us are still regretting not waiting for the unlocked/international Lumia 900.
I know that in a lot of countries, like South Africa, for example, you can get carrier unlocked phones from the word go and use it on any pre-paid plan but here in the USA, you just have to be a little careful when looking at phones...no commitment is not the same as unlocked.
 

tissotti

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I know that in a lot of countries, like South Africa, for example, you can get carrier unlocked phones from the word go and use it on any pre-paid plan but here in the USA, you just have to be a little careful when looking at phones...no commitment is not the same as unlocked.

That goes for by far most of the world.

I buy 2-3 high end phones a year and never in my life have i bought phone from operator. Just walk to the nearest gadget store and buy the phone.
Phones sold via operators actually in Sweden started to be more popular when iPhone 3GS came out. Though by law it's not legal to have them locked to operators.
 

HeyCori

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Just a reminder, be careful of getting a "No Commitment" Lumia 920. I think a lot of us are still regretting not waiting for the unlocked/international Lumia 900.
I know that in a lot of countries, like South Africa, for example, you can get carrier unlocked phones from the word go and use it on any pre-paid plan but here in the USA, you just have to be a little careful when looking at phones...no commitment is not the same as unlocked.

Yeah, you definitely want to make sure you're getting the international version of the 920 if you want to go pre-paid. If you get the AT&T branded 920 then you're stuck using AT&T's network. The only option at that point would be using Straight Talk (which piggy-backs on AT&T) for pre-paid. However, there's no word whether Straight Talk will be supported at launch.
 

Yang_H

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Thanks for the reminder. Yes that's why so confusing when I was looking through Amazon as for a same model they have like "AT&T" unlocked, unlocked, nternational model, factory unlocked or sth... The variations seem never ending.

I'm planning to buy a totally unlocked 920 that I can insert any GSM card provided the bands are compatible.
 

HeyCori

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Thanks for the reminder. Yes that's why so confusing when I was looking through Amazon as for a same model they have like "AT&T" unlocked, unlocked, nternational model, factory unlocked or sth... The variations seem never ending.

I'm planning to buy a totally unlocked 920 that I can insert any GSM card provided the bands are compatible.

Not to add to your woes but it looks like the international 920 will not support the AWS 1700 frequency used by T-Mobile.

Nokia Admits Website Error, Says No AWS 1700 Coming With Lumia 920 | | TmoNewsTmoNews

Although you will be able to use the 1900 frequency on T-Mobile once T-Mo re-farms their towers in your area.
 

Yang_H

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Not to add to your woes but it looks like the international 920 will not support the AWS 1700 frequency used by T-Mobile.

Nokia Admits Website Error, Says No AWS 1700 Coming With Lumia 920 | | TmoNewsTmoNews

Although you will be able to use the 1900 frequency on T-Mobile once T-Mo re-farms their towers in your area.

I know. I was hoping for T-Mobile's refarming. Their $30/month 5GB 4G plan is perfectly tailored for people like me who use data but make very few calls. I'm willing to live with edge for a few months, as long as T-Mobile brings up the 3G by the year end or early next year.
 

TexasLabRat

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wait wait. the FCC report shows aws for WCDMA, HSUPA and LTE. What's all this about them not supporting it?

https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/repo...romFrame=N&application_id=967177&fcc_id='PYAA'

The "correction" by nokia was specifically directed towards the "international" version of the 920. The link you referenced is the FCC report for the North American version destined for AT&T and I assume Rogers. The international version's test report is located here: https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/repo...me=N&application_id=134084&fcc_id='PYARM-821'

It does not mention AWS frequencies as being tested which meshes with nokia's "correction" regarding the specs. However, since the underlying baseband is most likely identical between the two versions, the lack of AWS in the international version is probably a firmware disabling of that band rather than a hardware limitation. It's even possible that the international phone can really do AWS but for contractual or marketing reasons they've chosen to not publicize it. All we need is a brave soul to buy one and test it out :D
 

pavvento

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Hey All,

I bought my Nokia 900 off contract through AT&T for about $450. Aside from the phone not being locked to AT&T are there other advantages to purchasing an international unlocked phone? If I go that route will it work on AT&T LTE? Sorry for all the questions!
 

TexasLabRat

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Hey All,

I bought my Nokia 900 off contract through AT&T for about $450. Aside from the phone not being locked to AT&T are there other advantages to purchasing an international unlocked phone? If I go that route will it work on AT&T LTE? Sorry for all the questions!

Buying a "factory unlocked" version versus through a carrier also provides the benefits that you receive the updates straight from Nokia rather than being vetted and pushed out by the carrier on their schedule of convenience. Lack of carrier-specific crapware being loaded is another plus..though if wp8 is like wp7.5 any such applications should be easily removable.

I personally can't say for sure about the LTE thing one way or the other. I presume it would...it certainly has the physical capability to do so due to the nature of the baseband integrated into the SoC. But because the AT&T frequencies were not tested by the FCC when nokia submitted it for certification..it is possible that those LTE bands are locked out by firmware. I'm not exactly sure how all that works..if the phone is "allowed" to use U.S. frequencies that it wasn't tested for by the FCC. And if there is a restriction..is it technologically enforced through firmware lock-outs of those bands or is it more of a paperwork thing and the honor system? Maybe someone with more inside knowledge on the subject will chime in.
 

TexasLabRat

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Can these phone eventually be unlocked?

At the very worst case, you should be able to get the unlock code from the carrier provided you meet their requirements. I would be absolutely shocked if there weren't 3rd party unlock codes available in fairly short order after release as well. It took some time for the Lumia 900 to have 3rd party unlock support but it did eventually get there...no reason to think the 920 would be any different.
 

bluefyre#AC

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Yeah, you definitely want to make sure you're getting the international version of the 920 if you want to go pre-paid. If you get the AT&T branded 920 then you're stuck using AT&T's network. The only option at that point would be using Straight Talk (which piggy-backs on AT&T) for pre-paid. However, there's no word whether Straight Talk will be supported at launch.

I'm planning on doing that since I want the cyan one badly. Which unfortunately won't be coming to the international/factory unlocked versions.
AT&T has around 6 MVNOs (Straight Talk, Red Pocket, Jolt, H2O, Pure Talk, Air Voice) that I know of. You can usually use a SIM from one of them on an unlocked AT&T phone.
 

Yang_H

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I'm planning on doing that since I want the cyan one badly. Which unfortunately won't be coming to the international/factory unlocked versions.
AT&T has around 6 MVNOs (Straight Talk, Red Pocket, Jolt, H2O, Pure Talk, Air Voice) that I know of. You can usually use a SIM from one of them on an unlocked AT&T phone.

So is that true that even if you unlock an AT&T 920 it can still only be used on AT&T network? Can you insert a sim card from T-Mobile and get the unlocked AT&T 920 to work (not considering the 3G support etc)?
 

theefman

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So is that true that even if you unlock an AT&T 920 it can still only be used on AT&T network? Can you insert a sim card from T-Mobile and get the unlocked AT&T 920 to work (not considering the 3G support etc)?

Once its unlocked, it can be used on Tmo. Getting it unlocked in the first place is another matter entirely.
 

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