Purchase new 925 in Germany for use in the USA

[panjabi]

Hi All,

I live in the USA and have a 920 on the ATT network (although I am thinking heavily about moving to T-Mobile).

I will be visiting Germany in mid July.

I was wondering if it makes sense for me to buy an unlocked Lumia 925 (32 GB) from Vodaphone Germany while I am there. Will I be able to use the LTE network on AT&T? Or T-Mobile USA?

Does anyone have any idea on pricing?

Any other pitfalls?

Many thanks in advance for your answers!

Cheers!

Panjabi

 

[Mystictrust]

So here's the spec sheet over in Germany: Nokia Lumia 925 Smartphone Technische Daten - Nokia - Deutschland

Here's the problem: It doesn't operate on LTE band 4 or 17 from the specs provided on that page, and I'm fairly confident that you need those bands to get LTE in the US.

You could get 3G on AT&T and in refarmed areas of T-Mobile, but I believe that will be it.

 

[Musicman247]

Plus the price will probably be lower when it launches in the US. Right now it's going for over $700 overseas. It will be closer to $500 when it launches here.

 

[panjabi]

Musicman,

Thanks for your reply. The only downside I see of the US version is the 16 GB with no micro SD capability. That is why I was thinking of buying the overseas version to get the 32 GB

Cheers!

 

[panjabi]

So here's the spec sheet over in Germany: Nokia Lumia 925 Smartphone Technische Daten - Nokia - Deutschland

Here's the problem: It doesn't operate on LTE band 4 or 17 from the specs provided on that page, and I'm fairly confident that you need those bands to get LTE in the US.

You could get 3G on AT&T and in refarmed areas of T-Mobile, but I believe that will be it.

Many thanks for your reply. That is truly disheartening news.... I had really hoped that they would sell "world band" LTE phones in Europe

 

[Jacco Paauw]

Musicman,

Thanks for your reply. The only downside I see of the US version is the 16 GB with no micro SD capability. That is why I was thinking of buying the overseas version to get the 32 GB

Cheers!

Panjabi,
if you check the specs you will see that the version they're selling in Germany is 16GB as well.

 

[sciencefair]

I should mention that the overseas 925 will not be 100% compatible with T-Mobile 3G/4G. It will only work in areas that are refarmed for 1900mhz, as this variant does not have AWS (1700mhz) support that currently makes up the vast majority of their 3G network. As it supports 850/1900mhz 3G, it will work well on at&t. You will not get LTE on any american carrier.

While Jacco is correct that Vodafone Germany is selling the 16GB model (I believe it was Vodafone UK announced for the 32GB model) there was a post stating that T-Mobile Germany may be getting the 32GB model:
32GB Nokia Lumia 925 also heading to Germany's Deutsche Telekom? | Windows Phone Central

You'll have to find out for yourself if you get there. In addition to no LTE on at&t and t-mobile and potentially spotty 3G on t-mobile, Nokia phones typically do not have international warranties, so you would need to send the phone to someone in Germany for it to be serviced. If the QC on the 920 and the bugs in WP8's initial release are anything to go by, I would not risk it.

 

[panjabi]

Sciencefair,

Many thanks for your detailed replies.

So, is the best bet (for an American) to wait for a Rogers release of an unlocked pentaband 925?

Cheers!

 

[Musicman247]

The best bet (for an American) would be to wait for T-Mobile to release their version, as it will be compatible with both T-Mobile and AT&T including LTE and will be able to be unlocked after just over a month.

As far as I know Rogers has not announced anything regarding the 925.

 

[panjabi]

The best bet (for an American) would be to wait for T-Mobile to release their version, as it will be compatible with both T-Mobile and AT&T including LTE and will be able to be unlocked after just over a month.


As far as I know Rogers has not announced anything regarding the 925.

Is that official T-Mobile policy?

 

[alexloe]

The Vodafone Germany Black variant has 32 GB and comes unlocked.

 

[alexloe]

Is that official T-Mobile policy?

You have to activate a prepaid sim at least and top-up $ 50,01 or more. Then after 60 days you will get the code.

Or you buy the phone at full price at an authorized T-Mobile Shop and you will get it immediately.

 

[Mystictrust]

You have to activate a prepaid sim at least and top-up $ 50,01 or more. Then after 60 days you will get the code.

Or you buy the phone at full price at an authorized T-Mobile Shop and you will get it immediately.

They've actually changed that policy. Yep, it's for the worse. I keep forgetting the exact details, and even then it's a little confusing... but it was all over the internet at some point. I'm thinking of going over to a store and asking someone officially how it works, and getting all my questions in.

Overall, it seems everybody will have to wait a certain period of time, and must have had service for a specified period of time, etc. Extremely international traveler unfriendly, that's for sure.