Anyone confirmed L950/950XL working on T-Mobile?

[editguy]

In Windows 10 it's still an app like on my 925 8.1.
I don't see why T-mo would deliberately block it since they have promoted that they are a BYOD uncarrier. But when it comes to carriers, who knows.

 

[TexasLabRat]

It doesn't look like T-Mobile will allow WiFi calling on these. Maybe they could but might think more people will buy a T-Mobile locked phone to get it than will go to another carrier if its not there. Of course their theory goes out the window (pardon the pun) when they don't offer a phone remotely close to these.

BUT I believe T-Mobile will loan a sort of mini-tower to people who have bad reception. It hooks to your router and provides a strong cell signal inside the building. The effect is the same: your calls go over the internet but the transfer happens outside the phone rather than in it. I don't know 100% if they don't do something dumb and block non T-Mobile phones, but if the reason for no WiFi calling for BYOD phones is technical and not misguided, those technical reasons wouldn't apply to BYOD phones and the mini-tower because the phone thinks its using a real tower.

I have the cellspot your describing and it works great. My wife's phone is a t-mobile 810 and mine is a unlocked/unbranded 830 RM-985 and they both jump on the local signal with full bars of signal throughout the house. I even get 3 bars of signal inside the refrigerator with the door closed (I had to test, yes). $25 deposit plus shipping and they send it out...literally just have to find a good central spot in the house, plug it into your LAN, and it just works. It needs to have a gps signal to do its provisioning, and it comes with an external gps antenna with a long wire that you can move around if you need to in order for it to get a lock. Only caveat is that I *think* only t-mobile SIMs will use it..haven't tried anybody else's phone at the house to see but I think I remember reading that somewhere.

So, while that solves the problem at the house, it doesn't solve the issue of poor signal reception at the office that wifi calling would..but luckily that's not an issue for me. With the 700Mhz stuff rolling out that's becoming less of an issue (assuming the unlocked 950XL can do VoLTE on t-mobile, that is).

 

[Adam Frix]

It doesn't look like T-Mobile will allow WiFi calling on these. Maybe they could but might think more people will buy a T-Mobile locked phone to get it than will go to another carrier if its not there. Of course their theory goes out the window (pardon the pun) when they don't offer a phone remotely close to these.

BUT I believe T-Mobile will loan a sort of mini-tower to people who have bad reception. It hooks to your router and provides a strong cell signal inside the building. The effect is the same: your calls go over the internet but the transfer happens outside the phone rather than in it. I don't know 100% if they don't do something dumb and block non T-Mobile phones, but if the reason for no WiFi calling for BYOD phones is technical and not misguided, those technical reasons wouldn't apply to BYOD phones and the mini-tower because the phone thinks its using a real tower.

The T-Mobile Cellspot (a femtocell) is a mini cell tower in your home, plumbed into your broadband. Your phone has full LTE coverage, and even has HD Voice.

It's limited to T-Mobile phones. Any phones; there's no need for registering any given phone for it to work.

But that covers only your phone. What about when you're out and about? I spent a bit of time in hospitals this year (as a visitor) and wifi calling saved me. There was no T-Mobile cellular penetration at all, so I simply attached to the facility wifi and turned on wifi calling.

No wifi calling means no phone for me. If I want a 950XL, I'll have to wait for T-Mobile to offer it or for T-Mo and MS to get together on how to make all the T-Mo functionality (including visual voicemail) appear on it.

 

[Mike Santagata]

Confirmed. 950xl unlocked comes dual sim and works great on T-Mobile. Happy Lumia-ing!

 

[Adam Frix]

Confirmed. 950xl unlocked comes dual sim and works great on T-Mobile. Happy Lumia-ing! ��

Define "great".

If by "missing wifi calling and visual voicemail," then yes, "great".

But keep in mind that T-Mobile is also having phone manufacturers turn OFF LTE band 12 due to lack of T-Mobile's VoLTE.

Until T-Mobile offers it, it looks like the 950XL does not work "great" on their network. I daresay my 635 works better.

 

[Alex Zapata]

Define "great".

If by "missing wifi calling and visual voicemail," then yes, "great".

But keep in mind that T-Mobile is also having phone manufacturers turn OFF LTE band 12 due to lack of T-Mobile's VoLTE.

Until T-Mobile offers it, it looks like the 950XL does not work "great" on their network. I daresay my 635 works better.

Exactly my concerns. If the 950XL doesn't support TMO's VoLTE (and by extension wifi calling since they're both built off the same basic platform) then there's a good chance that band 12 will mean absolutely nothing when I leave Chicagoland. That's a lot to be giving up....

 

[rory753]

Define "great".

If by "missing wifi calling and visual voicemail," then yes, "great".

But keep in mind that T-Mobile is also having phone manufacturers turn OFF LTE band 12 due to lack of T-Mobile's VoLTE.

Until T-Mobile offers it, it looks like the 950XL does not work "great" on their network. I daresay my 635 works better.

Link to source for tmobile forcing no band 12

 

[badMojo69]

the xl has band 12.

 

[Adam Frix]

Link to source for tmobile forcing no band 12

On the 950XL? No link. Pure speculation, but based on evidence at hand with other phones. To wit:

Why Is T-Mobile Telling Manufacturers To Remove Band 12 LTE Support From Some Unlocked Smartphones?

 

[gerrymad]

The only real issue I have is the lack of visual voice mail. I had an unlocked AT&T HTC 8X and a 1520.3 running on T-Mobile. Both of them had visual voice mail with no issue. The 1520 was reflashed and a clean Windows 10 install was done on it so I know Windows 10 supports visual voice mail. I don't know why it does not seem to be available on this device.

 

[ClixT]

It's working.. I did however had a problem with group messaging and MMS... Now it's working but idk how i managed to make it work..

 

[Mike Santagata]

On the 950XL? No link. Pure speculation, but based on evidence at hand with other phones. To wit:

Why Is T-Mobile Telling Manufacturers To Remove Band 12 LTE Support From Some Unlocked Smartphones?[/url]

Probably something to do with the new 700MHz frequency.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

With the problems some AT&T users are having getting or confirming LTE on their XLs, how do you confirm that on T-Mobile? The T-Mobile field test is flaky. Some sub options crash and a lot of the status pages are bogus (like saying neither SIM has any active connections). So is there some app that can give the details?

 

[gerrymad]

With the problems some AT&T users are having getting or confirming LTE on their XLs, how do you confirm that on T-Mobile? The T-Mobile field test is flaky. Some sub options crash and a lot of the status pages are bogus (like saying neither SIM has any active connections). So is there some app that can give the details?

I had some issue at first with connections on T-Mobile. In fact I was ready to abandon the phone as it could not keep a connection and it never got to LTE even when it was connected. Then I found that in the Cellular & SIM setting there is a link "SIM 1 Setting" When I selected that link I found the Mobile operator settings at the bottom of the page. I was using the T-Mobile profile. I changed that to use the T_Mobile profile. After the restart my cell connection has been perfect. I am on LTE all the time now.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I had some issue at first with connections on T-Mobile. In fact I was ready to abandon the phone as it could not keep a connection and it never got to LTE even when it was connected. Then I found that in the Cellular & SIM setting there is a link "SIM 1 Setting" When I selected that link I found the Mobile operator settings at the bottom of the page. I was using the T-Mobile profile. I changed that to use the T_Mobile profile. After the restart my cell connection has been perfect. I am on LTE all the time now.

But HOW did you confirm you are really getting LTE?

 

[macros_1]

But HOW did you confirm you are really getting LTE?

Check what network it shows you are connected to in the status bar. Mine always shows "T-Mobile LTE". You can also run a Speed Test. Max I would see on hspa was about 30 down. Just ran a few with WiFi off on my XL and I'm seeing between 60 and 70 down.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Check what network it shows you are connected to in the status bar. Mine always shows "T-Mobile LTE".

Thanks.

You don't see that unless you swipe down which I never did except to see notices or access settings. Just never paid attention before.

 

[johnetie]

Yes I am. I got the phone yesterday and went straight to the T-mobile store to sign up. The phone is working just fine so far.

 

[tai4de2]

WP does not currently support built-in VVM on dual-SIM devices.

 

[anon5266280]

Worked for me. Had to stop by and buy a $15 sim kit for the smaller sized SIM but other than that it was plug and play.