From Verizon Wireless to T-Mobile with the HTC One (M8)

[TrophyNostalgia]

Hey guys,

So in the next week or so I will be making the jump to T-Mobile. My contact with Verizon is done and I'm excited to switch carriers. My question is: How will my HTC One (M8) for Windows (Verizon Wireless branded) work on the T-Mobile network? Specifically:

1) Will I be able to operate at full 4G LTE speeds or are there limitations when you Bring Your Own Device (Naturally I know it's "compatible" but are there limitations).
2) Does the Music Freedom program work when you bring your own device to T-Mobile?
2) Are there any other annoyances that result from using your own device, rather than a T-Mobile branded phone? (I'm assuming I can't do the T-Mobile WI-FI calling? I've heard rumors of picture messaging not working?)

Any information you are able to provide is appreciated.

Many thanks,

 

[mary beth hale]

From what I've read, you will not be able to get LTE and also Verizon has mms apn locked. Not sure if there are work around for these things. Since your phone is cdma and T-Mobile is gsm, I don't think so,unfortunately. Have you thought about using Straight Talk? They have a Verizon activation kit and I know several people on this site are using their Icons successfully with it, including getting LTE and working mms.

 

[waazzupppp]

Hey guys,

So in the next week or so I will be making the jump to T-Mobile. My contact with Verizon is done and I'm excited to switch carriers. My question is: How will my HTC One (M8) for Windows (Verizon Wireless branded) work on the T-Mobile network? Specifically:

1) Will I be able to operate at full 4G LTE speeds or are there limitations when you Bring Your Own Device (Naturally I know it's "compatible" but are there limitations).
2) Does the Music Freedom program work when you bring your own device to T-Mobile?
2) Are there any other annoyances that result from using your own device, rather than a T-Mobile branded phone? (I'm assuming I can't do the T-Mobile WI-FI calling? I've heard rumors of picture messaging not working?)

Any information you are able to provide is appreciated.

Many thanks,

I did this with my M8 as soon as I got my Verizon version just to try it out... and...

1) Yes, most of the time you will get full LTE speeds. It has the proper LTE band 4 to keep you going. It does NOT have band 12 however, which is the new band T-Mo is rolling out right now. So, yes, you should see full LTE speeds in most areas that you do now.

2) Music Freedom is only limited by what Apps are available for WP. As long as you are on a Simple Choice plan, Music Freedom will be there.

3) Yes, there is no Wi-Fi calling, but that's not the worst of it... There is also no MMS (picture messaging)... That was the killer for me as Verizon disabled the ability to set the MMS APN in the device, so if you want to send pictures from a messaging program, you have to do it with a third party program like Facebook Messy or WhatsApp.

Other than that, I've had no major issues with my M8 swapping over to T-Mobile. The signal strength is a bit weaker, but just roll it over to global mode and leave it there. It will work just dandy for you. On the flip side, Groupon yesterday started running the M8 for Windows at like $300 unlocked for T-Mo/AT&T...

 

[TrophyNostalgia]

I did this with my M8 as soon as I got my Verizon version just to try it out... and...

1) Yes, most of the time you will get full LTE speeds. It has the proper LTE band 4 to keep you going. It does NOT have band 12 however, which is the new band T-Mo is rolling out right now. So, yes, you should see full LTE speeds in most areas that you do now.

2) Music Freedom is only limited by what Apps are available for WP. As long as you are on a Simple Choice plan, Music Freedom will be there.

3) Yes, there is no Wi-Fi calling, but that's not the worst of it... There is also no MMS (picture messaging)... That was the killer for me as Verizon disabled the ability to set the MMS APN in the device, so if you want to send pictures from a messaging program, you have to do it with a third party program like Facebook Messy or WhatsApp.

Other than that, I've had no major issues with my M8 swapping over to T-Mobile. The signal strength is a bit weaker, but just roll it over to global mode and leave it there. It will work just dandy for you. On the flip side, Groupon yesterday started running the M8 for Windows at like $300 unlocked for T-Mo/AT&T...

Thanks for all the information. I've been debating whether or not I need to buy a T-Mobile branded device. However, your post makes me feel like I can at least survive just fine until new phones (and Windows 10) are released in the fall.

1) Can someone clarify how the lack of a band would limit me? I understand the dimensions between 2G, 3G, and 4GLTE. But if it gets 4G how is there an additional band that would improve the quality of my connection?

2) I will be getting a Simple Choice and em excited to see that Music Freedom will work. Can you clarify how the phone determines whether or not you are streaming music? For example is there an area to see data used (data calculator online or on my mobile device) and then see Music separate from your high-speed data plan?

3) Although I'm disappointed to hear there will be no WI-FI calling, I'm more frustrated to hear about the Picture MMS feature. I called a T-Mobile representative yesterday to confirm these questions and he said 1) You have full speed 4G LTE with no limitations 2) Music freedom works fine when you BYOD. 3) Picture messaging and all messaging features will work without a problem when you BYOD. Especially after the last one I was beginning to think he was mis-informed. Frustrating when support isn't correct.

Can you define weaker? Do you mean just on a lower band? And what exactly would global settings change?

Thanks for your time and help!

 

[waazzupppp]

Good thoughts...

1) Not having a certain band or frequency available may effect the quality of coverage you get. If you have a T-Mo branded phone, it will have the full AWS bands (1700/2100) for HSPA+ and LTE. T-Mo also runs LTE on the band 4 (700) frequency like Verizon and is branching out to band 12. The majority of the coverage that most people are getting with non-T-Mo handsets is ether that band 4 LTE or the refarm 1900MHz bands that were done last year. You probably won't notice anything different in data speeds in most metro areas, but in the outlying areas that haven't been refarmed, you might fall back to 3G or 2G data. Voice quality will also be a touch less, but nothing that was bad for me.

2) The sites that stream the music are not "counted" by T-Mobile - so that's how that works. Regardless of the device or App, if the music comes from that server, then it is 'free' to stream.

3) Lack of Wi-Fi calling is a deal breaker for many, but to that I would say - why go T-Mobile if the service is lousy? That said, worse case you can grab that M8 on VZW and take it to Total Wireless or another 3rd party MVNO and do pretty well with it.

As far as "weaker" goes, it's not terrible by any means, but you are missing the primary radios that T-Mobile is programmed for data for in most markets. That AWS (1700/2100) band is where the HSPA+ and first run LTE speeds are. You now have the 1900MHz and 700MHz bands to roll back to, which is available in almost every metro market now. I wouldn't worry too much about it overall since I haven't seen many drops except where LTE isn't available. My typical download speed in a good area is 35Mbps dropping to 15Mbps in a not so strong area.

Switching to phone to "global" mode will enable the GSM radios over the CDMA radios. This will give you longer battery life and a bit stronger signal. It's a simple setting to adjust in the SIM settings menu.

 

[Bill Berry]

I get so aggravated at why carriers do this sort of stuff; I mean why make it impossible or worse make it impossible to configure the MMS APN settings on the device; we use to be able to do this with Nokia's Network Setup app on Windows Phone 7.x. It is the one thing I am unable to do with my ex-wife's M8 Windows Verizon Wireless variant on Straight Talk (AT&T) and worse, I couldn't do so with Straight Talk (Verizon Wireless) either. No promises, but I read on a forum a good while back where someone took their device into Verizon Wireless, a kiosk, and they were able to get it to work; I'm thinking wouldn't Verizon Wireless' APN settings work regardless if you're using Straight Talk or not; Windows Phone 7.x devices use to do that, but why they do this...I gave up on Windows Phone devices; I'm sick of the caveats carriers imploy on their devices. It's not perfect but I use WP Launcher on my M7 and disabled Sense, in fact I'm using ARHD 92.0. WP Launcher (Launcher 8) allowed me to really personalize my phone. If there is one thing I can't stand about WP8.x is the notification and taskbar and the lack of color...all white plain icons...it's just hideous to look at, and I don't like all the white outlined tiles either but there are apps to customize the layout and look of those. The color taskbar was a stroke of genius on WP7.x interop-developer unlocked devices.

 

[Bill Berry]

Good thoughts...

1) Not having a certain band or frequency available may effect the quality of coverage you get. If you have a T-Mo branded phone, it will have the full AWS bands (1700/2100) for HSPA+ and LTE. T-Mo also runs LTE on the band 4 (700) frequency like Verizon and is branching out to band 12. The majority of the coverage that most people are getting with non-T-Mo handsets is ether that band 4 LTE or the refarm 1900MHz bands that were done last year. You probably won't notice anything different in data speeds in most metro areas, but in the outlying areas that haven't been refarmed, you might fall back to 3G or 2G data. Voice quality will also be a touch less, but nothing that was bad for me.

2) The sites that stream the music are not "counted" by T-Mobile - so that's how that works. Regardless of the device or App, if the music comes from that server, then it is 'free' to stream.

3) Lack of Wi-Fi calling is a deal breaker for many, but to that I would say - why go T-Mobile if the service is lousy? That said, worse case you can grab that M8 on VZW and take it to Total Wireless or another 3rd party MVNO and do pretty well with it.

As far as "weaker" goes, it's not terrible by any means, but you are missing the primary radios that T-Mobile is programmed for data for in most markets. That AWS (1700/2100) band is where the HSPA+ and first run LTE speeds are. You now have the 1900MHz and 700MHz bands to roll back to, which is available in almost every metro market now. I wouldn't worry too much about it overall since I haven't seen many drops except where LTE isn't available. My typical download speed in a good area is 35Mbps dropping to 15Mbps in a not so strong area.

Switching to phone to "global" mode will enable the GSM radios over the CDMA radios. This will give you longer battery life and a bit stronger signal. It's a simple setting to adjust in the SIM settings menu.

I was more than a little frustrated when I couldn't configure MMS APNs on my ex-wife's device. You wrote an excellent comment; couldn't have wrote a better one.

 

[FearL0rd]

Upgrade to W10M and do this

http://forums.windowscentral.com/no...ny-verizon-windows-10-mobile-tmobile-etc.html