Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Some customers have reported telephone service points with Mint Cellular, US Cellular, and different carriers based mostly on T-Cellular’s community.
- The difficulty stems from a latest T-Cellular community change. Telephones that don’t help LTE Band 71 could now not work accurately in lots of circumstances.
- The issue primarily impacts telephones designed for markets exterior the US or US-specific fashions which might be round 4 years previous or older.
Earlier this week, we realized T-Cellular is providing free telephone replacements for choose clients affected by upcoming community modifications. Whereas T-Cellular has been notifying its direct clients about the necessity to swap telephones on account of this band change, it appears not everybody has obtained the message. In spite of everything, it’s not simply T-Cellular clients that use the uncarrier’s community. Reddit threads are popping up throughout subreddits for Mint Cellular, US Cellular, Tello, and different T-Cellular-based suppliers asking why some customers immediately have entry solely to EDGE speeds or SOS mode. If this seems like your present state of affairs, odds are your telephone doesn’t help Band 71 on 4G or N71 on 5G.
So what’s happening precisely? Merely put, T-Cellular has been aggressively rolling out Band 71 for years, and whereas it was beforehand utilizing a number of older bands for protection in areas the place Band 71 wasn’t current, issues have modified on the backend and so many units with out band 71 are now not working accurately. Greater than probably T-Cellular has reconfigured numerous its cell towers to cease utilizing a few of its older LTE bands like B2, B4, B12, B41, and B66 rather than B71 and N71. It’s additionally attainable that T-Cellular merely delisted a few of these units from accessing the community. We’ve reached out to T-Cellular for additional clarification and can replace this submit as we be taught extra.
The modifications primarily influence the next units:
- Telephones not designed for the North American market, together with manufacturers like Xiaomi, Nothing, and non-North American fashions of OnePlus, Motorola, Samsung, Google, and Apple units.
- Older US-specific telephones, notably these over 4 years previous, as many don’t help Band 71 even when supposed for U.S. carriers.
To find out in case your telephone can be affected, keep away from counting on the Mint Cellular or T-Cellular compatibility checkers, as they’re typically inaccurate. As LeftOn4ya advises within the Mint Cellular subreddit, FrequencyCheck.com spells out what particular bands you do and don’t have. If you wish to guarantee correct help for T-Cellular’s community your telephone at a minimal you’ll need:
- LTE bands: 2,4, 12,66, and 71
- 5G bands: n71 and n41
For top-band 5G help, you’ll additionally want bands 25/n258, 26/n60, and n261.
What if my telephone doesn’t help the mandatory bands?
In case your telephone lacks these bands, you’ll probably expertise poor service — or none in any respect. In case you’ve been glad with T-Cellular’s community, your only option is to improve to a suitable gadget. Alternatively, you could possibly swap to a special community. AT&T could current comparable compatibility points, however Verizon and its community companions received’t be an issue. I extremely advocate US Cellular or Seen. Each of those help eSIM so you possibly can port out instantly earlier than any issues come up.
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