Support Cellular Networks [3G & 4G LTE] and my Quest for a new Phone

So this is a longshot. But I figure there might be members who are far more informed than I am regarding this.

Well, taking it from the top, I recently renewed my phone contract and switched phones to a LG G3. Which I was only content with.

Fast forward to a few months and my phone falls and the screen completely breaks. It has no insurance. I go there and they tell me I can repair the screen but that it won't be the same as it was originally.

So I decided to look into a phone I actually want. Enter the Sony Xperia Ultra series.

These phones are big and range from 6 to 6.4 inches, which was the maindraw for me. Out of these, the Xperia C5 Ultra caught my attention. Its a phone that came out this year, and seems to meet my requirements almost perfectly.

There is one issue, however. It's not a phone that's available in North American markets. No biggie right? I can just buy an international version off the internet.

Which is where Networks come in. My SIM card is 4G LTE. And I don't understand how it all works but there's a chance this phone might not be able to go into...4G speeds? I'm not even sure.

I have done my research. I inquired three times to my carrier's costumer service and they said that it would work. But I am a non-believer and stubborn. Specially since I am getting mixed signals from the sellers on Amazon (that state it has no 4G LTE in NA). I've also scoured the web and found lots of numbers (Mhz...?) That say which signals it can get? I presume.

So to do a tl;dr

Will the Xperia C5 Ultra connect to my mobile data at 3G and 4G LTE speeds and will it work as long as its SIM?

 

I actually went down this rabbit hole a couple years back. And there are two things to look into.

First there are basically two network types for cellphones. GSM and CDMA. You need to make sure that your carrier and phone are using the same one since they aren't compatible with each other. Looking up a spec sheet for the Xperia C5 Ultra shows that it is a GSM phone. So if you have a GSM carrier (such as AT&T or T-Mobile) then you can just transfer your SIM card from one phone to the other and you are good to go. Don't even need to inform your carrier. For CDMA (Such as Verizon and Sprint) the SIM card is only for the data line, not the phone line. You would need to take the phone to your carrier to activate it, and they can just say no in the end (though in theory they want you as a customer so they should help you).

Second topic though is the concept of locked phones. Unfortunately it doesn't work quite as easily as described above. On top of network type, phones also tend to be locked to a carrier. So even in GSM you end up being unable to swap cards where ever you want. Bummer. Some manufacturers allow you to buy directly from them before the phone is locked, but I don't see a way to do that with the Xperia C5 Ultra. Luckily though phones can often be unlocked. But then you need to either buy an unlocked one, or unlock it yourself. I would personally go with buying it unlocked since the unlock hacks can be unreliable and you don't want to be stuck with a phone you can't use.

tl;dr You ideally want an unlocked GSM phone on a GSM carrier.

 

These kinds of international phones can be really difficult or really easy to setup. I worked at BestBuy in the mobile department for a year and a half and honestly advised against international phones because not all carriers can be helpful if you dont know what you are doing. You will need to get the Sony Xperia unlocked, this will be paying the full price for the phone (around $375 to $450 for the phone you are looking for I believe) from there you will need to get an activated SIM card through your carrier (depending on your carrier, some will charge you for it and others wont, AT&T wont charge you I know that for sure). The SIM size that you will need with the Xperia is a Micro SIM card. Once you have the phone and an activated SIM card has been purchased and put into the phone, I recommend taking it into your local carrier store (not just a regular store, an Authorized Retailer as they have much more options to what they can do and will be more helpful for what you are doing) just to see if anything else needs to be activated on the phone. From there you should be good to go!

 

People say that, and at least on that front I'm clear. As long as the card can be inserted there should be no problem. But then the problem arises when it comes to 3G and 4G LTE. Most phones can get on any 3G network.

However, from my very haphazard research, I've found that 4G LTE needs very specific bands and that it needs to be a particular model of that phone so that it works properly. However it seems like I'm missing some specifics (like what would happen should I still buy the phone, ect)

I've spoken to five representatives from my phone carrier company and they just don't seem to be very helpful. They say that yes, it'll work. But will it work well? Will it get on the 4G LTE networks? All five have literally listed the available frequencies it operates on but have not really gone through the phases for specific help.

This gonna be a toughie.

Yeah I might do just that. But I don't want to incur in the cost only to find out that suddenly, the phone can't connect to the network.

 

What provider do you have? AT&T are really good with their customer service and you can do it through them and T-Mobile can do it too

 

It's called Claro. Which was Verizon at some point but now they're...I guess they're mainly a Mexican service provider but they also work in the Caribbean, which is where I'm at currently.

 

Ah, I didn't realize that LTE was setup like that. Probably because of the high bandwidth.

Anyway, I managed to dig up a spec sheet here that includes LTE bands by model number. Then comparing it to the LTE bands listed on Wikipedia It looks like you want the E5506 model. Unless you are in Costa Rica, then you want the E5553. You should double check though in case I overlooked where you actually live.

 

Sorry for the bump. But I have a development on this. I found the E5506 model which wasn't even on sale and isn't in most places.

But one place was indeed selling them and I am now a proud Sony Xperia C5 Ultra owner. I'm very happy overall.