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iPhone 7 Models From AT&T and T-Mobile Do Not Support CDMA Networks
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GSM is used as a synonym for LTE when speaking about traditionally GSM networks/carriers.
Replace "CDMA" with "headphone jack" and "Verizon" with "Apple" and you have a decent synopsis of 2016 Macrumors.
If you need CDMA, you must buy Qualcomm chipsets, then it becomes a monopoloy and they get to dictate the price and bundle stuff like the RF section, GPS, and envelope tracker and PMIC.
So is the following statement from the Apple website not true?
Nearly all iPhone models sold on apple.com are “unlocked” — which means your iPhone isn’t tied to a single carrier. Your iPhone will be locked to your carrier only if you choose carrier financing from AT&T or Sprint.
Nearly all iPhone models sold on apple.com are “unlocked” — which means your iPhone isn’t tied to a single carrier. Your iPhone will be locked to your carrier only if you choose carrier financing from AT&T or Sprint.
From what Verizon told me that...Any phone that you purchase directly from Apple, Sprint, ATT, or TMO are unlocked and may work with any carrier, but they will not support the device for any troubleshooting issues. Not that its big of deal for most people as phones are pretty reliable even from carrier to carrier.
OK....that's good to know. In the past Sprint was very difficult if not impossible to get unlocked....but that's probably changed finally with the new rules that the carriers are supposed to follow. Verizon's unlocked status was mandated by the FCC as a condition of them getting the LTE bands they wanted (or something like that). And they didn't use to sell unlocked phones from carriers other than T-mobile online at launch. You had to go to the store and request device only....seems the walls are finally coming down!
You could read the article and see that they switched to intel modem chips, who don't have a one that supports CDMA yet. So they're using Qualcomm for the CDMA version. When Intel gets a modem chip that supports both, there will likely be an invisible hardware update to the version that supports both.
So then why did they bother with Intel this time around? Is there any advantage???
I'm a bit confused. Can someone please confirm for me...
If I buy the Verizon iPhone 7 outright I will be able to use it on AT&T out of the box? I currently use AT&T (month-to-month) and I don't plan on switching (at least not right away).
If I buy the Verizon iPhone 7 outright I will be able to use it on AT&T out of the box? I currently use AT&T (month-to-month) and I don't plan on switching (at least not right away).
I partially agree. I think CDMA has its place. In terms of strength and reach, it beats LTE -- even low-band LTE. I compare it to EDGE on T-Mobile. On PCS1900, it's a lot stronger and has further reach than band 4 or band 2 LTE. And until they get band 12 on every single cell site, I think EDGE should stick around as the next best fallback.
That's all I can think of.
AT&T is always capitalized in text. And it was only lower case only when used explicitly next to the "globe" icon from 2005-2015. Since 2016, all type and logo representations are always capitilized.
I pop the sim out of my carrier locked iPhone 6s plus from AT&T and use it in my unlocked sim free SE and switch back again all the time with no problem. I don't notify the carrier. If you stay with the same carrier you likely won't have any problems. My husband did have some snafu when he took his sim out of his iPhone and put it into his Note 7 on a different line within AT&T but a phone call to AT&T fixed that and now he can trade the sim freely between the two phones.
No, they have started using sim cards because of LTE data, however voice is still CDMA, except some of Verizon's network where you can use VOLTE.
and there is the downside of the intel modem, will be interesting to see if the intel modem is less power efficient too
The savings is probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars so I would say it's well worth having to maintain an additional pair of SKUs.
For those complaining that CDMA needs to go - where I live, CDMA is the *only* game in town. AT&T promised in 2008 that they were 3 months away from giving my area access to GSM. Nope. 8 years later, and my AT&T iPhones and iPads display "No Service". It's a 15 minute drive to get any GSM signal here in rural NC. Yes, in the "bigger" cities like Asheville, you get GSM and CDMA. But this area is quite large here, and the only company that offers any kind of signal what so ever, is Verizon's CDMA network. And there are holes in their coverage too. Driving to Greenville, SC, there is a 25 minute part of the commute that I have neither Verizon nor AT&T signal. CDMA is not dead yet; even if it should be.
I posted a chart that I took from the Apple Online store a few minutes ago. You can get a Verizon phone Unlocked which should work with t-mobile right away. See the post with the picture attached.