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Weird LTE Bands for iPhone SE Models

F

Florida Gator

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 26, 2004
233
79
According to the Tech Specs page, there are two models:

http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/

A1662
LTE Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29
Exclusive LTE Bands: 13, 29

A1723
LTE Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 38, 39, 40, 41
Exclusive LTE Bands: 7, 28

What's strange is usually there is a model with all the LTE bands, and typically, it would be the A1723, which has the Chinese TD-LTE bands. I wonder if that model truly lacks bands 13 and 29, or if it's just a typo that later gets fixed like what happened with the iPhone 6S's launch.

LTE band 13 is used by Verizon in the United States. LTE band 7 is used in Africa, South America and Canada. Seems 28 and 29 are newer bands designed for future proof.

Hopefully there truly is a world-phone version with all the bands.
 
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I was just about to post something similar. It looks like the US will use all of the same phone though, finally. It was frustrating having band 20 only being in the ATT model at launch.
 
What's interesting is they have a SIM-free version listed on their website. I wonder which one that is?

It would be weird to get a SIM-free iPhone and have it incompatible with many networks.
 
"The SIM-free iPhone comes without a wireless contract commitment or carrier financing. It doesn’t come with a nano-SIM card for iPhone SE. And because it’s unlocked, it isn’t tied to one carrier, so you can get a nano-SIM from any supported carrier, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the United States. The SIM-free iPhone SE is not compatible with Sprint’s network. To use iPhone SE with Sprint, you need to select Sprint as your carrier when you purchase your iPhone."

Wow. That's nuts. If you get the SIM-free version, it will not work on bands 7, 29, 38, 39, 40 and 41, which will limit you if you plan to use it in Africa, South America and China.

So weird.
 
Florida Gator said:
"The SIM-free iPhone comes without a wireless contract commitment or carrier financing. It doesn’t come with a nano-SIM card for iPhone SE. And because it’s unlocked, it isn’t tied to one carrier, so you can get a nano-SIM from any supported carrier, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the United States. The SIM-free iPhone SE is not compatible with Sprint’s network. To use iPhone SE with Sprint, you need to select Sprint as your carrier when you purchase your iPhone."

Wow. That's nuts. If you get the SIM-free version, it will not work on bands 7, 29, 38, 39, 40 and 41, which will limit you if you plan to use it in Africa, South America and China.

So weird.
Click to expand...
Does this mean buying the Sprint model at the full price is the way to go?
 
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pearstar said:
Does this mean buying the Sprint model at the full price is the way to go?
Click to expand...

It depends. Do you ever see yourself needing to use it on Verizon in the United States? Verizon uses LTE band 13, which the tech specs indicate is not supported on the Sprint version.

They very well may update the tech specs to indicate the Sprint model does support 13, but as of right now, proceed with caution.
[doublepost=1458589089][/doublepost]
dave006 said:
The Model A1723 is listed as covering the Japan carriers. Which is also listed for Sprint in the US.

Dave
Click to expand...

It looks like the Verizon model covers most of the LTE bands used in Japan, but not all of them. So if you're going for a short trip, it will be fine. You might run into problems if you intend to live there.
 
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Florida Gator said:
It depends. Do you ever see yourself needing to use it on Verizon in the united states? Verizon uses LTE band 13, which the tech specs indicate is not supported on the Sprint version.

They very well may update the tech specs to indicate the Sprint model does support 13, but as of right now, proceed with caution.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I use AT&T in the US, but I also travel to China a lot. I'll keep an eye on the spec page.
 
dave006 said:
The Model A1723 is listed as covering the Japan carriers. Which is also listed for Sprint in the US.

Dave
Click to expand...

So what phone do I need if I want to have Verizon in the US, and have it work in Japan as well (any carrier) when I visit? A1662 doesn't list support for Japan, and A1723 doesn't list support for Verizon.

Or, would the Verizon model A1662 work in Japan, just not on LTE? I don't have to have LTE, it can be 4G or whatever, as long as it works over there. Ideally I'd like to pay $50 for an SE on contract from Verizon and just have it work over there when I visit (since it SHOULD be unlocked anyway, granted people were having issues with this on their Verizon 6), I don't care if it's LTE or not, it just needs to work.

Florida Gator said:
It looks like the Verizon model covers most of the LTE bands used in Japan, but not all of them. So if you're going for a short trip, it will be fine. You might run into problems if you intend to live there.
Click to expand...

Where do you see this? This page doesn't say that any of Japan's carriers are supported with the Verizon model (A1662):

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/#iphone-se

EDIT: I did find this:

http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html

This says that NTT Docomo and E-mobile (never heard of the latter) use the 1800 MHz 4G GSM band, which lines up with the 1800 MHz GSM band in the A1662 SE. So I should be able to get the Verizon A1662, and it will work just fine under 4G coverage in Japan under NTT Docomo?

Here are the SE GSM bands:

http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/
 
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puma1552 said:
So what phone do I need if I want to have Verizon in the US, and have it work in Japan as well (any carrier) when I visit? A1662 doesn't list support for Japan, and A1723 doesn't list support for Verizon.

Or, would the Verizon model A1662 work in Japan, just not on LTE? I don't have to have LTE, it can be 4G or whatever, as long as it works over there. Ideally I'd like to pay $50 for an SE on contract from Verizon and just have it work over there when I visit (since it SHOULD be unlocked anyway, granted people were having issues with this on their Verizon 6), I don't care if it's LTE or not, it just needs to work.



Where do you see this? This page doesn't say that any of Japan's carriers are supported with the Verizon model (A1662):

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/#iphone-se
Click to expand...


1. http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/

The A1662 supports bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29.


2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks_in_Asia

These Japanese carries use the following bands:

KDDI: 1, 11, 18, 28

NTT DoCoMo: 1, 9, 19, 21, 28

SoftBank: 1, 8, 9

Because the A1662 doesn't support all bands for each carrier, I'm guessing Apple won't say it's compatible.


I would hold out hope that the A1723 supports LTE band 13 and 29, it's just not yet documented...if you want a "world phone."
 
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Florida Gator said:
1. http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/

The A1662 supports bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29.


2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks_in_Asia

These Japanese carries use the following bands:

KDDI: 1, 11, 18, 28

NTT DoCoMo: 1, 9, 19, 21, 28

SoftBank: 1, 8, 9

Because the A1662 doesn't support all bands for each carrier, I'm guessing Apple won't say it's compatible.


I would hold out hope that the A1723 supports LTE band 13 and 29, it's just not yet documented...if you want a "world phone."
Click to expand...

Thank you, good to know I can pick up an SE on contract for $50 from Verizon and still be able to use it with any Japanese carrier I choose when I visit since each carrier uses at least one LTE band.
 
puma1552 said:
Thank you, good to know I can pick up an SE on contract for $50 from Verizon and still be able to use it with any Japanese carrier I choose when I visit since each carrier uses at least one LTE band.
Click to expand...

I would caution that it won't be completely compatible with their entire network. So speed, and connectivity in general, may be intermittent with the A1662.
 
Florida Gator said:
I would caution that it won't be completely compatible with their entire network. So speed, and connectivity in general, may be intermittent with the A1662.
Click to expand...

Could you take a look at my edit in post 11 regarding GSM coverage and weigh in? It looks like I will have some GSM coverage on NTT Docomo as well if I understand this, so I could have two LTE bands as well as one GSM band, if I grabbed a Docomo sim while there. Can you confirm I'm understanding this right?

Thanks,
 
Anyone know what the LTE speedS are on the SE. I really wish the SE had advanced LTE.
 
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puma1552 said:
Could you take a look at my edit in post 11 regarding GSM coverage and weigh in? It looks like I will have some GSM coverage on NTT Docomo as well if I understand this, so I could have two LTE bands as well as one GSM band, if I grabbed a Docomo sim while there. Can you confirm I'm understanding this right?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

I just it just depends on NTT Docomo's coverage and where they have LTE (and under which bands) and where they have HSPA+ and where they overlap. I can't confirm.
 
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Florida Gator said:
I just it just depends on NTT Docomo's coverage and where they have LTE (and under which bands) and where they have HSPA+ and where they overlap. I can't confirm.
Click to expand...

Thanks, they tend to have the best coverage from experience, so hopefully I should be ok, at least in the typical major urban areas.
 
No LTE30 for Att, we already have couple spots with this band. I wanted to buy a smaller iphone, but the lack of lte30 stops me.
 
With the rapid growth of LTE bands world wide, Apple probably realize that you need to make even the "cheap" phone with newer modems. Odd that they don't include everything in the 6s. But looking back. My old 5 (pre T-Mobile) is still in use. And the LTE is pretty limited. Doesn't even handle all the primary ATT bands in current use.

At least it has Band 12, unlike my 6, for use on T-Mobile.
 
kevink2 said:
With the rapid growth of LTE bands world wide, Apple probably realize that you need to make even the "cheap" phone with newer modems. Odd that they don't include everything in the 6s. But looking back. My old 5 (pre T-Mobile) is still in use. And the LTE is pretty limited. Doesn't even handle all the primary ATT bands in current use.

At least it has Band 12, unlike my 6, for use on T-Mobile.
Click to expand...

Great discussion! I am planning to purchase an iPhone SE from Apple outright and use it on the U.S. with my current T-Mobile plan. However, I also do quite a bit of traveling in the U.S. and internationally (mostly in Europe). It appears that both Model A1662 and Model A1723 support the U.S. T-Mobile LTE bands of 2, 4, and 12 (if I understand correctly). Which model is the better purchase for me?
 
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