Re:The Samsung Galaxy S23’s bloated Android build somehow us...
by dangus on Tuesday February 14, 2023 @04:19PM
(#34796154)
Beyond simple support for your carrier's specific cellular bands, a lot of smartphone functionality is tied into the carrier's implementation/integration with your phone.
This used to be more of a problem ~5-7 years ago or so. I'd buy an obscure Android phone and I couldn't use things like Visual Voicemail, Voice over LTE, or WiFi Calling.
Verizon used to be and may still be picky about which phones they activate as well. My Nexus 5X supported all the bands required to work with Verizon, but they refused to activate the phone on their network, despite ordering a plain SIM card for BYOD.
Apple keeps a list of supported carrier features on this page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204039
This used to be more of a problem ~5-7 years ago or so. I'd buy an obscure Android phone and I couldn't use things like Visual Voicemail, Voice over LTE, or WiFi Calling.
Verizon used to be and may still be picky about which phones they activate as well. My Nexus 5X supported all the bands required to work with Verizon, but they refused to activate the phone on their network, despite ordering a plain SIM card for BYOD.