Can I pre-order an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge from a carrier?
Question is if ordering an unlocked variant is worth it?Can I pre-order an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge from a carrier?
All Verizon LTE devices must come SIM unlocked out of the box due to the agreement they made with the FCC a few years ago to get some of their LTE spectrum, so it's essentially confirmed. If it's SIM locked, Verizon will be in hot water with the FCC. The Verizon S6 and S6 Edge have the GSM bands to run on nearly any GSM network. It won't have LTE bands for every carrier, but GSM should work just fine once the APN settings are adjusted.As most of you know, there's a big difference between an unlocked bootloader & and unlocked "device", (or sim unlock) that you're able to use on any carrier. As long as your buying a GSM branded model, you'll be able to get an unlock code to use it on most any other GSM carrier's network. Obviously CDMA models (Verizon/Sprint) somewhat limit this ability, but many of the newer flagship models are providing more GSM bands that will allow the device to work on other carriers once unlocked. I read somewhere recently that the Verizon S6 will allow this, though I'm not sure this is confirmed. I'll have to double check.
S5 tap'n
Good point. But some gsm devices you can unlock and use on another carrier but may not work on their LTE. The iPhone for example has all the radios but even though you go from att to T-Mobile (or vice verse) you may not be able to use it on the other carrier's LTE. Not because it is not capable (the exact same iPhone) but when the device authenticates on the network it may look for certain numbers to determine if it is that carriers device or not. This allow carriers (like att) to charge more than what Sprint or T-Mobile . If you could buy a T-Mobile note 4 and put it on att's network (LTE) then att would not have been able to pull that stunt they pulled last fall charging almost $100 more for the note 4 than other carrier.As most of you know, there's a big difference between an unlocked bootloader & and unlocked "device", (or sim unlock) that you're able to use on any carrier. As long as your buying a GSM branded model, you'll be able to get an unlock code to use it on most any other GSM carrier's network. Obviously CDMA models (Verizon/Sprint) somewhat limit this ability, but many of the newer flagship models are providing more GSM bands that will allow the device to work on other carriers once unlocked. I read somewhere recently that the Verizon S6 will allow this, though I'm not sure this is confirmed. I'll have to double check.
S5 tap'n
If you could buy a T-Mobile note 4 and put it on att's network (LTE) then att would not have been able to pull that stunt they pulled last fall charging almost $100 more for the note 4 than other carrier