I hit the high street today in search of an N7105 to go on three's network with the hope of being 4G ready, this is what I found
1) I went into a 3 store and got to play with a real "3" note 2, this was an N7100 despite "3's" customer service promising me that it was 4G ready for sure, it turns out they are currently only stocking the N7100 what is really bad is that 3 are pushing the fact that they are upgrading their network to DC-HSDPA (theoretical 42 Mbps real world 15 mbps) but regarding Samsungs the only DC-HSDPA phone available are the Galaxy S3 LTE and the Note 2 LTE, so the regular note 2 will not be able to make the best of "3s" newly enhanced network.
2) I went into phones 4U as independent phone shops buy their own phones and so in theory will be able to sell you an N7105 on any network you want. This was even worse! where as T-mobile/Orange customers are getting the N7105 direct from their provider if they either start up new contracts or upgrade, if you sign up to a new contract or upgrade via phones 4U they are dishing out the N7100, they don't have any N7105's in stock and when they get them they will be exclusively dishing them out to people signing up to new contracts on EE.
If I was with T-Mobile/Orange and got an N7100 through phones 4U when I was meant to get an N7105 I would be very unimpressed.
1) I went into a 3 store and got to play with a real "3" note 2, this was an N7100 despite "3's" customer service promising me that it was 4G ready for sure, it turns out they are currently only stocking the N7100 what is really bad is that 3 are pushing the fact that they are upgrading their network to DC-HSDPA (theoretical 42 Mbps real world 15 mbps) but regarding Samsungs the only DC-HSDPA phone available are the Galaxy S3 LTE and the Note 2 LTE, so the regular note 2 will not be able to make the best of "3s" newly enhanced network.
2) I went into phones 4U as independent phone shops buy their own phones and so in theory will be able to sell you an N7105 on any network you want. This was even worse! where as T-mobile/Orange customers are getting the N7105 direct from their provider if they either start up new contracts or upgrade, if you sign up to a new contract or upgrade via phones 4U they are dishing out the N7100, they don't have any N7105's in stock and when they get them they will be exclusively dishing them out to people signing up to new contracts on EE.
If I was with T-Mobile/Orange and got an N7100 through phones 4U when I was meant to get an N7105 I would be very unimpressed.