[Q] Which s5 model suits my needs?

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gianptune

Senior Member
Oct 10, 2010
212
87
I'm looking to get an s5 for use in north america. My sim card is using AT&T towers. I want a bootloader that allows unlocking using "fastboot oem unlock" or a similar command; no workarounds like loki. I will be buying outright, not carrier subsidizing for 2 years. Given these criteria, which model numbers should I be considering?

I've heard that the t-mobile one has the unlockable bootloader. Does it support all the bands to use AT&T towers?

I've seen more than one model number for international units. Are all the bootloaders unlockable? What's the deal with the region-locking? Will some of them work better for me than the others?
 

aooga

Senior Member
Feb 19, 2011
3,263
972
California
I'm looking to get an s5 for use in north america. My sim card is using AT&T towers. I want a bootloader that allows unlocking using "fastboot oem unlock" or a similar command; no workarounds like loki. I will be buying outright, not carrier subsidizing for 2 years. Given these criteria, which model numbers should I be considering?

I've heard that the t-mobile one has the unlockable bootloader. Does it support all the bands to use AT&T towers?

I've seen more than one model number for international units. Are all the bootloaders unlockable? What's the deal with the region-locking? Will some of them work better for me than the others?

There is no unlocking of bootloaders. It's either unlocked, or locked from the factory.

To answer your question, get the G900T (the tmobile version). You can get this at costco, best buy, target, .... and of course a tmobile store itself. It supports all of AT&T's bands and more.
 

joshua.justice

Senior Member
Feb 12, 2011
636
42
Cincinnati
There is no unlocking of bootloaders. It's either unlocked, or locked from the factory.

To answer your question, get the G900T (the tmobile version). You can get this at costco, best buy, target, .... and of course a tmobile store itself. It supports all of AT&T's bands and more.

Best Buy doesn't carry T Mobile phones except I prepaid, so they can't buy it there.
 

aklbeach

Member
Jul 14, 2011
49
4
STL
Best Buy doesn't carry T Mobile phones except I prepaid, so they can't buy it there.

I bought the g900t and have been using it on att networks. I bought the phone unlocked but new beside that on ebay. I did have to play with some different apns to get it to take on different towers. I had some issues while traveling in different cities that I wouldn't get data. But I think I got the issue fixed. Just took the 133mb ota, hoping that it doesn't mess with the cell unlock or keep me from rooting. Well so far it hasn't messed with the carrier unlock
 

aklbeach

Member
Jul 14, 2011
49
4
STL
Weird. Mine did. Just buy it at Costco or a tmo store. I just bought it from a tmobile store. Went through really easily.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

the tmobile store told me that they would not unlock a new phone like this for at least 6 months even if you buy it outright. So if you do that plan on unlocking it with one of the many websites that do it
 

aooga

Senior Member
Feb 19, 2011
3,263
972
California
the tmobile store told me that they would not unlock a new phone like this for at least 6 months even if you buy it outright. So if you do that plan on unlocking it with one of the many websites that do it

Well i'm on tmobile so I didn't need them to unlock anything, but you're right, they won't unlock it so the OP will need to use some unlocking site to use it on ATT.