re: travel much

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Originally Posted by bella92108

You don't travel much internationally, I see. :)

Yeah, if you are in Los Angeles with an AT&T sim it's likely going to find it's way onto the AT&T network, obviously. Try roaming across to Japan... you'll find that AT&T has roaming agreements with NTTdocomo, and SoftBank. NTTdocomo is great if you're sitting at Narita airport, but you may want to venture outside the airport, to say, downtown Tokyo, where Softbank dominates in coverage and reliability in parts of town. You can't switch because the ATT ROM\Radio will ALWAYS favor NTT, why? Because ATT likely has a more favorable roaming rate negotiated (ATT doesn't have customer experience first priority as you likely already know). Not being allowed manual selection means you take what ATT gives.

Now take an international SIM... say you go to Thailand, where I am this week. I go home with the SIM and I want to use it in the US. ATT's ROAMING list they force on me will allow me ONLY to use it on ATT... but wait, my SIM I bought here in Thailand doesn't roam with ATT, only T-Mobile... so I'm fu$#ed... see what I mean? If I had manual network selection, 2 clicks and I'd select t-mobile. To take that right away from a customer is 100% anti-customer, and demonstrates what a regional carrier ATT really is. The people who control these things don't leave their cubicle in Dallas, so they don't get it that someone might just want to not be screwed without phone service when they travel because the furthest the programmer geek has travelled is the $5 happy ending massage shop at the edge of town, lol

You're right, I don't travel much, do you want to take me to Japan and show me how?

Yes now I see what you mean!

(there are cheapy phones made in China which support two internal sim chips which can be switched on the fly I think)

Originally Posted by Misterjunky

You're right, I don't travel much, do you want to take me to Japan and show
me how?

(there are cheapy phones made in China which support two internal sim chips which can be switched on the fly I think)

Yeah, I didn't spent $500 to have a traveling paperweight though, hehe. I used to always carry a second phone, but then I ended up missing the nice features of my main phone when I travel. I'm just going to go to MBK in the morning and buy a SGSII International here and sell my ATT version next week when I'm back, on eBay or CL

Originally Posted by Misterjunky

You're right, I don't travel much, do you want to take me to Japan and show me how?

Yes now I see what you mean!

(there are cheapy phones made in China which support two internal sim chips which can be switched on the fly I think)

Just out of curiosity...? Aren't all US phones LOCKED this way? So this isn't just an AT&T issue right... The same would be true for a sprint, tmobile or verizon phone...? Wouldn't it have been better to buy an internation phone to begin with instead of ANY U.S. carrier subsidised phone...?

re: which is best

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Originally Posted by lonewolf69

Just out of curiosity...? Aren't all US phones LOCKED this way? So this isn't just an AT&T issue right... The same would be true for a sprint, tmobile or verizon phone...? Wouldn't it have been better to buy an internation phone to begin with instead of ANY U.S. carrier subsidised phone...?

All the SGS2 i777 phones are LOCKED in the USA, they are locked to AT&T.
However its fairly easy to unlock these phones.

If I were to unlock my i777 phone it would not only work with AT&T but
with any other GSM service provider like T-Mobile which uses SIM chips.

The only downside to unlocking the phone is that even after it's unlocked it
will NOT work on 3G or 4G but only on GSM networks, which means that
voice calls will work great but anything related to internet will be real slow
unless you are using wifi.

Even the international version of our phones (SGS2 i9100) has the same
problem with 3G/4G if used with any other carrier here in the US besides AT&T.

The international version will work with any GSM network but without the
3G/4G bands unless you have an AT&T sim card.

Originally Posted by lonewolf69

Just out of curiosity...? Aren't all US phones LOCKED this way? So this isn't just an AT&T issue right... The same would be true for a sprint, tmobile or verizon phone...? Wouldn't it have been better to buy an internation phone to begin with instead of ANY U.S. carrier subsidised phone...?

I just bought the new white SGSII international 20 mins ago. The issue isn't unlock the issue is att wont allow manual network selection on their SGSII

So, the int'l galaxy s 2 fully supports AT&T data, then? HSPA+ is just 3G as I understand it.

I bought the original galaxy s in Portugal last year knowing that there were some limitations. It works for the most part but there can be 10 minute periods where my data connection dies.

I'm in Europe every summer, so I'm looking for some of the same benefits as the OP.

Thanks
Dave



Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

Originally Posted by daverod

So, the int'l galaxy s 2 fully supports AT&T data, then? HSPA+ is just 3G as I understand it.

I bought the original galaxy s in Portugal last year knowing that there were some limitations. It works for the most part but there can be 10 minute periods where my data connection dies.

I'm in Europe every summer, so I'm looking for some of the same benefits as the OP.

Thanks
Dave



Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

Yeah works the same. I just set mine up. Love being to press a button to answer a call. Got the new white one for $508 after currency conversation. Very pleased.

re: networks

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Originally Posted by bella92108

I just bought the new white SGSII international 20 mins ago. The issue isn't unlock the issue is att wont allow manual network selection on their SGSII

Bella, have you ever tried the CyanogenMOD 7.1 rom?

I just tested the latest update of it and just like the previous updates
you can manually select the networks.

I tested it last night and there were 2 networks showing up which I could
select from, one was my AT&T service providor which I use all the time
and the other was T-Mobile which I tried for the hell of it and if I recall it
said "no service" after making the selection or something to that effect.
(even though my phone is an AT&T I had a friend from AT&T store unlock it.)

So I am fairly sure that the network selection is very rom related, not just unlocking.

Originally Posted by ErebusRaze

So I have the US Galaxy S II variant which is an amazing phone but it's not the GS2 I fell for in February. I managed to flip (sell) my phone for a hefty price which is more than enough to buy the International version but in your opinion -- is it worth it?

I know the Nexus Prime, Razr, etc are being announced in 24 hours but I don't care -- for now. If I get the GS2 off or Amazon will it have NFC compatibility when it gains ground in the US? Is the home button really as flimsy as people make it out to be? All of your opinions are welcome.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App

U.S. technology hasn't caught up to our phones yet. We have NFC capability already (check battery). I think we're just waiting on the powers that be to flip the swtich.
I had the International phone as well, and I loved it. I don't really see a difference except in the ability to alphabetize apps and the removal of Samsung apps that didn't even work. (IM app). To me it's all the same but the Int'l version has more support currently so switching roms is cake.

Originally Posted by jgunna405

I had the International phone as well, and I loved it. I don't really see a difference except in the ability to alphabetize apps and the removal of Samsung apps that didn't even work. (IM app). To me it's all the same but the Int'l version has more support currently so switching roms is cake.

You're not able to sort apps alphabetically on the AT&T version in Touchwiz?