Question Unlocked 6 pro on Verizon and OTA updates

[jjbender]

I have the 6 pro unlocked bought from Google. I use it on Verizon. I found out that when I got the phone and put the Sim in that the November update was not downloaded and installed. I factory reset the device and did not insert the SIM and I got the update. I now have SD1A.210817.036 installed. I this the correct version? I understand there is a November update 037 now but I don't see that. Now I am concerned that when the December update comes out that I wont get that either. Does anyone here know if Google and Verizon have fixed this issue?

Thanks

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

We don't know because it's just too early to tell. Word is they stopped pushing the .037 OTA at all, although I don't know that from personal experience. I've got the unlocked P6P running on AT&T and I got all the OTAs almost immediately. The next OTA should be out next Monday, but I believe Verizon variants have often lagged at least a little when though the OTA is available directly from Google for all variants at the same time.

Also commonly, after several updates the Verizon version of the firmware gets merged into a single universal firmware.

Regardless of any of this, you can flash either the Verizon version of the OTA manually, getting it directly from Google's site. You may even be able to flash the non-Verizon OTA manually, but there's no reason to avoid the Verizon version since you're using it with Verizon.

 

[sunNsnow]

With the Pixel 5, unlocked but using Verizon as my service provider: there was a 50-50 shot on some sort of delay on updates. I think it has to do with their mmWave 5G and other providers (US and international) either do not use mmWave; or aren't as proprietary as Verizon.

 

[RVO27]

Is there any benefit to running the Verizon version on an unlocked pixel 6 pro?

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

Is there any benefit to running the Verizon version on an unlocked pixel 6 pro?

The best answer is "maybe", leaning towards "probably".

For example, and probably a bad example but the only one I got. When I got my unlocked HTC 10 before I got the Pixel 1 in 2016, and I was still with Verizon at the time, I had no idea that I was going to have to jump through hoops to get Verizon's radio.img on my HTC 10, which was rooted so no big deal. Now maybe there was a whole Verizon firmware I could flash, but if I just wanted to use the regular unlocked HTC 10 firmware, I had to put the Verizon radio.img on there to even work on the network.

On the Pixels, I don't think it's ever been quite like that. I think you can use the regular firmware just fine on Verizon, but maybe, just maybe, it will work better with their proprietary bits that come with the Verizon version of the firmware.

Also, I know sometimes in the past that if you had the unlocked firmware on a device but used a Verizon SIM (or in other cases with some phones, an AT&T SIM, and probably applied to T-Mobile too), that you would then receive an OTA automatically to put you on their particular variant of the most recent firmware. So unless you disabled updates in Developer Options, you'd get the "proper" firmware for your usage anyway, and of course, being rooted is the ultimate method to avoid the proprietary variant of the firmware since OTAs will most likely refuse to even update a rooted device, although you should still turn automatic updates off since there's a chance it could instead soft-brick your device.

 

[sdbe]

I have the 6 pro unlocked bought from Google. I use it on Verizon. I found out that when I got the phone and put the Sim in that the November update was not downloaded and installed. I factory reset the device and did not insert the SIM and I got the update. I now have SD1A.210817.036 installed. I this the correct version? I understand there is a November update 037 now but I don't see that. Now I am concerned that when the December update comes out that I wont get that either. Does anyone here know if Google and Verizon have fixed this issue?

Thanks

I have an unlocked p6 (not pro) that I got from Amazon which I am using on Verizon. When I first set it up without a sim card it got the 36 update OTA without a problem. I put in the sim card and didn't receive the 37 update long after it was released. Finally I tried an inactive Mint sim (t-mobile network) and got the update when I checked for a system update using the settings menu. It probably would have worked without a sim also.

Rumors are that there will be a December update so I will be checking then. If I don't get it I will try without a sim or with an inactive sim. But that will mean that automatic updates don't work for unlocked p6s on verizon.

 

[jjbender]

I did finally sideload the .037.A1 which is the Verizon version so I will see if I start getting the OTA updates.

Thanks all

 

[roirraW "edor" ehT]

Rumors are that there will be a December update so I will be checking then.

For clarification, if you didn't know (forgive me if you did), the Pixel 6/Pro will receive an update every single month from the time it came out until five years later (so ~ October 2026). Especially some of the later years they might only be security updates - not Android version updates, but they will come like clockwork I believe the first Monday of every month.

 

[Nergal di Cuthah]

Personally i wouldn't use the vzw firmware as there are hardware differences between the two especially radio