I’m looking for an upgrade on my CDMA carrier in the US and it really seems like my only options are Samsung, Pixle, Motorola, or IOS.
Am I missing something or do companies just not support this technology?
I got excited about the zenphone 10, but it looks like it is GSM only.
I’m not aware of any carriers in the US that still support CDMA. Verizon and Sprint were the big two, and neither supports CDMA anymore.
US Cellular is the only one, and they’re planning a shutdown of CDMA “soon”.
I’d advise OP to seriously reconsider. GSM won that war.
So I’m not personally locked into CDMA vs gsm, its just that the carrier appears to be. The exact quote from the device page is
“[US Version] Compatible with GSM Networks including AT&T, T-Mobile and MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) who utilize AT&T and T Mobile networks. This device is not compatible with CDMA Networks such as: Verizon, Sprint and US Cellular”
Looking at it more, it sounds like the problem is specifically the 13 band not being supported by the device.
I don’t think verizon uses CDMA anymore, they’re on LTE/5G now. I would double check if you really need CDMA, or just a verizon supported phone.
If thats the case then this just made my day! I’m not really sure how to verify that it works without buying one, but I guess I can do some reading.
CHECK! THE! BANDS!!!
Checking the bands is the difference from having slow, basically 3g speeds, and having full lte and 5g.
Most modern phones support the common 4g bands, a few years ago stuff like 700 and 1900 weren’t as uniform, but 5g is critical, everyone has their own bands and there’s a really good chance you might only get a minimum and highly oversubscribed band between your carrier and phone.
From what I can find Verizon supports n77 , n260, n26, n2, n5, n66.
The listed Specs for the Zenphone 10 shows the following.
US version DC-HSPA+ (DL/UL): 42Mbps / 5.76Mbps ; LTE 7CA (DL/UL) 2.0Gbps / 211Mbps 5G NR FR1 (DL/UL): 4.92Gbps / 0.55Gbps
5G Non-Standalone (NSA): n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n38, n40, n41, n66, n71, n77, n78
5G Standalone (SA): n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n38, n40, n41, n66, n71, n77, n78
FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 30, 66, 71)
TD-LTE (Bands 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
WCDMA (Bands 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 19)
EDGE/GPRS/GSM (2, 3, 5, 8)
Does that seem like enough overlap?
Can confirm here, am on Verizon and they 100% support fully-GSM devices assuming the LTE bands line up.
(I’ve had Oneplus 6T, 7T, and Sony Xperia 5 ii on Verizon, all of which are not CDMA compatible)
CDMA and GSM are both dead in the US. However MVNOs, who contracturally not allowed to mention the name of the MNO they operate on, have adopted the convetion of using CDMA to refer to Verizon and GSMT or GSMA to refer to T-Mobile or AT&T.