I have a contract on 3 in the UK and on ATT in the US, although thinking of switching to TMo. I have always simply swapped SIMs mid-Atlantic on my iPhone 4 and I'm good to go in the other place.

I'm now looking at switching to an unlocked iPhone 5. I would get the new phone through 3 in the UK. What I have gleaned so far is that there are two different models, the A1428 for the US and the A1429 for the UK, which operate on different frequency spectrums for LTE. I have asked of 3 and of Apple as to whether, with the same phone, I can get LTE on both sides of the Atlantic (at least once 3 have rolled out their LTE network), and have had conflicting answers.

Do any of the gurus here know the answer? And does it vary whether I maintain a contract with ATT (which runs through October), or switch to TMo at that time? And am I right in thinking that 3G will be just fine in both locations?

Thank you in advance for any insights - I'm very confused!

You have it right. With the five, you pick a handset and must forego LTE in one country. The handsets are banded differently for LTE. It's a pain.

Your UK phone will pickup 4G and downwards well enough in the US, but not LTE. Switching to T-Mobile USA will make no difference.

If it's any consolation, I'm in exactly the same boat as you.

Thanks for such a quick response. What's your solution - do you have two phones or just lose speed in one place or the other? I guess I could get a new iPhone contract here now, and another one in October in the States, but it's so much easier just having one phone, particularly now with iMessage.

T-Mobile US doesn't really have much LTE footprint yet anyway, so if you want LTE in the US, go with a different provider.

How many variations exist: 3 or 5?
According to this support pages, only 3:
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP655
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3939#iPhone5


This lists LTE support worldwide and which model covers which countries: http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

I recall thread re this when iPhone 5 original released and the conclusion was the most 'versatile' model being the combo CDMA model A1429* normally associated with the Verizon network stateside, having the most LTE bands: Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25.

Buy an LTE mifi overseas and use WIFI when roaming.

Thanks. As it happens, there are very limited areas where I need coverage and they'll have them by October, so that's not an issue. Strangely, where my US address is, I have to rely on satellite internet for home, but I've already got good ATT and Verizon LTE/4G and will have TMo soon. Was hoping to use my one iPhone as a wireless router through TMo but it sounds like that won't be possible.

What about the CMDA version of A1429 .. is that an option for you?

http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/ - lists the frequencies/channels per model/country

-David

Verizon and Sprint use the A1429. What happens if you purchased the phone from them and put a Three SIM in the phone? They will unlock the phone for use in the UK.

Stu

PS: Has Three unrolled LTE in the UK. I thought only EE had.

This is a very interesting solution which I will look into. I had no idea that Verizon would unlock the phone in the UK (although I much prefer TMo's charging structure, but I can get over that, I suppose).

As to Three and LTE - no, it's not started but will in a couple of months. Everything they are selling at the moment will switch over to it automatically (none of the others have made such a commitment). I can't use EE as I live in central London and their signal strength is almost non-existent!!

TMobile's dual HSPA+ is close to LTE in speed. I use Telus's dual HSPA+ in Canada and find it real close.

The role out of LTE has had nothing of the kind of (if I'm using the right terminology) unity in terms of the set of spectra used. Eventually, we will probably have multi band phones that work on any LTE network but I suspect this is a year or two away.

And yes, dual band HSPA+ is great!

It's been Verizon and Sprint's longstanding iPhone policy to unlock iPhones to accept foreign SIMs. It's not a full unlock - the phone will reject any SIM for US networks (country code 310 I think) - but it will work with any non-US SIM.

I think you need to have been a customer for at least 90 days and be current on your payments.

Call Global support 908 559-4899 for unlock.

This is what I would do. ^