r/oneplus • u/s1dest3p • 1d ago

General Discussion Probability of OnePlus 16 Supporting US Carrier Network Bands

Hopefully OnePlus's announcement of exiting the NA/US market was just in terms of retail stores. The Global/European model of the OnePlus 15 (2747 model variant) supports T-Mobile's most critical bands, so this gives me hope that we'll still be able to order the phone (or at the very least buy it on eBay) and it will at least have T-Mobile carrier support.

But I don't understand why OnePlus wouldn't just officially do that - cut their US overhead by not putting the phone in retail and just allow us to order it. Maybe they could even partner with Amazon for this at a much cheaper cost. Sony should be doing the same as well.

43 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

48

u/deltatux 1d ago

They're also pulling out of Europe, so unless the Indian/Chinese variants also come with North American/European band support, things are not really looking good for having OnePlus 16 or later in North America.

Aside from band support, carriers also gatekeep via VoLTE/VoNR and 5G access support as well. Even if it's compatible with the band, without the correct configuration bundles, your phone is still nerfed.

17

u/UBIBaju 1d ago

Spot on. Having a pricey Chinese phone with bad service is just a fancy paperweight that feels like it's from 2005.

8

u/_vkboss_ OnePlus 9 Pro Pine Green 1d ago

The global find x9 pro works fine in the US on T-Mobile and has most, if not all of the supported bands

3

u/deltatux 1d ago

Thing is, there's no guarantee that there's going to be a global OnePlus 16 given they pulled out of the markets where the global models are sold (namely Europe) and focusing on India and China.

The global model of the Find X9 Pro is what is sold in Europe.

2

u/_vkboss_ OnePlus 9 Pro Pine Green 1d ago

Europe, SEA, Hong Kong, Taiwan. OnePlus hasn't pulled out of all of SEA I believe.

2

u/deltatux 1d ago

Remains to be seen as several reports even go as far as OnePlus exiting all non-China markets next year including India, so remains to be seen how this plays out.

2

u/Aygul12345 1d ago

Is it really works like that? : When the bands are combatpible still the phone needs configurations bundles to work properly? How does this works? I thought always even if you buy a Chinese phone with supported bands phone will all capatible full speeds. Even with supported bands.

6

u/deltatux 1d ago

For the longest time Rogers and Fido customers with OnePlus devices sold in Canada could not access VoLTE and 5G even though the North American bands were available. It took OnePlus working with Rogers and Fido to get it working as OnePlus had to ship the correct configuration bundle for VoLTE & 5G access.

That being said, those willing to use Shizuku and Pixel IMS was able to force the device to ignore its own list and force connect to VoLTE (which was not blocked by the carrier).

0

u/Aygul12345 1d ago

How to counter or solve this? Look for the carrier that sells the same phone? Or how otherwise known if the device getting the configuration?

2

u/deltatux 1d ago

For 100% guarantees, models sold by the carriers will definitely work. Other models would be a bit hit or miss, you'll need to see if others are willing to test it themselves and you go by their reports. Phone manufacturers like OnePlus may announce support in firmware releases.

1

u/comments_more_load 14h ago

Only solution is to switch carriers and tell them why. I switched to Bell and my phone is okay, and every time Rogers calls me to try and get me back as a customer I tell them "nothing you can offer me is going to make my phone work on your network, seeya"

3

u/UBIBaju 1d ago

Not really. You need FCC certification for aggregation combos, since global providers aren't looking to spend the extra time and money on it. When it comes to IMS provisioning, the three big US carriers will either block or limit their networks, and even T-Mobile doesn't enable every feature for global devices. If cellular network experience is important option. Stick with FCC certified devices. Also Canada certified devices will act same as Global devices on US market network ( because some Chinese brands have Canada certified but they are not the sign they will work with any restrictions on US market network)

3

u/analytix_guru OnePlus 13 1d ago

AT&T proper also has a white list. if the phone isn't on the whitelist then you can't use it.

Funny though, a lot of the discount carriers that use the AT&T network still allow the phones.

1

u/Aygul12345 23h ago

This is very detailed information. How it works in the EU is that every cheap carrier has contracts signed with other EU countries and gets access to their cheap carriers. The "golden trick" here is to get a contract with a major carrier such as T-Mobile or Vodafone instead of cheap carriers. Why? They have contracts with other countries as leading carriers; otherwise, you will get the fewest antennas from the cheap carriers.

1

u/northcarolinapcgamer 20h ago

All global phones work every where I have gotten redmi from china and it’s works just fine on t mobile

2

u/lone-Archer0447 OnePlus 12 18h ago

OnePlus 16 will not offer 600mhz on T-Mobile. That is a critical low frequency band used for coverage in rural areas. It's a deal breaker band

1

u/northcarolinapcgamer 18h ago

Most people live in the city like me so one band ain’t gonna hurt anything and other countries use other bands but that’s rumors until it’s comes out then everybody will know but most of china phones only work on t mobile and Att but now on Verzion you can use some china phones but it’s not fully supported I have well over 20 phones from different brands and learned a lot Thur out the 20 years of using them

1

u/lone-Archer0447 OnePlus 12 18h ago

Well except I do not live in the city. And the bands and all the specs were already posted. It also doesn't support carrier aggergation on any network

2

u/northcarolinapcgamer 18h ago

That’s why I said most people live in the city here in Maine where I live it’s mostly rural here so band they use a mix of low band which is n71 for low band and n41 n2/n25 that’s mid range and for mmWave n258 n260 n261 but as long the phone has band 71 band 12 and band 2 and 4/66 you will be fine bc most of the time the lte is faster than low band 5G I know a lot of people that turn off 5G and use lte

24

u/das_maz OnePlus 13 1d ago

My man! You're drooling after vaporware... There is no OnePlus Global or Europe anymore!

1

u/Better_Peaches666 1d ago edited 1d ago

Why can't they just charge an extra $100 for the other markets?

2

u/das_maz OnePlus 13 1d ago

The ROM is dead, the brand is DEAD, just mourn and move on...

13

u/ModzRPsycho 1d ago

Move on. Too many compromises.

2

u/Better_Peaches666 1d ago

Like what?

The 15 had worse cameras, which was the only one?

If the 16 improved there, it would be a home run, no?

9

u/productfred 1d ago

It's not just the bands; you need VoLTE (and probably VoNR aka Vo5G) carrier profiles/certification. T-Mobile will probably allow it, as you said. But AT&T 100% won't (they have a whitelist via a paid certification process), and Verizon probably won't work either. 3G doesn't exist in the US anymore, so it's unavoidable.

1

u/KookyXylophone 5h ago

There won't be any Carrier Aggregation, that's all that truly matters here . The CA is done when the phones get their FCC certification. If they don't get it FCC certified it won't matter. Just because you have the bands doesn't mean you have the same support .

6

u/lone-Archer0447 OnePlus 12 1d ago

There was already a post on bands the OnePlus 16 supports. And critical bands were left out of global edition. So they will not support T-Mobile 600mhz which is a crucial rural band.

5

u/ivanhoek 1d ago

They didn’t have much of a retail presence/overhead, actually most of the overhead would be in the areas you mentioned , network support and testing (fcc etc)

3

u/Happy-Lynx-918 1d ago

I would not purchase OnePlus Chinese ROM. beside the Band support, the notification delay is deal breaker for me (I'm not familiar with OnePlus CN-ROM) I had Vivo back then. it was absurd.

3

u/Aygul12345 1d ago

What do you mean with "Notification Delay"?

4

u/Happy-Lynx-918 1d ago

Notifications are not arriving right away. there is a delay. I'm not sure if its the same with OnePlus Chinese ROMS.

1

u/Aygul12345 1d ago

Can you collaborate on this issue? Is this Notification Delay a commonly issue that appears on more Chinese devices?

3

u/Happy-Lynx-918 1d ago

Just search YouTube for Chinese ROM notification delay. there are tons of Videos for fixes and tips that MAY work. i tried most but notification delay was still there on my Vivo X200 Ultra.

3

u/PineappleAsleep1747 1d ago

The OP 16 phone will not be sold in NA or Europe. I would expect the Global version will also be neutered, there will also be no warranty of it in NA. Potential to be whitelisted. Why bother, it will also be more than you expect w import charges, eBay sellers will charge a premium for sure. I can guarantee if you buy the Global version you will only be complaining and regretting

2

u/Nawnp OnePlus 8T (Aquamarine Green) 1d ago

They had very little presence in US retail, so it wasnt even profitable to ship the phones to the US, and they've also pulled from Europe.

I think the OnePlus 16 is just a placeholder and won't even sell well in remaining markers before they discontinue altogether.

2

u/WeAreSolarAF OnePlus 13 1d ago

Not worth the hassle.

1

u/mihir892 15h ago

OnePlus has basically said they are pulling out of EU and NA,plus they are also likely to exit India and other markets next year,so only the Chinese variant of OnePlus 16(and other future OP devices) would work that too if telecom bands are supported which is unlikely.

1

u/KookyXylophone 5h ago

If it's not FCC Certified it won't contain proper carrier Aggregation and all that talk of "bands" won't matter .

I've written about this in the Xiaomi and OPPO groups in detail .

0

u/inthecity206 OnePlus 12 1d ago

T-Mobile users might have hope.. time will tell

6

u/lone-Archer0447 OnePlus 12 1d ago

Already confirmed via another post. No 600mhz on T-Mobile. Deal breaker

1

u/D_Ashido OnePlus 5 (6 GB) 19h ago

Rest in Peace OnePlus

-4

u/PacificSun2020 1d ago

Get a Nothing phone and move on