Hello all,
I have a debate which has been on my mind for a while. I have a Japanese Galaxy Fold 4 and while inside Japan it’s an amazing phone, when I travel to other countries the phone becomes useless because it seems to have terrible compatibility with networks outside Japan. I have been to the USA, S. Korea and Philippines with this device and gotten local sim cards at each country and despite having full reception the Internet barely works. I cannot receive calls or anything that would require a constant stable Internet connection.
On the other hand this time to the Philippines I bought a pixel 6a that I bought (also Japanese) and the phone works amazingly here and can even connect to the country 5G network.
So my questions to others with Japanese Samsung device, how has your device behaved with foreign phone carriers outside Japan ?
5 comments
Its entirely possible that Japanese domestic release only supports LTE and TDD/LTE and 5G bands needed for domestic carriers. In general, iPhone has the best international LTE band support in all models. (And even then, Japanese version adds a couple extra, but without removing others).
It’s probably a Samsung thing. I haven’t had an issue in the 5 counties I’ve been to so far with my Japanese version Xiao Mi or the 10K JPY Japanese bought ZTE i use for hotspot and car navigation when abroad.
In addition to the cost, this is why I’d never buy a Samsung (or a Sony or other “brand name”) phone.
Likely just the bands supported by your phone. Not necessarily Samsung disabling things when you leave the country.
Never had an issue with my docomo s22 ultra.
Could be the simcard you used, could be faulty hardware.
You shouldn’t be having that kind of problem using Galaxy phones in Korea.
It probably doesn’t help, but for reference, all of my iphones have worked well in Japan, Korea and Philippines.