Well, when I bought my Galaxy S4 from t-mobile, I did it online. I'm not really sure how pushy the sales reps are in making sure I switch over my phone number or if they want to install the sim card in, I really didn't want to deal with that lol. But if they make you pay the first month service, and you cancel it within 15 days, they will refund you that money. I doubt Samsung will require you to have service. it seems that they mainly want you to pre order it and have it paid off if you're going to use it on another network.
Well, yes, it isn't very hard to get unlocked codes for Android phones. But if you are going to use that phone on AT&T, it will have to be unlocked, otherwise you will get a message once you put in the AT&T GSM card saying that the phone is locked. T-mobile will keep it locked to their network, same way as AT&T keeps it locked into their network until you use their services for 60 days, after which, they will unlock it.
All of this is going off my ordeal on July 2013 when I bought the T-Mobile Galaxy S4. I learned all those things. Not sure if things have drastically changed since then, just look into well. As long as you can easily get an unlocked code, you won't have an issue. On xda I also saw a way to unlock the GS4. I followed the steps, but I never found out if it unlocked the phone or not since I used Metro PCS and they use T-Mobile's network
Make sure both models have the same frequency bands too. A friend of mine bought an AT&T unlocked Galaxy S4 and ran it on T-Mobile. He wouldn't get such good service if he wasn't on a 4G LTE area. Might work different with AT&T or the Note 4 just includes all those bands.
Hmm, it looks like the unlocked part might throw a roadblock temporarily. I know it's very easy and cheap to get a Note 3 unlock code, but who knows what new security Samsung has put into the new phone, would suck to have a big paper weight.
thanks for the info!
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Cool, just did a search and there is a way to unlock the Note 3 that seems pretty easy and reliable. Maybe it will work on the N4 assuming we will get a root quickly. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2475552
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In terms of being unlocked, aren't all Verizon phones unlocked now? Maybe I should consider buying the Verizon version, that's actually what I did with my 5s. Although I'm not sure if there will be an issue with the LTE bands.
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Hmm from phonescoop:
GSM versions: LTE 700 / 700 / 850 / 1700 / 1900
CDMA versions: LTE 750 / 1700
So looks like I'm back to the Tmobile version to ensure I get all the LTE bands.
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