New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on October 3, 2019) follows:
There is a reason smartphone certification bodies exist in major markets across the globe. For a device to work in the confines of a certain country, it must be fitted with the necessary hardware as per the communication requirements of the country in question.
This is one of the functions of bodies like the FCC in the U.S. and TENAA in China, where every smartphone passes through to be cleared for use on local networks.
Part of the certification process involves checking that the device in question has the right network bands supported on the various operators in the country. While some devices do include support for nearly all operators, others often drop some carriers probably due to financial constraints and other restrictions.
Verizon Wireless and Sprint, for instance, have often been victims. Most devices sold in the U.S. as carrier-unlocked models only support AT&T and T-Mobile (GSM).
If you are lucky enough to get support on Verizon, chances are you may miss out on some key features like VoLTE. Apparently, this is the current scenario facing the latest Asus ROG Phone II, but this time with respect to T-Mobile despite the company having said the statement below.
The ROG Phone 2 is now available for purchase in the U.S. through the official Asus online store. Priced at $900, you’d expect that this device isn’t one to be featured in an article about missing bands for U.S. carriers especially since it’s officially sold in the country, yet here we are.
In response to the above concerns, Asus has come out to confirm that the ROG Phone II doesn’t support both T-Mobile Band 71 and VoLTE calls on the Magenta carrier.
Original ROG Owner Source
Apparently, not even the premium ROG Phone 2 Ultimate Edition will get support for the missing Band 71 and VoLTE on T-Mobile, which is even more baffling considering the device is priced at €1,199 (in Europe) and could arrive in the U.S. priced at about $1,200.
So, if you had plans of using the ROG Phone 2 with T-Mobile’s VoLTE, you now know what to expect from the network performance of this device. If you rely heavily on this T-Mo feature, then the ROG Phone II might not be your best buy.
Update 1 (August 13)
According to a moderator on Asus’ ZenTalk, the company is working with T-Mobile and AT&T to bring VoLTE support to the ROG Phone 2 in the U.S. Unfortunately, there’s still no ETA on when users can expect to see the VoLTE feature be enabled on their devices. See the full story here.
NOTE: For more Asus-related coverage, check out this space. If interested in more gaming stuff, check out this section.
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