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How Safe Are Older Android Phones That Don't Get Security Patches?

Started Dec 7, 2019 | Discussions thread
Max5150 Senior Member • Posts: 1,045
Re: How Safe Are Older Android Phones That Don't Get Security Patches?

I'm on T-Mobile, was on Verizon. T-Mob does not care one iota where your phone comes from.

Check this out.

When I was considering the switch from Verizon, which never had signal issues at my home, I had concerns about T-Mobile signal. My neighborhood is in a signal black hole. The T-mobile coverage map for my neighborhood in NJ said signal was very good. I still had concerns. So the guy at my local T-Mobile store actually lent me his T-mobile branded Samsung S7 to see if I got decent signal at home. I had that phone for 2 weeks and it worked fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Didn't need to use WiFi even once. So I signed up for T-Mobile and I bought an unlocked S10+, an unlocked iPhone 8 and a T-mobile iPhone 8+ for my two kids. Guess what? None if us get any usable signal!! Zip! Nothing. We have to be on WiFi 99% of the time at home. I've spent hours on the phone with T-Mobile. They are very nice, but they have no idea why this happened. I live in NJ so have decent signal everywhere else. I have not traveled to more rural parts of the USA to judge T-Mobile signal. I was recently in England and the service was spotty. So there you go. I suspect the carrier branded phones have firmware that optimizes the phone to the network better than the factory unlocked phones, but I can't say for sure. The T-mobile branded phones do have more network connection settings.

At this point, my top priority was to leave Verizon so I could play the "new customer game" than anything else. Once I get my Costco rebate checks and the new Samsung S11 comes out I will look for new customer promo opportunities. Worse comes to worst, I'll wait until next Thanksgiving. No rush.

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