Have been trying out two Lumia 635's to see which service I want to use, AT&T or T-Mobile. A long story.
Each company sells their own branded Lumia 635 phone. AT&T and T-Mobile Lumia 635's are both available on Amazon. Note that the phones are not identical. There is an important difference between the AT&T Lumia and the T-Mobile Lumia, which is why I bought one of each to try.
First, the Lumia 635 in general is excellent. No complaints so far. Amazing quality and performance for the money. Fast, easy to use. Way better than the iPhone I loved in 2009 and used for almost four years.
The Lumia's LTE speed is nice also, better than my old 3G. So far I've gotten around 8 Mb down and 5 Mb up and that is plenty fast for me. Some people seem to have way higher speeds than I do. Depends on your service area I guess.
One thing I did not know until I personally experienced it, is that T-Mobile uses frequencies that do not penetrate buildings as well as the AT&T frequencies. Lower frequencies work better for that and T-Mobile is upgrading their LTE frequencies in that direction but AT&T still leads in that area.
Regarding coverage, if you live or travel in rural areas, AT&T is typically (not always) more complete in coverage than T-Mobile. However that should not be an issue if you do not travel much or if you live and work where signal strength is good.
I have chosen to use MVNO's (mobile virtual netword operators) for my phone plans as they better fit my usage levels and budget. PuretalkUSA for AT&T and Ting for T-Mobile.
Both plans are very good; a good fit for me at least, except for signal strength.
It is not the Lumia 635 that is the problem, it is the carrier networks and my location.
I started out with a little unlocked Samsung phone using the same PuretalkUSA and Ting gsm SIM cards and the signals on these new Lumias are better (more bars more often). So it's not a phone problem. Phone settings and APNs were checked and double checked.
Now on to why I bought two Lumia 635's and why it may matter to some readers.
It turns out that Lumia 635's are NOT all alike.
If you intend to use T-Mobile, do not buy an AT&T gophone Lumia 635, unlocked or otherwise. Buy the T-Mobile version. The reason is that there are something like 7 firmwares that can go into the base Lumia 635 phone and AT&T and T-Mobile each use their own special firmware. Apparently the firmware cannot be re-flashed based on conversations at developer forums. Which is again something rather important. (Probably also why if you stick with a phone that is locked and branded to a particular carrier, the "match" between phone and service is potentially as good as it gets...except that you are locked in of course.)
T-Mobile with its harder-to-penetrate-into-buildings signals has a feature on their Lumia 635 that the AT&T Lumia 635 does not, Wi-Fi Calling.
AT&T claims to be adding wi-fi calling, but I'm not sure on which phones. It is definitely not currently on the AT&T version Lumia 635 at this time and may well never be for all I know. In general wi-fi calling is probably not as important to AT&T as it is to T-Mobile because AT&T works better in buildings than T-Mobile already. Then again, having that feature would be an improvement nonetheless.
The T-Mobile version of the phone has wi-fi calling built in, you just need to turn it on and be on the T-Mobile network for it to work. (Again, on the AT&T version Lumia, there is no such option even shown in the software settings.)
Anyway, your T-Mobile calls hook into wi-fi networks you are able to access and connect you that way instead of needing to use the phones' radio to connect to a cell tower. If you have a good wi-fi signal, you will have strong connections and high call quality using wi-fi calling. Most of the time you will still be charged for the minutes used with some exceptions, so it is not like using Skype or Viber.
In my case, I first purchased an AT&T go phone Lumia 635. I had AT&T unlock the phone as described in some of the reviews here and that worked well.
I put in a Ting SIM card which uses the T-Mobile network and while it worked, the T-Mobile signal was kind of weak where I most often use the phone; almost to the point where the service was useless. I next tried a PuretalkUSA SIM, which uses the AT&T network, and that worked great for me.
Then, we experienced a storm and power outage. I thought I'd fire up the Lumia 635's internet sharing feature (hotspot) to check something out on a remote computer with my laptop and I found I could not connect.
I later learned PuretalkUSA does not allow tethering or hotspots. Ting however does. Trouble is, where I live and work, Ting only works for me if I use Wi-Fi calling, and then it works better than AT&T! But if there is no wi-fi, Ting doesn't work consistently enough to bother with. How to decide? 99% of the time I have wi-fi, so what's the big deal?
Driving around with both phones, checking the signals; the signal strength is pretty much similar. It's just in my home and business and a few other locations where the T-Mobile signal isn't strong enough to effectively use unless wi-fi is available.
I hope my situation makes some sense if it applies to you. Frankly it is still confusing to me. I think I can sum it up as AT&T PuretalkUSA gives me a more consistent signal "everywhere" but no hotspot; T-Mobile Ting gives me a hotspot, but not where I live and work! On the other hand T-Mobile Ting gives better call quality 99% of the time than AT&T PuretalkUSA so long as I can use wi-fi. On the other hand again, using Skype on wi-fi also gives good call quality where I live and work and then it doesn't matter which brand of Lumia 635 phone I use or which network--but of course that all fails if there is no wi-fi.
What I will probably do is stick with my unlocked AT&T Lumia 635 using PuretalkUSA and keep the T-Mobile Lumia 635 as a backup phone and hotspot. I do not need a hotspot very often, but I want to have one. $6/mo to park it at Ting is not bad for that. If I walk a few hundred yards I can get a better hotspot signal and at least I'll have something if the power or my cable internet connection goes out.
People have written many helpful Amazon reviews which have guided me and I wanted to add what I have learned about AT&T / T-Mobile Lumia differences and why that might matter to some folks.
Also, I did not unlock the T-Mobile Lumia 635 and Ting worked just fine out of the box. Others say the same about the AT&T gophone should they want to use PuretalkUSA with it.
The Lumia 635 is an amazing phone--other reviewers have pointed that out again and again--and I concur. I am very happy with the price and the performance of the phone, unfortunately getting it to work with a service plan can be tricky depending on where you live, work, drive, and what your needs are. One or the other Lumia 635's will probably work well for you as they have for me. Just buy the correct phone! Or get both if you need too.
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From the manufacturer
Lumia 635 with Windows Phone 8.1
Uncompromised Performance
- 1.2 GHz Quad-core Processor
- 4.5 inches ClearBlack, IPS LCD Display
- 5 MP Camera
The Lumia 635 isn’t your average smart phone. Powered by Windows Phone 8.1, a Quad core processor and supporting a microSD card of up to 128 GB of memory, it’s fast and smooth. It’s also got apps that update easily with live tiles on your screen at 4G LTE speeds. Don’t forget the inclusion of a free streaming music service – all at a great price!
Lumia 635 with Windows Phone 8.1 and Cortana
The latest windows phone features, built in
Introducing Windows Phone 8.1. See all of your chats, social updates and settings in the all-new Action Center. Personalize your start screen with your own background photo and watch your live tiles come to life in real-time. And the Word Flow keyboard anticipates every word you write, speeding up your conversations with friends.
Cortana: Your truly personal assistant
Meet Cortana – the assistant with a personal touch. She’ll learn about your specific interests and the things you care about the most, make recommendations and anticipate your needs. From warning you about impending road conditions to reminding you to pick up flowers for a loved one’s engagement, she’ll keep you close to the people that matter most.
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gr8 phone m8, i r8 8/8
It's been pretty good so far. I've had it for nearly 3 months and it does its phone functionalities ok. I mainly use it for texting and calling because I have multiple devices for apps and entertainment. I am not a heavy user of this phone, so a full charge lasts me about 3-5 days, mostly on standby. The speaker on this one is crazy loud, but not so good in terms of sound quality. I've dropped this once, about 4 feet high, back cover fell off, and when I looked at this there were no cracks and the phone was still on. This has froze on me twice though. I think the software is resposible since some of my friends have the 520's and freezes from time to time for them. I just take out the battery and turn it on again. I really like the setting to default apps, photos, downloads and other stuff to occupy the micro sd card. Though I don't like the fact that the navigation buttons are on screen instead of physical or capacitive buttonsThis is probably the best phone in the $40 price range.I will update this review if any major problems come up.
