Xiaomi phones a bad idea in the US?

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My carrier is switching to VoLTE and my ancient phone lacks support for it so I am forced to upgrade.

I am very much a fan of the 80% performance for 50% price philosophy, and the Xiaomi 9T Pro looks very appealing. (I have a relative who imports from China regularly for her business, so it should not be difficult to acquire).

 

This seemed too good to be true though, and I felt like there would be some kind of gotcha. After searching I finally found one- the lack of mobile band support.

The phone supports a few 4G bands (one out of two bands my carrier uses if I found the right info) and all of the 3G bands work if that doesn't work. It doesn't look ideal, but considering l only rarely use mobile data, I think I might be able to live with it.

I am more concerned with calls and texts, as I usually have a Wifi network to connect to unless I am in a car or something.

My carrier is Tracfone, for band reference, but I'd like to be open to switching carriers later if I get a larger income in the future. (Though this is less of a concern)

 

How badly of an experience do you think I'd have if I got this phone, and would texts and calls be unreliable?

Thanks for any help!

 

[circeseye]

ive got a Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, 64GB, and ive had 0 issues with 4g lte (metro pcs, att/tmobile towers). and performance on it is pretty damn good, snappy, and good battery life, and camera is really good too......

no issues with calls or texts
att/tmobile/metro pcs use band 5 in the usa

oh make sure the Xiaomi is the international version not the china one. 

tracfone uses 4G : 1900 MHz, Band 2 (LTE). which xiaomi phones supports. but i have no clue how tracfone network performs
 

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27 minutes ago, circeseye said:

ive got a Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, 64GB, and ive had 0 issues with 4g lte (metro pcs, att/tmobile towers). and performance on it is pretty damn good, snappy, and good battery life, and camera is really good too......

no issues with calls or texts
att/tmobile/metro pcs use band 5 in the usa

oh make sure the Xiaomi is the international version not the china one. 

tracfone uses 4G : 1900 MHz, Band 2 (LTE). which xiaomi phones supports. but i have no clue how tracfone network performs
 

Thanks for the reassurance! I think I might get it then. I partially really wanted Xiaomi because they don't void your warranty with custom roms (I was gonna flash lineage OS on it)

[circeseye]

2 hours ago, huilun02 said:

The Mi 9T/K20 are made for users on GSM networks. If you are going to try it in the US, make sure it at least supports 3G bands of your carrier. No data you might not mind, but no basic cell connection for calls and text would make the phone useless.

it looks like tracfone works on both networks, depends on what phone you get. and uses all the normal 3g depending on phone...so if he went xiaomi he'll access gsm towers with the sim. (i find it wierd one company can access both networks like that)

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6 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Be aware of what model you are actually getting. Many Mi 9T sold abroad are actually Chinese K20's flashed with global ROM. Many say both devices are identical. However the radio hardware is different and cannot be 'fixed' by a change in software.

 

Take note of the network bands supported. Expand the Network Technology on each device's respective page to have a look at which one has more support by your carrier:

 

Xiaomi K20

 

Xiaomi Mi 9T

 

If you want the Mi 9T, be sure to scrutinize the seller's product page. If it has any hint of "flashed with global ROM" or "K20" written anywhere on the page (apart from the FAQ), then 99% it's actually a K20.

 

Another indicator is the warranty provided. If there is no warranty or its only a seller's warranty, that means its meant for another market. This does not preclude it from being a true Mi 9T. Ideally you would want one with a local manufacturer's warranty of 1 year or more.

Any 9T Pro I get is absolutely meant for another market, as Xiaomi does not sell in the US. The best I can do is get the EU/Global version, I don't think I'll easily be able to get manufacturer warranty, as I'll most likely be getting it from a reseller.

Does that forfeit the manufacturer warranty though?

Edit: So far I am looking at gearbest as a seller as the price is very low, but it seems like the only issue is that they usually put a vender rom on it (not a personal issue as I will be putting a custom on anyway).