To combat their poor coverage in rural areas, T-Mobile spent nearly $8 billion on 600 MHz spectrum in 2017, which was converted to LTE Band 71. With such a low frequency, the signal can travel further, providing LTE speeds to more Americans. But your phone also has to support this frequency, and so far, only a handful do.
When T-Mobile finally started rolling out the new LTE Band 71 to the public in 2017, they launched it with the LG V30. At the time, the SoC of choice for Android devices was the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, which didn't include support by default. LG had to special order a variant of the SoC with different physical antennas for their flagship to support the new frequency, but most other OEMs didn't.
Thankfully, 2018 brought the Snapdragon 845, which included support for the new band across the board. Going forward, this should be commonplace with all types of smartphone processors, not just the flagship-tier. But while new chips have led to a significant increase in the number of phones which support Band 71, there are still some noticeable omissions, such as HTC, Nokia, and BlackBerry.
Apple
T-Mobile knew that with over 90 million US iPhone users in 2016, there would be no way they could make this new LTE band take off without support from the third largest smartphone OEM. Fortunately, T-Mobile was able to persuade Apple to include support. All new 2018 iPhones support the band, regardless of if you buy the device from T-Mobile or unlocked from Apple.
- iPhone XR: Unlocked and carrier versions
- iPhone XS: Unlocked and carrier versions
- iPhone XS Max: Unlocked and carrier versions
Despite their popularity on other networks, the latest Pixel devices from Google are only sold in-store by Verizon. However, the unlocked version works perfectly with T-Mobile, and according to the carrier, it even runs faster on their network. Since Verizon Pixels are internally identical to the unlocked version, these variants will also work on Band 71, but you will have to pay off the phone before switching carriers. While most of T-Mobile's claim is marketing, they do have one valid point: Only on T-Mobile can the Pixel 3 and 3 XL take advantage of LTE Band 71.
- Pixel 3: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Pixel 3 XL: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Pixel 3a: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Pixel 3a XL: Unlocked and carrier versions
LG
LG has been a large supporter of the new frequency, going as far as to launch the new LTE band with their newest device at the time, the LG V30. Unfortunately, either due to the cost, a request from T-Mobile, or some other reason, it appears LG is limiting devices which support this band to only T-Mobile's carrier phones. Except for the LG V40 ThinQ, no other unlocked phone by LG includes support for the band.
- Aristo 2 Plus: Carrier version
- G7 ThinQ: Carrier version
- G8 ThinQ: Carrier version
- K30: Carrier version
- Q7+: Carrier version
- Stylo 4: Carrier version
- V30: Carrier version
- V40 ThinQ: Unlocked and carrier versions
Motorola
Motorola currently sells two phones on T-Mobile, both of which support the 600 MHz frequency. Additionally, the unlocked version of the Moto Z3 Play can be brought to the network and enjoy the extended coverage of LTE Band 71 as well.
- Moto E5 Plus: Carrier version
- Moto E5 Play: Carrier version
- Moto G7 Play: Unlocked version
- Moto G7 Power: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Moto Z3 Play: Unlocked version
Razer Phone 2
While we're still wondering about the state of Razer mobile division, Razer still has two great gaming phones which they still support. The Razer Phone 2 includes LTE Band 71 support making gaming possible no matter where you are in the US.
Razer Phone 2: Unlocked
OnePlus
During the OnePlus 6T event, OnePlus announced its first official US carrier partnership with T-Mobile. For the occasion, OnePlus created two variants of the phone, one sold through their website and one sold in T-Mobile stores. Both included LTE Band 71 support, allowing them to take advantage of improved coverage.
- OnePlus 6: Unlocked version
- OnePlus 6T: Unlocked and carrier versions
- OnePlus 7 Pro: Unlocked and carrier versions
Samsung
By far, the OEM with the most options is Samsung. The largest smartphone manufacturer has seven different phones which support the band, and that doesn't include the unlocked variants of their flagship phones. Samsung offers entry, midrange, and flagship level phones, so no matter your budget, you don't have to miss out on the improved coverage thanks to this lower frequency.
- Galaxy A6: Unlocked and carrier version
- Galaxy Fold: Carrier version
- Galaxy J3 Star: Carrier version
- Galaxy J7 Star: Carrier version
- Galaxy S8 Active: Carrier version
- Galaxy S9: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Galaxy S9+: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Galaxy Note 9: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Galaxy S10: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Galaxy S10+: Unlocked and carrier versions
- Galaxy S10e: Unlocked and carrier versions
T-Mobile
REVVL is T-Mobile's own line of budget phones. All the devices are made by TCL and are less than $300. While last year's REVVL and REVVL Plus didn't include support, the follow-up devices do. Because these are T-Mobile phones, there is only the carrier version.
- REVVL 2: Carrier version
- REVVL 2 Plus: Carrier version
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