iPhone 6 On T-Mobile: Band 12? VoLTE?

[ITGeek]

Thinking of switching to iOS mobile devices. One way my wife and I got burned buying devices running The Other OS was they were supposed to have Band 12 support, in fact they have the hardware, but, the manufacturer declined to add VoLTE, or go through T-Mobile's rigorous or expensive (?) qualification process, so: No Extended Range LTE for us

Brand-spanking new iPhones are out of the question, for us. Not passing judgement on others' buying habits, but, they're too expensive for our budget. So I'm thinking maybe iPhone 6 or SE. But I'm seeing conflicting reports on support for Band 12 and VoLTE for these on T-Mobile.

This page: Ultrafast LTE. Available in more places than ever before, Apple's own, seems to present contradictory information.

When I originally looked up specs, this indicated no, for the iPhone 6: GSM Arena - Apple iPhone 6 - Full phone specifications

But, then I ran across: T-Mobile - Extended Range LTE - COMPATIBLE PHONES and Spectrum Gateway - Devices compatible with Extended Range LTE.

So the preponderance of information indicates we'd be good to go on T-Mobile's Band 12 and VoLTE. But, once burned, twice shy.

Can anybody here testify personally to having used an iPhone 6, 6s or SE on T-Mobile with VoLTE on Band 12?

Thanks!

 

[zstairlessone]

Can you test either a SE (better choice IMHO) or a 6/6Plus at a T-Mobile store to verify they do work on their LTE before purchase?

 

[ITGeek]

Can you test either a SE (better choice IMHO) or a 6/6Plus at a T-Mobile store to verify they do work on their LTE before purchase?

Not really. In areas with adequate coverage on other bands, the phone will only "fall back" to Band 12 if it has to. No way to reliably control it, or tell if it's done that. Would have to actually go to an area where only Band 12 is available, which would mean a roughly two hour drive, at a minimum, find a store, ...

ETA: Friend just pointed something out to me on FB and I think I now see the reason for my confusion: I was conflating the iPhone 6 and 6S. The former does not have Band 12 support at all, the latter does.

 

[Caesars]

Just to reaffirm your conclusion : the iPhone 6 and 6 plus do not have T-Mobile band 12 - the SE and 6s/6splus do support band 12.

 

[ITGeek]

Just to reaffirm your conclusion : the iPhone 6 and 6 plus do not have T-Mobile band 12 - the SE and 6s/6splus do support band 12.

I believe that to be the case. If I proceed with switching to the iPhone, I will be proceeding upon that basis, and probably purchasing refurbished iPhone 6S'.

 

[ITGeek]

Update

Went up north to the Lake City area (area west of Houghton Lake) last weekend. Route was I-75 north from the northern Detroit suburbs to US-10 west, to US-127 north, to M-55 west.

I maintained T-Mobile LTE throughout the vast majority of the route, switching to roaming on AT&T on US-10 east of US-127 and, IIRC, for part of the trip across M-55. In the Lake City and Cadillac areas TMO was hit-or-miss.

Roaming on AT&T I sometimes got 4G and was able to get roaming data, which never worked on our Moto G (Android) devices.

One plus: I was able to activate the 6S' hotspot feature when I was on TMO LTE so my wife could get data on her Moto G while she was roaming on AT&T

Only negative, as I noted in my Android to iOS: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly thread is the 6S was painfully slow to switch between carriers or to acquire any carrier after having been in a "no signal" area. (As compared to my wife's Moto G.)