I see it's been confirmed by Jon Morris that the Honor 6+ does not support LTE on 800MHz.

What an absolutely brain dead decision to launch a phone as an exclusive that doesn't have support for the biggest advance on the network this year.

Whaaaat? Link please?

If this is the case, I'm surprised and shocked, particularly as I've got one sitting in its box waiting for my sim. I bought it on the understanding it'd do 800 LTE - I'm sure I saw some tweets from Three's press event the other week to that effect. I can't seem to see them now.

The only link I can find confirming this is this one:

https://recombu.com/mobile/article/t...y-s6-confirmed

He made the post on another forum.
http://forum.mobileandgadget.com/top...-6-plus/page-3


But I've since had direct confirmation from Three.

I asked them:


I actually received 2 replies.

Thanks gardensleeper for that link, that's the first public list of Three VoLTE phones I think?
HTC One M8 is strangely absent, no Sony phones either.

So the Huawei P8 supports band 20 and isn't being sold by Three, but the Honor 6+doesn't support band 20 and is being sold by Three, how utterly bonkers

Agreed, to take a phone on as a network exclusive that doesn't work on 800MHz shortly before that network launches 800MHz is just stupid.

Imagine the angry customers who have spent £300 on the phone expecting it to be up to date and usable for the next 12-24 months find it falls at the first hurdle.

Three seem to have lost the plot the last 6 months or so.

Well, that's me. I still hold a faint hope that I have in fact ended up with a UK variant produced for Three which supports 800mhz. I'll try my mate's Voda 4g sim in it when I see him tomorrow.

Failing that, what chance do you think I have on a refund? I bought it based on the fact it was listed as one of the supported volte phones at the Three press event. It's been out of the box and fired up, but all the covers are still on.

If I'm not entitled to a refund, next step might be a letter to Three. Any advice on the best person/location to address it to? Executive office? Head of handset procurement?

Any advice welcome!

Did you buy it online? If so you have 14 days.

Wish I had... No, in store.

It still is VoLTE compatible, just that it will only be able to do it over 1800MHz and not 800MHz.

Exactly. That article, while mentioning 800, just lists the handsets that do VoLTE regardless of frequency specifics.

Apple's iPhone 5 didn't support LTE on 800MHz either

Yes, and any network that decided to launch it today (with a huge press conference and publicity) would be as brain dead as Three with the Honor 6+

Remember that the iPhone 5 was a flagship phone at the time of launch and that Samsung and other manufacturers were selling handsets with Band 20 support. Plus Vodafone and O2 had to offer incentives for iPhone 5 users to upgrade their useless iPhone 5 to ones that would work on 4G on their networks. I would suggest Apple knew about this issue. But there's a sucker born every minute so what the hell. Ka-Ching

OK, maybe a bit strong but is it so much better than the crop of £100-150 phones that abound. More to the point, £300 is getting pretty close to iPhone / Samsung money, especially a slightly older one. I can't see it's going to hold it's value once you've had it a year.

The £150 Honor 4X is almost as good, albeit with just a 720p display, so that's a fair point. But they are still very good devices.

The P8 performance is pretty much up there with the other 2015 flagships, so it's not actually trying to be a budget phone.

Does anyone know if the Honor 6+ from 3 is unlocked?

All handsets sold by Three are unlocked.

Which is to their credit I guess. It certainly helps when you're trying to flog on a brand new phone you just bought

If anyone is in the market for one of these, mine is up on ebay now. It looks like it's the only one on there at the moment which is the 32gb UK version, from a UK seller. There's lots of Chinese 16gb ones, not sure if these even do the UK 3g bands.

It's a great phone, but I just can't accept buying a new model without 800mhz support. Very

Which is to their credit I guess. It certainly helps when you're trying to flog on a brand new phone you just bought

If anyone is in the market for one of these, mine is up on ebay now. It looks like it's the only one on there at the moment which is the 32gb UK version, from a UK seller. There's lots of Chinese 16gb ones, not sure if these even do the UK 3g bands.

It's a great phone, but I just can't accept buying a new model without 800mhz support. I *know* that ultimately it's buyer beware, but for Three to do a press launch of 800 volte the same week they released the Honor is a very poor show, and leaves me with a very sour taste in my mouth.

I'm still stunned that the 6 Plus doesn't do 800, and keep hoping Three will reveal it made a terrible mistake and all the people within Three confirming it doesn't have 800 are just looking at their spec sheet and not actually double checking!

But, sadly, I suspect Three is correct.

Can't you try an O2 or Vodafone 4G sim in yours? Or isn't yours sourced from Three?

Slaps self in face.

Yes I do. And I've just out my O2 SIM in and, sigh, it's 3G only.

But knowing it can be hard to register on 4G here, and stay on it, I did a network scan (could have done this without any SIM too!) and it doesn't see O2 or Vodafone 4G.

So, yes, it 100% does lack 800.

sometimes the obvious hides in plain sight


The person in charge of handsets at Three needs a good talking to, how could they have thought it was a good idea...

I'm reviewing the 4X at the moment (the £150 phone) and that supports 800MHz!

I wonder if Three actually asked at the procurement stage, or just assumed it would support it?!

While I accept that if you bought the phone today, you wouldn't have ever been told it supports 800 so can't really complain, I do think it bizarre that for a network that bid for 800MHz spectrum (and won it) and intends to use it nationwide to boost coverage that ANY phone being ranged wouldn't support it.

It was a bit different when you had early 4G phones, like the first 4G iPhone, that had limited support, or when you have some Chinese phones imported that also lack support, but one supplied by a network that has 800 (or will very soon)?

Suffice to say, I'll be making a big deal of this when my review is published (probably early next week).