[Galaxy S6 General] djshotty:
After 33 years working with computers, 18 of those developing on Windows platforms, and five years with Android, I do actually understand how operating system development works, thank you. That is why I said...

"its pretty obvious they haven't been spending a lot of time getting 6.0.1 going on (the International 920/925)"

Regardless of (your words) "a carrier request(ing) a bug fix or wanted bloatware baked in or several other small changes", Samsung have had the code base of Marshmallow for long enough now, as proven by their release of 6.0.1 for the F variant. This proves they haven't

(a) had enough people working on the new build, and

(b) haven't demanded from regional carriers their list of requests re: changes and individual bloatwares.

As you already know, there are a number of 'unbranded' firmwares for the International variant, including our very own XSA country sales code, which makes your reasoning behind the delays not entirely accurate. All Samsung need from the regional carriers are details of MMS/SMS proxy servers, voicemail numbers, carrier specific browser bookmarks and other Access Point Name (APN) information for the carrier/carriers in that region. These simple lines of text, added into the customer.xml file which resides in the system\csc folder, are easily changed by pressing a few keys whilst working with a XML editor. I actually do it myself here with the stock folder, because I don't need all their bookmarks and links and other settings that 'handbrake' LTE connections. The addition of regional specific bloatware you're talking about is also irrelevant, simply because Samsung have already declared they're reducing the amount of OEM apps in Marshmallow.

You of course realise that LTE-A doesn't work properly when MTU controls are set within the customer.xml? Well, what if I told you that the stock CSC for Telstra locks the device into wireless application protocol connection on a long term evolution advanced network, then sets the MTU to 1460, reducing the data throughput on the device? To let you know the difference that makes, I was getting 80 megabits per second downstream on Telstra 4GX while standing underneath the tower in the grounds of East Maitland NSW exchange, dropping to around 50 meg at my home just over 1500m away. Now, after increasing just the one setting (MTU to 1500), tweaking a few other proxies and changing the APN a bit I connect at no less than 75 meg at home and over 140 when I'm standing outside the exchange. So, how long did that take? A few minutes of typing and tweaking, nothing more, so you can throw a bit of the blame at the carriers but not all of it.

Obviously there aren't as many of the 'team' focussed on the I variant than the F, and for them to be still writing Lollipop on 26th January whilst gearing up to hand out Marshmallow for another variant of the same device two weeks later seems highly ignorant to me.

I'm not saying anything you've written is wrong; I'm merely having a go at Samsung for caring about minorities over masses. Yes, the International has several different carriers to please, but (as an example) for contracted users of the SM-G900I on Telstra, the jump from KitKat to Lollipop was only around 180mb, so there wasn't a great deal in it, if you get my drift. All I'm saying is that Samsung have no credible excuse for delays re: unbranded firmwares, and I will continue to stand by that statement. Again, I am happy to wait for a stocko from any region to be released. I don't care where it's from as it's long as it's declared legit by SamMobile for a 920I. Thing is, I'm also tired of being disrespected by Samsung over the fourth product type of theirs I own (BD player, LED TV, laptop and now phone) being made an antique within a year of forking out thousands of dollars on it...