[Samsung Galaxy S8 Questions and Answers] Burban502:
Verizon ditching CDMA; Will the G950F work fine?

I'm cross-posting this from the Verizon specific section since I wasn't aware that was the category I was in when posting (thread came up via searching), given it pertains to the International G950F and not the G950U for US markets... Since I lost my old one (in the river while fishing) I need one sooner than later, which is why I'm hoping this forum being more active will yield a quicker response, in addition to the people here actually being familiar with the F/FD models... [NOTE: I live in a rural area and don't even use my phone much anyways, so I've owned a simple Flip Phone, but want a Smartphone now. However, I do have

some

smartphone knowledge, as I have a Galaxy S1 'Epic' (rooted, custom kernel, and ROM) with a bad IMEI that I've used for the last 5+ years as a media player and casual games. There's a lot I don't know about now, due to being out of the scene so long, mainly regarding new terms like CSC, etc.]

Basically my personal preference is the Exynos powered model (primarily because I'd like to have the Wolfson DAC). In general I'd accept the fate that it being w/o CDMA means it flat out won't work on Verizon's network; however, things are changing with their network and thus has me wondering if that is no longer an issue? As such, here is the bulk of my post from a thread in the Verizon S8 Q&A sub-forum:

Here's the bit of information that no one seems to be mentioning or considering, and what has me wondering if all this "WILL NOT WORK ON CDMA NETWORKS" warnings that sellers make is really not that big of an issue in reality...

Back in like 2015 or even earlier, Verizon started making plans to

abandon CDMA altogether

, and at some point Bell Canada had issued the same plans. Which as far as what I've read indicates, Bell has already made good on that as of this year. This is where things get interesting though... Verizon has indicated that they will have phased out their CDMA usage by Dec 31 2019, but as of June (2018) they've already stopped activating devices that rely on CDMA! In addition to that, they've been repurposing (was called 'refarming') the CDMA frequencies for LTE usage anyways.

But I digress, the takeaway here is that Verizon is putting everything into VoLTE considering all their current 'Dumb' Flip Phones are all LTE capable (hell, one of them has a quad core Snapdragon 210!) and since we know that the Exynos HAS VoLTE support on the chip-level, what we all need to know now are a couple things:

1) Do the G950F/FD variants have the option to enable VoLTE out of the box? (it's apparently in the Network menu under Call Settings?)

2) If they do not have the option, can it be easily baked into ROMs? Can it be activated by other means? (read the "Three UK" thread a bit and it sounds like it may be doable just through Root by editing a couple text files?)

3) Does the radio need a modified/region specific firmware?

I'm honestly right on the verge of buying an Exynos powered S8 (or Note 8) and this is basically what's holding me back. It's not that it CAN work with Verizon, since all I've read on the technical side is indicating 'Yes'. Mainly because of what the Flip Phones they offer currently have detailed, for example one model only has Band 4 and Band 13 for its LTE support, which the G950F/FD has both as well. Additionally, Verizon has been using the AWS (1700MHz) band for LTE as well over the last couple years, which the G950F/FD lists as well (albeit under the 3G). Given my Hotspot was provided the capability of using AWS for LTE in an OTA update, I can only assume that this is also possible for any other LTE device whose radio has AWS support.

So with that said, can anyone here with an Exynos-powered S8 (or Note 8) or has the necessary knowledge who can answer any of those three questions?

Thanks!