[LG V30 Questions & Answers] ChazzMatt:
[MENTION=3375795]caseyryback21[/MENTION] opened one of the difficult Q&A format questions yesterday, then asked it be deleted -- but the question itself is valid, so I'm reposting it in a "regular" discussion thread, along with my answer.

EDITING SOME OF MY REPLIES IN THIS THREAD AS THEY WERE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN AUGUST 2018. STUFF HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN. :)

Any LG V30/V30+/V30S on the planet can be bootloader unlocked and rooted. But some V30/V30+ sold in other parts of the world do not have the bands you need for your carrier. So, for North America carriers with bootloader unlock and root, you want any North America variant.

V30+ (128GB) has more internal storage than V30 (64GB), if that's important to you. The V30S has more RAM (6GB vs 4GB), but right now the V30+ seems to be the sweet spot in price between the three "V30" (code name Joan) series models. For the rest of this discussion, I'm only going to be talking about V30/V30+.

__________

For the WTF bootloader unlock exploit

you need Oreo and fastboot flash commands.

North America US998 V30/V30+ has fastboot flash commands, while the other North American variants do not.... But there's no need to specifically buy that US998 V30/V30+ variant, if

you can easily convert a less expensive carrier variant bought off eBay to that model

(except for T-mobile H932). For instance, right now you can get

MINT LS998 V30+ (128GB) on eBay for $315

. eBay often has flash 10%, 15% off sales you can take advantage of, to lessen the price even more. In 10 minutes time that LS998 V30+ can be converted to US998 V30+ and then you're ready for bootloader unlock and root.

Yes, you can

Frankenstein

an AT&T H931 V30, Canadian H933 V30, Verizon VS996 V30 and Sprint LS998 V30/V30+, or regional carrier AS998 (any of them) to be carrier unlocked US998. Or you can buy carrier unlocked US998 V30/V30+ to begin with... I've done both: I bought three "original" US998 V30/V30+ (from B&H Photo) and I've since bought two LS998 V30+ off eBay and converted them to US998 V30+.

The US998 is the carrier unlocked model, and it's sold by both US Cellular carrier as well as being sold as official "open market" model by 3rd party retailers on behalf of LG (like B&H Photo). Whoever said it's locked to US Cellular has no clue what they are talking about -- UNLESS it's a specific seller who signed a contract with U.S. Cellular and has not finished paying for that phone. (I doubt that; I think they just don't know what they are talking about.) But any U.S. Cellular US998 fully paid for at purchase are carrier unlocked. Tons of people bought them to use on other carriers before LG released the "official" open market US998 V30/V30+ in December 2018.

Only the official "open market" US998 (sold by authorized 3rd party retailers like B&H Photo) are eligible for LG's Developer website bootloader unlock code (IMEI and DEVICE ID are registered with LG) -- but we don't need LG's permission anymore since [MENTION=6158380]TxanMoe[/MENTION] discovered the

Oreo WTF bootloader unlock exploit

back in May 2018. It's easier, takes less time and you can buy almost any phone you want. LG has tried to patch that exploit with recent "security" updates, but it's very easy to downgrade back to pre-July 2018 firmware for bootloader unlock. Afterwards, you can then update back to latest firmware, once bootloader is unlocked.

US998 can be used on T-mobile, as it's the official carrier unlocked model and works on any North American carrier. The only quibble is you may or may not get T-mobile's new band 71 on US998. Some people with root said they have gotten it, others say they do not. I do not know as I use AT&T. There's various threads where it's been discussed in depth.