[LG V30 ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Other Developm] ChazzMatt:
The difference is this is Verizon firmware. . If you're not a Verizon customer you don't need it. While technically it is carrier unlocked, if you're not a Verizon customer you will get "no Verizon SIM card found" nag message.

This VS996 20K has a newer security patch, so what?

Plus,Verizon messed up their initial Oreo update. It took them until to 20b to get FULL Oreo firmware that US998 had on 20a -- so their updates numbering falsely looked ahead of others. Their VS996 20c was same version as US998 20b, etc. Plus Verizon had a couple of "ghost" updates that boosted their version numbers, which I won't go into here.

Stay with the US998 20H. Unless you're a Verizon customer?

US998 is North American open market firmware. While U.S. Cellular did sell US998, it was not specifically made for U.S. Cellular. It was specifically made to be the official carrier unlocked North America open market V30.

https://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-US998-Unlocked-v30

The Open Market US998 was sold by B&H Photo, Amazon (straight from LG), Best Buy and other authorized third party retailers. All supplied straight from LG, with no carrier affiliation.

That's why inside US998 you see all the references to Sprint , T-Mobile in hidden menus.

Yes, the US998 was ALSO sold by U.S. Cellular but was NOT made for U.S. Cellular. Actual U.S Cellular phones (models made for that carrier) are always locked to U.S. Cellular. The LG US998 never was carrier locked. Even the US998 sold by U.S. Cellular were always carrier unlocked.

All other major carriers (AT&T, T-mobile, Verizon, Sprint) got bespoke models. U.S. Cellular is so small LG basically gave them the official carrier unlocked phone and said "Here's your V30." ;) They got to sell it for three months before the *official* carrier unlocked US988 V30/V30+ was released to authorized 3rd party retailers, and it turned out to be EXACTLY THE SAME.

That's why I hate it when people mention U.S. Cellular and US998 together, as it just confuses people...

The phone and firmware for all US998 are exactly the same. U.S. Cellular is technically the 5th largest carrier in the United States but the size drop off between 4th carrier Sprint and 5th place is HUGE. LG made specific models for AT&T, T-mobile, Verizon, Sprint, but not for U.S. Cellular. They merely gave them official carrier unlocked version.

U.S. CARRIERS and CUSTOMERS

AT&T Mobility: 159.7 million (Q2 2019)

Verizon Wireless: 156.1 million (Q2 2019)

T-Mobile U.S.: 83.1 million (Q2 2019)

Sprint Corporation: 54.5 million (Q1 2019)

U.S. Cellular: 5 million (Q1 2019) (only operates in 23 states, not even nationwide)

The only difference between the US998 sold by U.S. Cellular and the Open Market US998 V30 sold by authorized 3rd party retailers was the 64GB US998 V30 sold by 3rd party retailers had IMEI registered on LG Dev website to be eligible for the LG bootloader unlock code. (which we don't need, thanks to WTF bootloader unlock exploit.) However, the US998 V30+ sold by B&H Photo and other 3rd party retailers (straight from LG) were never eligible for that bootloader unlock code -- so there was no difference whatsoever with between the USS98 V30+ sold by U.S. Cellular and the Open Market US998 V30+ (straight from LG) sold by authorized 3rd party retailers.

That's also why the US998 got Oreo update LAST, because the official open market variant has to work with all carriers so needs more testing. AT&T only cares about AT&T. Verizon only cares about Verizon.

---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:33 PM ----------

That's because in spite of being the Open Market "all carriers" phone, the US998 inexplicably lacks three Sprint LTE bands.

That's why initially Sprint would not accept US998 on their network.