[Galaxy S I9000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] richardbroder:
You should do some more research, Brazil uses mist 850/2100Mhz frequency for 3G coverage. The carrier I use (Claro) is 2100Mhz. Another of the big carriers (TIM) is also switching to 2100Mhz, in fact, 2100Mhz WCDMA is already working for TIM. I'm not sure about the other 2 carriers (Oi and Vivo). Either way, if your carrier is 850Mhz, you can always switch to a carrier wich is 2100Mhz (in Brazil that's specifically easy, since you are able to change your carrier and still keep the same phone number).

Well, I have spent ALOT of time researching information for my International SGS, I definitely wouldn't have time to research on any of the other variants. But even though I never go to the Fascinate/Captivate/Vibrant/Epic forums, I do stumble with alot of them coming to the International SGS forum to ask for help.. 3-button not working, irreversibly bricked phones after wrong flash attempts, and all other sorts of problems that happen so often with branded SGSs, but happening so little (or never) with the International unbranded version... in fact, I actually see MORE branded SGS owners (in the International forum - let me leave that clear) bricking their phones then International SGS owners themselves...

And, I'll tell you, I have done all sorts of wrong stuff with my International SGS.. I have flashed wrong .pit, wrong modem/firmware/csc combinations, wrong root attempts, I have even gone through a situation in wich a passing person accidentally stepped at (and, thus, disconnected) the USB cable while my SGS was in plain odin flashing, and we all know how deadly that is.... my phone has gone to hell and back to earth several times... how to fix it? Just put it back to download mode and make a CORRECT flash, and in just some minutes my SGS is back to a perfect state, so I do know how hard it is to brick a International SGS. Unfortunately, for what I have seen, branded SGS owners can`t say the same thing....

PS: Flashing a International SGS with branded SGS firmware? Who would be insane to do that? I can only think of it as some desperate attempt to get the US GPS paramaters (wich, tells the legend, are better) in the International SGS... either way, that would be stupid, since you can port US-GPS paramaters to the International-SGS without having to change the firmware....

Well, as far as I know, the 3-button problem is non-existent in the unbranded SGS, whilst, if you get yourself a branded SGS, you're on for your luck, maybe you'll have 3-button, maybe you won't, why submit to unnecessary risk?

You can have all sorts of APN/PIN/IMEI/other problems when messing with branded phones, it's not as simple as "nah, just unlock it and its good as original"... sometimes, flashing a modded firmware will resolve APN/PIN/IMEI issues, in others it might just render your phone useless...

Some things you have to consider when buying a Vibrant, for example:

-It was made to run @ T-Mobile

-99.9% of Vibrant owners actually do run it in T-Mobile - This includes devs

-All of the firmwares (be them official, be them leaks) for the Vibrant are designed to run @ T-Mobile - sure, you can go ahead and try to flash the International SGS firmware in the Vibrant, though we all do agree this is not a good idea

-You can have tons of thousands of rommods for Vibrant firmware that make it look and feel exactly like a unbranded SGS... still, if it is a Vibrant firmware (wich is HIGHLY advisable to use if you have a Vibrant), that means it was made for Vibrant, and, thus, made for T-Mobile....

Unbranded phones, in the other hand, will go fine at any situation, since they are designed to be able to work with any carrier... you can be sure you won't have APN/PIN/IMEI bugs/incompatibilities with the International SGS...

It's just the same reason for a factory unlocked and unbranded iPhone being so much better then having a AT&T unlocked/jailbroken iPhone running in a non-AT&T network - it's just not the same thing... the iPhone does have one advantage though; since AT&T is the only carrier sporting it in the US, there is a gigantic community supporting AT&T iPhones running on other carriers... how many devs in the Vibrant forums are actually working on mods for non-t-mobile users running the Vibrant? Not much I suppose.... so in the end you'll be limited to "I hope this firmware, wich was designed for users running on a T-mobile network, won't give me any problems on my non-T-Mobile network"...

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