Hi OzB'ers,
Can someone please confirm that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro opereates correctly in Australia on all networks…especially on the VodaPhone network? Also…where is the best place to purchase this phone from? Best seems to be eGlobal at about $230, Banggood at $240….or Catch.com.au at $271.
Thoughts
Brant
I have a suspicion, from Kogan: https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/xiaomi-redmi-note-6-pro-64gb-bl…
And gsmarena: https://m.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_redmi_note_6_pro-9333.php
that there is a version of the Redmi Note 6 Pro that has band 28. This is very rare for low/medium end Xiaomi phones. Still no NFC though.
If you could get this version, that may be better. Kogan is a lot more $$ than you state above though.
That listing at Kogan showing band 28 is false. Many sellers of this phone have done the same thing.
They have just copied and pasted the specs from the mi.com site and in there they show the band capabilities for two versions of the phone, one ending in G the other ending in H.
The G version is the standard issue, the H version with B28 is impossible to buy online.
Kogan are aware of the error in their listing but leave it as is.
They also sell CN phones and do not specify which are exactly genuine Global Version phones.
They do not hold stock, they drop ship from some asian supplier.
OP… Band capability on this phone can vary. Some CN phones will have different band capability to genuine Global Versions so check closely for what they are going to send you. They also change with the different memory configurations (3/32 3/64 4/64) with this phone too… just to make it more complicated.
Guys,
thank you for the responses…but I am no closer to working out if this phone will work in Australia. So overall…buy? yes or no?
Brant
https://ozmiui.com/product/xiaomi-redmi-note-6-pro/ has a detailed list of the main Australian network providers and what bands they are compatible with for the Redmi note 6.
I can tell you that this model comes with a variant with the global bands - including b28. From previous models, b28 was available on the Taiwanese version, or clearly distinguishable international versions of the device. Most sellers you come across will have words like "Global version" in their titles. This would likely refer to the ROM being the global version apposed to the China ROM. Finding the b28 version though may be difficult as sellers often just copy all the bands listed but not necessarily supported. I would personally go for the Redmi Note 7 that's recently been released.
You may not need b28 anyway, it all depends on your location and coverage.
Yes it will work, I'm going to grab one when budget allows myself. Only thing is you won't get 4G with Telstra in the sticks, it'll just fall back to 3G it's really not as bad as people make it out to be. I'm rocking a $150 Hafury Umax at the moment that has no 4G at all, works just fine everywhere on Telstra if you consider 3G "fine".
This is a bit of a tangent but I'll drop this here because I see it a lot especially on Whirlpool, people claim coverage as an issue with phones lacking B28. I'd personally love to see a coverage map of Telstra band 28 overlain with the NextG 750mhz 3G, I bet there's almost nowhere that's 4G only. Speed of data transfer is the only important variable, reception will be more or less the same with or without.
AliExpress has the Global version for $225 + Cashback, and you are probably better off buying from there.
For the most part it should work fine. It only bothers you if you go regional (band 28 is mostly strong in those areas). If you live around the city that's all good.
Source: guy that's been using Xiaomi phones for two years with hardly any frequency issue.
Also not sure about eGlobal but Banggood and Catch have been pretty good for me. But eGlobal pops up a lot so i guess customers do buy a lot from that store. Also seems like a great price (usually they go around $250 and up due to tax change on imports).
dunno re the RN6 Pro but I have the RN5 Pro and on Vodafone network. Have no problems with it and tried on Optus as well. The RN6 Pro has more bands so if anything your coverage will be greater. The redmi note series are awesome phones for the price.