OnePlus 8/8 Pro and 5G on O2?

[Incarniac]

I know O2 don't stock/sell OnePlus devices anymore (including the new OP8/OP8P), but since this is the phone I'm planning on getting I'm wondering if O2's 5G will work on it? Some reports over ath OnePlus' forums indicate it isn't working - yet; if so, can we expect it to work at some point once O2 has had a chance of approving the device?

From what I can see there are no technical reasons the phone can't work on O2 5G (on the 3500MHz freqency / n78 band).

[pgn]

One for @Chris_K, @Incarniac - he often has good insight on such matters from the O2 side. Tagged him in above. 

[FredBloggs]

Yep, I'm interested in finding out whether O2 will support 5G on the OP8 too.

[gmarkj]

o2's 5G bands are constant, so it is more a case of if the OP8 supports the correct bands.

o2 uses bands 3 and 20 for 5G (1800MHz & 800MHz).

Looking at gsmarena for the OP8, it supports both of those bands (although it shows band 20 as LTE which is 4G and not 5G).

A good place to look is https://willmyphonework.net/, but they don't have the OP8 on the list yet...

[Incarniac]

I don't think that is correct re: O2 5G bands. All info I can find says O2 is using 5G band n78 (3500MHz) for 5G currently, and they also have frequency in 5G band n40 (2300MHz) but I don't think that's active yet. n78 is supported by OP8/OP8P (but n40 isn't).

Sources:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G_NR_frequency_bands
- https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/uk-network-frequency-bands
- https://5g.co.uk/guides/5g-frequencies-in-the-uk-what-you-need-to-know/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_5G_NR_networks
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O2_(UK)#Network

Bands b3 and b20 are 4G/4G+ bands.

[FredBloggs]

Ok, so someone on the OnePlus forums has just got an O2 5G SIM in a OnePlus 8 Pro and it doesn't show 5G on the network settings page, so looks like it will have to be a firmware update

[Incarniac]

Can confirm that the network automatic listing on my phone only lists "2G/3G/4G" (no 5G). I am in a non-5G area though, and I don't know if that makes a difference.

I do wonder if O2 has to whitelist the device for 5G on their network before 5G will work. I can only test that at work, but will be some time until I'm back in the office.

[Cleoriff]

Official info from O2 here @Incarniac @FredBloggs 

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/O2-Gurus/oneplus-8-20pro/m-p/1335405/highlight/true#M1333 

[Incarniac]

Thanks, good to know.

[Incarniac]

I got a reply from OnePlus support that they're aware and working on an update to enable 5G working on O2, apparently. Obviously they are not committing to a timeline but say they'll announce on social media channels when available.