The Nexus 5 Difference

Did anyone else know there were two different Nexus 5 models available for purchase? There’s a North America model, D820, and a D821 model that’s pretty much meant for the rest of the world.

The D821 model may be a number higher, but the two phones are pretty much the same. The difference lies in the mobile network bands each model is compatible for. Essentially, the North America model can make use of the network bands used by the major companies in North America, and the D821 is optimized for Europe and the rest of the world

Here’s a list to put the differences into perspective and make it easier for you to figure out which one is right for you:

North America (D820)

-          GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

-          CDMA: Band Class: 0/1/10

-          WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8/19

-          LTE: Bands: 1/2/4/5/17/19/25/26/41

Rest of World (D821)

-          GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

-          WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8

-          LTE: Bands: 1/3/5/7/8/20

Either phone should work no matter where you are, but there is the chance of running into some issues if you buy the wrong model. To make it easy on yourself, buy the D820 if you live in North America or the D821 if you live anywhere else.

Now we obviously can't give a perfect list of every network in the world that each phone will work on, but at least in the U.S. the list is a bit shorter. Out of the box the D820 model will work just fine for 2G, 3G and LTE data on T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint. Any MVNO that operates on the T-Mobile or AT&T network will be good to go as well, but things turn into a bit of a grey area once you go beyond there.

Outside of North America, the Rest of World D821 model should have no issues connecting to 2G, 3G and LTE throughout Europe and beyond. Things again get into a grey area when you head over to Asia where different and unique networks are run. What you see above is just a spec sheet — be sure to double, triple and quadruple check the bands your carrier of choice runs on before you make a purchase.

We aren't exactly to the utopian world of a single phone to work throughout the entire world, but this is pretty darn close