Will Nexus 5 work in India ?

35 Replies

This post will answer some of the frequently answered questions if you are planning to import your nexus 5 from USA or UK.

Should I order from US/UK or should I wait?
This is the most frequently asked question by people who want to get their hands on this android beast as soon as possible. My personal advice is to order from US, if you don’t mind taking the risk of using the device without warranty, but badly want the device soon. Given LG’s supply issues, its unlikely that the device starts shipping in India any sooner than 1 st week of December. Although play store for india shows a coming soon message, there has been no official news from Google or lg. Additionally, they have not been able to satisfy the demand in US itself which supports my prediction. From the price point, you won’t gain much by ordering from US. Let me explain why: the phone costs 349 USD. And with tax and local shipping it comes to 385 USD which is 24,000 inr. FedEx will charge 40 USD for shipping which brings the total to 26,000 inr. With customs duty, the total will come to approx 28000 in which not too far from the official price of 28999.
In short, import it if you want hands on experience sooner than your friends. But wait for india launch if you want warranty.

When you are buying a phone from Google play store, make sure you are buying an unlocked one. Unlike India, USA and UK stores sell locked phones which only operate on specific networks.

Nexus 5 will be sold as D820 in USA and D821 in India. But you don’t have to worry about compatibility with your service provider since both these models work in the GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz range which is used by every operator like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Bsnl.

What about the charger/adapter ?
Nowadays, every adapter is designed for travel. Hence they operate on 110 – 220 volts range. The only issue is the wall socket which varies from country to country. US sockets are very thin whereas UK sockets are broad. Neither of them will work with traditional Indian wall plug. You need a small converter which can connect the terminals of the socket to your wall plug. Not a big deal if you are already using a spike busters which are designed to accommodate these sockets.

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35 thoughts on “Will Nexus 5 work in India ?”

  1. ASN

    Thanks fr clearing that up!
    I’m on Vodafone and I ws clueless abt it working even if its the unlocked version.
    So 3G works as well right ?
    I have ppl bringing it to India for me and so none of the taxes apply. Makes it way cheaper.
    Then again, look like LTE won’t work on it when that band comes to India.

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  2. Anand

    Both D820 and D821 work in GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. But what about CDMA, WCDMA and LTE?? In simple words, can I use a D820 in India with 2G and 3G with airtel?

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  3. Jay

    Hi Kiran,

    Thanks for the article. I have a query, i heared that nexus 5 comes with international warranty. So if something goes wrong, i can claim from India, even if shipped from US right? Please clarify.

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  5. Maddy

    hey..its really very nice to read this article and i am very thnkful to u that u hv posted and share such information with us.I want to ask u smthin in very simple words.I am in india and thinking to get nexus 5 from US.Will it work perfectly with my Aircel sim?

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  6. Harshit

    Hi Kiran,
    Kiran if i purchase nexus 5 from US(at&t or sprint) ,then will it work with airtel,idea,mtnl etc. operators in India.plz. reply me asap

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  7. K.Rajkamal

    Hi Kiran,

    Thank you so much for the article. I have a question for you. My friend is ordering nexus 5 in US playstore website for me. My question is, it will be an unlocked version if he purchase in US playstore rite and i can use it in india as well rite, I may use aircel/airtel sim?

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  8. Sudhakar Arya

    Hi,

    I want to use CDMA network on google Nexus 5 in India. Please let me know which model would work in India for CDMA D820 or D821.

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  9. CHAITANYA V bHATT

    Nexus 5 will be sold as D820 in USA these models work in the GSM 850/900/1800/1900, DO YOU THINK THIS PH CAN WORK IN india,

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  11. siddharth kaushik

    Will the LTE work in in India as it will come in airtel in a few months or will the us version model only run 3g in india??? Please clarify…

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  12. siddharth kaushik

    hey..there is slight difference in the bands of 4g network. Will the 4g work in the us version d820 for vofafone in the future??

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  16. SagarG

    Hi Kiran,

    Did you happen to use Nexus 5 D820 bought from US in India, did it work? Plz let me know so I can buy it from play store then.

    Reply ↓
    1. Sukesh

      Nexus 5: 2G/3G/4G LTE

      Model LG-D820 (North America)
      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

      Model LG-D821 (Rest of World)
      GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
      WCDMA bands: 1/2/4/5/6/8
      LTE bands: 1/3/5/7/8/20

      Bharti Airtel 4G-LTE in India operates on 2300Mhz frequency and LTE band 40.

      So, the Nexus 5 works on 2G and 3G networks anywhere in the world. However, none of the two models would work in India on Airtel’s LTE, unless telecom companies in India operate with frequencies and bands mentioned above for Nexus 5 D820 or D821.

      I shipped a Nexus 5 D820 from Dubai to Muscat.
      Nawras is my telecom carrier in Muscat. They operate on 1800Mhz frequency and Band 3 LTE. So, the D820 doesn’t work on LTE here although D821 would work flawlessly!

      Please check the below link for information on LTE frequencies and bands of various telecom companies which operate around the world and then purchase your Nexus 5 accordingly.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

      Reply ↓
  17. Chirag Jain

    Hi Kiran, i will be ordering Nexus 5 from US soon. Airtel just launched 4G LTE in ludhiana. So will the US version(820) of Nexus 5 support India’s Airtel 4G ?

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  18. Rahul

    Hi kiran,
    My brother is gonna buy a Nexus5 for me from US Playstore.So it will be North America Version.Will it work in india?.Will it support indian mobile carriers like Airtel,Idea,Bsnl etc.

    Reply ↓
  19. Shekhar

    Hi Kiran
    I own a nexus 5 device bought from USA recently,i am facing call reception problems.By keeping on LTE mode,data on 2g just works fine but not 3g.I am on Airtel. Only the LTE bands are different right?2G and 3G should work fine.Do you happen to own a D820 unit?

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  20. dhaval

    I have purchased nexus 5 D820 from us.
    It connects only in 2g.
    It does not connect with 3g.
    What should I do to get connected in 3g

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  22. Ashish Kothari

    Hello Kiran,

    I am planning to buy Nexus 5 from US via friend. I want to use it with Reliance CDMA. Will it work with data and voice.Please throw some light immediately on the matter as i have to take a decision soon

    Reply ↓
  24. itsgpm

    Nice article. I was planning to buy nexus 5 from google play store but was under some confusion whether to get d820 from play store or d821 from ebay. This solved my prob..
    Thanks

    Reply ↓
  28. Nemi yadav

    am having a nexus 5 phone which is bought from dubai by my friend for me.
    It works on 4.4.4 KitKat version then I updated it to lolipop v5.0..
    It worked perfectly on my mobile without any issues. Few days before I got notification about v5.1 update and I updated my phone to 5.1 yesterday.
    After rebooting everything was perfect except (NO SIM card detection.)
    I tried rebooting it again and I also cross checked the Sim in other mobile and tried reinserting it but nothing happening.
    Sir I am having a nexus 5 phone which is bought from dubai by my friend for me.
    It works on 4.4.4 KitKat version then I updated it to lolipop v5.0..
    It worked perfectly on my mobile without any issues. Few days before I got notification about v5.1 update and I updated my phone to 5.1 yesterday.
    After rebooting everything was perfect except (NO SIM card detection.)
    I tried rebooting it again and I also cross checked the Sim in other mobile and tried reinserting it but nothing happening.
    I DoNt know what should I do now..
    Plz guide me thru this situation..

    Reply ↓

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