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hi everyone:
I have been looking via numerous thread online on many Android forums especially here and have been unsuccessful for the past 2 days now. So I figured I would need to create a thread and finally give in and ask for some help. I have a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy 3 phone and I need to unlock it so that it will work on my AT&T service. Now i understand about rooting the phone and being able to play with themes etc, but its not that great if I can't use the phone itself.
Now without coming up with some kind of answer I must have watched about 40 youtube video's hoping to find out some kind of information. Mostly what I got out of it was numerous website that offer unlocking for phones at a certain price.
unlockcodesource(.)com
unlock2go(.)com
mobileunlockcodes(.)co.uk
Has anyone ever used any of these website or can someone give me some good advise on how I can get this phone unlocked please/
~Aqua
I think the toolkit stickied in the development forum has an option to SIM unlock the GS3. I have not tried this, and do not know if it works, but if the option is there, you might want to give it a shot.
If you're on contract with t mobile and your account is in good standing with them. Call them tell them you're going over seas and need to unlock your phone so you can use it. They will send you unlock code ... then pop in an att sim card and it will prompt you to enter the unlock code t Mobil gave you. Done
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
thanks _
Crisisx1 said:
If you're on contract with t mobile and your account is in good standing with them. Call them tell them you're going over seas and need to unlock your phone so you can use it. They will send you unlock code ... then pop in an att sim card and it will prompt you to enter the unlock code t Mobil gave you. Done
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
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OK thank you. I followed your instructions and they said it would take up to maybe 24 hrs for the phone to be unlocked. If it isn't unlocked than she said to call back with the conformation number she gave me. If that doesn't work than they would have to give Samsung my info and could take up to 14 days. She said when you buy phones almost all stands and corp stores have already unlocked phones.
she also said it would be auto unlocked for good. Can they lock the phone back up once it is be unlocked?
~Aqua
edited: Once I have it unlocked ( if all goes good ) do i use the same APN settings that I needed to put into the phone in order for my phone to work on the AT&T network as I did with my S2 that I got unlocked ?
Don't they use different frequencies for HSPA+
You would be relegated to edge speeds, correct me if I'm wrong
speed issue
five40 said:
Don't they use different frequencies for HSPA+
You would be relegated to edge speeds, correct me if I'm wrong
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Click to collapse
I really don't know. That would be a great question if someone would be nice enough to help me with this information? Again i have a T mobile S3 hopefully its unlocked would I be losing speeds by being on the AT&T network?
thanks
~Aqua
AquaWater said:
I really don't know. That would be a great question if someone would be nice enough to help me with this information? Again i have a T mobile S3 hopefully its unlocked would I be losing speeds by being on the AT&T network?
thanks
~Aqua
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The T-Mobile S3 has the 850/1900 3G bands so it will work on AT&T's 3G network. It will not get LTE though.
You can unlock either by paying for a code from the various resellers online or requesting an unlock code from T-Mobile if you have an account in good standing with them. If you can't get the code from T-Mobile I suggest searching 'T999 unlock' on eBay and you'll find some good options.
The tmobile galaxy s3 will work on the ATnT HSPA+21 frequency. Same frequency the International version runs on for that network.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Edge network and 3/4G Question
I found an excellent place so far on eBay for buying unlock codes. they have almost 3800 sells with a 99% positive feedback. Great customer service. The guy answered numerous questions of mine and made sure i did everything correctly. Payment was $24.95 US, so hopefullly everything will go good.
He was talking about being on something called an " Edge " network which is a little slower, but he said you won't notice a difference between your unlocked S2 and the unlocked S3 now. Right now my S2 says I have 3G service when I use it. I dont understand how i had a inspire4G, what is the 4G for if AT&T only gives you 3G service? And where I am in United States I should have 4G service no matter what. I'm confused on that.,
AquaWater said:
I found an excellent place so far on eBay for buying unlock codes. they have almost 3800 sells with a 99% positive feedback. Great customer service. The guy answered numerous questions of mine and made sure i did everything correctly. Payment was $24.95 US, so hopefullly everything will go good.
He was talking about being on something called an " Edge " network which is a little slower, but he said you won't notice a difference between your unlocked S2 and the unlocked S3 now. Right now my S2 says I have 3G service when I use it. I dont understand how i had a inspire4G, what is the 4G for if AT&T only gives you 3G service? And where I am in United States I should have 4G service no matter what. I'm confused on that.,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edge is 2G speeds, which are substantially slower than 3G speeds. IMHO, 3G speeds are livable, 2G/Edge is not.
Different phones have different radios which work on different frequencies. Some phones are not compatible with other services at all, and some will work on other carriers but often not at optimal speeds.
Darmokk said:
Edge is 2G speeds, which are substantially slower than 3G speeds. IMHO, 3G speeds are livable, 2G/Edge is not.
Different phones have different radios which work on different frequencies. Some phones are not compatible with other services at all, and some will work on other carriers but often not at optimal speeds.
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Click to collapse
So than why would someone suggest that I would get "edge" instead of what i have now? I'm getting 3G now with my T-Mobile S2 unlocked on AT&T, but now I'm going to have an unlocked S3, why wouldn't it be the same?
Because the radios in the devices are different.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
So than why would someone suggest that I would get "edge" instead of what i have now?
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Click to collapse
Because he/she doesn't know what he/she is talking about. You will be fine with a T-Mobile S3 on AT&T.
That's what I said earlier in not so many words.
Voice willl work fine you will not see HSPA+ speeds on At&t with a T-Mobile Galaxy SIII.
If the T-Mobile SIII has the hardware capability to support the At&t HSPA+ bands you would need modified radio software to unlock this ability.
I believe this was done on the Galaxy Note to tun on T-Mobile HSPA+ network before it was officially launched on T-Mobile.
kmdub I believe your the one that's wrong.
five40 said:
That's what I said earlier in not so many words.
Voice willl work fine you will not see HSPA+ speeds on At&t with a T-Mobile Galaxy SIII.
If the T-Mobile SIII has the hardware capability to support the At&t HSPA+ bands you would need modified radio software to unlock this ability.
I believe this was done on the Galaxy Note to tun on T-Mobile HSPA+ network before it was officially launched on T-Mobile.
kmdub I believe your the one that's wrong.
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Click to collapse
I unlocked my t999 and am using an att straight talk sim getting HSPA speeds. Going to switch back to tmobile prepay because it is way faster than att HSPA with better latency. Although coverage may be lacking, i may just switch to an att ST sim.
To answer your question, a Tmobile S3 will work on ATT HSPA+ network with the HSPA+ Speeds of up to 6-7mbps in NYC area. The average I've been getting is around 2-3.5 mbps. With the tmobile prepay sim I have, it's usually around 2-18mbps down in NYC area.
The T-mobile S3 will not work on the ATT LTE network because it lacks that radio (or so they say for now); there have been other threads suspecting it's just a matter of flashing the right radio to "turn on" the ATT LTE radio. However, if all you want is HSPA+ speeds, rest assured it will work fine.
The ATT S3 is lacking the AWS bands for TMobile so it will not get the HSPA+ on Tmobile.
Best regards.
radio issue
First off, I would like to thank everyone who has been helping me along with my issues with my phone. I appreciate it a lot and I'm picking up more knowledge more and more everyday from you guys and reading heavily on the forums.
if the hardware in the phone doesn't support HSPA+ 1) will i have to root the phone and 2) change the radio? And 3 ) if I change the radio does that mean I would need to install a custom ROM i order for it to work properly?
Also, from one of the post they said "The T-Mobile S3 has the 850/1900 3G bands " - of that is true will than I should be able to have the 3G speeds correct?
I really hope I am not making some people angry, I'm new to this and trying my hardest to understand everything so I don't make mistakes. Please bare with me. Again, thank you so much everyone who has contributed so far. I still have a lot to learn. The reason why is because I just don't want it to work ( I do, want it to work ) but I want to understand why everything is working they way it is and I've over the past almost month have been picking up a lot of knowledge. Can't wait to hear from you guys
kmdub I believe your the one that's wrong.
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Click to collapse
No, actually, you are wrong. The T-Mobile S3 does not need any modification to work properly on AT&T's HSPA network. Seems you are confusing something else with frequency. Quit spreading bad information.
OP: Don't worry about it. Some are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. As said before, if you have the T999, you will be fine on AT&T's HSPA network without any modifications (other than an account...lol). Just get the phone SIM-unlocked, pop in the right SIM, you are good to go. Seriously, it is that easy.
Well there it is, I stand corrected!
I had no idea the T-Mobile SIII supports At&t HSPA+ bands.
Is the same true to all T-Mobile HSPA+ phones?
Sorry for any issues, just learning
Hi everyone,
thanks so much for the info. Will the S2 I needed to put in certain APN settings inorder to receive MMS ( picture ) via texts. Do i use the same settings for the Samsung Galaxy 3?
kmdub said:
No, actually, you are wrong. The T-Mobile S3 does not need any modification to work properly on AT&T's HSPA network. Seems you are confusing something else with frequency. Quit spreading bad information.
OP: Don't worry about it. Some are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. As said before, if you have the T999, you will be fine on AT&T's HSPA network without any modifications (other than an account...lol). Just get the phone SIM-unlocked, pop in the right SIM, you are good to go. Seriously, it is that easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too have learned from this thread
(Did a quick forum search on this and didn't see anything that answered my question, so if this is around somewhere, I apologize.)
Okay, I'm currently with Verizon Wireless, and generally happy with my service, but what I am unhappy with is my bill (I pay $220+ a month for 4 lines, only 2 of which are Smart Phones). I'm thinking of switching to T-Mobile's prepaid service when my contract is up, and my and my wife both like the Galaxy S3, but I'm leery about T-Mobile's service in my area (I live in a rather Rural area). Ideally, I'd buy an unlocked version of the phone to use with prepaid plans (so if I'm dissatisfied with one prepaid service, I just switch out SIM cards and port my number), BUT unfortunately, the unlocked versions of the S3 that I've found don't work with the T-Mobile HSPA+ band (1700 MHz). However, what I have found is that when comparing the T999 with the I747 (T-Mobile and AT&T versions, respectively), I've found that (LTE aside) the frequencies they operate on are exactly the same, with the difference being only that T-Mobile's can use the 1700 MHz frequency.
SO, my question is: If I went ahead and sprung for a couple of T999's and found that T-Mobile didn't work for me, could I just unlock the phone for use with AT&T and pop in an AT&T SIM, and enjoy AT&T's HSPA+ goodness? Or is there something I'm missing? I know that the other way around won't work (only in very, VERY isolated spots will T-Mobile customers with unlocked iPhones and Droids that operate on 1900 MHz frequencies actually get more than EDGE speeds with their devices), but this seems like the best option (barring buying a GSM Galaxy Nexus from the Google PLAY store, which I'm not sure will be available when my contract is up - I hear that there's a new Galaxy Device being cooked up, and I'm not holding my breath for Google to sell it alongside an older Nexus device).
Opinions?
FYI, I'm not worried about LTE right now. As I said, I live in a rural area that's lucky to have 3G. LTE might not EVER make it to my area (AT&T just added 3G to my area in the last year), so HSPA+ (whether 21 Mbps or T-Mobile's 42 Mbps) is plenty fast for me (my Verizon Wireless Xperia PLAY currently pulls down 1.5 Mbps on a good day).
Link to T999: htt p://ww w.gsmarena. com/samsung_galaxy_s_iii_t999-4804.php
Link to I747: htt p://ww w.gsmarena. com/samsung_galaxy_s_iii_i747-4803.php
(Remove spaces. Would have hyperlinked, but as I don't yet have ten posts, that's illegal.)
Wow. It's refreshing to see someone do research before asking a question.
Yes, that would probably be your best bet. You can use the T-999 on AT&T HSPA+ just fine. You can even use it on Medianet's $10 unlimited data I believe since it isn't an AT&T phone. I feel like you will likely end up doing this as T-Mobile prepaid has a smaller coverage footprint than postpaid (or so they claim).
So yes, if you don't care about LTE, this would work just fine for you.
At&t user here. Yeah hspa+ works fine on it. If losing lte isn't an issue for you then go for it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
I was on the same boat as the OP. I bought an unlocked T999 and I am currently using on ATT's network, but through Straight Talk. I still get HSPA speeds w/o the 5GB cap.
Another AT&T user here also using Medianet plan.. Works perfect on hspa+
sent from my AOKP powered s3
Bump. Is there any specific apn settings to get h+. As i have heard straightalk at&t with tmobile s3 only gets edge speeds? Please tell me i was told wrong lol. Thanks
1slow4G said:
Bump. Is there any specific apn settings to get h+. As i have heard straightalk at&t with tmobile s3 only gets edge speeds? Please tell me i was told wrong lol. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In a similar situation!
I have the T999 with T-mobile and am moving to Kauai, am there now and the service is worthless. I looked at AT&T's prices for shi*ts and giggles and ugh, no. I just ordered a straight talk AT&T compatible sim from walmart, will need to cut it because everywhere is out of micro sims, and would like to know how successful the T999 is on the AT&T compatible network of straight talk. I seriously feel lost without data to my phone, it hurts.
I have been researching and researching the band frequencies and everything points to that it should work. I just got this phone after my rooted/unlocked SGS4g went into a toilet and then sold on ebay.
lol
BTW long time viewer of XDA, has been successful in unlocking/rooting/flashing the SGS4g and the T999, with a mac I might add which always makes things complicated.
Thanks again
adelynn2006 said:
In a similar situation!
I have the T999 with T-mobile and am moving to Kauai, am there now and the service is worthless. I looked at AT&T's prices for shi*ts and giggles and ugh, no. I just ordered a straight talk AT&T compatible sim from walmart, will need to cut it because everywhere is out of micro sims, and would like to know how successful the T999 is on the AT&T compatible network of straight talk. I seriously feel lost without data to my phone, it hurts.
I have been researching and researching the band frequencies and everything points to that it should work. I just got this phone after my rooted/unlocked SGS4g went into a toilet and then sold on ebay.
lol
BTW long time viewer of XDA, has been successful in unlocking/rooting/flashing the SGS4g and the T999, with a mac I might add which always makes things complicated.
Thanks again
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Click to collapse
I have my t999 unlocked and with straighttalk at&t sim. I am getting 4g symbol which is hspa+ on at&t terms. Speed is great, loads up browser pages faster than my wifes tmobile and hers is on 4g aswell. Couldn't be happier. But at home and at work I have wifi so i try to avoid using too much data to avoid the infamous data cap
Sent from my Galaxy S3 using neighbors wifi
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
ccampbell1 said:
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
farfromovin said:
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
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Click to collapse
farfromovin,
I agree it's a complete pain why one model can't work worldwide - or even between carriers in one country, the US!! I'm not sure that all the revisions are the exact same hardware though. Certainly the different revisions will support different LTE bands from one another, different 3G bands (ie T-Mobile USA) and even different technologies (VZW, Sprint, US Cellular CDMA). Whether there is one uber radio chip that's the same in all versions, with different bits enabled here and there, I don't know. I would doubt that a chip currently exists to support all GSM, UMTS, LTE and CDMA bands in the one, but you never know.
I really cannot wait (getting super sick of it) until T-Mobile's 1900MHz refarming, and finally all UMTS/HSPA phones will work on pretty much any UMTS/HSPA network worldwide. But just as we finally get 3G harmony, LTE comes along with a zillion different bands, and we're back to where we were at the start of GSM, and the start of UMTS - all over again.
As far as getting the GT-N7100 to work on T-Mobile AWS bands - unless the radio supports that band somewhere, and can be enabled by some hacky flashing, I don't think there's much chance. I followed a thread for a while which was trying to do that for the original GT-N7000 and it ended up nowhere unfortunately.
I'd be very, very surprised if the T-Mobile US official Note II did not support DC-HSPA +42. Given how TMO pushes that, I don't think they'd sell a phone without it these days. I'm kind of surprised the GT-N7100 doesn't have it, to be honest, but I guess it's not yet that widespread, and most carriers will bypass it to go to LTE.
Cheers!
Ars-Hexis said:
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
ccampbell1 said:
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there! Sorry I hadn't answered in such a long time. We'll actually I've found that the S3 (sold it) and the Note 2 (own it) some how cannot be tracked for data usage correctly by straight talk. It's quite interesting... I ported my number over from T-Mobile, so if you have an S3 with a T-mobile prepaid sim... I think you have nothing to lose! I'm in Dallas and regularly get around 3-4Mbits/S during high usage hours and 6-7Mbits/S after 7 pm when network usage goes down.
There have been 2 occasions over the past 2 months where I'm throttled for like an hour and suddenly it gets uncapped on its own (?!?!?) lol. Last month I used about 25 GB... It's insane. Btw, if you if get throttled for real (happened to me once), you can just call them and say your "Internets is slow" (act technologically challenged) and they'll reset it.
Ah 1 last thing: I got the at&T ST sim card when I switched.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium HD app
I just got my International Note 2 today, and I am using it on the T-Mobile network also. I am seeing that I am roaming but my data is off and I am just using wifi. I have turned off my phone and back on again and its still showing. But after reading this whole thread I am getting that is a bug or something along those lines is that correct? Thanks.
I really need to know
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
roaming
I am on prepaid tmobile and I have Roaming sign only in areas where I used to loose signal with my old phone . Basically when I go in Garage underground my signal starts getting weaker and weaker and then roaming kiks in and signal is up all the way . T-mobile does not charges for local roaming . If you use USA tmobile and you are in usa you are fine . My texts and voice are still the same rate for me . When I had Chinese rom it was showing all the time , now I flashed German t-mobile and R shows only sometime , but it does not bother me .
Hope this helps .
I too have a Note II (GT-N7100) I purchased in Thailand in December. I use it on the T-Mobile network and have the same issues with the "R" symbol. I am located in Tampa Bay area, Florida.
T-Mobile was indicating to me in January that this was an issue in weaker signal areas for their data network as they prepare to refarm it. Don't know if this explanation is entirely accurate, but I find in my local area that the R symbol goes away in certain areas and it behaves "normally". This includes the area where my T-Mobile office is located. It seems to be somewhat of a patchwork network, and for some reasons certain areas cause it to go into the Roaming mode.
I was just on a trip with stops in Los Amgeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia and noted the same behavior in some of those cities: Getting normal signal indications in some places, and Roaming in others.
I have a verizon Gnote 2 that i want to connect on Tmobile but obviously i have a couple question that concern me...
Ive researched as much as i could but still trying to get a clearer answer.
First: To connect verizon Gnote2 on tmobile you just have to put in the tmobile sim card and you get voice calls, sms, but no mms you had to unlock or root it first so you could change the apn's ..
but now with the newest update you dont have to do all that Verizon has made it fully unlocked.. so it easier to change the apns settings (which i still need to find what they are)
I see that the V Gnote 2 supports the 1900 and 2100mhz freq.. but not the 1700 and to be able to have complete LTE or HSPA 42+ connection the phone has to support both 1700 and 2100.. Tmobile is revamping the 1900 to become 4g connection but is not available in all areas so thats a hit or miss.. Heres a map showing an idea of were the 1900 mhz freq is supposively running
So my question on this in the areas where there isnt 1900 mhz band (Which 4g) then when on the other freq then i would be on 3g or 2g(edge) and if on Edge what are Tmobile edge speeds? 1mbps download atleast? or worse
Also Since i would have a GSM sim card in it and on GSM networks you could Talk and Surf the web at the same time then technically i should also be able to as well correct?
Ive read that i believe its on Jelly or Jedi rom it enabels HSPA+ is this true? also im good if i just get H support which is 3g
many more questions but post is getting too long and I know that just going out and getting a T mobile sim will help me get all my answers just dont want to go out and waste money for no reason....
all the threads i read
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2279177
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2201461
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2266530
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2159510
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2183119
and others on other forums as well.
TIA for all replys
EDIT: just spoked to a Tmobile C.S. rep and she asked me for the model # on the note2 and said she checked and also asked her supervisor and both stated that the phone would support full 4g
I had a S3 that was from ATT. Bands same at the Verizon Note 2. Although they are re farming, I always had edge and 3g it sucked..
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
You_got_owned123 said:
I had a S3 that was from ATT. Bands same at the Verizon Note 2. Although they are re farming, I always had edge and 3g it sucked..
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
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What download speeds were you getting?
Ma$etas said:
What download speeds were you getting?
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I had a Verizon GN2 that I tried on T-Mo (before trading with someone for an actual t-mo N2) and it was mostly Edge. Edge speeds are total garbage on a phone such as this. It takes 5 minutes just to load facebook.I loved the plan ($30 mo on t-mo) and wanted to keep it so I traded.
Has anyone here bought an unlocked AT&T S3 to use on the MetroPCS/Tmobile network? If so has there been any issues? shorter battery life, bad connectivity?
I am debating getting the S3 unlocked or HTC One S. I would prefer the HTC One S but it doesn't have microSD slot
I have a SGH T999 Lte at&t branded unlocked and use on TMobile with the T999L lte rom with no ill effects.
Sent from my SGH-T999L using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
afwolfpacked said:
I have a SGH T999 Lte at&t branded unlocked and use on TMobile with the T999L lte rom with no ill effects.
Sent from my SGH-T999L using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Is that the same model as my phone? So it would be advisable, after I got the S3 to flash it with a MetroPCS ROM after activation by Metro?
I thought there would be no need of a flash if I got an unlocked phone.
edo101 said:
Has anyone here bought an unlocked AT&T S3 to use on the MetroPCS/Tmobile network? If so has there been any issues? shorter battery life, bad connectivity?
I am debating getting the S3 unlocked or HTC One S. I would prefer the HTC One S but it doesn't have microSD slot
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You will have issues with 3G HSPA+ on 1700mhz, but 2G EDGE & 4G LTE will work just fine. If you live in a large metro area with a lot of LTE coverage it will be fine. I just went through this with my wife's phone, she had to have the Red one (AT&T specific).
edo101 said:
Is that the same model as my phone? So it would be advisable, after I got the S3 to flash it with a MetroPCS ROM after activation by Metro?
I thought there would be no need of a flash if I got an unlocked phone.
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There is no need to flash anything, just unlock it and add/edit the APN for TMo.
DJ_SpaRky said:
You will have issues with 3G HSPA+ on 1700mhz, but 2G EDGE & 4G LTE will work just fine. If you live in a large metro area with a lot of LTE coverage it will be fine. I just went through this with my wife's phone, she had to have the Red one (AT&T specific).
There is no need to flash anything, just unlock it and add/edit the APN for TMo.
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Sweet thanks! Both areas that I frequent have 4G and LTE coverage. My only concern is when I'm driving long distances which I often do, being in college and losing 2G signal in the middle of no where. So far with my Metro phones, I haven't seen anywhere I had 3G coverage. its always 2G and 4G/LTE
edo101 said:
Sweet thanks! Both areas that I frequent have 4G and LTE coverage. My only concern is when I'm driving long distances which I often do, being in college and losing 2G signal in the middle of no where. So far with my Metro phones, I haven't seen anywhere I had 3G coverage. its always 2G and 4G/LTE
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Good, that is exactly what we are seeing as well. Mostly LTE coverage with EDGE to fallback on. Most all Metro areas and major highways/interstates will have good coverage. Funny enough we live in the middle of nowhere, but there is a major highway nearby so we get LTE coverage.
On a side note, US carriers marketed HSPA as 3G and HSPA+ as 4g, but both are technically 3G. True 4G is LTE. I am not sure if Metro ever had HSPA service, I think that they were just CDMA then later added LTE and have been migrated to TMo's GSM/HSPA network which now uses Metro's LTE as well. Only the newer GSM Based phones would connect to HSPA.
I have my s3 i747 unlocked an on metro I cannot get no data
banks2878 said:
I have my s3 i747 unlocked an on metro I cannot get no data
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Check your APN settings.
i cant even get to the apn's when i goto more network then mobile networks it says insert Sim card to access network services but calling an text work fine
banks2878 said:
i cant even get to the apn's when i goto more network then mobile networks it says insert Sim card to access network services but calling an text work fine
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What firmware are you running?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
4.3 rooted.. I got data now that I flashed a modem but its very slow datai don't know how to find the right 1..heres what the one I downloaded is called modem_CWM_I747UCUEMJB
Define Slow data please. Post Speed test results.
normally around 0.15mbs but sometimes it works great and I get around 15.00mbs
Given this is not an LTE device, that sounds about right. Weather, tower congestion do affect results.
Perseus71 said:
Given this is not an LTE device, that sounds about right. Weather, tower congestion do affect results.
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The I747 is an LTE device, my wife's (running on TMo) works just fine on LTE, just not HSPA+ 1700MHz. I'll run speed test if people would like.
Unlocked att siii will not access metro/t-mobile data
Can someone verify for me what the correct apn settings are? Should there be a network operator? And since I think the apn is finally right, do you have any more suggestions? Also, do you know if this is CDMA or GSM?
can I ask why people want to buy an ATT phone to use on a Tmobile carrier? On the S4 and Note versions, people buy Tmobile phones and use them on ATT, myself included. This is because of the bootloader, and the Tmobile phones cover ATT LTE channels while not the opposite.
Wasn't planned
I didn't intentionally set out to buy an AT&T phone, I was just looking to upgrade and this was the best deal. Or at least it looked to be on the surface. Do I just need to forget it and try to sell it?
If you are in an area recently upgraded by T-Mobile, the I747 will work just fine. However, if you are in an are not upgraded with LTE, etc, it's waay more trouble than its worth. The above post about not getting HSPA+21/42 is worth considering too though.
T-Mobile and AT&T are both GSM networks btw.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
I am actually on Metro P.S, but they are on the T-mobile network now in Atlanta, Ga where I live. We do run 4glte,but so far the fastest mine will connect to shows "E" on my phone, edge maybe? One of the many I've spoken with at metro said E is 3g. One of their repair techs said I needed a different SIM card because I had a CDMA phone but when I got to the store that had one he said it was a GSM phone. It's already about been more trouble than it is worth, but as much effort as I've put into it already, I'd like to resolve it.