Develop Bugs

What if I loaded a STOCK FIRMWARE from AT&T on my T-Mobile?

I was wondering since both the AT&T and Tmobile phones are the same I could possibly flash a stock firmware from AT&T on to my T-mobile SGS III and then use an AT&T sim? I'm trying to use an AT&T sim card. Thought this might be an alternative to unlocking the phone. thanks.

I doubt that it would work
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

JoJo2211 said:
I was wondering since both the AT&T and Tmobile phones are the same I could possibly flash a stock firmware from AT&T on to my T-mobile SGS III and then use an AT&T sim? I'm trying to use an AT&T sim card. Thought this might be an alternative to unlocking the phone. thanks.
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Click to collapse
no

Can you guys elaborate please.

NOooooo
JoJo2211 said:
Can you guys elaborate please.
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Click to collapse
Just because you flash an att rom doesn't mean its gonna unlock the phone to use it on a different carrier. If you try that it will brick or crash. DON'T DO IT! Seriously, if you want to use it for another carrier you can request a subsidy unlock from Tmobile if you have an account in good standing every 90 days. If you bought it threw a third party try another method to get the device unlocked. Or if you bought it right out full price from Tmobile they can process the subsidy unlock request as well. Once you have your unlock code it should come with instructions or if not you can go to Tmobile.com support section for your phone the Samsung T999.

hucesar1017 said:
Just because you flash an att rom doesn't mean its gonna unlock the phone to use it on a different carrier. If you try that it will brick or crash. DON'T DO IT! Seriously, if you want to use it for another carrier you can request a subsidy unlock from Tmobile if you have an account in good standing every 90 days. If you bought it threw a third party try another method to get the device unlocked. Or if you bought it right out full price from Tmobile they can process the subsidy unlock request as well. Once you have your unlock code it should come with instructions or if not you can go to Tmobile.com support section for your phone the Samsung T999.
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I'm just curious why would it brick the phone? Both of these phones are the SAME hardware wise. Even under the IMEI sticker of my tmobile s3 it says i747..

Radios are different, kernel I believe is slightly different. Just not a good idea unless a dev specifically says its safe.

It also wont help with the unlock. Thats not ROM dependent.

Also, the phones are NOT the same. I don't know why some seem to think they must be the same. What are they basing this on? They are very similar yes, and perhaps the ROM from AT&T will work. I don't know. However, sometimes very similar phones may have some very important differences, like a kernel, radio, or one or more partition/s that may be offset by one perhaps because of some aforementioned reason. Or any combination of those. Don't assume the phones are identical because the Internet says so. If you are confident that the phones are in fact identical, then by all means, flash away. Just let us know how it turns out. It may work.
Do a "getprop" in terminal and you may note some very important differences in there, besides the device name/model, etc. Has anyone seen the ril.modem.board or crypto values from an AT&T SGSIII?

If the mount points are different, which they probably are, you copuld end uup with a very expensive paper weight unless you know how to make the needed changes to the updater-script, which you would have to hack to even flash the rom in the forst place because the ro.device props will be different.

Unlocking a phone has nothing to do with the ROM, most phones give you 10 chances to enter a correct unlock code until the phone it carrier locked with whatever carrier the phone is for.
The unlocking of the phone is usually hard flashed and if you exhaust all attempts, you have to send it in to get reflashed from the carrier.
T-Mobile will generally offer you a free unlock code after 60-90 days of a phone purchase, but that does not mean you can flash ATT on T-Mobile and vice versa.
They are on different bands and have different setups, if they were the same they would just have one phone for both carriers.

OP should try it for the lulz. Phones are SAME! XD

Chances are a repartitions flash in Odin would fix it, but i'm jot sure about that. It's just a bad idea.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

[Q] Using a T999 (Tmo) as a I747(AT&T)

I currently have a Galaxy S3, running rooted stock ICS for Tmobile - and I would like to switch over to ATT and keep the same phone, just flash the ATT JB stock firmware onto it (or a custom ROM), and whatever other flashes may be needed to make it work, or something along those lines. Is this even possible?
The only reason I would think it could work is that they are both GSM phones so the tech should essentially be the same right? And since it's rooted, switching the SIM shouldn't be an issue either, as I have done so when I am travelling.
Or are there other major diffs between the 2 s3's that I am missing which make this an impossible.
I have a friend who is looking to buy a new S3 from ATT, and I would just as soon sell him mine with their stock stuff on there if they are basically the same.
Many thanks in advance to any who can help shed light on this.

U have complete wrong idea brother. You cant just flash att s 3 rom on tmobile s 3.
Find some att based rom for tmobile s3 . i think we have some.
Its almost same hardware but not same network antenna. So you cant run att 4g on it.
Simply dont flash att rom on it unless its says for tmobile.

bikrame said:
U have complete wrong idea brother. You cant just flash att s 3 rom on tmobile s 3.
Find some att based rom for tmobile s3 . i think we have some.
Its almost same hardware but not same network antenna. So you cant run att 4g on it.
Simply dont flash att rom on it unless its says for tmobile.
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I always thought that Tmo (i was actually told this by tech support once) shares antennas/repeaters with ATT... so I guess they are just piping the 4G through a diff frequency or something, and the antenna isn't tuned to pick it up. damn.
are there any carriers it WILL work with?

mikewikkid said:
I always thought that Tmo (i was actually told this by tech support once) shares antennas/repeaters with ATT... so I guess they are just piping the 4G through a diff frequency or something, and the antenna isn't tuned to pick it up. damn.
are there any carriers it WILL work with?
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The T999 supports at&t's 3G, just not their LTE (T999 doesn't support LTE period).
What was being told to you is don't flash an at&t baseband (radio), recovery, or full ROM to the phone or you risk a brick. Any of the ROMs marked *AROMA* have multi-carrier compatibility, you just choose the underlying device.

mikewikkid said:
I currently have a Galaxy S3, running rooted stock ICS for Tmobile - and I would like to switch over to ATT and keep the same phone, just flash the ATT JB stock firmware onto it (or a custom ROM), and whatever other flashes may be needed to make it work, or something along those lines. Is this even possible?
The only reason I would think it could work is that they are both GSM phones so the tech should essentially be the same right? And since it's rooted, switching the SIM shouldn't be an issue either, as I have done so when I am travelling.
Or are there other major diffs between the 2 s3's that I am missing which make this an impossible.
I have a friend who is looking to buy a new S3 from ATT, and I would just as soon sell him mine with their stock stuff on there if they are basically the same.
Many thanks in advance to any who can help shed light on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to say, but you are forgetting something, a stock rooted Tmobile Galaxy S3
is not compatible with the AT&T services as well as any of the AT&T roms.
You would need to UNLOCK the phone first before doing anything else.
Good Luck!

Thread belongs in Q&A, reported.
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Misterjunky said:
Sorry to say, but you are forgetting something, a stock rooted Tmobile Galaxy S3
is not compatible with the AT&T services as well as any of the AT&T roms.
You would need to UNLOCK the phone first before doing anything else.
Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pardon my ignorance, but what is the diff between unlocking and rooting, and how can I go about doing it? Also, and this is an aside, the only way that i can find to change the IMEI of a T999 is by using an external box - there is no software-only method of doing this yet, correct?

re: unlocking
mikewikkid said:
pardon my ignorance, but what is the diff between unlocking and rooting, and how can I go about doing it? Also, and this is an aside, the only way that i can find to change the IMEI of a T999 is by using an external box - there is no software-only method of doing this yet, correct?
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To put it into simple terms,
Rooting a phone allows YOU to make changes to the phone which includes flashing roms as well as
allowing apps which require root access to work on your phone which are available at the play store.
But rooting has nothing to do with AT&T or any other carriers.
Unlocking a phone allows the phone to communicate with different carriers like AT&T and others.
Your phone does not need to be rooted to work with different carriers, it only needs to be Unlocked.
Also once the phone is unlocked you would need a AT&T Sim card for it to work.
Even an Unlocked Galaxy S3 will not work on AT&T unless you have a AT&T sim card.
There is absolutely no reason to change IMEI.
If you want to find out more about Unlocking, here is a link: https://www.google.com/search?q=unl...96,d.cGE&fp=db8d96ed93be75f0&biw=1017&bih=490
Check out the videos and articles.
Good Luck with the phone.

mikewikkid said:
pardon my ignorance, but what is the diff between unlocking and rooting, and how can I go about doing it? Also, and this is an aside, the only way that i can find to change the IMEI of a T999 is by using an external box - there is no software-only method of doing this yet, correct?
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Click to collapse
This is what you need, a SIM Unlock - and it happens to be rather easy on the S3.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2023709 :good:

they are right. you need to unlock your phone. if you go into a store or call customer care they should be able to help you out with unlocking it. i used to work for tmobile and i remember unlocking a few peoples phones.

Non-Windmobile Note ll. Please.

Hi
I don't know if I am asking in the right place but if someone knows the answer I would really appreciate it.
I found a good deal on a Note ll that would save me a lot of money, only thing is I'm with Windmobile/Canada (which uses 1700/2100 frequency/bands and AWS network similar to T-Mobile in the USA as some of you know) but the phone isn't (works with Rogers, Bell, Fido...).
Now, I'm just dying to know, is there ANYTHING I can do to make the phone work with Wind? I've read and read and read I can't find a definitive answer. Some people selling Note ll phones on Craigslist claim their phones work with any carrier including Wind or Mobilicity. But some people say no way in hell that's possible.
So, please, can someone give me an answer to my question? Yes or no?
Thanks.

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Electroman365 said:
Hi
I don't know if I am asking in the right place but if someone knows the answer I would really appreciate it.
I found a good deal on a Note ll that would save me a lot of money, only thing is I'm with Windmobile/Canada (which uses 1700/2100 frequency/bands and AWS network similar to T-Mobile in the USA as some of you know) but the phone isn't (works with Rogers, Bell, Fido...).
Now, I'm just dying to know, is there ANYTHING I can do to make the phone work with Wind? I've read and read and read I can't find a definitive answer. Some people selling Note ll phones on Craigslist claim their phones work with any carrier including Wind or Mobilicity. But some people say no way in hell that's possible.
So, please, can someone give me an answer to my question? Yes or no?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is possible. There is an unlock method before upgrading to 4.1.2. When the Note II came out with 4.1.1, there is a method used (go to the general forums to find more about this) without rooting the device.
If I were you, though, I would not trust online purchases of the Note II. Some people claim it stolen after you buy it so they get compensation for it if they have insurance for their phone.
Sent from my SGH-T889V using xda app-developers app

Caveat emptor. There are stolen devices out there, and fraudulent sellers.
With this disclaimer out of the way, your sellers with I317Ms claiming they'll work on Wind and Mobilicity have simply applied the mod outlined in this thread which you could do yourself.
If I were to buy another Note 2 via classifieds now, I'd pick a locked I317M (I'd avoid a locked BMA3 running T889V due to its modem-related bootloop issues), flash its initial release modem with Odin, unlock, update, and apply the AWS mod. (Granted I'm using Virgin Mobile, but having AWS could come in handy stateside with a T-Mobile prepaid SIM.)

Thanks kennyglass for moving my question to the right place. I wasn't sure where to ask because I'm not a frequent user of this site.
Thanks a million to Crinkypops and Darkshado for answering my question. I appreciate that. The good news is that now I know it is possible to make the phone work on an AWS network. The bad news is I have no clue how to do any of that stuff myself. I have zero experience or knowledge in this stuff, which means l'll probably have to get someone else with the necessary expertise to do this for me.....if l can find one.
Now a couple of things, if I get a new phone (factory unlocked) and it's already 4.1.2, would it be possible to change it to the older 4.1.1 ?
Is doing all the stuff you guys told me about involve rooting or whatever? I really don't want to mess up the phone with changing all kinds of things on it because I don't want to get stuck without a phone if something goes wrong and like I said I don't know anything about this stuff.
So, what if I buy a phone that was made to work with Wind or T-Mobile, would it be possible to modify it to make it work with other companies too? I really don't know why things have to be this complicated.

You have to start somewhere, it'll take a fair amount of reading, but it can be done.
Aside from their previous Nexus models, as of writing these lines, there's no such thing as a "factory unlocked" phone for Samsung Canada. All the SIM-unlocked devices you encounter were sold through carriers, and originally locked. Some sellers might also have grey market imports that were indeed never locked, but that's beyond the scope of this discussion, since we're interested in the North American variants of the Note 2.
You can downgrade the ROM back to 4.1.1 on all Canadian Note 2 variants, although I wouldn't try it on the T889V because it's been known to cause issues. Seems like there's a bug specific to this model.
You said you didn't want to be stuck without a phone if things went wrong, how about having a backup phone? The nice thing with two Android phones is that it's easy to keep their contacts and calendars synchronized.
The downgrade-to-unlock procedure can be done entirely using official (leaked) Samsung ROM images and tools, and does not require root. Done properly it will not trip the custom flash counter.
The AWS mod uses hidden factory built-in menus with leaked (QPST/QXDM) or reverse engineered tools (NV reader-writer / CDMA Workshop / EFS Pro). Again, it doesn't involve root and won't trip the flash counter. I317Ms that have had the AWS HSPA mod applied still work with their original carriers as before.

Thanks again, darkshadow.
Quick question. How do I know if the phone is I317M or BMA3 and running T889V ? Is l317M or BMA3 written on the back (once the cover is removed)?

Electroman365 said:
Thanks again, darkshadow.
Quick question. How do I know if the phone is I317M or BMA3 and running T889V ? Is l317M or BMA3 written on the back (once the cover is removed)?
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Click to collapse
You can check it at the bottom of the box with the IMEI. I would advise you to actually go on the phone, though, and go to settings>about phone and then you'll see the IMEI, baseband, and model number in there. Make sure that the IMEI matches with the box. Some people steal phones and then just buy boxes so beware.
Good luck on your purchase!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Crinkypops said:
You can check it at the bottom of the box with the IMEI. I would advise you to actually go on the phone, though, and go to settings>about phone and then you'll see the IMEI, baseband, and model number in there. Make sure that the IMEI matches with the box. Some people steal phones and then just buy boxes so beware.
Good luck on your purchase!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Thanks, crinkypops. I appreciate it and thanks for the info. If I buy a used phone I'll ask for the receipt and the box too.

Electroman365 said:
Thanks, crinkypops. I appreciate it and thanks for the info. If I buy a used phone I'll ask for the receipt and the box too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just trying to help a fellow Canadian PM me how the purchase goes.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Thanks again, crinkypops. I will. I first have to find out if the phone the guy can get me is an i317m and I'll go from there.

Well, looks like the only option I have is to buy a used Note II on CL. My "friend" who was going to hook me up with a new phone through a buddy of his is an unreliable scum bag of a "friend" and I'm not going to bother with him any more.
So now I'm looking on CL but I'm trying not to buy any phone unless the seller has the sales receipt to make sure I'm not buying something that's stolen.However, some sellers don't want to give the receipt -although willing to show it- because it has their personal information and my question is, would the receipt have the ID # (if that's what it's called) of the particular phone printed on it? If the phone is still under warranty, would it be possible to get it repaired (if there's a need) without a receipt?
Any other advice on how to avoid getting scammed buying a phone on CL?
Thanks.

Which city are you from? I am in vancouver and might consider selling if the price is right. I have the box and receipt. Phone is rooted running x14 with wind. Its still locked though.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I don't know what the problem is. I tried to send private messages to vseslija and crinkypops but I don't think they went through.
vseslija, was your phone purchased from Wind?
---
I'm a bit confused. Some guy is telling me I need to get the T889 and not the i317m if I want to use my phone with Wind, but from the answers here and from what I see on CL that can't be correct. Am I right? He says the i317m will be slow and unstable. Speed of T889 vs i317m : 42 mbps vs 21 mbps. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

Yup mine was purchased directly from wind.
That guy is bsing you
Sent from SGH-T889v Canadian Wind Mobile

Hmm, the guy isn't completely wrong, but he's not completely right either...
The (Canadian) T889V and I317M as well as the (US) T889 and I317 are all capable of 42 Mbps DC-HSPA. The 21 Mbps numbers you might have seen are due to AT&T's HSPA network not supporting dual channel operation, unlike most (all?) Canadian HSPA networks.
The T889 and T889V work on AWS HSPA carriers like Wind, Mobilicity, Videotron or T-Mobile USA out of the box. (The T889V won't work on LTE if you decide to switch back to Robellusfivirkoo, but that's another story, and there's also a way to enable that.)
The I317 and I317M won't, but are very easy to modify in order to enable the AWS HSPA you'll need. There have been a handful of reports of flaky connections on the AWS mod thread, but the ratio is so low that I'm lead to wonder if: there's an undocumented hardware revision for which the mod won't work, their phones or cellular networks had other issues, or if those trying to apply it did something wrong along the way.
I haven't checked Kijiji or CL for phones in a while, but I do recall the T889V commanding a slight premium over the I317M at one point because they were rarer.

Thanks again guys for replying. Man this has given me a lot of headache. Get a Wind Note and get it over with or get an i317m and mod it (have someone do it for me) to get it to work with AWS? I guess listening to what you guys had to say, plus asking a local cell phone shop is making me feel confident that it IS possible to get an i317m work on the AWS without any problems. Now, I think I'm going to take my chances and look for one on CL. In the worst case scenario if for some reason it gives me a headache I'm assuming I can have the process reversed (restore it to its original system) and I'll just sell it and get me a Note that was made specifically for Wind.
To those who helped me and answered my questions, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Just noticed the i317. So I guess there's an i317 and an i317m. Did some reading but the only difference I can see is that the "M" model is for the Canadian market. Am I right? Does an i317 work in Canada just fine?

The AT&T I317 should work just fine. But, (there's always one, isn't it?) its baseband has some "annoying" limitations (RAT lock is the term you'll want to search) that prevent you from toggling between network modes easily, i.e. you can't switch it between GSM only, WCDMA only, GSM/WCDMA/LTE like you can the Canadian model. Plus there are all the import related considerations you have to keep in mind (taxes and brokerage fees), plus buying something expensive sight-unseen.
The other differences are more benign and software-related. Nothing that can't be fixed with some ROM-flashing, like non-Robellusfivirkoo CSC settings.

Darkshado said:
The AT&T I317 should work just fine. But, (there's always one, isn't it?) its baseband has some "annoying" limitations (RAT lock is the term you'll want to search) that prevent you from toggling between network modes easily, i.e. you can't switch it between GSM only, WCDMA only, GSM/WCDMA/LTE like you can the Canadian model. Plus there are all the import related considerations you have to keep in mind (taxes and brokerage fees), plus buying something expensive sight-unseen.
The other differences are more benign and software-related. Nothing that can't be fixed with some ROM-flashing, like non-Robellusfivirkoo CSC settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply and the info. I just got an i317m. Finally.

Converting Sprint to other carriers..

I'm looking for a little nudge in the right direction here. I've read many posts about this, but few seem to have any resolution or firm answer.
A friend is asking me to convert his Sprint phone to a different carrier. I noticed in watching videos that this phone has a micro SIM slot if you take it apart. My questions start there.. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I cannot confirm the state of his ESN, but knowing the guy I can only assume he probably owes them a large chunk of change and that is his reason for making the switch.
So can anyone point me towards options for flashing to say Boost/Virgin? Would a bad ESN hinder me from doing this?
I, myself, have AT&T.. would I be able to use AT&T roms on this model of phone or would it be similar to my current Galaxy S4 in that every carrier has different firmware and therefore all the ROMs for AT&T would be useless and cause a brick..
Alternatively, would I be able to find a debranded ROM and edit the APNs to make this functional?
I am pondering the idea of buying the phone myself for very cheap and using it to profit if I can switch it to a different carrier. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Most of the links online lead me to total crap. Thanks!

It's possible for several carriers
It's possible to Flash to Boost(some say Illegal) & it can also be flashed to Selectel,Page Plus or Next G & u may be able to use it on prepaYd not sure. I can check it if u need to see if it will work with them. It's not an easy phone to flash the data settings don't stick so you have to use a NV Item Script. Hope this info helps you

[Q] PLEASE Any way to flash to Cricket?

I have been searching for months and I see a TON of posts where people say they HAVE flashed to Cricket (and discuss their various problems), but I am unable to find ANYTHING about how to flash to Cricket. Every lead is a dead-end. They either bring me to pages that do not work, or people who want me to send them my phone. I get that this phone is old and maybe that is why all the links are dead? But any help would be much appreciated.

As far as concerned currently you can't. Ever since AT&T bought it they've allowed certain use of cdma. But as time passed on they were mostly focused on gsm over cdma. Therefore currently only the people with grandfathered plans may use cdma. If not then they have to have a AT&T phone or an unlocked gsm phone to use their services. Long story short yes there was a way to flash to cricket. But not anymore :/ sorry about that bud. But small heads up! If you find the AT&T version of the phone you dont even have to unlock it!