Develop Bugs

[Q] Help to root a Straight Talk GSIII?

Hi all,
I have been guided to this section regarding my Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy SIII because it's model number indicates it operates through Sprint. It is a SCH-S960L. I have had it for about a week. Came with 4.1.2. Does anyone have any information on how I can root this phone? I have searched everywhere and can't find any solid info about it.
I thank you ahead for any guidance you can give!
Lisa

Rooting for all S3 is pretty much the same. The thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=38172219 has almost all the answers to questions you will have. #2 thing mentioned is rooting it will take you to the guide with video just watch the video several times read everything it's rather simple in less than 5 minutes you will have it rooted and custom recovery installed.
Sent from the future via Xparent Green Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the response, Ed. I haven't heard much other info about rooting this, so I appreciate the info. Really don't want to brick it, but I also am anxious to get rooted and set it up the way I want it....
Lisa
Sent from my SCH-S960L using Tapatalk 4 Beta

i beleive that youre phone is probably more related to the t-mobile variant since straight talk runs off of tmobile... check the model number under the battery

eisawi99 said:
i beleive that youre phone is probably more related to the t-mobile variant since straight talk runs off of tmobile... check the model number under the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I think ST runs off Sprint. This was what I was told. I have this model as well. Please correct me if I'm mistaken. There isnt much info around about the SCH-S960L
Sent from my SCH-S960L using xda app-developers app

you might be right but i remember a commercial saying that you get t mobiles national coverage... but you may be right

ST runs on the Sprint network.

actually, i looked it up and it appears it uses all major carriers... its a part of tracfone which makes it a subsidiary of a subsidiary... but tracfone has contracts with all major carriers

I was able to confirm this phone does run through Sprint, and got it rooted using Skunkape1's excellent rooting directions in the Sprint SG3 forum...
Sent from my SCH-S960L using Tapatalk 4 Beta

did you rom it????????
ScrapHappy said:
I was able to confirm this phone does run through Sprint, and got it rooted using Skunkape1's excellent rooting directions in the Sprint SG3 forum...
Sent from my SCH-S960L using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the S3 through straight talk runs on sprint.... if you rooted, did you use a rom?

I bought my wife and daughter these phones through straight talk. The box had the red verizon map on it, and the network type is LTE/ cdma. I'm on regular verizon and can get LTE, but they can't.They stay on 3g most of the time. Sucks. But I am curious if you were able to find a rom to run after you rooted it? I'm not really satisfied with straight talk service. Family seems to have a lot more dropped calls than me. Anything that can make these phones more bearable would be nice.

eisawi99 said:
i beleive that youre phone is probably more related to the t-mobile variant since straight talk runs off of tmobile... check the model number under the battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Straight Talk doesn't "run" on T-mobile. Straight Talk is a Tracfone service, which depending on the specific device, runs on a variety of towers through a variety of companies. Verizon and At&t are the most commonly used towers.

Well, I finally gave up and put my family back on Verizon. Weird thing was when vz sales rep was swapping numbers, he put the straight talk phone info into the computer and it said the phone was using sprint and some verizon variant network for data.

Was wondering if anyone has ever found a rom to run on this phone. Friend wants the phone, but rooted.

moejoe88 said:
Was wondering if anyone has ever found a rom to run on this phone. Friend wants the phone, but rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running everything (flashaholic) on my S960L. After I bricked I got it back to life and have been happily flashing since.
And yes, it does run off Sprint networks
Sent from my N800 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Yeah, I'll probably just sell it to him and be done with it. It's a shame straight talk didn't work out for me. Might have better coverage in a city. But where I live, it's crap.

Now on Verizon
The FIRST GS3 offered by Straight Talk WAS on the Sprint network. But after S/T got absolutely blasted by upset customers (and POTENTIAL customers) they finally pulled their heads out of their butts and now they offer a CDMA-V variant...that's VERIZON for those who don't know the codes. There is a code on the lower left corner of the packaging that will say CDMA-S (Sprint), CDMA-V (Verizon) and GSM which will be either T-Mobile or AT&T (not sure of the codes after the GSM as I'm not familiar with those, but the person in electronics would (should) know if you ask).
So now you can have one of the best phones on the market, behind only the S4, on Verizon's network. I got this phone the day after the Black Friday sales, and it still rang up at the sale price of $299. I was prepared to pay the regular price of $399 so you can imagine my surprise and delight when it rang up at the sale price. So what if it only has 3G. I constantly hear people complaining about this fact, so they can either have their 4G LTE on Sprint and get no coverage, or have a contract and pay 3 times what I pay, or have one of the best phones out there with 3G and $45 a month for everything unlimited on the best network with no contract. The choice seems obvious to me. And I'm an ex-Verizon contract customer. Our bill was just too high. I'm happy to pay more for a phone with no contract.
Now, hopefully somebody can answer my question...would it be the same process to root this phone as the one on the Sprint network? Is there any possibility you could screw up your phone with no chance of recovery? I would like to root my phone but I do not want to be in a situation where I'm looking at my phone with a blank screen and no way to recover, or it won't turn on or it changes to Japanese...etc...you get what I'm asking. If there's any risk I'm not going to do it, it just wouldn't seem worth it to me. But if it's something that it works or doesn't and no in between then I would like to try it. Thank you for any advice.

Wow! Great advice
edfunkycold said:
Rooting for all S3 is pretty much the same. The thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=38172219 has almost all the answers to questions you will have. #2 thing mentioned is rooting it will take you to the guide with video just watch the video several times read everything it's rather simple in less than 5 minutes you will have it rooted and custom recovery installed.
Sent from the future via Xparent Green Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Top answer here. Too bad it was a complete fail for the straight talk version.

[Q] data doesnt work on unlocked galaxy s3

Hi everyone,
I have, hopefully, a simple problem. I recently upgraded to a galaxy s4 from the s3. the s3 is a year old as my corporate contract allows me to upgrade my phone every year. so I am with bell, and my wife is with telus. she wanted my s3 since she has the iphone 4 and is sick of it. I updated the software on the s3 about 3 weeks ago so some of the threads on here wouldn't work for unlocking it. I went to the cell unlocker website and paid for a code. I still have the email they sent with all the codes, unlock, freeze etc, and it worked. I put her sim card in and could text and call out. the phone says telus where it said bell before. however the data will not work. Wi-Fi does but mobile data will not. we went to a telus store, they upgraded her sim card but to no avail. I tried searching for threads here but didn't come up with something like this. the phone is stock, no mods or anything, I even reset it back to factory settings, sim still works just no mobile data. I tried to get bell to unlock it before but they said they couldn't cuz it was tied to a contract.
I hope someone has seen this before and can help because i'm at a loss.
thanks for any ideas

skip77j said:
Hi everyone,
I have, hopefully, a simple problem. I recently upgraded to a galaxy s4 from the s3. the s3 is a year old as my corporate contract allows me to upgrade my phone every year. so I am with bell, and my wife is with telus. she wanted my s3 since she has the iphone 4 and is sick of it. I updated the software on the s3 about 3 weeks ago so some of the threads on here wouldn't work for unlocking it. I went to the cell unlocker website and paid for a code. I still have the email they sent with all the codes, unlock, freeze etc, and it worked. I put her sim card in and could text and call out. the phone says telus where it said bell before. however the data will not work. Wi-Fi does but mobile data will not. we went to a telus store, they upgraded her sim card but to no avail. I tried searching for threads here but didn't come up with something like this. the phone is stock, no mods or anything, I even reset it back to factory settings, sim still works just no mobile data. I tried to get bell to unlock it before but they said they couldn't cuz it was tied to a contract.
I hope someone has seen this before and can help because i'm at a loss.
thanks for any ideas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you looked into the APN settings? I have them around here somewhere. I can locate them and forward them to you if you'd like. You can also find them right on the Telus website. I'm thinking that's a good place to start.

gurusportscanada said:
Have you looked into the APN settings? I have them around here somewhere. I can locate them and forward them to you if you'd like. You can also find them right on the Telus website. I'm thinking that's a good place to start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that would be awesome, thanks. I know the rep for the telus kiosk at Devonshire mall went in to look at a few things, but he wasn't sure and google what was happening but he said it was all at&t stuff, then gave me back my phone. but yeah I would appreciate the info. not sure if my email shows or not but it is [email protected]. I will try that out and post back as to what is happening.

Sprint Galaxy S6 (G920p)

So I have contacted spring 20 times, they have confirmed my SM-G920p is domestically unlocked. Getting a sim from AT&T and it says invalid Sim. I've searched everywhere, some forums say do a paid service (im fine with) others say unlocking from sprint works....which is obviously doest for my phone.
Anyone actually sucsefully unlocked a spring galaxy s6 (g920p.20) and used it on AT&T network? If so can you give me the details?
Thanks!

Question. Why on this phone in the network mode does it have options to use CDMA, LTE/CDMA, GSM, GSM/UMTS?

GSM AT&T works fine Idk why ppl say it doesn't work I have H2O which uses AT&T and I get LTE. Use a website called willmyphonework to find answers on stuff like this

This is the first website I've created to post about this topic. I've spent the past few days researching and testing out things. So far I've only found a few post online saying it works....I've not heard much about the sm-G920P NOT working on other networks. Also the phone itself is not made for CDMA or GSM ONLY.
One thing is for sure, one of my sm-G920p is domestically unlocked from Sprint. They also gave me a MLS or MSL# or whatever even though I dont think it matters. This phone will not take any AT&T sims. It says invalid sim.
With another sm-G920p, I rooted it and unlocked it another way...obviously not involving sprint. I will test it this evening to see if it accepts AT&T's sim card and will post my findings.
The whole reason for this is we have a business that goes though phones due to physical damage. I have a couple left over phones that I've replaced the screen on myself. I would like to let my sister and fiance use the galaxy S6s as they have old phones! All of these phones have been paid in full FYI and our account is in great standing.

Okidoki. I have spent some time working on unlocking a Spring Galaxy S6 SM-G920P with stock firmware ending in QB1. At first I found out that US carriers now have to unlock your phone if you ask. At first I went that route as it seemed legit. I called Spring and got a guy on the phone from tech support. I gave him the DEC# on the back of the phone and he said "Great thanks.....its unlocked." I though sick!...went to AT&T next day and got a nano sim activated. Once entered the phone read "Invalid Sim". I got back on the phone with sprint quit quickly while at AT&T. The lady said she had to send in a ticket to get it unlocked and the guy before definitely did not unlock it. Went home and went online again. Next day the lady called me at 11am and said it was domestically unlocked. I called back an hour later and talked to someone else confirming it was unlocked. Went to sprint, installed new activated sim...."Invalid Sim". Next thing was to root it and try unlocking it myself.
I found out how to root the phone and install custom firmware and whatnot. Its fairly easy, similar to computer basics. Once that was done I unlocked the phone with a little help which was not hard to find. I went to AT&T and BOOM!!! Phone worked RIGHT away. I was blown away. The phone had voice, data, msg, voice mail 3g and lte. Had my fiance put in her google info.....FYI this is my fiances AT&T account and a spare S6 I had that i fixed the screen on. Anyway she put her google account into it and restarted the phone. At the "samsung" logo login little red letters at the top say something about FRP is locked. The way you bypass this is right after you unlock the phone you need to go into the developer options and enable OEM Unlock. This fixes the lockout. But to get back into the phone once you lock it out you have to re root the phone with its original firmware.
It has worked all evening. Thanks Jhoward you gave me that last little boost today to get it working. I know the SM-G920P phone works in every network so I have no idea why people think it can only work on one network. Something I did learn is that these are little computers.....pretty cool!
If anyone needs any more info pm me.
http://i.imgur.com/ch8TUWg.png
http://i.imgur.com/ijY1sed.png

They lie. It took me 5 calls and many hours to get one of my 2 s6 unlocked. There is some problem with original activation date on some of the phones.
They said both were unlocked but only one worked.... Until finally tech support fixed the activation date.
Now both work on T-Mobile very well

sprint is a little ***** when it comes to unlocking devices. i have never successfully unlocked a device from them. they will run circles of confusion around you just so you won't unlock.

G920P to GSM
localphit said:
Okidoki. I have spent some time working on unlocking a Spring Galaxy S6 SM-G920P with stock firmware ending in QB1. At first I found out that US carriers now have to unlock your phone if you ask. At first I went that route as it seemed legit. I called Spring and got a guy on the phone from tech support. I gave him the DEC# on the back of the phone and he said "Great thanks.....its unlocked." I though sick!...went to AT&T next day and got a nano sim activated. Once entered the phone read "Invalid Sim". I got back on the phone with sprint quit quickly while at AT&T. The lady said she had to send in a ticket to get it unlocked and the guy before definitely did not unlock it. Went home and went online again. Next day the lady called me at 11am and said it was domestically unlocked. I called back an hour later and talked to someone else confirming it was unlocked. Went to sprint, installed new activated sim...."Invalid Sim". Next thing was to root it and try unlocking it myself.
I found out how to root the phone and install custom firmware and whatnot. Its fairly easy, similar to computer basics. Once that was done I unlocked the phone with a little help which was not hard to find. I went to AT&T and BOOM!!! Phone worked RIGHT away. I was blown away. The phone had voice, data, msg, voice mail 3g and lte. Had my fiance put in her google info.....FYI this is my fiances AT&T account and a spare S6 I had that i fixed the screen on. Anyway she put her google account into it and restarted the phone. At the "samsung" logo login little red letters at the top say something about FRP is locked. The way you bypass this is right after you unlock the phone you need to go into the developer options and enable OEM Unlock. This fixes the lockout. But to get back into the phone once you lock it out you have to re root the phone with its original firmware.
It has worked all evening. Thanks Jhoward you gave me that last little boost today to get it working. I know the SM-G920P phone works in every network so I have no idea why people think it can only work on one network. Something I did learn is that these are little computers.....pretty cool!
If anyone needs any more info pm me.
http://i.imgur.com/ch8TUWg.png
http://i.imgur.com/ijY1sed.png
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello localphit, can you help me do the same with my Galaxy S6 G920P. Mines in currently on android 7.0 Patch January 1, 2018. Appreciate all the help that you can give.

Domestic unlock on rooted Sprint S6

Long story short, I signed up for T-Mobile and ordered a Pixel 2 which will not arrive until a few weeks. I want to temporarily use my Sprint S6 for the time being with the T-Mobile sim card.
I have the Sprint version of S6 (SM-G920P) which I paid off and requested a Domestic Sim Unlock. I got an email that my phone was successfully unlocked, but I'm not sure what they do over the air or will it even work on my rooted S6.
current situation: sim card invalid message when I shove in the Tmobile sim.
Can someone chime in and tell me if this is possible? Will I have to go back to stock before this can happen?
thanks

Oh man
I had the same issue. My nephew threw my TMO phone and it was unusable, so my sister gave me her old S6 since she upgraded.
I did the same as you, had them unlock it, got an email but no way to enter a code or anything, searched forever found out you have to be on the sprint network, so wifi wont work, and no service wont work. Then you have to click the three prompts to update PRL and whatever else then lastly click that UIUC unlock, then they said it will get a prompt that the unlock was good then all youd have to do is turn off the phone, replace Sprint SIM with the TMO SIM and i'd be good to go. But it never worked, I was in the Sprint store for an hour, even read their guide with them saying it had to be on Sprint then click the UIUC unlock before placing the new sim in. They kept blaming TMO even thought their sim goes in after an unlock. So I wish you better luck than I had and hope you get it going lol.

No service after unlocking bootloader and new firmware

So I just want to say Ive been on straight talk for probably 12-15 yrs. I thought I knew all the tricks for getting phones to work on certain networks.
I prefer verizon in my location, it has the best coverage but also verizon sims have always been tricky to use on phones I didnt buy from straight talk. In the past Ive been told by straight talk that my phone wasnt compatible with verizon network but then I would just buy a junk $40 verizon/cdma phone, activate the sim in the cheap phone, and then transfer it over to my owned,unlocked,nicer phone and that would be enough to get calls and text. then set a couple APN settings and you have data and mms.
So.... Ive had a verizon sim in my LG G7ulm for 3 or 4 years now...or since it came out in 2018.
I have an unlocked version I bought outright. I cant remember if straight talk let me register it directly on verizon sim or if I had to do the sim swap trick mentioned above but anyway....3 years at least of zero problems.
My phone been stuck on android 8 and running slow so decided to wipe it and flash android 10 firmware. After doing so I can boot the phone and for 20-30 sec it shows its connected to 4g lte but then drops and i have no service at all. Ive tried all network operators/modes, Ive set APN...reboot, Ive tried 6 or 7 various different firmware revisions and this is the same result....no service.
I even went back to stock oreo 8.0.0 firmware but the problem still persists.
I contacted straight talk via chat which always is a laugh because they cant trouble shoot a rock that wont roll downhill and just tells you the device is not compatible. My daughter has this same phone and it worked fine for years as well but she took her sim out to test a different phone and lost it and when she ordered a new one it wouldnt work and they told her the phone was incompatible even though me and her both had these phones working fine for years and know they work.
So is straigt talk just blacklisting my phone? Did reflashing a new firmware cause the tower to re-verify the device and blacklist it or something? I can still pop this sim in my old phone and it connects perfectly fine and has service.
I just dont get it. My daughter when she ordered a new verizon ST sim and activated it her phone did the same thing and they said it wasnt compatible with verizon which is bullsh## because if you activate the sim on a different device then swap it over it works great.
Why do they care what device it is solong as your paying for service?
I dont know whether I should try a new ST verizon sim, ST t-mobil sim, or ST att sim now.... Att always works on these unlocked phones but service is crap in this area with at&t.
Anyone have similar experience or knowledge about this issue?