Hi everyone,
A month or so ago I got sick of the locked bootloader of the ATT I337 variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4. The early firmware versions on this phone (before MK3) had boot loaders that while locked, could be worked around with known exploits, allowing proper recovery installations like TWRP and CWM, and full ROM installations and custom kernels. Alas, starting with MK3, the bootloaders were locked up tightly. The only recovery possible was SafeStrap, which only supports the use of Touchwiz ROMs. My phone was NC1, so for me it was only Safestrap-compatible ROMs.
I had heard that some people with ATT service used the M919, but I couldn't find a decent thread that talked about the specifics, to give me assurance that everything would work OK. But it seemed like a good bet, so I bought one off Swappa. The phone has worked great for me with no problems or limitations whatsoever. I decided to post a description of my experiences to help others that may be interested in doing like I did.
Using the phone, stock, on ATT:
My phone came SIM unlocked, and from what I've read many of them are this way. All I had to do was insert my SIM card, boot the phone, and it found the network. However, to get it to work, I had to replace the T-Mobile APN information with suitable ATT APN. The settings are here, but for convenience the settings are as follows:
1. Go to Settings > Wireless and Networks > More Settings > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names
2. Click the "+" at the bottom
3. Enter settings from one of the configurations below
4. Click "menu" button and "SAVE"
LTE Configuration
Name: ATT Phone
APN: phone
Proxy: Not set
Port: Not set
Username: Not set
Password: Not set
Server: Not set
MMSC: http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS Port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 410
Authentication type: None
APN Type: default,mms,supl,hipri
APN protocol: IPv4
APN Roaming protocol: IPv4
Turn APN on/off: APN turned on
Bearer: Unspecified
Mobile Virtual Network Operator Type: None
Mobile Virtual Network Operator Value: Not set
Note that the last two settings were not visible on my phone on 4.2.2, so just ignore them.
You may also need to go into the Prefered Network Type and set it to LTE... mine stuck on 4G until I remembered to do this step. After this, it worked fine on LTE networks.
If yours comes without being SIM-unlocked, this thread is the best resource I've found for methods to do the unlock procedure. There's also this thread.
Rooting & Custom ROMs:
My M919 came from a vendor that sells a lot of refurbs from T-Mobile. I lucked out and got one that has the MDL bootloader, which is fully unlocked and knox-free. If I had gotten a later one, such as the NB4 that is probably most common now, it would have had the unlocked boot loader but would have the knox counter. There's no known way to remove knox, so flashing a custom boot loader on MK2 and later versions of the M919 will irreversibly trip the knox counter, which is generally reported to void any warranty on the phone. See this great thread on knox, if interested.
Anyway, my goal was to install custom ROMs, so after I was satisfied the phone was working well on the ATT network, I flashed TWRP recovery to it via ODIN. There was no need to pre-root the phone to do this. I just put it into download mode and flashed TWRP. I used 2.7.1.0 although there are newer versions (2.8.0.1 is latest as of this writing).
I had no need of a backup, as I hadn't done much setup on the phone, and I could always flash the original firmware from the Mega links.
I used the Dirty Unicorns ROM, and flashed it according to the Dev's instructions.
I eventually updated to the NB4 GSM modem (the modem.bin only), but was careful not to mess with the LTE modem that is paired with the bootloader (wifi/sound problems happen if you flash an unmatched LTE modem). Here's the thread that describes how. I didn't notice any particular improvement in the use of the phone, but the phone works pretty well in most places I find myself.
Here is a thread I did comparing signal strength bars from phones which may be of interest if you feel your custom ROM "isn't getting good signal." It's mostly that AOSP reports lower bars for any given signal strength versus Touchwiz (or iPhone for that matter).
Since I'm using a ROM that is already rooted, I didn't have to perform a root procedure on my phone, but here is a thread discussing rooting 4.4.2, and an earlier thread with a wealth of information about rooting and such.
I hope this collection of links and experience information is helpful to someone out there. This community has been such a great resource to me in my use of Android devices, I wanted to give back a little, even if it is just putting some experiences together with handy links.
So for any of you out there with ATT devices, thinking of coming over to T-Mobile to get unlocked boot loaders, I can confirm my experience was a pleasant one, and all is working well on ATT with the "T-Mobile" M919 S4.
I did the same thing, though I came from a i9505 with LTE channels that are not compatible with US channels. I bought a new M919 from amazon for $429. So far the phone works with my Straight talk sim running on ATT network. I get good LTE signal.
Only problem I have noticed is the battery drains a lot faster on the M919 compared to my i9505. They both ran unrooted TW 4.4.2 when I did the test.
How is your battery so far? On my i9505, it drains about .5 to 1% per hour. On my M919 it drains 2.5% and higher. This is with google+ and all other bloatwiz disabled.
One other thing: Before buying the M919, I compared the frequency bands it is capable of receiving, to ensure it had all the same ones that that were in the I337. Wikipedia has a useful comparison chart, but there are other comparisons out there too. I found this from several sources:
The AT&T variant is model SGH-i337 with the following compatible bands:
GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850 (B5), UMTS1900 (B2), UMTS2100 (B1), LTE700 (B17), LTE1700/2100 (B4)
The T-Mobile variant is model SGH-m919 with the following compatible bands:
GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS850 (B5), UMTS900 (B8), UMTS1700/2100 (B4), UMTS1900 (B2), UMTS2100 (B1), LTE700 (B17), LTE850 (B5), LTE1700/2100 (B4), LTE1900 (B2)
So, the T-Mobile has a bit more band range than the ATT version, but contains all the necessary ATT bands.
Regarding battery: On my I337, fully debloated with GoldenEye, I had about 0.3% per hour battery drain (wifi/cell enabled). I hadn't done much customization myself, but GoldenEye was by default pretty battery-thrify in terms of default settings.
When I was on M919 4.2.2 stock, not rooted, wifi/cell on, I had drain about 1.0%. After moving to Dirty Unicorns ROM (4.4.4) it's about 0.8% per hour, but I've done NOTHING to improve battery usage, and DU isn't by default as thrifty as GoldenEye was. I'm sure I can review the settings and go through the "Insane battery life" thread and get down to around where I was on the I337/GoldenEye... it's just a matter of taking the time.
For me, I get through the work day with 75% left on my phone most of the time, and top it off overnight, so I'm not that worried about the details enough to spend the time optimizing it.
Marc
The more LTE bands and the unlocked bootloader were the reasons I bought the M919 against the ATT variant too. I am really happy with my i9505 but I thought I was missing out on the faster LTE signals. I think my faster battery discharge is attributed to poor LTE signal in my bedroom. Thanks for starting the thread. I am sure it will help others trying figure out which one is the better model, and M919 it is.
I had my phone SIM unlocked from T-Mobile and have been on AT&T for the past 4 months. When I started out I was on 4.3 and had absolutely fantastic service. Until about 2 months ago when I randomly decided to update to 4.4.2 and had that update virtually ruin the phone for me. I became one of the lucky recipients of constant random connection loss that gives no indication that it has happened. The only way to get signal back from this is to reboot the phone. From what I've read it is a network switching issue of some sort and thus far the only way to have the phone work for an extended period of time is to put it in GSM only mode, which basically locks me to EDGE speeds. The phone will not lose connection in GSM mode. I have gotten a new SIM card and also tested the SIM in a Windows phone and have no issues. So it's almost certainly tied to the phone and not specifically AT&T, however I wonder if it has anything to do with having a T-Mobile phone on AT&T. I have links to a couple threads on the issue, but I cannot post outside links yet.
I have researched as much as I can and tried quit a few different things to alleviate the problem. My KNOX flag is tripped, so any warranty service is unlikely. I have tried multiple custom ROMS, from TW to AOSP. One AOSP ROM seems to be able to reconnect to 4G after a few minutes of losing the signal, but the loss of signal is anywhere from 5-10% of the time, which is pretty poor considering I'm within line of sight of the cell tower I'm connected to.
I am currently on a 4.4.4 AOSP ROM, with the NH7 Baseband. I've thought about and tried to research a bit about flashing a different modem, but haven't seen any solid information on if I can do that safely being on 4.4.4. At this point I'm personally out of ideas for what to do about this. I don't have too many options other than AT&T at the moment, so my goal is to continue to stick with them and keep moving forward to resolve this phone's issue.
Punkamonk said:
I had my phone SIM unlocked from T-Mobile and have been on AT&T for the past 4 months. When I started out I was on 4.3 and had absolutely fantastic service. Until about 2 months ago when I randomly decided to update to 4.4.2 and had that update virtually ruin the phone for me. I became one of the lucky recipients of constant random connection loss that gives no indication that it has happened. The only way to get signal back from this is to reboot the phone. From what I've read it is a network switching issue of some sort and thus far the only way to have the phone work for an extended period of time is to put it in GSM only mode, which basically locks me to EDGE speeds. The phone will not lose connection in GSM mode. I have gotten a new SIM card and also tested the SIM in a Windows phone and have no issues. So it's almost certainly tied to the phone and not specifically AT&T, however I wonder if it has anything to do with having a T-Mobile phone on AT&T. I have links to a couple threads on the issue, but I cannot post outside links yet.
I have researched as much as I can and tried quit a few different things to alleviate the problem. My KNOX flag is tripped, so any warranty service is unlikely. I have tried multiple custom ROMS, from TW to AOSP. One AOSP ROM seems to be able to reconnect to 4G after a few minutes of losing the signal, but the loss of signal is anywhere from 5-10% of the time, which is pretty poor considering I'm within line of sight of the cell tower I'm connected to.
I am currently on a 4.4.4 AOSP ROM, with the NH7 Baseband. I've thought about and tried to research a bit about flashing a different modem, but haven't seen any solid information on if I can do that safely being on 4.4.4. At this point I'm personally out of ideas for what to do about this. I don't have too many options other than AT&T at the moment, so my goal is to continue to stick with them and keep moving forward to resolve this phone's issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried flashing the full NH7 firmware and making sure you are on NH7 bootloader as well?
serio22 said:
Have you tried flashing the full NH7 firmware and making sure you are on NH7 bootloader as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before I installed a custom recovery I flashed the Official Stock 4.4.4 via ODIN (Downloaded from sammobile) as I had been rooted and couldn't OTA update. I don't recall verifying the boot loader, but I would assume that it was NH7. It honestly got worse in 4.4.4. In 4.4.2 it seemed drop connection every 12-36 hours, whereas on 4.4.4 it will take anywhere from minutes to a few hours, but it's never lasted more than 12.
Go into terminal emulator and type this: getprop ro.bootloader and make sure you have NH7 if not flash firmware again.. If you do have NH7 I would flash firmware again anyway and use stock for a while to see if the issue persists on stock as well.. Maybe other M919 users on at&t can chime in on this
@Punkamonk,
Since lots of ATT network users use the M919 version of the phone (because the ATT version has a locked bootloader), and this problem isn't a general thing that affects us all, I'd say it's something with your phone. Once you've ensured you are fully on the NH7 bootloader so that you don't have to worry about mismatched bits and pieces, as serio22 said run stock for a while. Doublecheck your APN settings (see all things att thread and my first post) to make sure they match what is needed for ATT... and be sure your preferred network mode is set to LTE. I'd also be curious to get some signal strength readings (in db) from the status screen.
My M919 is still on the MDL bootloader, and thus the MDL LTE modem (LTE modem is paired to the bootloader), but I use the NB4 GSM modem (baseband). For the record, I didn't see any improvement when I flashed the NB4 GSM modem replacing the MDL GSM modem. So I have no plans to flash the NH7 modem.... everything is working fine for me so I'm not messing with anything.
If stock, with ATT APN, and you keep losing network, I would start to suspect a problem with the phone hardware.
Good luck. Let us know how it goes!
Marc
Frankenscript said:
@Punkamonk,
,,,,,,,If stock, with ATT APN, and you keep losing network, I would start to suspect a problem with the phone hardware.
Good luck. Let us know how it goes!
Marc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on the NH7 Bootloader.
I was stock 4.4.4. for about a week before I flashed a custom recovery for the first time and started trying custom ROMs . I had rooted 4.4.2 only after having major issues with losing connection. When I upgraded to 4.4.4, with hopes that the issue would be fixed, I left it completely unrooted and stock and lost connection within a few hours. APN settings have been check and rechecked quite a few times, as well as being re-setup with AT&T Customer support.
During the time that the phone actually works and connects properly, it works great. I had installed stock 4.4.4, confirmed it working at home, traveled to work, had it work there for an hour or so, and eventually have it lose connection and have to reboot to restore it. The phone will also work consistently in GSM only mode, but being locked to 2G speeds is almost pointless. There are AT&T cell towers directly next to my home and my work, so lack of reception isn't the issue.
I'm almost tempted to transfer to T-Mobile again and see if I still have the issue on their network. However, T-Mobile doesn't have service inside my home OR at my job, so being able to identify an issue with reception would be extremely difficult. I feel like it's not specifically a hardware issue as there are enough near exact reports of the same issue with the same bandaid solution (GSM only mode) remedying the problem.
Sounds to me like a glitch in the LTE modem that could be either hardware or firmware related. It may seem extreme, but you could always buy another m919 off swappa, use for a while (stock), and see if the problem follows. Recoup most of cost by selling one of the phones after sorting the problem out. If it does, you've ruled out the phone a hardware and software and can then start fighting with ATT over an LTE service issue in your area.
This kind of thing would drive me insane... Spending some $ to figure it out conclusively would be worth it to me, but I'm not sure how many would similarly prioritize this kind of troubleshooting.
Marc
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
I thought of another test you could do. It is known that mismatching the LTE modem (non-hlos.bin) with the rest of the firmware causes problems with sound / WiFi.
As a short term test, what if you flashed the full MDL LTE / GSM modem package (non-hlos.bin and modem.bin) to your phone. This would cause the problems above but would let you test LTE signal retention on the older firmware. If the problem is solved you will eliminate hardware and network issues from consideration.
Once test is complete you can Odin back.
Marc
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Punkamonk said:
I had my phone SIM unlocked from T-Mobile and have been on AT&T for the past 4 months. When I started out I was on 4.3 and had absolutely fantastic service. Until about 2 months ago when I randomly decided to update to 4.4.2 and had that update virtually ruin the phone for me. I became one of the lucky recipients of constant random connection loss that gives no indication that it has happened. The only way to get signal back from this is to reboot the phone. From what I've read it is a network switching issue of some sort and thus far the only way to have the phone work for an extended period of time is to put it in GSM only mode, which basically locks me to EDGE speeds. The phone will not lose connection in GSM mode. I have gotten a new SIM card and also tested the SIM in a Windows phone and have no issues. So it's almost certainly tied to the phone and not specifically AT&T, however I wonder if it has anything to do with having a T-Mobile phone on AT&T. I have links to a couple threads on the issue, but I cannot post outside links yet.
I have researched as much as I can and tried quit a few different things to alleviate the problem. My KNOX flag is tripped, so any warranty service is unlikely. I have tried multiple custom ROMS, from TW to AOSP. One AOSP ROM seems to be able to reconnect to 4G after a few minutes of losing the signal, but the loss of signal is anywhere from 5-10% of the time, which is pretty poor considering I'm within line of sight of the cell tower I'm connected to.
I am currently on a 4.4.4 AOSP ROM, with the NH7 Baseband. I've thought about and tried to research a bit about flashing a different modem, but haven't seen any solid information on if I can do that safely being on 4.4.4. At this point I'm personally out of ideas for what to do about this. I don't have too many options other than AT&T at the moment, so my goal is to continue to stick with them and keep moving forward to resolve this phone's issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to do a NV Rebuild ... you can find info in the unlocking thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2283068
Frankenscript said:
I thought of another test you could do. It is known that mismatching the LTE modem (non-hlos.bin) with the rest of the firmware causes problems with sound / WiFi.
As a short term test, what if you flashed the full MDL LTE / GSM modem package (non-hlos.bin and modem.bin) to your phone. This would cause the problems above but would let you test LTE signal retention on the older firmware. If the problem is solved you will eliminate hardware and network issues from consideration.
Once test is complete you can Odin back.
Marc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't tried this yet since I thought that it might cause more problems than it would help. But, since it might be able to rule out the hardware, I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the advice!
Frankenscript said:
I thought of another test you could do. It is known that mismatching the LTE modem (non-hlos.bin) with the rest of the firmware causes problems with sound / WiFi.
As a short term test, what if you flashed the full MDL LTE / GSM modem package (non-hlos.bin and modem.bin) to your phone. This would cause the problems above but would let you test LTE signal retention on the older firmware. If the problem is solved you will eliminate hardware and network issues from consideration.
Once test is complete you can Odin back.
Marc
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I hadn't gotten the chance to try this until today. I had been using a AOSP ROM and just left it in WCDMA mode and it worked fine for the time being. Now I am trying to do this, however I'm not completely sure of how to do it. I've used ODIN before, but none of the guides I've been able to find dictate exactly what I'm supposed to do having both files. I have downloaded the MDL firmware and have extracted modem.bin and NON-HLOS.bin from it. Do I flash both of them the same way, one right after the other? Or do I have to do something else?
I believe the right way to do it is find the modem package in flashable form, then flash using ODIN in one of the slots ODIN has for doing it... Someone likely has a link handy...
I ended up setting up a new T-Mobile account with their $30 prepaid plan to test if there are any issues with LTE on T-Mobile. I learned that T-Mobile has deployed LTE service in my neighborhood now and that I have very good reception if I'm not inside of my metal house. Using T-Mobile, I had been away from home all yesterday and over 12 hours, I have 0% time without signal. So, from that test I'm going to say that my issue most likely isn't an issue with the phone alone.
I put in my AT&T SIM last night and was delighted to see that it connected with LTE immediately. I've left Wifi off and have now used the phone for about 18 hours without any interruptions. I'm honestly confused as to what is going on since right before I put the T-Mobile SIM in I had tested it and lost the LTE connection within an hour. I'm home and charging the phone and everything seems to be working great. I'm stumped.
Very good troubleshooting. Your problem is a very strange one. I've never quite heard the like of it. But I'm glad that things are going well for the moment, though I don't want to jinx you.
Marc
About 36 hours into using the phone on AT&T, it went back to its same old ways. LTE stopped working and regular WCDMA worked perfectly.
However, I've been using the phone exclusively with T-Mobile for a week now and aside from actual T-Mobile coverage issues, the phone is working flawlessly. I have been traveling over a roughly 80 mile area this week and it switches modes without issue.
So, is it possible there's some sort of an issue with my account setup with AT&T? I tried to call them and explain the issue but they gave me nothing but "we don't guarantee LTE on non-AT&T branded phones". I tried to get the rep to escalate me, but she just kept reading from her script telling me more random things about how it's probably my phone's issue or an APN issue, which I'm fairly sure it isn't since it will connect to LTE and have everything working for some amount of time.
I'm kinda baffled what to do other than try and argue my way up the ladder again.
I've just done a bit of traveling with my carrier unlocked HTC 10 on T-Mobile's network, and I've encountered quite a lot of reception issues with this device. I'm not sure what the issue is, but am curious about others experiences road tripping with this device.
Previously I've only used the phone in my home area (Chicago). The device has performed flawlessly there. This past week, however, I road tripped to Maine and back and had a lot of problems with coverage. I'm fairly new to T-Mobile, so I would normally write it off as their network, but my wife's iPhone 6s performed great in these areas, as did my Moto X Pure Edition.
Here are some of the issues I experienced:
In rural Maine, while the phone was roaming on AT&T, many incoming calls and texts would not come through at all. This behavior was intermittent, despite having 3+ bars of AT&T signal.
While the phone was roaming on AT&T, many outgoing texts would fail to send. Rebooting the phone was often the only way to get them to go through. Again, this was with strong AT&T signal.
Moving between AT&T and T-Mobile coverage areas in rural Maine, the phone would fail to reconnect to T-Mobile service on its own. In order to make this work, I would either have to reboot the phone, toggle airplane mode, manually select T-Mobile under Mobile network settings -> GSM/UMTS Options -> Network operators or, if those all failed, run the LTE Discovery app. I'm not sure why that would make the phone reconnect to T-Mobile service, but it seemed to do so consistently.
The phone would lose signal completly in areas where our iPhone 6s and Moto X Pure Edition had LTE signal
The phone would lose LTE signal and move to 2G/EDGE or no mobile data at all in areas where our iPhone 6s and Moto X had LTE signal
I've seen similar issues discussed over in http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-10/help/awful-lte-signal-update-t3378163, but it seems I'm experiencing more than just weak LTE signal.
Has anybody else experienced anything similar? Or am I having some sort of hardware issue? It seems crazy to me that this device would perform so poorly compared to the iPhone 6s and Moto X Pure Edition, both of which are also carrier unlocked. HTC told me I should try a new SIM, otherwise there might be a hardware issue, but I'm wondering if this is more widespread than just my device.
Haven't had any issues with mine
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
I live in Maine and haven't encountered any issues yet. Although I do live in So Maine so T-Mobile is pretty solid here. I would try the new SIM to see if that fixes the problem.
Are you s-off and unlocked? If so which firmware version are you on? The US Unlocked version or something else? If you're not on the US unlocked firmware I would try flashing that, if you're S-Off. If that fails to fix it then I'd suspect a hardware issue.
BladeRunner said:
I live in Maine and haven't encountered any issues yet. Although I do live in So Maine so T-Mobile is pretty solid here. I would try the new SIM to see if that fixes the problem.
Are you s-off and unlocked? If so which firmware version are you on? The US Unlocked version or something else? If you're not on the US unlocked firmware I would try flashing that, if you're S-Off. If that fails to fix it then I'd suspect a hardware issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on the US Unlocked version--not sure if it's s-off, I haven't done anything to it myself, so I'm using it however it came from HTC. Not sure if they are s-off by default or not.
Unfortunately I won't be back to Maine to test this new SIM this year. I guess I'll have to test locally side by side with my wife's iPhone to try to determine if it's still dropping coverage so regularly once I get out of a metro area.
I have a T-Mobile model that is running unlocked firmware and I experience switching problems when moving from wifi to lte. Simply put, I cannot connect to T-Mobile after leaving wifi unless I reboot the phone.
3's&7's said:
I have a T-Mobile model that is running unlocked firmware and I experience switching problems when moving from wifi to lte. Simply put, I cannot connect to T-Mobile after leaving wifi unless I reboot the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you use the LTE Discovery app? I wonder if that would work for you too, running though that process once usually made my phone pick T-Mobile signal back up.
Trooper Thorn said:
Do you use the LTE Discovery app? I wonder if that would work for you too, running though that process once usually made my phone pick T-Mobile signal back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have in the past on other phones and I will try here
same problem
I had a same experience where my phone roamed onto AT&T network and it would not come back to T-mobile network. This happened when traveling from Michigan to Columbus OH and Michigan to West Virginia.
Both of the time, only way to fix was go to advanced setting and choose carrier or reboot phone.
Besides bloatware installed by carriers on the branded (U) version, are there any other differences compared to the unlocked unbranded (U1) firmware?
It seems like the Android 11 (U) has better call and data connectivity compared to my prior experience of Android 10 (U1).
I know it's not the exact comparison but I am just wondering if there is some inherent differences in performance and band frequency in the carrier version.
I wonder about this subject too
One big difference I see, I'm on At&t... Without the carrier branding, I don't get Wi-fi calling.
one big feature on unlocked firmware: unlimited hospot. if you carrier plan asks you to pay monthly for hotspot. You can do it for free unlimited in unlocked ver
tele_jas said:
One big difference I see, I'm on At&t... Without the carrier branding, I don't get Wi-fi calling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a BIGGIE for me and the reason I went back to the At&t firmware.
1) I get spotty reception at my house and have for years (Verizon is worse), and I'm in the middle of town
2) I get worse reception, well none, in my office at work. So, I need wifi calling.
I had an unlocked Pixel 4 for about 6m, as much as I loved it, it was almost useless at home and work. So, I traded it to a buddy for his S20....I flashed the unbranded S20 firmware right after I got the S20 and while I loved the lack of bloat, I needed the Wifi calling.
I guess functionality won over what I'd rather have.
I have a Samsung S21FE (Snapdragon) model SM-G990U bought from Samsung and originally configured for Verizon. I've used it on the Verizon network since I got it, but just recently switched to T-Mobile. The phone is still using the Verizon firmware however data IS working, as well as calling, texting, and voicemail. But there are still a few things that don't seem quite right and I'm wondering if a firmware update would solve it (also, what is the best to update the firmware?).
For instance, I used to see "5G UW" when I was on Verizon, and now on T-Mobile it should display "5GUC" but I'm just seeing "5G". Also, when it boots up I still see the Verizon logo. Also, even when it's displaying "5G" I am not getting true 5G speeds --> more in the range of 70-100 Mbps. I use the OpenSignal app and it tells me other T-Mobile users in my area are getting way faster speeds. I thought the S21FE had all the necessary bands to get full 5G but either it doesn't, or maybe the firmware is blocking it?
For comparison, we also just switched my daughter's Galaxy S21 at the same time from Verizon to T-Mobile. On her phone, the first time she booted up with the T-Mobile SIM card, she started seeing the T-Mobile logo on bootup and now she sees "5GUC" next to her signal (I do not).
In the Software information section under Service provider software version, my phone has: SAOMC_SM-G990U_OYN_VZW_13_0017 VZW/VZW/VZW.
My daughter's S21 now says "TMB" in her software version.
It seems like her phone automatically updated the firmware over to T-Mobile but mine did not.
Again, not sure if a manual firmware update would solve any of the above issues, and what is the best way to change the firmware. Anyone have any experience with switching carriers on a S21FE? Did you update firmware?
skokielad said:
I have a Samsung S21FE (Snapdragon) model SM-G990U bought from Samsung and originally configured for Verizon. I've used it on the Verizon network since I got it, but just recently switched to T-Mobile. The phone is still using the Verizon firmware however data IS working, as well as calling, texting, and voicemail. But there are still a few things that don't seem quite right and I'm wondering if a firmware update would solve it (also, what is the best to update the firmware?).
For instance, I used to see "5G UW" when I was on Verizon, and now on T-Mobile it should display "5GUC" but I'm just seeing "5G". Also, when it boots up I still see the Verizon logo. Also, even when it's displaying "5G" I am not getting true 5G speeds --> more in the range of 70-100 Mbps. I use the OpenSignal app and it tells me other T-Mobile users in my area are getting way faster speeds. I thought the S21FE had all the necessary bands to get full 5G but either it doesn't, or maybe the firmware is blocking it?
For comparison, we also just switched my daughter's Galaxy S21 at the same time from Verizon to T-Mobile. On her phone, the first time she booted up with the T-Mobile SIM card, she started seeing the T-Mobile logo on bootup and now she sees "5GUC" next to her signal (I do not).
In the Software information section under Service provider software version, my phone has: SAOMC_SM-G990U_OYN_VZW_13_0017 VZW/VZW/VZW.
My daughter's S21 now says "TMB" in her software version.
It seems like her phone automatically updated the firmware over to T-Mobile but mine did not.
Again, not sure if a manual firmware update would solve any of the above issues, and what is the best way to change the firmware. Anyone have any experience with switching carriers on a S21FE? Did you update firmware?
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What's the model number?