Database Users

USA T-Mobile G1 to Poland

I want to bring my phone and use it in Poland, it's running newest CyanogenMod and at this point it is clean. From what I was told, 3G may be incompatible so the phone will default to EDGE, which is fine as I don't plan to use overpriced data and stick to wifi. I wonder if there are any G1 users from Poland or Europe using either native devices or imported from states.
Just want to know what I need before I take the phone to Europe. Thanks.

This is what you should do, contact t-mobile and request an unlock code and before you go to Poland write it down then when you are in Poland get a prepaid phone (with a sim card) then put the sim in your phone and enter the unlock code, this case you don't have to spend roaming charges and you might have better reception.

CrazyEye said:
This is what you should do, contact t-mobile and request an unlock code and before you go to Poland write it down then when you are in Poland get a prepaid phone (with a sim card) then put the sim in your phone and enter the unlock code, this case you don't have to spend roaming charges and you might have better reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the plan, I already unlocked the phone and reflashed it, works fine with AT&T, should work fine with anything else, I hope

I had my T-Mobile G1 imported from the US this spring. Works like a charm here in Germany. So I guess there shouldn't be anything to worry about when taking it to Poland.

There's no 3G incompatibility. It will work as long as you have correct APN settings.
I recommend getting a plus gsm (mixplus) card. From what I could tell (I don't speak Polish, so I had to do some guessing) they have best prepaid mobile internet rates.

There's absolutely no problem with using a US TMobile-branded G1 here in Poland. I was worried about that too when i was about to get one from the US, but after some research it turned out that there shouldn't be any problems. And there weren't any. Personally tested it with orange, play and mbank mobile (virtual operator using plusGSM infrastructure).
3G (i wszystko) inne działa jak należy, więc bez obaw
[translation]3G (and everything else) works nicely so no worries[/translation]

[Q] Bad Network On Android Phones

Hi guys and girls,
Today, i'm writing my first post on this wonderfull forum. I have a problem.
I have very bad network sensivity on every Android phone i have. I'm kinda new to android but i know at least a minimum.
The questions:
If i buy a phone in a country and then take it to another country, can it lead to bad network?
Can the baseband version of a phone be good in one country and bad in another?
Are the OTA updates specific to a country (scandinavian android updated in a non scandinavian country) or are they different from a country to another?
The actual situation:
I live in Belgium but i'm norwegian and i'm used to Norwegian keyboards with Æ, Ø, Å characters) so I have bought my a SE Xperia X10 Mini Pro in Norway, but i think after i did the 2.1 update in Belgium i got bad network. Now i got a HTC Desire Z also bought in Norway and had perfect network in norway, i updated to the 1.72 still in norway and still had perfect network. Then i came back in belgium and had bad network. Then i updated to 1.82 and then to 2.42 (the gingerbread version 2.3.3) and i still have thebad network problems in Belgium. The rom is still the scandinavian/nordic and i was wondering if there is a different baseband version in the ota update from norway and the one from belgium eventhough its still the scandinavian sense rom.
If this is the answer to my problem.
Since i'm on a gingerbread Desire Z, how can i change the baseband version?
I guess i'll have to root, Is there a easy way to root a GB DZ?
Info:
Android: 2.3.3
Baseband version 12.56.60.25U_26.10.04.03_m
Kernel: 2.6.35.10-g7b95729
Software number 2.42.405.2
If you need more info or anything, just ask me. I really want to solve my problem and help others maybe find an answer to theirs.
Thanks in advance,
Bendik

Anybody? Please?
I really need help on this one.

define "bad network" are you sure the carriers in each country use the same bands? Radio loads and RILs will make all the difference. Have you tried locking to 2G?

Well, by saying bad network i mean i have between 0 and 3 bars most of the time. Even with nice weather.
I have no idea if my countries carriers use the same bands. But what i discovered was that if i use my norwegian sim card in belgium (roaming or something) and i use Mobistar (another network carrier) then i have 4 bars allways. I couldn't try to roam on base (my actual carrier) or proximus (wich is the lands monopol carrier).
The thing about radio loads and RIL's i didnt understand anything.
And locking in 2G doesn't change anything.

There are three carriers in belgium: Base (my actual carrier), mobistar, and Proximus (the countrys main carrier)
I ordered free SIM cards from the other belgian carriers.
I got one from mobistar and it worked perfectly.
I haven't tried proximus yet.
Base is the one i have problems with.
So no i have another question: Is there any differences between sim cards from one carrier to another one? Except that they dont allow me to connect to other carriers than the card carrier?

I know i may be spamming a little bit but this is kinda important to me.
So please, if anyone could give answers or help me i would be thankfull.

I think that not all carriers have the same signal strength in a specific location .
In my country there is three mobile networks and in my home they are not equal in signal strength .
one with zero signal , the second with moderate signal and the last one with perfect signal even though they are equal in the street which is 10 meters away from home !!!
You said that mobistar works perfectly so maybe you should stick with them and ignore the one you use right now .

Thanks for answering me.
I really liked base because i had so really cheap bills. Instead of paying 25€ for free texts and ringing and some internet im paying 10€ with my actual one.
I mailed base in case they could help me, and after about 2 weeks i finally got an answer. Theyre working on it...

Maybe it is the 3g band. Look, here in my city, if I use 2g, it works OK but in some areas i have no signal. If I turn on the 3G, I have a very good signal in almost every corner of the city. Verifiy that.

Hello,
-The easiest way might be to contact your actual operator, they should check the 2G/3G coverage in your area. But i guess you can do this yourself, somewhere on their website they should have a map with their signal strenght.
-Change your mobile phone; try the sim card in a different phone. Does it get the same signal strenght? - With this you will determine if the problem is in your mobile phone. If you get better signal in a different phone, you may have a broken anthena in your device or you've messed up something in the settings.
-Ask someone around you with your carrier what strenght does he get. If it is higher than yours and you got the same strenght in more than one phone you may have a wrong sim card. The carrier should change it for you.
Check this and let me know the result I'll try to help.

bendik18 said:
Thanks for answering me.
I really liked base because i had so really cheap bills. Instead of paying 25€ for free texts and ringing and some internet im paying 10€ with my actual one.
I mailed base in case they could help me, and after about 2 weeks i finally got an answer. Theyre working on it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am very interested to find out what Base does as I am in a similar situation to you though I bought my Xperia 10 mini pro here in Belgium.
When I use my Base sim card I have problems with the signal on either of the tree network settings.
When I use my Slovenian one, I don't have any problems roaming on Base, Mobistar or Proximus.
I always get a good signal when I use my Base card in a different phone though.

Sounds like the frequency for me! Check the frequency of the 3G band for your 3 operators and then check if your cell phones can handle that.

I saw that Mobistar (/the only carrier i get good network on has another band if i understood right)
Im still contacting my actual operator about the issue and they will need another 2 weeks before they can answer me... Of course...
SIM Card in another phone, in a 2G phone SE k550 i have full network. When i lock to 2G on my Android phone, it still has sucky network.
I have a friend (OMG) on the same carrier i had network problems with. he has allways full network, i'll try to see if i can make him come over and test the network with his android phone (acer liquid metal or something)

Ok, let us know how that goes

yes,you may lead to bad network.but the chances are little

Are you on 3g only?
In belgium, Proximus and Mobistar have the best networks.
Base has 97%coverage of edge, but their 3g network sucks.
Are you certain that its everywhere in belgium that base has a bad reception?

I contacted my operator, they told me to try to lock to 2G, i tried it for an hour and still no succes. I restarted my phone after i locked to 2G juste to be sure. Still no success.
I've allready tried in another phone, in my old SE k550 i have full network allmost all the time. I've had the same problem in my x10 mini pro even after a fresh original reset. I really dont think its the phone since i have perfect network when i'm on Mobistar (another carrier that is expensive).
I have a friend that has an Acer Liquid Metal (?) and i'll try to make him come over to test his network.
I have allready changed sim card but they made me pay 10€ for that... --'
Now i'm waiting about a week for another answer from my carrier.
I hope they can do something.

I have bad network everywhere except in the subway (underground :O )
I have this bad network with Proximus and BASE.
I'm was in auto HDSPA/GSM and than tried the 2G only, and now back to auto.
When i'm in auto, i think i noticed that in the moments i have Edge i tend to get better network. But when i lock to edge/2G i still have bad network...

I tried again to lock 2G and it works with full network. Still contacting the operator.

From a quick search of the internet it appears all the providers listed use the same frequencies, 2100 for 3G & 900,1800 for 2G.
As well as selecting 2G only I would also select the mobile operator manually, instead of automatically which I believe is the default. It is also a possibility that the Android phones sold locally have a different radio version then yours that works better on the Base network, I've run into this in the past with Windows Mobile on HTC phones.

att and tmo galaxy s5 identical or different?

I cant find a clear answer if an ATT galaxy s5 will work on tmobile ( phone is unlocked) or will it be missing some features

and also if I install a tmobile stock rom on att phone will it have the wifi calling and all the features of a t mobile phone?
im trying to buy a phone today and cant find any solid info on the internet its a bit confusing

There are lots of existing threads that ask and answer this, so your search missed those (or you didn't search).
Anyway, you can use a TMB phone on ATT without any issues. It doesn't work as well in the reverse as you want to do. The ATT model is missing several frequency bands that the TMB phone has. And ATT, unlike most carriers, also locks the bootloader.
So a (SIM unlocked) 900A phone will work on TMB but will have some gaps in coverage. In a large city with lots of redundant bands that may not be much of a problem. But you will be subject to more congestion, dropped calls and outside of large, urban centers you may even have no coverage i.e. if an area is only served by the bands your phone doesn't have.
And the locked bootloader means that you can't install a custom kernel or recovery. Although you can emulate them with the Safestrap program on an ATT handset. The best way to get the TMB apps, wifi calling, etc is to root and install a custom ROM that is 900T based or 900F based, with the TMB apps added.
.

Flash Verizon S8 with european firmware

Hi guys,
I bought a Verizon s8 in the states and wanted to use it in Europe. I live in the Netherlands, so I swapped in my Vodafone some instead of using the Verizon Sim and everything works fine besides mobile data. I can not change the APN settings as they are locked. Carrier says it's Verizon though it's using the Vodafone Network.
So I was wondering, can I flash the firmware with a european version to get access to the APN settings and remove the carrier lock?
Best

the s8 verizon is not locked just put your sim card in and thats it.you cannot flash international rom on the us version odin wont let you it will fail even if you somehow made it it will brick the phone.the reason is because the us s8 version uses snapdragon chipset and the s8 international version uses exynos chipset they are completely different.
the option you have is to flash the us unlocked version to the verizon s8 i did on mine i have verizon also.

brigantti said:
the s8 verizon is not locked just put your sim card in and thats it.you cannot flash international rom on the us version odin wont let you it will fail even if you somehow made it it will brick the phone.the reason is because the us s8 version uses snapdragon chipset and the s8 international version uses exynos chipset they are completely different.
the option you have is to flash the us unlocked version to the verizon s8 i did on mine i have verizon also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering is there a way to add more international languages on my s8+. I have managed to change parts of it but on menu and while scrolling in facebook it doesn't recognise i.e some norwegian / turkish letters and doesn't switch language in parts of menu.
The model i have is G955U1 ?
Thanks again.

Tv87 said:
Hi guys,
I bought a Verizon s8 in the states and wanted to use it in Europe. I live in the Netherlands, so I swapped in my Vodafone some instead of using the Verizon Sim and everything works fine besides mobile data. I can not change the APN settings as they are locked. Carrier says it's Verizon though it's using the Vodafone Network.
So I was wondering, can I flash the firmware with a european version to get access to the APN settings and remove the carrier lock?
Best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tv87, I am in the exact situation as you. Have you resolved your problem? If so, what was the solution?
I just moved to the Netherlands a few weeks ago and switched my S8's SIM Card from Verizon to Vodafone. Everything worked fine except for mobile data. The Vodafone rep told me that my APN settings were grayed out / locked; therefore, until they could be edited, my phone would not receive mobile data.

SanDiego31 said:
Tv87, I am in the exact situation as you. Have you resolved your problem? If so, what was the solution?
I just moved to the Netherlands a few weeks ago and switched my S8's SIM Card from Verizon to Vodafone. Everything worked fine except for mobile data. The Vodafone rep told me that my APN settings were grayed out / locked; therefore, until they could be edited, my phone would not receive mobile data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not locked, the phone still thinks it has a verizon sim and that's why you cant edit the settings, do a complete factory reset.
And anyways, even with editable apn settings you wont get lte, because your s8 is lacking the european lte bands.

nikexv2 said:
They are not locked, the phone still thinks it has a verizon sim and that's why you cant edit the settings, do a complete factory reset.
And anyways, even with editable apn settings you wont get lte, because your s8 is lacking the european lte bands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What makes you say that?
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Che...on-T-Mobile-and-Sprint-use-in-the-USA_id77933
Says:
"In Europe, most carriers base their networks on bands 3 (1800 MHz), 7 (2600 MHz) and 20 (800 MHz). China, on the other hand, uses a whole different 4G LTE standard - while the Western world has rolled out FDD-LTE networks, China and large parts of Asia use TDD-LTE."
And several places online show all those as being supported on the g950u.
Example source:
https://www.frequencycheck.com/mode...xy-s8-td-lte-sm-g950u1-sm-g950w-samsung-dream
Am I missing something?

wildermjs8 said:
What makes you say that?
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Che...on-T-Mobile-and-Sprint-use-in-the-USA_id77933
Says:
"In Europe, most carriers base their networks on bands 3 (1800 MHz), 7 (2600 MHz) and 20 (800 MHz). China, on the other hand, uses a whole different 4G LTE standard - while the Western world has rolled out FDD-LTE networks, China and large parts of Asia use TDD-LTE."
And several places online show all those as being supported on the g950u.
Example source:
https://www.frequencycheck.com/mode...xy-s8-td-lte-sm-g950u1-sm-g950w-samsung-dream
Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said that because most phones that verizon sells dont have the lte bands for europe, but according to frequency check, it is compatible !
Sorry about the error

nikexv2 said:
I said that because most phones that verizon sells dont have the lte bands for europe, but according to frequency check, it is compatible !
Sorry about the error
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe next time check before giving someone advise on a $800 item

nikexv2 said:
They are not locked, the phone still thinks it has a verizon sim and that's why you cant edit the settings, do a complete factory reset.
And anyways, even with editable apn settings you wont get lte, because your s8 is lacking the european lte bands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did a factory reset while my Vodafone SIM Card was in the phone. I am now getting the following message:
Sorry, we're having trouble activating your phone.
If you're moving your phone number from your old phone to this one, make sure your old phone is turned off.
In addition, I get the following message on the very next screen:
You can set up your phone using Wi-Fi, but you won't be able to make or receive calls until your phone has been activated on the Verizon network.
Is there anyway to unhinge my phone from the Verizon network!? Before I left the United States, Verizon assured me my phone was not locked to their network; however, it appears to be based on the messages received after factory resetting my phone.

SanDiego31 said:
I did a factory reset while my Vodafone SIM Card was in the phone. I am now getting the following message:
Sorry, we're having trouble activating your phone.
If you're moving your phone number from your old phone to this one, make sure your old phone is turned off.
In addition, I get the following message on the very next screen:
You can set up your phone using Wi-Fi, but you won't be able to make or receive calls until your phone has been activated on the Verizon network.
Is there anyway to unhinge my phone from the Verizon network!? Before I left the United States, Verizon assured me my phone was not locked to their network; however, it appears to be based on the messages received after factory resetting my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you can try is to flash the USA csc instead of the VZW one that you have right now.

Activate/Deactive VoLTE on SM-G935K

So I bought the SM-G935K (unlocked 2nd hand) while I was studying abroad in Korea, since my old phone turned to a brick.
After returning to the United States, I returned to my mobile service provider, MintMobile (T-mobile MVNO) however I am having problem receiving and dialing calls, not sure if its my hardware problem or software problem (but watever finding a solution to that is another day another post).
While talking to Customer Service they keep asking if I have VoLTE on or off in the options, however, I simply can't seem to see or be able to change that option in my version of Android.
So masters of Android, how come I cannot seem to see that option along with preferred network options on my SM-G935K?