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T-Mobile uses the 1700MHz and 2100MHz frequencies for 4G LTE data, and the Galaxy S5 Active supports 1700 and 2100, according to GSMArena.
1) Why then is the phone listed everywhere as "For AT&T"?
2) If I buy an S5 Active without a contract, how will data work on T-Mobile? 3G? 4G? 4G LTE?
dandv said:
how will data work on T-Mobile? 3G? 4G? 4G LTE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any given S5 model has the hardware capability to operate on all of the GSM and LTE bands. But Samsung can sell more phones, and carriers can deter you from jumping ship too readily by marketing lots of different S5 models that have various incompatibilities.
The S5 Active or SM-G870ADGEATT is a ruggedized variant, exclusive to ATT. So why is it said to be for ATT? Marketing.
As to compatibility with TMobile, assuming that you SIM unlock it, it can operate on most of the TMB bands. But again ATT has put a lot of thought into how to discourage you from moving to a different carrier. To wit, they have omitted support for TMB's 3G 1700 and LTE band 8.
You'd have to find out how widely TMB uses those bands to know if that would be a large impact on data use or not.
.
dandv said:
T-Mobile uses the 1700MHz and 2100MHz frequencies for 4G LTE data, and the Galaxy S5 Active supports 1700 and 2100, according to GSMArena.
1) Why then is the phone listed everywhere as "For AT&T"?
2) If I buy an S5 Active without a contract, how will data work on T-Mobile? 3G? 4G? 4G LTE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was a rumor posted 2 months ago on the Android Community that a T-Mobile version of the Galaxy S5 Active (model SM-G870T vs the AT&T model SM-G870A) would be out in late July. Here's a link.
http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-galaxy-s5-active-availability-leaks-out-20140529/
Obviously it's late July now and we haven't seen it but I'm wondering if AT&T got an exclusive on the Galaxy S5 Active for a few months and T-Mobile will release it after the exclusivity period expires.
fffft said:
Any given S5 model has the hardware capability to operate on all of the GSM and LTE bands. But Samsung can sell more phones, and carriers can deter you from jumping ship too readily by marketing lots of different S5 models that have various incompatibilities.
The S5 Active or SM-G870ADGEATT is a ruggedized variant, exclusive to ATT. So why is it said to be for ATT? Marketing.
As to compatibility with TMobile, assuming that you SIM unlock it, it can operate on most of the TMB bands. But again ATT has put a lot of thought into how to discourage you from moving to a different carrier. To wit, they have omitted support for TMB's 3G 1700 and LTE band 8.
You'd have to find out how widely TMB uses those bands to know if that would be a large impact on data use or not.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to dredge up an old topic, however you mentioned that the S5 active has the hardware capability to support all TMB bands, 1700 included, but then say "To wit, they have omitted support for TMB'S 3G 1700 and LTE band 8". Does this just mean the stock AT&T ROM is the only limiting factor? So, were I to flash the AT&T stock ROM and install a Tmobile ROM for example I could then utilize ALL of Tmobile ' 3G and LTE bands? (And wifi calling to boot).
Thanks
S5 Active is pretty limited on Tmobile network
"Sorry to dredge up an old topic, however you mentioned that the S5 active has the hardware capability to support all TMB bands, 1700 included, but then say "To wit, they have omitted support for TMB'S 3G 1700 and LTE band 8". Does this just mean the stock AT&T ROM is the only limiting factor? So, were I to flash the AT&T stock ROM and install a Tmobile ROM for example I could then utilize ALL of Tmobile ' 3G and LTE bands? (And wifi calling to boot).
Thanks"
I NEED to do something with my S5 Active to get it working better on Tmobile. I love the S5A... its a perfect phone for me. Not too big, but big enough. Rugged, waterproof, good camera, uSD card, etc. Without WiFi Calling and support for all of Tmo's freq & channels, its severely limiting.
I'd pay someone to help me convert my phone to Tmobiles stock S5 5.1.1 ROM and baseband radio firmware.
Help!
Jim
Also having the same problem with an unlocked S5 Active originally setup for AT&T. It uses the EDGE network only.
Has anyone successfully modified the phone to utilize the TMB 1700 band or the LTE band 8 as mentioned in this post? (either through ROM upgrade or other)?
I love the S5 Active, but using it with T-Mobile is such a hassle. I have the $30/mo. prepaid plan that includes unlimited text and data, so I'm not changing carriers anytime soon, but I have to buy new phones outright. When I bought this for myself last December, I saw it was compatible with T-Mobile so I pulled the trigger - a mistake in retrospect.
I'm from a large metro-area but T-Mobile's 4G signal is nearly impossible to get with this phone. Aside from never being able to connect to the internet when out of my apartment, sending/receiving MMS texts are a chore. I also discovered today that my android OS with this phone hasn't updated itself since I bought it - it's still running 4.4.2 and when I try to check for updates to Android through my device settings, it tells me AT&T has no new available updates at this time (there have in fact been 3 new updates AT&T released during this time).
So while I really love the phone, I'm going to have to sell it and look for a new device that's actually compatible with T-Mobile's network.
The Fix
I would go in the VPN settings and manually reset the ports and frequencies the phone reads and when it reads the T-Mobile sim card that it reads upon boot up.
Now, I'm running similar set up with Samsung Galaxy S4 & S5 (At&T variants), it seems like it works, have tried it on friend's S5 Active and it works perfectly.
The only problem is that you won't get to enjoy the freedom of wifi calling even though u have T-Mobile sim card and service, But at least u will be guaranteed to use T-Mobile 4G LTE speed and signals. Occassionally, T-Mobile will blackout or a region without T-Mobile and automatically the phone will roam with no charge and use AT&T signals for up to 15 minutes or depending to circumstances of the situation.
---------- Post added at 05:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:04 PM ----------
ActiveS5 said:
I love the S5 Active, but using it with T-Mobile is such a hassle. I have the $30/mo. prepaid plan that includes unlimited text and data, so I'm not changing carriers anytime soon, but I have to buy new phones outright. When I bought this for myself last December, I saw it was compatible with T-Mobile so I pulled the trigger - a mistake in retrospect.
I'm from a large metro-area but T-Mobile's 4G signal is nearly impossible to get with this phone. Aside from never being able to connect to the internet when out of my apartment, sending/receiving MMS texts are a chore. I also discovered today that my android OS with this phone hasn't updated itself since I bought it - it's still running 4.4.2 and when I try to check for updates to Android through my device settings, it tells me AT&T has no new available updates at this time (there have in fact been 3 new updates AT&T released during this time).
So while I really love the phone, I'm going to have to sell it and look for a new device that's actually compatible with T-Mobile's network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To get the At&T updates, I would advise you to go to Ebay and buy a prepaid At&t sim card for the phone and use it temporarily just to update it all the up to 5.1 Android OS and your phone will be running up to date. (cost anywhere from $3.99 to $15.99)
rossionQ!va said:
I would go in the VPN settings and manually reset the ports and frequencies the phone reads and when it reads the T-Mobile sim card that it reads upon boot up.
Now, I'm running similar set up with Samsung Galaxy S4 & S5 (At&T variants), it seems like it works, have tried it on friend's S5 Active and it works perfectly.
The only problem is that you won't get to enjoy the freedom of wifi calling even though u have T-Mobile sim card and service, But at least u will be guaranteed to use T-Mobile 4G LTE speed and signals. Occassionally, T-Mobile will blackout or a region without T-Mobile and automatically the phone will roam with no charge and use AT&T signals for up to 15 minutes or depending to circumstances of the situation.
---------- Post added at 05:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:04 PM ----------
To get the At&T updates, I would advise you to go to Ebay and buy a prepaid At&t sim card for the phone and use it temporarily just to update it all the up to 5.1 Android OS and your phone will be running up to date. (cost anywhere from $3.99 to $15.99)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the AT&T updates by going into a Best Buy where they have a Samsung Experience center, took about 10 minutes but they updated my phone. I'll have to look into the VPN settings and see if there's anything I can do, but after purchasing the phone online I did have the folks at a T-Mobile store set the phone up for me so I would've figured they would have set it up proper.
Thinking of going to TMobile
ActiveS5 said:
I got the AT&T updates by going into a Best Buy where they have a Samsung Experience center, took about 10 minutes but they updated my phone. I'll have to look into the VPN settings and see if there's anything I can do, but after purchasing the phone online I did have the folks at a T-Mobile store set the phone up for me so I would've figured they would have set it up proper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a S5 Active and I was considering making the jump to TMo, but I really would like the functionality of the wi-fi calling and text, since I work in a hospital and can get no reception or texts. Pardon me if this is a dumb question as I have no experience in jumping carriers with rooted phones, but would I get the features if I had the TMo sim, applied the TMo APN's, flashed a TMo stock or custom rom that has the features baked in? Would I just flash the 870a kernel to make it work? Anybody that has any ideas, I would love to hear them. Thanks
I'm on T-Mobile, would it be worth getting the S5 Active? I currently have the S4 Active.
Can I use a Tmobile Note 4 on AT&T and vice versa and have it work with LTE?
In other words, is the Note 4 interchangeable with both Tmobile and AT&T LTE service?
Neo3D said:
Can I use a Tmobile Note 4 on AT&T and vice versa and have it work with LTE?
In other words, is the Note 4 interchangeable with both Tmobile and AT&T LTE service?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes
Potentially, yes. You could do the reverse, so I can't see why it wouldn't work.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app
You guys are positive that LTE will still work on both networks?
Neo3D said:
You guys are positive that LTE will still work on both networks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's showing the same bands to it should work, no one will know until they actually test it. The Note 3 also had the same bands, but some anecdotal reports stated the reception was a bit worse and it didn't hang onto LTE as well. Nothing scientific, just users reporting this so make of it what you will. Personally my business can't take the chance of reception issues so I just bit the bullet and got the ATT version knowing I am saying goodbye to root. Once again this is unsubstantiated, it's just what I got from hours of looking at all the forum posts about using the Tmo Note 3 on ATT.
How about a Verizon Note 4 on AT&T? Verizon is charging almost $150 less for an off contract phone, however I have a mobile share plan with other AT&T phones on contract so I'd need to stay on AT&T if possible...
Is it possible to "unlock" (or whatever the term is) an AT&T phone to use with Tmobile?
I want to use AT&T mainly but when I'm traveling internationally, I want to be able to switch to Tmobile.
Neo3D said:
Is it possible to "unlock" (or whatever the term is) an AT&T phone to use with Tmobile?
I want to use AT&T mainly but when I'm traveling internationally, I want to be able to switch to Tmobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can and the term is "unlock". Just make sure the bands are compatible on your at&t phone with the Tmobile network.
daraj said:
Yes you can and the term is "unlock". Just make sure the bands are compatible on your at&t phone with the Tmobile network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Well, that's what I want to know. Will LTE work on both networks with either or both Tmobile and at&t versions?
danmanca said:
How about a Verizon Note 4 on AT&T? Verizon is charging almost $150 less for an off contract phone, however I have a mobile share plan with other AT&T phones on contract so I'd need to stay on AT&T if possible...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you can use TMOBILE PHONES on ATT - I assume you can do the reverse -but I don't think you can run TMOBILE PHONES on Verizon - or Verizon PHones on TMOBILE - I say this because the roms created for Verizon were really never very compatible for Tmobile phones ( at least not for me on any of the roms I tried to flash - data didn't work - wifi didn't work - ) so I htink they have different kinds of radios - but I am not a developer so that is only a guess -
USE TMOBILE phone on ATT and you are fine
---------- Post added at 03:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:57 PM ----------
Neo3D said:
Is it possible to "unlock" (or whatever the term is) an AT&T phone to use with Tmobile?
I want to use AT&T mainly but when I'm traveling internationally, I want to be able to switch to Tmobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes - as long as you manually add the APNS - but keep in mind the ATT PHONE will have a locked bootloader and it will probably be a while until someone finds a way to root the ATT PHONE - I say this based on what happened with the Note3 and S5 - I assume the same will be the case for ATT NOte 4s
If somebody takes an AT&T phone to T-Mobile, it will get fully functional LTE (as they both use band 4 aws). However, T-Mobile has built most of its 3G network on Band 4 UMTS / HSPA (AWS 1700/2100) which AT&T phones to not support. This coverage footprint is bigger than their current LTE network. The AT&T phone will get Band 2 (1900) UMTS / HSPA in the areas T-Mobile has refarmed.
A T-Mobile phone is fully compatible with AT&T. All T-Mobile phones support bands 2 and 5 for 3G (H+). T-Mobile phones also support AT&T's Band 17 for roaming reasons.
Be advised that if your using a T-Mobile device on AT&T (preferably an LTE device) it may not get the best reception, as AT&T optimizes their modems for their lower frequencies. Last year my T-Mobile Note 3 LTE reception was awful on AT&T. The T-Mobile S5 on AT&T was improved, but not as good as AT&T's own S5's reception.
MattMJB0188 said:
If somebody takes an AT&T phone to T-Mobile, it will get fully functional LTE (as they both use band 4 aws). However, T-Mobile has built most of its 3G network on Band 4 UMTS / HSPA (AWS 1700/2100) which AT&T phones to not support. This coverage footprint is bigger than their current LTE network. The AT&T phone will get Band 2 (1900) UMTS / HSPA in the areas T-Mobile has refarmed.
A T-Mobile phone is fully compatible with AT&T. All T-Mobile phones support bands 2 and 5 for 3G (H+). T-Mobile phones also support AT&T's Band 17 for roaming reasons.
Be advised that if your using a T-Mobile device on AT&T (preferably an LTE device) it may not get the best reception, as AT&T optimizes their modems for their lower frequencies. Last year my T-Mobile Note 3 LTE reception was awful on AT&T. The T-Mobile S5 on AT&T was improved, but not as good as AT&T's own S5's reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am pretty sure I know the answer to this - but if the ATT modem is better for att users - if someone does have a TOMBILE PHONE - why is that we can't flash an ATT Modem on the TOMBILE Phone?
I realize there is a chance of 'brcking" but if the phones are so close to each other anyway - why can't you flash an ATT Modem on a TMOBILE phone? Anyone?.
mocsab said:
I am pretty sure I know the answer to this - but if the ATT modem is better for att users - if someone does have a TOMBILE PHONE - why is that we can't flash an ATT Modem on the TOMBILE Phone?
I realize there is a chance of 'brcking" but if the phones are so close to each other anyway - why can't you flash an ATT Modem on a TMOBILE phone? Anyone?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure. But a few years ago there was a guy from Canada using a Rogers device ( I think the S3?) anyway AT&T had just released an update for their S3 and it drastically improved signal strength and data speeds. He took it upon himself to flash only the modem from CWM. The phone rebooted and he had no IMEI number. Therefore his phone couldn't even connect to the network. I'm not sure how or if he resolved it. But that lesson right there made me never flash any carrier's modem on my device.
MattMJB0188 said:
I'm not sure. But a few years ago there was a guy from Canada using a Rogers device ( I think the S3?) anyway AT&T had just released an update for their S3 and it drastically improved signal strength and data speeds. He took it upon himself to flash only the modem from CWM. The phone rebooted and he had no IMEI number. Therefore his phone couldn't even connect to the network. I'm not sure how or if he resolved it. But that lesson right there made me never flash any carrier's modem on my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would keep me away too - but it's too bad - as much a like as the variants are - it is too bad they are not more interchangeable
Hi - I wanted to switch to Cricket so I purchased an S4 from Craigslist (beautiful phone & perfect condition) and took it to the Cricket store to activate it. I was told it was one of the old CDMA phones and they can no longer activate them. This wasn't really the story I got when I called Cricket Customer Service and gave them the IMEI, but that's neither here nor there.
QUESTION: What network can the old Cricket Samsung Galaxy S4 (SCH-R970C) CDMA be used on?
The specs on the Samsung site shows it supports the following Frequencies and Data Type LTE: Bands 2/4/25; CDMA 1x/EVDO Rev.A: 800/AWS/1900MHz.
P.S. Searched the forums quite extensively, but to my surprise, I couldn't find much on this. I'm sure there are a lot of these Cricket phones out there though. What has everyone else done with theirs?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S4
Here you can see what different frequencies are used in the different models. That way you can crossreference.
Based upon the frequencies, it appears it could be activated on Sprint or Verizon, assuming either company has a means of allowing out of network phones on their network. High speed data won't be happening with this S4. Sprint Spark doesn't use LTE, and Verizon blocks LTE on phones that aren't Verizon branded.
For anyone else looking in the future: I also found a carrier ting.com that appears to show 4G could be used.
Ting is a Sprint MVNO, which means it uses Sprint Spark for its high-speed data. Earlier this year they started offering GSM coverage, and that coverage apparently is through T-Mobile. HSPA+ should be doable through Ting, just as it should be doable on all MVNOs. LTE is unlikely.
using mine on verizon with gusto 3 donor phone
I just bought the 935F and I am stuck on Edge data. I also have the At&t model of the gs7 edge and I get full LTE and good speeds in the exact same spot. Same sim card, and I believe I'm using the correct APN settings. I want to switch to the international model because at&t ruins this phone with bloatware. I get a lot of lag on the at&t gs7 edge, and no lag at all on the 935F. Now I just need the LTE to work!!
Anyone able to try and help? I did search the forum first and didnt see anything relevant.
do you see 4G instead but not LTE on your 935F? US carriers call HSPA+ 4G (while it's 3G+) so when their branded phones are in LTE they add an LTE (or 4G LTE for tmobile) icon. My G935F always shows 4G but it's actually LTE. You can dial *#0011# to check for reception or download the LTE discovery app to check your reception
Remix22 said:
do you see 4G instead but not LTE on your 935F? US carriers call HSPA+ 4G (while it's 3G+) so when their branded phones are in LTE they add an LTE (or 4G LTE for tmobile) icon. My G935F always shows 4G but it's actually LTE. You can dial *#0011# to check for reception or download the LTE discovery app to check your reception
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for the reply. I see E for edge data. I think I may have made some progress by changing the APN settings though. I am seeing LTE now, but the speeds are terrible. Nothing close to what I was getting with the ATT branded version of the GS7E.
Anyone know exactly what APN settings the G935F should be using on ATT? I have unlimited data, so I want to be able to use it!
toptekjon said:
I just bought the 935F and I am stuck on Edge data. I also have the At&t model of the gs7 edge and I get full LTE and good speeds in the exact same spot. Same sim card, and I believe I'm using the correct APN settings. I want to switch to the international model because at&t ruins this phone with bloatware. I get a lot of lag on the at&t gs7 edge, and no lag at all on the 935F. Now I just need the LTE to work!!
Anyone able to try and help? I did search the forum first and didnt see anything relevant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has nothing to do with the APN, but you have to tell AT&T you have an AT&T branded phone and give them an imei of that phone. Or your 935F will not be able to get lte.
Psyscope said:
It has nothing to do with the APN, but you have to tell AT&T you have an AT&T branded phone and give them an imei of that phone. Or your 935F will not be able to get lte.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, Ok thank you. I'll try that now. I haven't been on att in years, and don't remember having to do that but I will now.
Yeah if you don't have an ATT branded phone they will limit you to the 4g network and not the new LTE network. I bought a cheap Motorola LTe phone that was an at&t approved. I gave them its imei, and I started to get lte.
Psyscope said:
It has nothing to do with the APN, but you have to tell AT&T you have an AT&T branded phone and give them an imei of that phone. Or your 935F will not be able to get lte.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so I worked with At&t and gave them the IMEI, but still no LTE data
Psyscope said:
It has nothing to do with the APN, but you have to tell AT&T you have an AT&T branded phone and give them an imei of that phone. Or your 935F will not be able to get lte.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you do not have to give AT&T the IMEI of your 935F phone.
I just got back to the US, popped my AT&T SIM card in my new intl S7e (935FD) and LTE works as it should. I get speeds of >10 Mbs
LTE bands 2 & 17 are used (in my area - Portland)
Not getting full speed LTE
I have the 935FD S7E. I just went to the AT&T store as I needed a nano sim. The guy who helped me did a Speed Test right next to me performing the exact same test. His AT&T S7 was receiving in the mid to high 30's for download speed while I was getting in the mid 20's. He checked the APN, we assumed that I was getting an LTE speed even though no LTE icon showed. However his S7 was receiving significantly consistent faster data rates than I was getting.
Is there anything I can do to resolve this?
This will be the main hindrance for me buying the international version. If someone gets the LTE thing figured out I'm all in
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA-Developers mobile app
For what it's worth, AT&T LTE problems in my case were caused by custom ROM.
I just got International S7 Edge (G935F), and without thinking, rooted it and installed SuperMan-ROM 1.8.1. In that state I did have LTE formally, but speeds were very bad. Tried turning data on/off, changing APNs - nothing helped. As a result, in some places data connection barely worked (1.0 Mbps down / 0.1 Mbps up), and the best result reported by SpeedTest was around 4 Mbps up/down. At the same time, when I moved this SIM card into older XPeria phone, it consistently showed ~15 Mbps up/down, which was normal performance for me on AT&T prepaid in NYC. Unfortunately, I didn't check LTE performance with the original default ROM on the Edge, but I recorded all versions.
I went back to stock ROM using this German stock firmware. It was possible to switch to English during installation. Other downloads in that thread are dead links. I immediately did official OTA update, and after that, I now have normal LTE performance on AT&T (15+ Mbps).
I am pretty sure that at least in my case, the radio which the custom ROM insisted I have (G935FXXU1APEQ) was the problem. After going back to stock, I have baseband G935FXXU1APD1, which is what I had out-of-the-box.
cozzamara said:
For what it's worth, AT&T LTE problems in my case were caused by custom ROM.
I just got International S7 Edge (G935F), and without thinking, rooted it and installed SuperMan-ROM 1.8.1. In that state I did have LTE formally, but speeds were very bad. Tried turning data on/off, changing APNs - nothing helped. As a result, in some places data connection barely worked (1.0 Mbps down / 0.1 Mbps up), and the best result reported by SpeedTest was around 4 Mbps up/down. At the same time, when I moved this SIM card into older XPeria phone, it consistently showed ~15 Mbps up/down, which was normal performance for me on AT&T prepaid in NYC. Unfortunately, I didn't check LTE performance with the original default ROM on the Edge, but I recorded all versions.
I went back to stock ROM using this German stock firmware. It was possible to switch to English during installation. Other downloads in that thread are dead links. I immediately did official OTA update, and after that, I now have normal LTE performance on AT&T (15+ Mbps).
I am pretty sure that at least in my case, the radio which the custom ROM insisted I have (G935FXXU1APEQ) was the problem. After going back to stock, I have baseband G935FXXU1APD1, which is what I had out-of-the-box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Imgo to try this you flash via Odin?
Hey everyone,
I read for hours but unfortunately I haven't been able to find the solution.
So I bought a Galaxy S4 GT-I9515 in Europe and I'm not able to get any speeds higher than 2g on my USA 4g T-mobile plan.
The network mode is set on auto connect (LTE/WCDMA/GSM). I tried setting up a t-mobile 4g APN but it won't accept it (it pops back to standard after a few seconds..)
The simcard does work at 4g on another phone.
I rooted it with chainfire autoroot but this made no difference.
Anyone have a clue? At least 3g would be nice and should be possible..
Does the gt-9515 support the carrier's 3g and 4g frequencies?
Hey, thanks for thinking along..
According to frequencycheck.com, yes (both 3g and 4g).
Also, the t-mobile store didn't make notice of this being a problem. They were horribly incompetent though (just googling everything..) But you'd think they would at least check that much.
The I9515 won't get LTE in Europe as bands 2, 4, 12, and 17 aren't used there. The best you can do is HSPA (3.5G in the US) for data. If you're not getting at least HSPA the local carrier may have throttled you.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
The I9515 won't get LTE in Europe as bands 2, 4, 12, and 17 aren't used there. The best you can do is HSPA (3.5G in the US) for data. If you're not getting at least HSPA the local carrier may have throttled you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I put the simcard in my old phone (moto G 1st gen) it makes an LTE connection so I'm not throttled.
I downloaded an app called LTE Discovery which doesn't read an LTE connection but says HSPA: -75.0 dBm is available.
With an internet speed test I'm only getting 770 Kbps however.
Oh, and I'm in Las Vegas currently (not in the middle of nowhere before anyone asks.. )
It's about the same speed in the Bay-area.
I misread your initial post. The fact you're not picking up LTE in Las Vegas means something else is wrong. In fact it makes me wonder if you even have an I9515. Kindly enter download mode and read off the model number please?
If things are as I suspect they are, then you're actually in possession of an I9505. My comments in my earlier post regarding LTE still apply, except it's the phone lacking the US bands instead of lacking European bands.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
That you were experiencing this in the US wasn't apparent from your posts. The fact you're not picking up LTE in Las Vegas means something else is wrong. In fact it makes me wonder if you even have an I9515. Kindly enter download mode and read off the model number please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, I mentioned the US T-mobile plan but forgot to clearly mention where the problem was occurring/where I want to use the phone (which I bought in the Netherlands). Just to be clear: I am in the USA and that's where I intend to use it.
ODIN MODE
Product Name: GT-I9515
Ok...I'm really confusing myself. For some odd reason I had the Straight Talk S4 in mind. LOL.
The I9505 and I9515 have the same bands: 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 20. You won't get LTE in the US on this device and are limited to HSPA here. Fortunately, HSPA is fast enough for multimedia, so unless T-Mobile is repurposing its 3G network for LTE you should see about 4 or 5Mb a second.
Thanks for analyzing, you seem to know a lot about this.
However, the primary problem is I'm not reaching any HSPA speeds either.
I know a lot about this, as I have an I9505 and live in the US.
The phone is working properly, so speed issues are carrier related. And it's not uncommon. I've had it happen myself, on AT&T towers.