Related
Okay, I'll start with a little background. I'm a Verizon Wireless employee, and the store's resident Android nerd. That said, I'm stumped on something.
With the recent government ruling about sim-unlocking phones, we've seen an influx of devices from other carriers. Honestly, we've not been trained on how to handle these. Popping active sims into the phone typically activates them just fine, but we've been running into issues with SMS pretty frequently. Also, having AT&T firmware on a Verizon device is weird too, and can result in some odd behavior with baked in features.
With regard to the SMS issues, my immediate first thought was to edit the APN settings. Those are greyed out on a lot of devices I've seen though. So now I'm thinking something needs to change in the firmware. We do not have the ability to flash firmware* though.
We recently had a customer come in and activate 12 sim-unlocked US Cellular GS5s.They report that everything is working except SMS. What do I do?
*We do have an unapproved laptop laying around, and I do have Kies installed on it. I've never used it though, and nobody in the store wants to be liable for bricking a phone. With the right customer, I'd be willing to try it through Kies if that's something it is capable of. But as a large store, that's not a viable solution for most customers.
YamiYaiba said:
Okay, I'll start with a little background. I'm a Verizon Wireless employee, and the store's resident Android nerd. That said, I'm stumped on something.
With the recent government ruling about sim-unlocking phones, we've seen an influx of devices from other carriers. Honestly, we've not been trained on how to handle these. Popping active sims into the phone typically activates them just fine, but we've been running into issues with SMS pretty frequently. Also, having AT&T firmware on a Verizon device is weird too, and can result in some odd behavior with baked in features.
With regard to the SMS issues, my immediate first thought was to edit the APN settings. Those are greyed out on a lot of devices I've seen though. So now I'm thinking something needs to change in the firmware. We do not have the ability to flash firmware* though.
We recently had a customer come in and activate 12 sim-unlocked US Cellular GS5s.They report that everything is working except SMS. What do I do?
*We do have an unapproved laptop laying around, and I do have Kies installed on it. I've never used it though, and nobody in the store wants to be liable for bricking a phone. With the right customer, I'd be willing to try it through Kies if that's something it is capable of. But as a large store, that's not a viable solution for most customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would defer to my boss or VZ corporate lest I get fired for doing the "wrong thing", which I learned on an internet forum!
UNBELIEVABLE
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
YamiYaiba said:
Okay, I'll start with a little background. I'm a Verizon Wireless employee, and the store's resident Android nerd. That said, I'm stumped on something.
With the recent government ruling about sim-unlocking phones, we've seen an influx of devices from other carriers. Honestly, we've not been trained on how to handle these. Popping active sims into the phone typically activates them just fine, but we've been running into issues with SMS pretty frequently. Also, having AT&T firmware on a Verizon device is weird too, and can result in some odd behavior with baked in features.
With regard to the SMS issues, my immediate first thought was to edit the APN settings. Those are greyed out on a lot of devices I've seen though. So now I'm thinking something needs to change in the firmware. We do not have the ability to flash firmware* though.
We recently had a customer come in and activate 12 sim-unlocked US Cellular GS5s.They report that everything is working except SMS. What do I do?
*We do have an unapproved laptop laying around, and I do have Kies installed on it. I've never used it though, and nobody in the store wants to be liable for bricking a phone. With the right customer, I'd be willing to try it through Kies if that's something it is capable of. But as a large store, that's not a viable solution for most customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense, I'm actually trying to do the opposite and move my Verizon S5 and S3 to T-Mobile. (Verizon phone reps, through six separate phone calls, gave me six different stories of how to unlock my phone. I'm experiencing hiccups as I go - T-Mobile gave me some misinformation as well.)
They were able to change a lot of settings for their network, there are still SMS issues and other random odd issues. Maybe that's the nature of it?
I haven't looked into this in over a year, but I was under the impression that Verizon operates on an IMEI white list, i.e. ONLY Verizon branded phones are allowed on the network. When a user attempts to activate a phone on the network, it's IMEI is checked against the list of IMEIs for every phone Verizon has sold. If it's IMEI is not on that list because it's a non-carrier branded phone or it's another carrier's version of the phone it will not be allowed on the network regardless of hardware compatibility.
From what I recall, this was also the reason that Nexus 7 LTE buyers were screwed by Verizon. Verizon was advertised as supporting the tablet because legally they had to due to the open access provision they agreed to when they purchased their LTE spectrum. Up to that point Verizon had operated with a white list as I described above. They were able to get away with this despite the open access provision because they run voice and text over the older 2G and 3G networks on which they have not agreed to open access. When the tablet came out, for months Verizon had no system in place to activate it because the IMEIs were not on the white list. Users were able to successfully connect to the network with a SIM activated in another tablet proving that it was not a hardware issue.
Has this changed in the last year? If so that great news!
---------- Post added at 12:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
I just Googled it, and based on information from November when the Nexus 6 came out, Verizon still operates on a white list, but it's only for activating NEW LINES. Verizon will not allow you to activate a new line with a non-Verizon branded phone, however, once the SIM has been activated, if it is placed in a non-white listed phone, that phone will be allowed on the network.
Some people suggest that you can take the IMEI of a floor model at the Verizon store and enter that when you order a SIM CARD, and that will allow for activation. I cannot personally verify this as I'm not a Verizon customer, and I'm not sure if the SIM activation process requires an actual phone with a white listed IMEI.
---------- Post added at 12:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------
Also OP, have you verified that the handsets with SMS problems support all of Verizon's 2G and 3G network frequencies? From what I recall, Verizon still runs voice and SMS over its legacy 2G/3G networks. I'm not sure if they've implemented Volte yet, but it's likely that older handsets and even some newer ones don't support it, especially if they don't have a Verizon ROM. It's possible that a handset could support only Verizon's LTE frequencies or support everything except it's 3G frequencies for example. If it supports only the LTE frequencies, data could work while voice and SMS don't. If voice and SMS are run over different frequencies it's possible that only one of the two will work.
Information on supported frequencies can be tough to find for phones sold in the US. The information is readily available for the same phones sold anywhere else in the world. The most plausible explanation is that this is because the US carriers insist upon it. They've been forced to start unlocking phones that in the past they've been able to permanently lock to their own networks for domestic use. To combat the emergence of a free marketplace where customers are free to move to a carrier offering a better deal, the carriers have started specifying that their carrier branded versions of the phone be shipped with firmware (possibly also hardware variations) that does not support the frequencies of other US carriers. That way, the phone is "unlocked," but it still won't work on other US networks, so they've managed to sidestep the legislation and continue screwing over consumers.
If the supported frequencies aren't listed on the manufacturer website, you can find them in FCC testing documents.
If customers do have a problem where voice or SMS doesn't work because the frequency isn't supported, they could use a Google voice number for calls and SMS over the data network using the Hangouts app. It works great for me. Your employer definitely would not approve of this suggestion though, since it compromises the way they've artificially limited their technology to force consumers to pay more. All calls and texts to/from a Google voice number are totally free when you're on a Wifi network, and the number is device agnostic, so there's no barrier at all to switching phones or carriers. Verizon wants to use your phone number to make switching as inconvenient as possible, so they don't want you using a cloud based phone number.
I have been entering the sprint code every couple hrs to get my calls to work. Project Fi support has no idea why or what is going on. The had me run a bug report. Hopefully that will get this resolved. Any one else on Project Fi having this issue?
Jayson
Still waiting to hear back from Project Fi team. I just spoke with the Nexus support team and was told there is no going back to 6.0 from 6.0.1. The tech I spoke with said that they have logged 7 calls with the same issue me. Mine now makes it 8.
Even though I am a bit frustrated with this issue Google support folks are 1000 times more knowledgeable and easier to work with than Verizon. This company gets how to treat and deal with customers.
Still not working yet. Google is going to give me credit for the inconvenience but I am beginning to lose faith in them getting this resolved. Switches back to T-Mobile and I keep missing calls. Uhhhhg. I really want to stay with Project Fi but I may be forced to look elsewhere for cellular service.
Have you tried *#*#34963#*#* ?
I had a similiar issue to you.
Where I live and where I work I get a stronger signal from Sprint than T-mobile.
After I updated my phone to 6.0.1 I had problems connecting to Sprint's network.
I used the "FI XME" dialer code and that seemed to fix my issue:
*#*#34963#*#*
I found a post in the Nexus 6 forums with the Project Fi dialer codes:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/project-fi-fi-dialer-codes-to-force-t3132393
Another reference for the Project Fi dialer codes:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/IkOy8ZGNyPk
Hope this helps.
I'm not on FI, got the sim card just haven't switched yet lol. Ummmmmm see my thread my phone is getting horrid LTE speeds, I put in a ticket. And I'm on T-Mobile this is crazy
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Tried all the codes. Hopefully Google Tech support will have an answer soon.
jaysong said:
Tried all the codes. Hopefully Google Tech support will have an answer soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does T-mobile service work where you are, did you have it before?
Yes. T mobile is strongest signal where I am . Worked great until the update.
Look up it may be related to this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6p/help/lte-issues-6-0-1-radio-canadian-carriers-t3267270
Here's the google issue: https://code.google.com/p/android/i...tars Reporter Opened&groupby=&sort=&id=197102
jaysong said:
Yes. T mobile is strongest signal where I am . Worked great until the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes then that's a problem, the Google update to 6.0.1 has caused all kinds of radio problems so let's hope they fix it quickly.
My issue seems a different. The Data and texting works fine on WiFI only, Sprint and T-Mobile. The issue is calling in and out on T-Mobile. Instant failure.
I'm having the same problem but I think it only happens when the phone connects to band 12 LTE on T-mobile. It seems that VoLTE isn't working properly. Can you check what T-mobile band you are on using this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blueline.signalchecklite
Says Provider: T-Mobile B4
I'm having the issue where my data speeds suck. Since update
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Possible fix
Hey jaysong try dialing *#*#info#*#* enter phone information the upper right corner tap the 3 dots select the band and then select USA band. Once i did that my t-mobile calls starting working. Please let me know if this works for you.
toves75 said:
Hey jaysong try dialing *#*#info#*#* enter phone information the upper right corner tap the 3 dots select the band and then select USA band. Once i did that my t-mobile calls starting working. Please let me know if this works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be careful! I did this on my last 6P and it completely messed up my radio and prevented me from making calls on Sprint (no it wasn't because of the SIM card as I tried 3 of them) . I had to RMA my device. My advice is not to mess with that menu. I have done it on other devices without issue but it seems as though once selected it cannot be undone.
I just found out yesterday that the engineers have not even looked at my bug reports yet. They were sent to them yesterday from what I was told. They also had me order a new sim card as well to rule that out. The support or lack there of up to yesterday has be ridiculously unacceptable. I get the feeling that they are just trying to pacify me and not doing anything in hopes that a new release will come out an magically fix this issue. Very frustrating.
Problem Fixed. After dealing with this for several days I asked a supervisor how long was acceptable to leave a customer with an open issue affecting cellular service and to be missing calls. He provided me a RMA and a new phone was sent. All seems to be work with the New replacement phone they sent.
bigdave79 said:
Be careful! I did this on my last 6P and it completely messed up my radio and prevented me from making calls on Sprint (no it wasn't because of the SIM card as I tried 3 of them) . I had to RMA my device. My advice is not to mess with that menu. I have done it on other devices without issue but it seems as though once selected it cannot be undone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes be very careful in that menu. I was just looking at the menu and my finger some how hit a different band. Took me about 4 hours to figure out how to fix it. There are some tuts here on that issue that will help. Also there's a way to get the international bands to show up
I'm gonna make a post here since NOTHING seems to be working. I'm a T-Mobile customer. Yesterday, I purchased a great condition nexus 6P from someone because my LG G5 is cracked and I was getting tired of it anyway so I opted to just buy a nexus instead of using my insurance on that phone. Everything is all good except for one major issue. VOLTE and WiFi calling just refuse to work with my sim in the Nexus.
I've called T-Mobile twice. I've factory reset from back up and reset settings twice. I've hard reset from stock recovery once. I've wiped network settings and restored default apns. I've manually changed the apns from what I see on Google, reddit and here. I've copied my apns from my LG G5 where VOLTE and wifi calling work perfectly fine. I've cleared cache. I've cleared the cache of the project fi and hangouts apps just in case there's something left over from the previous owner. I've gone into the *#*#4636 menu and tried a bunch of different stuff several times but no matter what I absolutely can not get wifi calling or VOLTE to work with TMobile on my nexus 6P. LTE it's self works perfectly fine for data.
Yes, all settings for wifi calling and enhanced LTE calling and VOLTE are turned on lol. I've tried the trick where you toggle wifi preferred on and off and restart the phone. Nothing happens. I don't even get a wifi calling reg error. It never shows as active in the data toggle in the quick settings are nor the status bar or dialer. It just isn't active. Same for VOLTE. I AM getting band 12. I can see it in the LTE discovery app. VOLTE just isn't working though. Whenever I make a call I can see LTE switching off and it switches to HSPA therefore making calls really difficult in my shoddy signal area at my house which is why I really need it to work.
I'm fairly certain I can root and install a ROM which will fix these problems but I don't own a PC. . I thought MAYBE the previous owner had previously had the phone rooted and tinkered with something somewhere that may have messed something up but that doesn't appear to be the case. Bootloader is locked and recovery is stock.
Can anybody help and tell me what in the world is going on here? I don't want to have to sell this nexus and revert back to my cracked screen G5. I would just switch carriers but I still owe money on the G5 so I was just gonna ride it out til I payed it off.
O and one last thing, after scowling google and forums for hours on end yesterday and today I did see one post mentioning something about this stuff being related to IMS provisioning and settings which are tied to a phones IMEI on T-Mobile and not the sim card and how that person simply called T-Mobile and got a hold of wifi calling technical support who was clueless but created a ticket for him and within 72 hours the issue was resolved. OK well I did the same exact thing and they refuse to create a ticket for me because it's not a T-Mobile phone and because according to them they are not allowed to create a ticket because wifi calling works fine in my G5 and therefore it's the phone and not them or their network lol. What a crock. I'm willing to bet if I put the sim in another unlocked phone with 7.1.1 and wifi calling fully available that it isn't going to work either. There's some sort of communication error going on between the sim being in this phone and their network it appears.
Check these screenshots out. T-Mobile is clueless
http://imgur.com/5MuO34s
http://imgur.com/XVd8CdA
http://imgur.com/uUGN3ae
http://imgur.com/cfYxfqh
I can only suggest;
1) Find a PC and re-flash the latest factory images from Google. Both "fastboot flashing unlock" and "fastboot flashing lock" will wipe all data, so backup first. Also confirm it fully boots correctly after flashing before you re-lock the bootloader.
2) Get a new 3-in-1 SIMM from T-Mobile. You can use their web site to switch cards and give it 24 hours to be fully provisioned.
3) Confirm your E911 address is correct on T-Mobile's site and wait 24 hours after any changes for Wi-Fi calling to actually start working.
I HAVE THE SAME EXACT PROBLEM AS YOU POSTED!!! GONE THRU THE SAME PAIN. LOL I'll attempt the ticket thing to see if I get anywhere. Did you ever get it resolved?
EDIT:
My theory is that since the phone was used in Project FI, they specifically turn off this feature in the back end for the specific phones, by Imei or something since project FI uses T-Mobile as well.
EDIT 2:
they wont' create a ticket for me either. I guess I will just have to ride it out.
EDIT 3: I FIXED IT!! NEXUS 6P VOLTE AND WI-FI CALLING FIX T-MOBILE
I flashed back to android 6.0 Build#: MMB29N (I used the Nexus ToolKit 2.1.9: google it. BTW, your phone will be wiped, so backup first) VOLTE just started working with this version of android 6.0. Then I upgraded using the OTAs and now i'm on 7.1.1 build#: N4F260 with VOLTE and Wifi calling working as it should! I hope this helps someone out there!
For what it's worth, reverting to the build you mentioned fixed it for me on my two Nexus phones coming from Project Fi to T-Mobile as well! Thanks for the help!
You only need to install the radio from build MMB29N. I did this by downloading the build from the android website. Extract the radio from the zip and install it (I used nexus root toolkit but you can also just use flashboot if you wanted). This means you don't even need to revert your image and lose your data.
banancanard said:
You only need to install the radio from build MMB29N. I did this by downloading the build from the android website. Extract the radio from the zip and install it (I used nexus root toolkit but you can also just use flashboot if you wanted). This means you don't even need to revert your image and lose your data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wish I had seen this sooner. cheers!
Had the exact same issue and this fix worked for me. Wasted a couple of hours with T-mobile (they were actually very helpful and debugged everything on their end to confirm the provisioning was good) and then 2+ hours with Google support. Actually had already filed for a device replacement which I canceled after finding this post.
I'm so glad I found this thread - my VoLTE and WiFi calling has not been working on T-Mobile and I'm anxious to give this a try. Numerous phone calls and support tickets with T-Mobile haven't resolved the issue. I don't know much other than how to follow detailed directions. My phone isn't rooted and bootloader is locked. I'm on Android version 7.1.2. Is there a way for me to install the MMB29N radio on my Nexus 6P without losing my app data given that my bootloader is locked?
k2kevink2 said:
I'm so glad I found this thread - my VoLTE and WiFi calling has not been working on T-Mobile and I'm anxious to give this a try. Numerous phone calls and support tickets with T-Mobile haven't resolved the issue. I don't know much other than how to follow detailed directions. My phone isn't rooted and bootloader is locked. I'm on Android version 7.1.2. Is there a way for me to install the MMB29N radio on my Nexus 6P without losing my app data given that my bootloader is locked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing the radio -sadly- requires an unlocked bootloader.
Did you resolve your problem?
In android 7.1.2 did you notice in Set preferred network type is set at " LTE/GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) "? 7.1.2 has been giving me issues with sms/mms. I noticed Android 6.0 has this set to correct T-mobile bands.
All works for me in 7.1.2. Make sure you don't download the Verizon version of the stock ROM. That was my issue why I couldn't have volte and Wi-Fi calling
My husband and I both have a stock N910T. When we woke up yesterday neither phone would get signal, and not even make wifi call. Went to TMo shop today they told me that they were no longer sending signal to Note 4's (Thanks for the heads up TMo). We really like these phones and I wonder if I could root them and flash a stable ROM and get service on them again. When I pull the sim it shows 5 bars, put the sim back and X. I have rooted many phones, but not since I got this one 6 years ago, so I'm sure I'm a bit rusty.
Any advice highly appreciated. TIA
I'm in the same boat with the note edge. It stopped working friday night for me. Put the sim in a stock note 4 and same thing, so I thought my sim card died. Went to the tmobile store on saturday and they said 2 people had came in with the same issue and they had note 4s.
What I don't understand is how they can just stop supporting a phone. I thought that if it accepts the sim card and has the proper bands it'll work. I mean for ****s sake my car takes a tmobile sim for a hotspot and traffic updates.
same exact. i just factory reset and updated stock to see if it would fix but it wont. Any solutions here??
Try to:
a. flash a custom TWRP (recovery) with Odin
IMPORTANT - after you flash TWRP PLEASE TAKE A FULL BACK-UP!
b. flash a custom ROM with root
c. why root? because you can change the build.prop file and "pretend" to be another phone (newer more likely) so that the lovely t-mobile can still allow your phone to connect to the network.
This way you have zero costs, you keep your note 4.
Unless it's too complicated or the procrastination level is TDH (too damn high)
Or you have the cash and buy something new(er).
There's info on this forum about all these steps.
Before you do anything - go and read, search on this forums and on youtube. There are a LOT of tutorials.
Please be careful and READ. Get educated about custom recovery/ROM's.
You will get good knowledge and your satisfaction on make things work will be enormous.
You will be responsible on your actions with the phone.
Good luck.
mine is already rooted with a custom rom. which parameters do you recommend changing in build.prop?
my audi is older than the note 4 and data works fine and calls work on a motorola L6 from 2005, so I doubt it's the age.
someone on reddit came up with a temporary solution until they fix this. you'll lose 4g/LTE tho
To set to 3G/2G turn on airplane mode and enter *#2263#* on the phone dialer. Then select GSM/WCDMA Auto. After that turn airplane mode off.
Hey all - same issue here - Note 4 stopped working Friday morning. I tried everything on my end (factory reset, ROM flash, SIM swap, etc). I even tore the phone down and checked the connections. I ordered a replacement SIM / SD card tray reader thinking that was the issue. Now I hear others having the same issue. I live in Colorado FWIW. Calling into T-Mobile now to see if I can get some info here.
---------- Post added at 02:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 PM ----------
After speaking on the phone with a tech support person, T-Mobile reported that they were aware of an issue with Note 4 users not being able to access the network. They said that they "were in contact with Samsung and were actively working on an issue" and reassured me that they would have a solution for customers soon. I sure hope so because I do not want to give up my Note 4!
Note 4 user here too. This sucks. I did the workaround on the dialer posted in one of the above posts, and now it connects. Says 4G at the top, but probably only 3G. That's fine for me in the meantime, but not acceptable in the long run. I just spent 2 days wiping the phone, unrooting, etc only to find this now! Got lots of work to do to get it back to my rooted state. Thankfully I have the backups to do it, just have to find the time now. Thanks T-Mobile!!
Has anyone heard any more on this issue?
Just had the same issue. Called T-mobile support and they had no idea of a widespread issue, said it was likely HW failure. I got a new SIM and that didn't help. Called local cellphone repair shop and they indicated they'd had several calls about this issue and fixed at least one so far by replacing the card reader. I applied the workaround above and got the phone working again so I don't understand why a new card reader is going to fix this.
Note 4 seems like it's back working on T-Mobile as of last night.
HI I purchased galaxy note 4 3 years ago in the first time I put him on i has that problem yet
But I live in curacao in the Caribbean and I think that the mother board was not good.
Then I has flight to medellin Colombia with the phone he began working I was glad but when I arrived to curacao from medellin the same problem
Sometimes he is working sometime not
I have the same problem T-mobile N910T
jalsing said:
Note 4 seems like it's back working on T-Mobile as of last night.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update! I reversed the workaround I applied earlier and mine is back to 4G LTE now.
Any update on this issue?
The N915-T is spotty and I'm trying to figure out why. It was officially kicked off the network by T-Mobile, but it still works. It connects to most towers but not to a particular one. Whenever I'm on that block the network can not be found. If I walk two blocks away it would connect to another tower and I can make calls. If I walk back toward the 'faulty' tower while on the call, the quality would degrade, the call drops and the phone would lose signal.
This would NOT happen with other phones - not even an older Galaxy S2.
This is likely a different issue altogether, as the phone actually connects and works elsewhere. I'm just hoping someone has an idea.
Hello,
I am new to this site, and have a burning question I am trying to find an answer for.
So AT&T has been my carrier since about 2014. In July of 2019, I purchased an unlocked S8 from Amazon for about $350 Description says it is: Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB Factory Unlocked Smartphone - US Version (Midnight Black) - US Warranty - [SM-G950UZKAXAA]. In the settings, the model number is listed as: SM-G950U1.
Recently, I received a message from AT&T saying that they are shutting down their 3G network in February of 2022, and that my phone will no longer work on their network. I went into one of their stores and showed them that my phone operates on LTE, but I was told that is for data only and voice operates on 3G. I could not remember the VoLTE name at the time, but mentioned that my phone had the capability to operate on LTE. They refused to go thru settings with me, and told me that my phone will stop working in February. Period. End of story. Also, I was told the same thing that the message states, that they are sending me a new phone and will be deactivating my phone after 30 days.
Now some of my friends are laughing at me saying, "Dang free phones!" But I do not want a 5G phone (which is obviously what they are sending). I have my reasons and this is not what I wish to discuss here.
The issue is... I love my telephone!! It does exactly what I want, and I don't need anything new. Not to mention that I paid for it entirely, with no subsidy from AT&T. I specifically bought it unlocked with intentions of avoiding contracts and having the ability to switch carriers if I so choose.
I am pretty sure that I saw VoLTE mentioned in my settings a while back. But now a search on my phone finds nothing. I assume a firmware update hid this info from me.
So... what gives? Does anybody here know if this particular device can make/receive voice calls using VoLTE - on AT&T (or any other carriers) - simply by changing settings in the phone? Do I have any options to make my phone continue to operate as intended? With any carrier?
Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Steve
willnotbecontrolled said:
Hello,
I am new to this site, and have a burning question I am trying to find an answer for.
So AT&T has been my carrier since about 2014. In July of 2019, I purchased an unlocked S8 from Amazon for about $350 Description says it is: Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB Factory Unlocked Smartphone - US Version (Midnight Black) - US Warranty - [SM-G950UZKAXAA]. In the settings, the model number is listed as: SM-G950U1.
Recently, I received a message from AT&T saying that they are shutting down their 3G network in February of 2022, and that my phone will no longer work on their network. I went into one of their stores and showed them that my phone operates on LTE, but I was told that is for data only and voice operates on 3G. I could not remember the VoLTE name at the time, but mentioned that my phone had the capability to operate on LTE. They refused to go thru settings with me, and told me that my phone will stop working in February. Period. End of story. Also, I was told the same thing that the message states, that they are sending me a new phone and will be deactivating my phone after 30 days.
Now some of my friends are laughing at me saying, "Dang free phones!" But I do not want a 5G phone (which is obviously what they are sending). I have my reasons and this is not what I wish to discuss here.
The issue is... I love my telephone!! It does exactly what I want, and I don't need anything new. Not to mention that I paid for it entirely, with no subsidy from AT&T. I specifically bought it unlocked with intentions of avoiding contracts and having the ability to switch carriers if I so choose.
I am pretty sure that I saw VoLTE mentioned in my settings a while back. But now a search on my phone finds nothing. I assume a firmware update hid this info from me.
So... what gives? Does anybody here know if this particular device can make/receive voice calls using VoLTE - on AT&T (or any other carriers) - simply by changing settings in the phone? Do I have any options to make my phone continue to operate as intended? With any carrier?
Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue with crickett (att).
got that txt msg, recently maybe december there was a firmware update that greyed out my network settings and hid some items.
i cant even change my prefered network, 3g 4g lte etc, its locked..
I have the 950u1 also
HOWEVER I have a s8 950U that I think has all these unlocked.
Im going to backup and odin flash the U firmware to the UI and see if it works.
Thats bull**** about doing this. greedy ****s..
I go with somone else if I have to.
willnotbecontrolled said:
Hello,
I am new to this site, and have a burning question I am trying to find an answer for.
So AT&T has been my carrier since about 2014. In July of 2019, I purchased an unlocked S8 from Amazon for about $350 Description says it is: Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB Factory Unlocked Smartphone - US Version (Midnight Black) - US Warranty - [SM-G950UZKAXAA]. In the settings, the model number is listed as: SM-G950U1.
Recently, I received a message from AT&T saying that they are shutting down their 3G network in February of 2022, and that my phone will no longer work on their network. I went into one of their stores and showed them that my phone operates on LTE, but I was told that is for data only and voice operates on 3G. I could not remember the VoLTE name at the time, but mentioned that my phone had the capability to operate on LTE. They refused to go thru settings with me, and told me that my phone will stop working in February. Period. End of story. Also, I was told the same thing that the message states, that they are sending me a new phone and will be deactivating my phone after 30 days.
Now some of my friends are laughing at me saying, "Dang free phones!" But I do not want a 5G phone (which is obviously what they are sending). I have my reasons and this is not what I wish to discuss here.
The issue is... I love my telephone!! It does exactly what I want, and I don't need anything new. Not to mention that I paid for it entirely, with no subsidy from AT&T. I specifically bought it unlocked with intentions of avoiding contracts and having the ability to switch carriers if I so choose.
I am pretty sure that I saw VoLTE mentioned in my settings a while back. But now a search on my phone finds nothing. I assume a firmware update hid this info from me.
So... what gives? Does anybody here know if this particular device can make/receive voice calls using VoLTE - on AT&T (or any other carriers) - simply by changing settings in the phone? Do I have any options to make my phone continue to operate as intended? With any carrier?
Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
press phone icon, then top right corner hit the 3 vertical dots.
select settings and it should be in there if you havent updated lately... they ****ed us and locked out network and volte settings.
djmdesign said:
Same issue with crickett (att).
got that txt msg, recently maybe december there was a firmware update that greyed out my network settings and hid some items.
i cant even change my prefered network, 3g 4g lte etc, its locked..
I have the 950u1 also
HOWEVER I have a s8 950U that I think has all these unlocked.
Im going to backup and odin flash the U firmware to the UI and see if it works.
Thats bull**** about doing this. greedy ****s..
I go with somone else if I have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please let me know if this works. I thought about doing the same thing, but have not gotten around to trying it. In theory, it sounds like a solid plan. But I have a couple of concerns.
During a recent phone call, AT&T told me their system has flagged my IMEI and that my phone will stop working very soon. So, if the system flagged an IMEI as an unsupported device, will it even matter which firmware is installed? Or will their system just deactivate the phone at some point?
Second, if you install the 950U firmware in place of the 950U1, will the device become carrier locked at this point? That would really suck if it did.
BTW, I was able to lock preferred network to “LTE only” by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and entering Device information screen. Unfortunately, my phone would not complete a call when using LTE only setting. VoLTE provisioned toggle is greyed out, along with others. Seems to me that if a guy could self provision VoLTE, this would solve the issue.
I called AT&T tech support and spent 45 minutes trying to get them to provision VoLTE, but they could not, or would not do it. At first, they kept telling me that my phone is a 3G phone. I argued that I could change the radio to “LTE only” and that my sim card status showed LTE for “mobile voice network type”, which proves that the phone is indeed LTE capable for voice calls - but that it will not complete a call because it is not provisioned to do so. Eventually they told me that their system would not allow them to provision VoLTE for me, since it is flagged as an unsupported device. Which leads back to the first part of this post.
I also found some stuff on reddit about putting the phone into “engineering mode” and something about a Samsung tool that unlocks additional dialer codes. Have not tried this, tho.
At this point, I am just completely fed up with AT&T for this whole S8 situation, as well as other unrelated issues. I will most likely switch carriers for principle’s sake, even though I know other carriers play similar games.
Anyway, I am interested in whether or not you find a solution and would very much like to hear about it. Thank you for the response!!
willnotbecontrolled said:
Please let me know if this works. I thought about doing the same thing, but have not gotten around to trying it. In theory, it sounds like a solid plan. But I have a couple of concerns.
During a recent phone call, AT&T told me their system has flagged my IMEI and that my phone will stop working very soon. So, if the system flagged an IMEI as an unsupported device, will it even matter which firmware is installed? Or will their system just deactivate the phone at some point?
Second, if you install the 950U firmware in place of the 950U1, will the device become carrier locked at this point? That would really suck if it did.
BTW, I was able to lock preferred network to “LTE only” by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and entering Device information screen. Unfortunately, my phone would not complete a call when using LTE only setting. VoLTE provisioned toggle is greyed out, along with others. Seems to me that if a guy could self provision VoLTE, this would solve the issue.
I called AT&T tech support and spent 45 minutes trying to get them to provision VoLTE, but they could not, or would not do it. At first, they kept telling me that my phone is a 3G phone. I argued that I could change the radio to “LTE only” and that my sim card status showed LTE for “mobile voice network type”, which proves that the phone is indeed LTE capable for voice calls - but that it will not complete a call because it is not provisioned to do so. Eventually they told me that their system would not allow them to provision VoLTE for me, since it is flagged as an unsupported device. Which leads back to the first part of this post.
I also found some stuff on reddit about putting the phone into “engineering mode” and something about a Samsung tool that unlocks additional dialer codes. Have not tried this, tho.
At this point, I am just completely fed up with AT&T for this whole S8 situation, as well as other unrelated issues. I will most likely switch carriers for principle’s sake, even though I know other carriers play similar games.
Anyway, I am interested in whether or not you find a solution and would very much like to hear about it. Thank you for the response!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I'm Newbie around here. I'd like to share my experience with ATT and my beloved S8+ this past few months:
Much like you and many others I started receiving texts from ATT by mid 2021 saying my phone would not work after Feb '22. Yes, every time they suspended my line I wasted 30~ 40 mins on the phone, listening how they would insist my S8+ was a 3G phone. It didn't matter that I offered to send them screenshots of my device showing the "VoLTE option" and "4G LTE" while both in the USA and Mexico. Thing is, they only based their saying on a st....id whitelist and all the reps are just talking heads.
I use an S8+ international version which is NOT on the dreaded list. and I am on the 300/year prepaid plan which allows roaming between Mexico and USA with no 50/50 usage limit.
I bought this phone on amazon for 350-ish bucks a couple of years ago and I love it!
I have to cross the Mexico/USA border very frequently and I need two separate numbers one on each country for business reasons so dual sim is a must. On the other hand, I receive lots and lots of phone calls while driving, this made me crave for android 8.1 when call recording was allowed by google, not the case anymore. None of these 2 features are available on the S8/S9 US based phones. I do not need 5G, I do not use social media nor watch videos on my phone but do get to use Pandora, Spotify, MLB radio and so on......... Enter SM-G955F/DS. I was able to change Samsung's CSC code to Israel so call recording is active for all those notes I cannot write down while driving and I get to carry just one device with 2 separate numbers thanks to a dual sim.
Ok, so back to my phone not being on the f... list :
Around Feb 10th, I got yet another email and SMS telling me it was my last opportunity to change or I MAY be disconnected after 2/22/22 ( funny choice of date huh?). I noticed that words on email and text messages had been changed from WILL NOT on Jul/2021 to MAY NOT work on Feb/2022. Since I know for a fact that my phone is VoLTE capable, I figured my S8+ would work as long as AT&T did not intentionally disconnected my line.
So, I took a crappy phoenix ATT phone and updated it's IMEI on my account via the ATT prepaid webpage. After getting "approval" from ATT's system, I put the SIM card in and used it for a full weekend. After that, I put the SIM card back to my S8+ and it is still going strong to date.
Today is March 1st, and I have been weary of ATT sneaking me out of their system but fortunately it has not happened yet. Needless to say, I have not updated my S8's IMEI on ATT's webpage and do not intend to do so.
Now, This "proves" that my phone is indeed capable of using VoLTE and HD , and all those things ATT said it would not do is just plain B.S.. if they disconnect me down the road I would definitely move to T Mobile although I would have some issues with the 50/50 international roaming and I still have 8 months left on my prepaid annual plan with ATT so, keeping my fingers crossed.
AT&T just wants to make more money out of selling new 5G devices while getting rid of their stocked 4G phones.
I wouldn't mind if they just plain out stated " If you do not buy from ATT then ATT will not support your device and will not sell service to you" then again, it would probably be a PR nightmare for them although they do that for WIFI calling anyways.
Ain't it funny how 2/22/22 is coincidentally a paycheck's time ( 2 weeks) after a new flagship phone (S22) was made available for purchase ?
Anyways, enough for ranting and conspiracy theories lol...
I have taken out and put back to my S8+ the SIM card two times in the past 9 days after 2/22/22 and my service is still in good standing.
Maybe if you got a new replacement phone that you don't like, you may swap back your SIM card and it MAY work just like mine is even if it is NOT ON THE INFAMOUS WHITE LIST.
Oldschoolguy said:
Hi, I'm Newbie around here. I'd like to share my experience with ATT and my beloved S8+ this past few months:
Much like you and many others I started receiving texts from ATT by mid 2021 saying my phone would not work after Feb '22. Yes, every time they suspended my line I wasted 30~ 40 mins on the phone, listening how they would insist my S8+ was a 3G phone. It didn't matter that I offered to send them screenshots of my device showing the "VoLTE option" and "4G LTE" while both in the USA and Mexico. Thing is, they only based their saying on a st....id whitelist and all the reps are just talking heads.
I use an S8+ international version which is NOT on the dreaded list. and I am on the 300/year prepaid plan which allows roaming between Mexico and USA with no 50/50 usage limit.
I bought this phone on amazon for 350-ish bucks a couple of years ago and I love it!
I have to cross the Mexico/USA border very frequently and I need two separate numbers one on each country for business reasons so dual sim is a must. On the other hand, I receive lots and lots of phone calls while driving, this made me crave for android 8.1 when call recording was allowed by google, not the case anymore. None of these 2 features are available on the S8/S9 US based phones. I do not need 5G, I do not use social media nor watch videos on my phone but do get to use Pandora, Spotify, MLB radio and so on......... Enter SM-G955F/DS. I was able to change Samsung's CSC code to Israel so call recording is active for all those notes I cannot write down while driving and I get to carry just one device with 2 separate numbers thanks to a dual sim.
Ok, so back to my phone not being on the f... list :
Around Feb 10th, I got yet another email and SMS telling me it was my last opportunity to change or I MAY be disconnected after 2/22/22 ( funny choice of date huh?). I noticed that words on email and text messages had been changed from WILL NOT on Jul/2021 to MAY NOT work on Feb/2022. Since I know for a fact that my phone is VoLTE capable, I figured my S8+ would work as long as AT&T did not intentionally disconnected my line.
So, I took a crappy phoenix ATT phone and updated it's IMEI on my account via the ATT prepaid webpage. After getting "approval" from ATT's system, I put the SIM card in and used it for a full weekend. After that, I put the SIM card back to my S8+ and it is still going strong to date.
Today is March 1st, and I have been weary of ATT sneaking me out of their system but fortunately it has not happened yet. Needless to say, I have not updated my S8's IMEI on ATT's webpage and do not intend to do so.
Now, This "proves" that my phone is indeed capable of using VoLTE and HD , and all those things ATT said it would not do is just plain B.S.. if they disconnect me down the road I would definitely move to T Mobile although I would have some issues with the 50/50 international roaming and I still have 8 months left on my prepaid annual plan with ATT so, keeping my fingers crossed.
AT&T just wants to make more money out of selling new 5G devices while getting rid of their stocked 4G phones.
I wouldn't mind if they just plain out stated " If you do not buy from ATT then ATT will not support your device and will not sell service to you" then again, it would probably be a PR nightmare for them although they do that for WIFI calling anyways.
Ain't it funny how 2/22/22 is coincidentally a paycheck's time ( 2 weeks) after a new flagship phone (S22) was made available for purchase ?
Anyways, enough for ranting and conspiracy theories lol...
I have taken out and put back to my S8+ the SIM card two times in the past 9 days after 2/22/22 and my service is still in good standing.
Maybe if you got a new replacement phone that you don't like, you may swap back your SIM card and it MAY work just like mine is even if it is NOT ON THE INFAMOUS WHITE LIST.
View attachment 5549949View attachment 5549951View attachment 5549953View attachment 5549955
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep... AT&T is full of it. I got sick of wasting my time and energy trying to fight this. I eventually just switched over to TMo, and I have been running around with my S8's radio set to LTE only. No issues whatsoever. Great cell service, $30 bucks a month cheaper, all fees included in the flat rate, and a free Netflix account, to boot.
See ya AT&T!!! I hope some group with the the gumption and time takes you to court for your deceptive trade practices. I hope you lose lots of customers, time, and money for your douchery!!!
Has anyone looked into potentially using ODIN to use AT&T's firmware on the unbranded G950U1 without rooting to see if it adds the VoLTE software feature? Does anyone know if that flashing will disable (permanently break) samsung pay? I don't want any rooting since that will permanently break samsung pay on the hardware.