Database Users

If you could do it all over again, what carriers Galaxy tablet would you buy

I have the Verizon one, It works well but that lack of development and inability of it to ever make calls has me ready to move on from it and get a GSM version. Im a bit confused as to which one to get. It seems as if the Att one is the way to go but I dont want to make another $500 mistake. So which one woud you get and why?
Please advise

AT&T version is the USA is the most flexiblr and best if you want to flash and customize because it has the same radio as most Euro versions.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

w4, have you done any custom stuff??

The Bell and Rogers Galaxy Tabs are good too since they're the same as the AT&T Tabs.
I have the Bell Tab. No issues at all.

I want to be able to use it as a phone, I see ATT is what is needed but just going in to the ATT store and purchasing a tablet with a month to month plan will I get all I need, after the mods here of course??

Bobby Buggs said:
I want to be able to use it as a phone, I see ATT is what is needed but just going in to the ATT store and purchasing a tablet with a month to month plan will I get all I need, after the mods here of course??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you already have an att phone with voice and data, then yes. Just insert your current sim card.

I'd stick with the verizon one because it works everywhere. Good luck getting anything from AT&T to work in the southeast, for example. AT&T is awful where I live and, in fact, when my AT&T contract is up this summer I will most likely ditch them and the AT&T iPhone for Verizon and their iPhone. Which is another reason I'd stick with Verizon...already have a phone and couldn't care less about making voice calls with a tablet, especially when there are so many options that work just fine on the tablet as it is.

markgamber said:
I'd stick with the verizon one because it works everywhere. Good luck getting anything from AT&T to work in the southeast, for example. AT&T is awful where I live and, in fact, when my AT&T contract is up this summer I will most likely ditch them and the AT&T iPhone for Verizon and their iPhone. Which is another reason I'd stick with Verizon...already have a phone and couldn't care less about making voice calls with a tablet, especially when there are so many options that work just fine on the tablet as it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
guess it depends on where you live. verizon is **** here, att is fantastic.

There are ways to use the Verizon tab as a phone...voip and/or sip. Using skype myself, but slightly unhappy with the way that the skype app goes to sleep and doesn't recieve incoming calls after a while.

[Q]

Ok,... a NOOB question.. (ok.. three questions) (and yes, I have looked around, and I did not see answers to my question… or i was too dim to understand it….. :/ )
Question 1)
I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile. my Note 3 is is unlocked, and rooted.
This is probably a silly question, but When I look at “ROMS” and “MODS” for my phone, should I be looking for an “AT&T “ phone? or a T-MOBILE” ?? is there any actual HARDWARE difference?
I have a SM-N900A (branded AT&T) … does that mean I can not use ROMS that are for the T-Mobile note 3s? or do I have to only use ROMS that are for the AT&T note 3?
Should I just sell my AT&T note 3, and buy a T-Mobile Note 3 ??
I would like to get rid of the AT&T bloatware… especially since I am no longer on their network.
I am not trying to go over the top with my phone, and I would like to be able keep the s-pen features (but I have to admit, I still need to LEARN how to use it better!)
Question 2)
I just tried to use my hotspot on my Note3, and I am gettingan "invalad sim" error...
I am guessing that I do nto have enough of the AT&T stuff out of it?
Question 3)
Another “feature” that I would like, (maybe a second question/thread?) if about tethering.. I have unlimited data on my phone, but as I understand it, they will only allow 2gigs as a hotspot. I think I read somewhere that some ROMS combine the two…
Thank you for any advice…
Danny

Okay, I can help you with a few of your questions...
Q1. Since your phone (the service provider doesn't matter, the hardware does) is ATT, you will need to get your Roms and such from the ATT area.
ATT, in all their ridiculous glory, locked the bootloader on our phones, and thus we have to SafeStrap in order to use roms.
It's a little wonky, but it's almost as good. Our development is growing and more roms are getting ported over every day.
But if you want more control over your device and can afford it, I would personally recommend to switch to a TMo device.
As for removing bloatware, most of the roms are pre slimmed, and you can fix the rest by freezing apps with TiBu. And you can still do that without losing the TouchWiz and SPen functions.
Q2. The Invalid sim issue is likely because you have a TMo sim card in ATT software. There's a Tether Provisioning app that can be frozen to prevent that.
Q3. I'm not too sure how TMo handles it's Tethering monitoring. You'll have to ask that in the TMo note forum.
I hope I could help you at all. =D
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app

Ryo Misaki said:
Okay, I can help you with a few of your questions...
Q1. Since your phone (the service provider doesn't matter, the hardware does) is ATT, you will need to get your Roms and such from the ATT area.
ATT, in all their ridiculous glory, locked the bootloader on our phones, and thus we have to SafeStrap in order to use roms.
It's a little wonky, but it's almost as good. Our development is growing and more roms are getting ported over every day.
But if you want more control over your device and can afford it, I would personally recommend to switch to a TMo device.
As for removing bloatware, most of the roms are pre slimmed, and you can fix the rest by freezing apps with TiBu. And you can still do that without losing the TouchWiz and SPen functions.
Q2. The Invalid sim issue is likely because you have a TMo sim card in ATT software. There's a Tether Provisioning app that can be frozen to prevent that.
Q3. I'm not too sure how TMo handles it's Tethering monitoring. You'll have to ask that in the TMo note forum.
I hope I could help you at all. =D
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the help!!
I have decided to buy myself a T-Mobile Note 3, and sell my AT&T version...
I had rooted my (using Kingo) about a month ago, to fix the GPS driver problem... But that was ALL I did, after rooting it... and I think this week, AT&T sent out an update (mandatory... cause I never saw it!)... which not only broke my "root" ... but broke my GPS again as well.
So now I say good bye to my brand new, with the EXTRA insuarance plan from Best Buy phone, and start looking for a used Note 3 that is not bootloader locked
AVOID AT&T
D

[Q] AT&T over Verizon

So my question is quite simple, and before I get flamed, yes I have tried searching. I don't think I'm typing the correct sequence of words if there is already something on this. I never post obviously, I normally creep and derive my answers that way. Obvious again that I've been here since 2012
My question is if there is a way / guide to overwrite/reprogram the phone with the AT&T firmware and software and replace the Verizon that is currently on the device. I brought the phone over from Verizon to AT&T and there are just a couple complications that are just a bother and Just over it.
I would appreciate any guidance and information any of you could provide on the subject.

RonniEdwards said:
So my question is quite simple, and before I get flamed, yes I have tried searching. I don't think I'm typing the correct sequence of words if there is already something on this. I never post obviously, I normally creep and derive my answers that way. Obvious again that I've been here since 2012
My question is if there is a way / guide to overwrite/reprogram the phone with the AT&T firmware and software and replace the Verizon that is currently on the device. I brought the phone over from Verizon to AT&T and there are just a couple complications that are just a bother and Just over it.
I would appreciate any guidance and information any of you could provide on the subject.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you can from a user stand point but when I was shopping around t-mobile store told me they would copy their firmware onto the phone so I could try their network. You may need to go to a store and talk to someone.

Since Verizon is CDMA and AT&T is GSM, I am not sure a simple firmware update is all that is needed to switch.

supersnackbar said:
Since Verizon is CDMA and AT&T is GSM, I am not sure a simple firmware update is all that is needed to switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought but they insisted they could do it. Maybe since there is a Sim slot it's easier on the the 3's.

Years ago you could almost swap sim cards and be good. Idk about it anymore. I think you would have to take all the system files/partitions and the radio and swap them for the carriers. Im sure someone else whos more, but i think it would be unreasonably hard to do.
Sent From My Galaxy Note 3

This thread is moving to T-Mobile, but the concept is the same for AT&T
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2582747
Sent from my Note 3 via Tapatalk

i believe that some services would work as the phone has some radios in it for the att bands, but you would be better off trading for an att version. swappa has stuff like that all the time to straight trade

Getting service to work and getting 4Glte was no issue. That just required me to manually input APNs that were AT&T specific and presto I have service and all that jazz. My issue is a couple of other small things that really aren't big hut just thst, annoying. That's why I was seeing about the software and firmware being flashed into the device.

New SM-g935fd owner in USA confused

I caveat by saying the forum would not let me post anywhere but the general forum right now so that's why I'm posting here.
I've read a bunch of conflicting threads and info lately but nothing concise in regards to what I'm trying to do and need some help.
This is my first ever android phone. I'm coming from an iPhone 6 as a heavy business user. WiFi Calling is extremely important because my house has terrible cell reception. I recently purchased an SM-G935FD (duos phone) and I'm a USA AT&T customer. I rooted the phone day one but had not yet swapped the SIM card. I chose the DUOs because I do quite a bit of international travel and I liked the hardware of the XYNOS platform better than snapdragon. Unfortunately I didn't realize or suspect that WiFI calling would potentially become a problem. I could care less about Samsung or Apple Pay for that matter, nor do I really care about Voltos. But wifi calling is a deal breaker.
I rooted the phone, and I put flash fire on there but really don't know how to use it. I found some people saying that my phone can accept both the SM-G935F firmwares and FD firmwares, but others who were skeptical. And people saying that there were firmwares that did have wifi calling enabled and others who said no.
At the moment I am back on the iPhone 6 because the Samsung is useless to me until I figure out how to get wifi calling enabled on there.
So... I'm confused. IS there a firmware I can flash my rooted unlocked S7 that will enable this? How exactly do I go about doing that with either flash fire or smart switch? I looked, but I am having difficulty finding a guide on doing this. The phone is already a paperweight, but I don't want to brick it as well lol.
Thanks for the help.

Usaf-lt-g said:
I caveat by saying the forum would not let me post anywhere but the general forum right now so that's why I'm posting here.
I've read a bunch of conflicting threads and info lately but nothing concise in regards to what I'm trying to do and need some help.
This is my first ever android phone. I'm coming from an iPhone 6 as a heavy business user. WiFi Calling is extremely important because my house has terrible cell reception. I recently purchased an SM-G935FD (duos phone) and I'm a USA AT&T customer. I rooted the phone day one but had not yet swapped the SIM card. I chose the DUOs because I do quite a bit of international travel and I liked the hardware of the XYNOS platform better than snapdragon. Unfortunately I didn't realize or suspect that WiFI calling would potentially become a problem. I could care less about Samsung or Apple Pay for that matter, nor do I really care about Voltos. But wifi calling is a deal breaker.
I rooted the phone, and I put flash fire on there but really don't know how to use it. I found some people saying that my phone can accept both the SM-G935F firmwares and FD firmwares, but others who were skeptical. And people saying that there were firmwares that did have wifi calling enabled and others who said no.
At the moment I am back on the iPhone 6 because the Samsung is useless to me until I figure out how to get wifi calling enabled on there.
So... I'm confused. IS there a firmware I can flash my rooted unlocked S7 that will enable this? How exactly do I go about doing that with either flash fire or smart switch? I looked, but I am having difficulty finding a guide on doing this. The phone is already a paperweight, but I don't want to brick it as well lol.
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u need to go read over the custom roms and recoverys forum for the s7 edge.

ecg803 said:
u need to go read over the custom roms and recoverys forum for the s7 edge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I think I got it figured out. I changed the CSC using TWRC over to an att USA CSC and that seems to have at least enabled the menus for this functionality. I haven't moved the SIM back over there to test it though.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would move this thread to the AT&T specific section. My understanding is that specific drivers are needed to do WiFi calling on AT&T and it's not baked in and the model you bought is not sold in the states whether it's sim unlocked or not. Also, why would you root/jailbreak a phone running an OS that you have no real experience with? If you can't get it to work then I'd return it and either buy the AT&T version outright an have them unlock it for you or go to Best Buy, Amazon or Samsung themselves and buy the single sim unlocked version. You may still have issues with that unlocked version if AT&T's Wifi calling is as locked up as I remember. T-Mobiles wifi calling works with your handset but it also has oddities such as the TMO sim must be in sim slot 1 to work. Because that model is not normally used with U.S. carriers .. they kinda don't give a crap about it so the work is on you.
Since this is your first Android phone .. I don't want you to think this is a problem with the OS or even with Samsung. It's just how things work. Apple allows carrier specific network files to be pushed to iOS where that's not the case with Android. I think maybe backup and stop hacking on things would be a good piece of advice. Take it for what it is. I just would like to prevent another iOS switcher from running around saying Android suck because things didn't go the way they thought would.
Cheers.

aergern said:
I would move this thread to the AT&T specific section. My understanding is that specific drivers are needed to do WiFi calling on AT&T and it's not baked in and the model you bought is not sold in the states whether it's sim unlocked or not. Also, why would you root/jailbreak a phone running an OS that you have no real experience with? If you can't get it to work then I'd return it and either buy the AT&T version outright an have them unlock it for you or go to Best Buy, Amazon or Samsung themselves and buy the single sim unlocked version. You may still have issues with that unlocked version if AT&T's Wifi calling is as locked up as I remember. T-Mobiles wifi calling works with your handset but it also has oddities such as the TMO sim must be in sim slot 1 to work. Because that model is not normally used with U.S. carriers .. they kinda don't give a crap about it so the work is on you.
Since this is your first Android phone .. I don't want you to think this is a problem with the OS or even with Samsung. It's just how things work. Apple allows carrier specific network files to be pushed to iOS where that's not the case with Android. I think maybe backup and stop hacking on things would be a good piece of advice. Take it for what it is. I just would like to prevent another iOS switcher from running around saying Android suck because things didn't go the way they thought would.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok slow down. I don't think any of that at all regarding saying or
Thinking android sucks nor would I make such a conclusion. Lol. Also couldn't put the thread there, wouldn't let me create a thread over there (said im "too newb")
I'm a LONG time older comp sci major who works for a software company and has been doing consulting for a number of years. All day every day I deal with every software imaginable. It just HAPPENS that this is my first android phone, and Therefore is not that familiar to me yet. The only reason I had an iPhone and idevices (all jailbroken) in the first place was because at the time, my company was locked to Apple mobile devices. I'm actually simultaneously working with piemessage to try and get a VM up and running to allow me to use iMessage on Android
Also I understand their may be some nuisances of screwing with other packages and drivers. I did do the CSC update and that "enabled" at least the menus and the ability to turn the features On. Whether or not it's working, I have no idea. Without a SIN card inserted however, I was able to place a cal using google hangouts dialer without any issue whatsoever, but as that is a different app then the actual phone dialer... I'm not sure if that proves anything. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but making a wifi cal through Hangouts Dialer connected to my google voice number without a SIM card inserted is different than dialing a number using the phone app.
Unfortunately, the only real way for me to test it, is to take the SIM back out of my iPhone, call att again and have them switch the IMEI again. At least google voice wouldn't configure properly until I did that and it took forever to get the call forwarding reset. And my problem is I'm going on a business trip tomorrow and don't have the time to be swapping SIM cards back and forth.
Maybe I'll just put it in letter without calling AT&T and see if it works anyways. Are there any prevalent icons up at the top to indicate it's a wifi call being made vs a cell call?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Usaf-lt-g said:
Ok slow down. I don't think any of that at all regarding saying or
Thinking android sucks nor would I make such a conclusion. Lol. I'm a
LONG time older comp sci major who works for a software company and has been doing consulting for a number of years. All day every day I deal with every software imaginable. It just HAPPENS that this is my first android phone, and Therefore is not that familiar to me yet. The only reason I had an iPhone and idevices (all jailbroken) in the first place was because at the time, my company was locked to Apple mobile devices. I'm actually simultaneously working with piemessage to try and get a VM up and running to allow me to use iMessage on Android
Also I understand their may be some nuisances of screwing with other packages and drivers. I did do the CSC update and that "enabled" at least the menus and the ability to turn the features On. Whether or not it's working, I have no idea. Without a SIN card inserted however, I was able to place a cal using google hangouts dialer without any issue whatsoever, but as that is a different app then the actual phone dialer... I'm not sure if that proves anything. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but making a wifi cal through Hangouts Dialer connected to my google voice number without a SIM card inserted is different than dialing a number using the phone app.
Unfortunately, the only real way for me to test it, is to take the SIM back out of my iPhone, call att again and have them switch the IMEI again. At least google voice wouldn't configure properly until I did that and it took forever to get the call forwarding reset. And my problem is I'm going on a business trip tomorrow and don't have the time to be swapping SIM cards back and forth.
Maybe I'll just put it in letter without calling AT&T and see if it works anyways. Are there any prevalent icons up at the top to indicate it's a wifi call being made vs a cell call?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, ya never know what folks know.
I've just encountered a lot of folks who are smart techies who have used iPhones for a long time and Android frustrates them and then they freak out. My bad. I apologize.
I still think you need to check the AT&T specific section. I've read that the proper support for AT&T's wifi calling isn't baked into AOSP like T-Mobile has theirs baked in. This could have changed but I don't think so. The other calls ie. Hangouts, Google Voice and Skype aren't controlled by AT&T so I would assume they'd work regardless. The wifi calling registers with AT&T's servers/routers ... what they require for this handshake I'm not entirely sure. I know that when I tried it out using my Nexus 6P it didn't work out of the box but I didn't spend a lot of time on it either.
Ah. I get you about the business trip thing. It's why I bought the unlocked S7E .. I have to swap to often when traveling. I did this after I bought the version you have. I found that 1 sim slot would do LTE/3G/2G and the other was stuck on 2G only and that it would random switch from sim 1 to sim 2 when I was in the States with my personal TMO sim and my work AT&T simcard. It was too irritating so now I just expense the TMO account and gave back the AT&T sim. Not an option for everyone .. I get that.
Also, I did read that AT&T likes to jack folks around on speed when it's not one of their phones and there is a fix involving the EMEI number being changed in your account .. I can't remember where on XDA I found that trick but I'm sure a search will find it for you.
Hope you get it working. The S7E is a nice phone.
Safe travels. Cheers.

hey go check out sac23 rom it is USA att ported note 7 rom. It has wifi calling.

ecg803 said:
hey go check out sac23 rom it is USA att ported note 7 rom. It has wifi calling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good call. Just loaded it, will test wifi calling.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What was your result? I'm in the same boat, thought this model would be useful for business trips. Also need Wi-Fi calling at home, but no dice.

Desperate: Is there any way to unlock a blacklisted Samsung S7 from T-Mobile?

Hello all,
Like many others, I unknowingly bought a blacklisted phone on eBay. It's a Samsung S7 with T-Mobile from the US. I live in Costa Rica, and I'm trying to use a SIM from a local service provider. Sending the phone back for an uninteresting list of various reasons is impossible at this point. So, I am attempting to unlock it.
I rooted the phone with SuperSu thinking that would work, now I know better. After hours and hours of research, I found a xda dev that can remove the lock, but with my slow internet speed, he says it's impossible.
I was suggested to use one of the paid services, but I'm concerned that if my slow connection will not work for the xda dev, why would it work for a paid unlock service? My connection is 5/1. Anyone have any luck buying the expensive @$$ service and successfully receiving the code with a slow connection?
Is there really no way around the T-Mobile Unlock App?
Is there truly no DIY process or program that I can do, being that the paid unlock services may not to work?
I really need this phone to work. I just moved to Costa Rica, and I use my phone to work. So, I am pretty damn stuck between a rock and a hard place with spikes. I'm pretty desperate, almost willingly to pay my last money to a dumb unlock service.
But some of the services say that it will not work if the phone is blacklisted.
I just don't know what my options are at this point.

Blacklisted phone
victoriaa22 said:
Hello all,
Like many others, I unknowingly bought a blacklisted phone on eBay. It's a Samsung S7 with T-Mobile from the US. I live in Costa Rica, and I'm trying to use a SIM from a local service provider. Sending the phone back for an uninteresting list of various reasons is impossible at this point. So, I am attempting to unlock it.
I rooted the phone with SuperSu thinking that would work, now I know better. After hours and hours of research, I found a xda dev that can remove the lock, but with my slow internet speed, he says it's impossible.
I was suggested to use one of the paid services, but I'm concerned that if my slow connection will not work for the xda dev, why would it work for a paid unlock service? My connection is 5/1. Anyone have any luck buying the expensive @$$ service and successfully receiving the code with a slow connection?
Is there really no way around the T-Mobile Unlock App?
Is there truly no DIY process or program that I can do, being that the paid unlock services may not to work?
I really need this phone to work. I just moved to Costa Rica, and I use my phone to work. So, I am pretty damn stuck between a rock and a hard place with spikes. I'm pretty desperate, almost willingly to pay my last money to a dumb unlock service.
But some of the services say that it will not work if the phone is blacklisted.
I just don't know what my options are at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be able to resell the phone with a *disclaimer* that it is blacklisted, I would recommend Swappa over Ebay though, (I got a really decent chunk of change for my Galaxy S Blaze that I sold on there), and then use the proceeds from that to acquire a phone that isn't stolen.

I got mine unlocked in a repair shop at gaffar market,delhi,india for rs 3200 inr and it was blacklisted on tmobile's website, when bought it was unlocked but after few days it automatically got locked to tmobile.
I mean to say if i can get it done in india you guys can also get it done in your countries.

You would have to do a firmware swap - which you could do yourself - you just won't be able to use it on that particular carrier, even via an MVNO on that carrier. My own S7 is ex-VZW (network locked); but I could take it to T-Mobile (and did) via firmware swap. My carrier (Tracfone) uses both VZW and T-Mobile towers ; while VZW was out, T-Mobile, however, works fine. If you sell the phone post-swap, include documentation that a firmware swap was done, so the buyer does not try to take it to T-M by mistake - some folks insist on following the labelling unless expressly told not to. (My S7 still has VZW labelling.)

PGHammer said:
You would have to do a firmware swap - which you could do yourself - you just won't be able to use it on that particular carrier, even via an MVNO on that carrier. My own S7 is ex-VZW (network locked); but I could take it to T-Mobile (and did) via firmware swap. My carrier (Tracfone) uses both VZW and T-Mobile towers ; while VZW was out, T-Mobile, however, works fine. If you sell the phone post-swap, include documentation that a firmware swap was done, so the buyer does not try to take it to T-M by mistake - some folks insist on following the labelling unless expressly told not to. (My S7 still has VZW labelling.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firmware swap? So you're saying you can take a Note 4 on T-Mobile that is blacklisted and you can fix the problem just by flashing a new firmware from AT&T? Am I understanding that correctly or no? Because I have a Note 4 that is on T-Mobile that someone left at my GF's work and never came back for, so they wanted to throw it away, so I took it, I rooted it, deleted all the bloatware and have it working great as a small tablet, but I can't use it as a phone because it is blacklisted. Been trying to find a way to use it for years now with no luck, I will not dish out any money to one of those sites, I don't trust them. If there is a way I can do it myself I would surely try it.

Indeed You Can
Anthonyx82x said:
Firmware swap? So you're saying you can take a Note 4 on T-Mobile that is blacklisted and you can fix the problem just by flashing a new firmware from AT&T? Am I understanding that correctly or no? Because I have a Note 4 that is on T-Mobile that someone left at my GF's work and never came back for, so they wanted to throw it away, so I took it, I rooted it, deleted all the bloatware and have it working great as a small tablet, but I can't use it as a phone because it is blacklisted. Been trying to find a way to use it for years now with no luck, I will not dish out any money to one of those sites, I don't trust them. If there is a way I can do it myself I would surely try it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A blacklisted IMEI only affects the blacklisted carrier in question - it does not affect ALL carriers. (I cannot take my Snapdragon S7 to Verizon or that side of Tracfone due the IMEI being Verizon-blacklisted; however, it does not affect T-Mobile or the T-Mobile side of Tracfone - which is a separate network/carrier - which is why I was able to take the phone there.
. In your case, your Note 4 has a T-Mobile blacklisted IMEI; therefore, you can take it to AT&T Mobility, Verizon, the Verizon half of Tracfone, or Sprint - you simply need the apropos firmware and SIM. If the phone itself has T-Mobile labeling/branding, and you are trying to sell it, you should include documentation indicating what was done, and why (honesty). The biggest issue is sellers that DON'T do that (document what was done) or worse - don't do a firmware/ROM change for a phone with a blacklisted IMEI. So you can actually use it as a phone - you just can't take it to the original carrier.

victoriaa22 said:
Hello all,
Like many others, I unknowingly bought a blacklisted phone on eBay. It's a Samsung S7 with T-Mobile from the US. I live in Costa Rica, and I'm trying to use a SIM from a local service provider. Sending the phone back for an uninteresting list of various reasons is impossible at this point. So, I am attempting to unlock it.
I rooted the phone with SuperSu thinking that would work, now I know better. After hours and hours of research, I found a xda dev that can remove the lock, but with my slow internet speed, he says it's impossible.
I was suggested to use one of the paid services, but I'm concerned that if my slow connection will not work for the xda dev, why would it work for a paid unlock service? My connection is 5/1. Anyone have any luck buying the expensive @$$ service and successfully receiving the code with a slow connection?
Is there really no way around the T-Mobile Unlock App?
Is there truly no DIY process or program that I can do, being that the paid unlock services may not to work?
I really need this phone to work. I just moved to Costa Rica, and I use my phone to work. So, I am pretty damn stuck between a rock and a hard place with spikes. I'm pretty desperate, almost willingly to pay my last money to a dumb unlock service.
But some of the services say that it will not work if the phone is blacklisted.
I just don't know what my options are at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try https://www.gsmzambia.com/.
You need a Windows PC with Teamviewer.

Anthonyx82x said:
Firmware swap? So you're saying you can take a Note 4 on T-Mobile that is blacklisted and you can fix the problem just by flashing a new firmware from AT&T? Am I understanding that correctly or no? Because I have a Note 4 that is on T-Mobile that someone left at my GF's work and never came back for, so they wanted to throw it away, so I took it, I rooted it, deleted all the bloatware and have it working great as a small tablet, but I can't use it as a phone because it is blacklisted. Been trying to find a way to use it for years now with no luck, I will not dish out any money to one of those sites, I don't trust them. If there is a way I can do it myself I would surely try it.
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This is what I am saying - that and a SIM from a carrier other than the one that blacklisted the IMEI - I took my own phone from VZW to T-Mobile (Tracfone supports both carrier networks). Because it was an internal swap (same MVNO), it cost me nothing.