I've made a mistake. I bought a US996 after seeing it for sale on Newegg for $379. I thought, "Awesome! I can replace my busted N6P."
I'm finding out now a couple months later that TMO didn't certify it for VoLTE/WiFi Calling and is incompatible with B12, despite listing B12 in its specs.
So, what I'd like to know is if I can flash the firmware of TMO's version H918 on my US996? If so, would this open up my network coverage? Surely the antennas themselves are in the phone and just need to be enabled on the software level, yes?
I'm getting a little tired of not being able to make any calls from my house and TMO won't send me an LTE cellspot since I'm prepaid.
No, you would turn your phone into a smoldering pile....
You are correct however that if you could get the modem firmware onto the phone, you would have B12, but the H918 and the US996 have a different SHA1 hash in the CPU, so you can't flash firmware between them.
You really caught a raw deal -- as far as I know, of all the V20s, the H918 has a unique SHA1, and the US996 is unique, and then there is every other model.
-- Brian
Related
Hello all!
On T-Mobile Simple Choice plan in the US. LG V20 US996 64GB model. Android 7.0.
(I have multiple screenshots to share but XDA says I need to have 10 posts before sharing links. I have another thread up on /r/LGV20 with a link to some images)
Recently purchased the US996 model off Amazon to replace my defective Nexus 6P. I read on LG's site that it should support bands 2, 4 and 12 which T-Mobile uses. So far, I love the camera, performance and battery life. Aside from that, I am having some network issues.
1. Device always stays connected to Band 4 AWS1. Not connected to bands 2 and 12.
2. LTE coverage overall is sporadic. usually stays on 4G HSPA+ (doesn't show LTE in top-right next to cell reception meter, though it does show LTE in Network Cell Info app).
3. Wi-Fi calling/VoLTE is not working.
Has anyone else reported these issues? Do I need to flash the T-Mobile H918 firmware?
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unrelated question
4. I'm still on 7.0, has 7.1.2 been released for the V20?
Thanks all
7.1.2 hasnt been released on stock for any device. however android 7.1.2 is running on emotion os
loguhn said:
7.1.2 hasnt been released on stock for any device. however android 7.1.2 is running on emotion os
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My Nexus 6P was running 7.1.2. are you referring to on-nexus devices?
jkraniak said:
My Nexus 6P was running 7.1.2. are you referring to on-nexus devices?
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sorry, i shouldve specified for just the v20, im running 7.1.2 on my v20 through emotion os
I had similar issues with the unlocked US version of the LG G5 (RS988). Even though it is listed as having band 12, I was unable to get it to connect to band 12 on T-Mobile. When I was in 'Extended LTE' (band 12-only) areas, I would be roaming while a T-Mobile Galaxy S7 would have a full T-Mobile LTE signal. In the network settings, the phone wouldn't even see the T-Mobile LTE RAT.
I think it likely that T-Mobile or LG were preventing a band 12 connection due to a lack of VOLTE certification. T-Mobile has required manufacturers to disable band 12 on other unlocked phones that did not have VOLTE certification in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same with this model.
New question. Can I flash my phone with the H918 (T-Mobile's version) firmware?
jkraniak said:
New question. Can I flash my phone with the H918 (T-Mobile's version) firmware?
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Ever get an answer for that??? I just had a US996 land in my lap.
gmolds said:
Ever get an answer for that??? I just had a US996 land in my lap.
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Nope, you'll end up with a brick. The H918 has a different firmware key than any of the other models, so flashing h918 firmware onto anything else results in a brick, and an h918 flashing any other model firmware results in a brick.
You could try flashing the US Cellular US996 firmware though, and see if it makes a difference. The USC firmware is very much cross-flashable on the unlocked US996 (as far as I know, a lot of people crossflash for the security updates as the unlocked model is behind by quite a bit).
https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/rom-us99610k-stock-rom-twrp-flashable-t3691784
Well at this point I think I'll just sell this US996 and buy an H918.
Looking at Swappa prices I could probably practically get two H918's for this thing. It's practically Mint and has a 10kWH ZeroLemon battery and case. Only thing I'm not sure about is the message that pops up when you start it warning that the bootloader is unlocked... is that bad or a desired feature?
---------- Post added at 03:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------
gmolds said:
Well at this point I think I'll just sell this US996 and buy an H918.
Looking at Swappa prices I could probably practically get two H918's for this thing. It's practically Mint and has a 10kWH ZeroLemon battery and case. Only thing I'm not sure about is the message that pops up when you start it warning that the bootloader is unlocked... is that bad or a desired feature?
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Scratch that question... -- I'm guessing most would want it unlocked to put root/roms on it.
So I got burned on ebay on two separate US996 phones. The sellers never stated a provider and just said factory unlocked (some on ebay actually say US Cellular) so I naively assumed they were the same as the unlocked version B&H photo has been selling.
However after buying them I found a thread on how to tell the difference and the factory unlocked should say USA under the battery. However, the phone I got says UCL (which I think is US cellular) and my wife's phone says BPL (no idea what provider that is).
So, I am wondering if I should just keep these at this point. I paid $268 for my wife's phone about a month or two back and $250 for mine a week ago, so not a terrible deal, but I could have gotten an AT&T unlocked version for not much more new.
So anyway, these phones don't come with any carrier bloatware which is nice and why I'm considering just keeping them. I don't really care about rooting, however I am concerned about 2 things: future updates and cellular bands.
Does anyone know what the differences are hardware wise between these 3 variants or is the only thing that's different the software?
If it's just software shouldn't there be a way to flash these with the real factory unlocked firmware?
Here's a page with the latest ROMs for each variant of the US996:
https://lg-firmwares.com/lg-us996-firmwares/
The BPT one is the BrightPoint version.
The odd thing is that the US Cellular version of the US996 has a much newer version of firmware than the USA Factory Unlocked US996.
Interesting. It looks like the US Cellular firmware works on the unlocked version so I guess there is no difference. I wonder if that means I can flash my wife's phone with the US cellular firmware as well. Never heard of brightpoint.
shawnmos said:
Interesting. It looks like the US Cellular firmware works on the unlocked version so I guess there is no difference. I wonder if that means I can flash my wife's phone with the US cellular firmware as well. Never heard of brightpoint.
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not sure how true it is, but if you flash the US Cellular firmware on the unlocked version and try to unlock through LG then it would no longer be recognized as the unlocked version. that said you can unlock first and then flash... which is what I did so I can't confirm the former to be true
So I have a VS995 that I have been using on TotalWireless (Verizon MVNO). I took it apart to attempt to replace the battery and ever since I did I constantly loose connection to the network. I've basically given up on this phone and went back to using my M8.
I still think I want another V20 as I can't find anything else with the same value proposition and features I want...that is as long as I can find a mint one at around the $150-200 mark.
According to this site which lists all the bands the models support, the VS995 supports the following bands:
LTE Cat12 700/800/850/1700/1800/1900/2600 (Bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13, 20)
Only other model that supports all the same bands is the US996
My questions are as follows:
1) When you see someone saying they are selling "GSM unlocked" that works on all carriers, does that mean the actual bands have been unlocked? I'm unsure whether the supported bands are a limitation of hardware in a model or an actual "lock" that can be removed. If you can actually unlock all bands then you technically can buy any model ??
2) If I plan to use a custom ROM, can I pretty much get any version of the phone? I assume I can't load the Verizon firmware on an H918 (T-Mobile) or vice-versa, but if I'm going to run Lineage say, does it matter?
Ideally I want the US996 unlocked, as it seems everyone does because I can't really find any used in good condition.
I suppose I could go back to the VS995 again but I'm unsure of the actual benefits (going to post another question about this one).
In short, I'm looking to find out which phones I can get that will work 100% on the Verizon/MVNO networks. I'm not necessarily tied to stock roms, but need root and would like it on a relatively up-to-date firmware.
GSM unlocked means the phone will accept a sim card from any GSM carrier. Getting a signal is another story, the bands stay the same regardless of it being sim (GSM) locked or not
( there is a possibility of crossflashing parts of other v20 model firmware (except the Tmobile and Sprint models shouldn't use or be used by any other model at risk of bricking) to unlock some bands however, check this thread)
Things like VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling often need carrier specific firmware as well.
You'll be able to root the verizon variant just fine, basically it involves rolling back to the December 2016 security patch and doing an exploit that puts an engineering bootloader on it that doesn't care if the bootloader is locked or not. Verizon root Thread with links and videos.
I have the model V350ULM purchased from bhphotovideo. According to them this is the unlocked version that works on all 3 US networks including Verizon. Is this the same as the Amazon version except for the fact that the Amazon version has more bloatware?
The AT&T version V350AWM I believe is GSM only and would not work on Verizon, correct?
Is it fair to say that the ULM version is "better" than the AWM version since the ULM can work on Verizon? Or is there a way to root and load a custom rom on the ULM version so that the AT&T version also works on Verizon?
Reason for asking is that I am getting ready to sell the ULM model on ebay and want to be honest and accurate in the listing and description.
I think all of my V35 were AT&T version and I flashed the ULM software on all of them. Recently I tried both Verizon and Sprint sims in one of them. Verizon worked fine but that may be because Verizon has mostly moved away from CDMA. When I tried a working Sprint sim card in it, it did restart and adapted to it showing MEID number, other CDMA settings, and it also automatically put in APN settings as well. I can't be sure if this is the function of ULM software that it did that or it actually has CDMA bands but my hunch is that similar to Samsung (they started with Note 8 and may be even earlier) starting with LG V30, LG is also making just one hardware unit and using software (KDZ) to set it for different regions and carriers.
To help answer your actual question, I can confirm that it will work on Verizon and it should work on Sprint but in Sprint's case you will actually have to request that it's ESN be added to some list through Sprint customer service which it seems is a headache. If you or anyone wanted detailed information about this and how to convert an AWM unit to a ULM one, check out this thread, particularly post #6 and also thank the author of the guide while there:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v35/help/att-v35-unlocked-wont-verizon-t3958765
I'm currently using a US996 (the "real" factory unlocked version, not the US cellular one), and was hoping to do so for as long as possible. Unfortunately, my current carrier is AT&T and it seems that they will be dropping support for 3g calling early next year- which I am told will render my model unable to place or receive phone calls.
Anyways, I have *heard* that my device will be supported if I switch to T-mobile, but this comes from some googling a year or so ago and probably some less-than-reliable sources.
I was hoping to get a run-down on what my options are if I want to retain both my current device and ability to make phone calls come 2022. I currently have an unlocked bootloader + LineageOS installed on my phone as well, and would prefer to maintain that rather than having to use a locked-down carrier ROM
I have seen mixed reports from users who got VoLTE working on T-Mobile for their US996 while others did not (I'm still on a Sprint MVNO, so I won't be able to test this myself until T-Mobile completely takes over the network). But what's certain is that only the H910 can get VoLTE on AT&T (they keep a whitelist that determines which phones can get it), and LineageOS on pretty much any LG phone will likely never have it working.
So, at a minimum, you'll have to at least go back to a stock-based ROM if you plan on using a V20 next year on any carrier in the U.S.
I am not XDA savvy so forgive me if this is not what you are asking.
I have US996 factory unlocked ,I am on stock 8.0 and use Net10 which is ATT and do calling with LTE. which I assume is 4G.
mghia said:
I am not XDA savvy so forgive me if this is not what you are asking.
I have US996 factory unlocked ,I am on stock 8.0 and use Net10 which is ATT and do calling with LTE. which I assume is 4G.
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What OP is saying is that the calls on AT&T and its MVNOs for a US996 are actually done through 3G/HSPA and not LTE, unlike cellular data. AT&T's own H910 is the only V20 model that can make calls through LTE (VoLTE) on their network. Once AT&T turns off the 3G networks early next year, calls will no longer work on the US996 and any phone that's not on AT&T's whitelist.
You should be able to see this on your phone: When making a call, the LTE icon will not stay up, indicating that VoLTE is not working.
Oh nifty this phone becomes more and more an issue. So now I ahve to add this to my plate. Seems like it will still be a year. OK but the US996 has LTE so why is this still a problem? Why wont it just use the LTE band?
Please be kind I do not know all the acronyms or how any of this all works.
Cant the US996 also run on Verizon?
mghia said:
Oh nifty this phone becomes more and more an issue. So now I ahve to add this to my plate. Seems like it will still be a year. OK but the US996 has LTE so why is this still a problem? Why wont it just use the LTE band?
Please be kind I do not know all the acronyms or how any of this all works.
Cant the US996 also run on Verizon?
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Because of its whitelist I linked in the second post, AT&T actively blocks any phone not on the list from using LTE for calls (VoLTE = voice over LTE).
As for Verizon, they blocked direct activation of the US996 starting in 2018. You will see that entering your phone's IMEI number on Verizon's website will give you a message saying it's not compatible with their network even though it is perfectly capable. It may still work if you insert an already-active Verizon SIM card in there, but I don't use Verizon, so I can't say for sure if that still works.
Wow, talk about a way to force new contracts and phone sales. I never had a phone not be useable for PHONE CALLS. I guess I am grateful for the heads up as I was not aware and Net10 did not inform me of such things. I bought this phone because of specs and it was a removeable battery . But it seems this phone just was a pain from the start, with the screen issues, and the company claiming they would upgrade to Pie and never did.
T-mobile did not have useable coverage in my area when I tired it several years ago. So I really do not know what is going on since they now have Sprint.
Not sure if you're still looking at this thread but i have a v20 us996 factory unlocked and a G6 us997 factory unlocked and they BOTH get VoLTE on Red Pocket Mobile AT&T mvno. Calls DO NOT fall back to 3g or 2g and data stays active while in calls.