Looking to get a v20 to take advantage of the high quality DAC as a backup phone/hotspot.
Criteria:
Support ATT Network LTE/A
Enable Hotspot w/o entitlement from carrier
Ability to root (Easiest I guess)
Currently have a unlocked asus phone that allows me to enable hotspot even though the entitlement is not enabled by carrier--would like to keep this functionality
Would be best to go with H910 ATT variant or the US996(fully unlocked version) variant?
Thanks for your help!
The US996 unlocked (not US996 US Cellular) will always be rootable due to the fact you can unlock the bootloader. So that should be you best option.
Related
This is really confusing. Most of the threads are written such that 'how to root while updating to OF2/OF3'...it doesn't tell me which versions allow rooting in the first place? Any help. Coming from the GS3
As far as I know, the S5 Active is only available as an AT&T phone, which means it will have a locked bootloader and any somewhat newer firmwares will be unrootable. Pre-lollipop builds (Anything below OF2) are rootable but still have a locked bootloader.
Just a word from the wise, don't get an S5 Active, and DEFINITELY don't get an AT&T phone. a GS5 (regular) with a thin case (Spigen slim armor or neo-hybrid/ otterbox commuter) will be WAY more durable anyway, plus it's still waterproof/dustproof.
Get yourself a G900T (T-Mobile variant), or a G900AZ (Cricket wireless variant --Cricket is a subsidiary of at&t--), or even a G900F. Those all have unlocked bootloaders and will allow you to root, install custom recovery, custom roms, whatever you want forever. I personally have a G900T using it on AT&T with no issues, as the G900T supports all the same frequencies (and an extra one!) as the G900A (AT&T model). The G900F doesn't support every single band AT&T uses, so I would pick one of the other two if you want 100% compatibility.
MAKE SURE if you buy a G900T or G900AZ that it is UNLOCKED or you won't be able to use it. And after you get it, you'll have to call AT&T support and give them the new phone's IMEI number in order for LTE to work.
Hope what I said makes sense..
FYI The best place to buy a phone is always (XDA's own..) Swappa!
https://swappa.com/
Sean89us said:
As far as I know, the S5 Active is only available as an AT&T phone, which means it will have a locked bootloader and any somewhat newer firmwares will be unrootable. Pre-lollipop builds (Anything below OF2) are rootable but still have a locked bootloader.
Just a word from the wise, don't get an S5 Active, and DEFINITELY don't get an AT&T phone. a GS5 (regular) with a thin case (Spigen slim armor or neo-hybrid/ otterbox commuter) will be WAY more durable anyway, plus it's still waterproof/dustproof.
Get yourself a G900T (T-Mobile variant), or a G900AZ (Cricket wireless variant --Cricket is a subsidiary of at&t--), or even a G900F. Those all have unlocked bootloaders and will allow you to root, install custom recovery, custom roms, whatever you want forever. I personally have a G900T using it on AT&T with no issues, as the G900T supports all the same frequencies (and an extra one!) as the G900A (AT&T model). The G900F doesn't support every single band AT&T uses, so I would pick one of the other two if you want 100% compatibility.
MAKE SURE if you buy a G900T or G900AZ that it is UNLOCKED or you won't be able to use it. And after you get it, you'll have to call AT&T support and give them the new phone's IMEI number in order for LTE to work.
Hope what I said makes sense..
I habve an at&t variant OC5 phone available on Swappa should I get that or not, because I can't find a rooting guide for OC5
Or are you saying buy unlocked so you can use it on AT&T?
Problem is I can't find the SM-G900AZ anywhere used....might just go with the Zenfone 2 . DISSAPOINTING SAMSUNG and ATT I loved the GS3 and was looking forwar to the GS5
Which frequencies does the T mobile version NOT share?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
zetsui said:
I habve an at&t variant OC5 phone available on Swappa should I get that or not, because I can't find a rooting guide for OC5
Or are you saying buy unlocked so you can use it on AT&T?
Problem is I can't find the SM-G900AZ anywhere used....might just go with the Zenfone 2 . DISSAPOINTING SAMSUNG and ATT I loved the GS3 and was looking forwar to the GS5
Which frequencies does the T mobile version NOT share?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The T-Mobile version shares all the same frequencies plus includes an additional frequency which AT&T does not use, so therefore the T-Mobile (G900T) retains 100% compatibility with AT&T. Yes, if you want to use a G900T on any carrier besides T-Mobile it will have to be unlocked. Luckily it's not hard to find an unlocked G900T.
Let me make this clear: If it's AT&T and it's a Samsung phone and it's on lollipop, don't expect to be able to root it. Go with a T-Mobile or factory unlocked phone.
I want to install custom Rom on LG V20. Which carrier should I get it from, T-Mobile, Att, Sprint, Verizon? Thanks.
You should get the US996 unlocked version. It will work on all the carriers plus you can unlock the bootloader on LG's website. All the others you will need to use Dirty Santa to unlock unless they have newer firmware which cannot unlock yet. You can get the US996 fairly cheap. Just make sure it is the US996 unlocked not the US996 US Cellular version.
Is there a way to tell if a phone is the US Cellular version or the actual unlocked version?
Already got burned once buying a US996 from ebay that was labelled as factory unlocked but it was actually a US Cellular.
I'm hoping there/s something on the sticker under the battery that will have the answers but nothing obvious from what I can see.
Does the US996 model support all TMobile bands including band 12 and VoLTE, wifi calling? Thanks.
Just looking for some clarification here.
I will probably be using this only on Verizon (mvno), though at some point I might like to switch carriers, but if that isn't possible I'll probably live with it.
It appears the US996 is the same as the VS995 except it supports a few more bands.
Am I able to use the US996 (both the unlocked and US Cellular) on Verizon?
Can you actually flash the VS995 firmware onto a US996 (both unlocked and US Cellular)?
If so, then the usable difference between a VS995 and US996 in this case is basically nothing?
If you are planning to use a custom ROM anyway (like Lineage) then is there basically no difference between the 3 models?
I have been using a US996 on Verizon with the VS995 Weta rom for almost a year. I have not gotten Voice over LTE to work, but I have not put in a huge amount of effort. I believe the VS995 has some radio bands the US996 does not, but I have had no issues from that. As far as I can tell everything else works.
I would suggest getting a sim card activated on a Verizon phone and the transferring the sim card to the US996. Verizon would not activate the sim card in the US996 for me.
I'm asking for someone, as they bought an AT&T V35 that is carrier unlocked, but still can not use the hotspot feature. If you have an unlocked AT&T V35 and using it with a different carrier, and have flashed your phone with an unlocked firmware, such as the GoogleFi, is hotspot feature working for you? Thank you.
It works for T-Mobile based MVNOS on ULM software.
Hi, want to buy a used LG v20 but i want to make sure it will be able to root it and custum it....
for now i buy a lgv20 only 50$ on ebay but it's locked and with US cellular... so i cant do nothing with it.... so i think i should buy another one... but wich one... this is the question...
i would like to have the root function, the FM function activated... the multi user activated... for now nothing of that is possible with the lgv 20 US cellular
thx
Someone posted on this forum recently that you CAN get OFFICIAL bootloader unlock from LG on US Cellular. Try it!
I have the same question. Is there a preferred model for the V20? I was thinking of getting an unlocked US996 model, primarily for audio/video use with no sim. I would, however, like it to work with AT&T as a backup to my iPhone. I know it uses the same nano-sim format. Of course I would like to root, etc as safely as possible. I haven't bought it yet, so advise is very welcome and appreciated.
I understand the US996 can get official bootloader unlock directly from LG.
rlw6534 said:
I have the same question. Is there a preferred model for the V20? I was thinking of getting an unlocked US996 model, primarily for audio/video use with no sim. I would, however, like it to work with AT&T as a backup to my iPhone. I know it uses the same nano-sim format. Of course I would like to root, etc as safely as possible. I haven't bought it yet, so advise is very welcome and appreciated.
I understand the US996 can get official bootloader unlock directly from LG.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The unlocked US996 is by far the easiest to root and will work on AT&T, but you won't get VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling if those matter to you. Only the AT&T-branded H910 will have those working.
C D said:
The unlocked US996 is by far the easiest to root and will work on AT&T, but you won't get VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling if those matter to you. Only the AT&T-branded H910 will have those working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for responding!!!
Rooting is more important for me as I don't plan on using it as my primary phone anyway. Sound like US996 is the way to go if you like to play with custom ROMs, etc.