Unlocked or VZW on Verizon - Samsung Galaxy S8 Questions and Answers

If I flash the unlocked firmware on my Verizon S8 and still use it on Verizon do I lose any features?

I went with the unlocked version from Samsung and I had hotspot right out of the box with no rooting . I'm on the grandfathered unlimited so I tether all the time. this was the biggest discovery for me when I turned on the phone. do you ever use the Verizon apps that come with their phones? me either.
my only concern is if Verizon needs to replace the phone due to some sort of damage, they would give me an equivalent Verizon and not the unlocked.
-s

https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-s8-note8-bootloader-odin/
Read this.

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Phone coming unlocked from US Cellular? Note 5 and S6 did.

Just wondering if anyone knows anything about U.S. Cellular's plans for this phone, if I can i'd like to buy and pop my ATT sim card in on day 1 and not have to deal with unlock policies from the other carriers. I refuse to buy from AT&T and have a bloated locked down phone.
http://www.uscellular.com/site/legal/mobile-wireless-device-unlocking.html
USC store trying to me it is locked domestically but works internationally on any carrier.. Did you find out anymore?
I got a USC edge from Walmart yesterday. Its unlocked (works with my tmobile out of the box), but, some bands seem to be disabled (i think)

AT&T and Verizon will never allow their branded phones to be upgraded again

I had an interesting conversion on AT&T's forum today. In short, I learned that both AT&T and Verizon had Samsung "hard code" their software to all their phones by altering the bootloader in version 5.1.1. This is nothing new to anyone who's tried to root their AT&T or Verizon Note Edge after the update. We know it as "branding", but in the past it was something we could usually bypass. No more. These "damaged" bootloaders will never allow these phones (and all future phones) to be rooted or upgraded EVER AGAIN. It's just not something a piece of software or an app can ever bypass. Even if you had AT&T unlock the SIM and you went to T-Mobile, you still have to live with AT&T's mountain of bloatware because the ROM can't be flashed. It like buying a PC and not being able to delete Windows Vista...ever. The horror.
What makes it worse is that doing a carrier unlock and jumping ship will get you no joy. I asked how someone gets OTA updates on a carrier unlocked phone and they said you can't. You can never update again. You'll need to go to Best Buy and have them flash updates for as long as you own the phone. How this doesn't violate the carrier unlock law is beyond me.
Google created an operating system that was supposed to be open source. We were happy to play the root game for years, but now AT&T and Verizon have changed the rules of the game and effectively put an end to the idea of open source. Now AT&T and Verizon androids are no better than iphones. If you ever want to root your Samsung devices in the future, DO NOT BUY YOUR PHONE FROM EITHER OF THESE CARRIERS!
This is a practice that they have already admitted will continue.

Galaxy S7 Edge Unlocked SM-G935UZSAXAA on Verizon HotSpot prvisioning?

I have Verizon unlimited data. I'm currently using a LG G4 with the hotspot provisioning hack. It works great but would like to upgrade to the USA G7 unlocked SM-G935UZSAXAA.
I DO NOT WANT TO USE FOXFI!!.
Does anyone know if there's a way to use the native hotspot on the unlocked Samsung G7 Edge SM-G935UZSAXAA?
I'm not sure what they mean by unlocked. Is the bootloader unlocked and I could run Cyanogen, etc. or another ROM that has NATIVE hotspot provisioning enabled without paying the extra fees to Verizon. My G4 works great. FoxFi uses at least 4X the battery life and the phone gets very hot. And some things just won't work on a private proxy.
Thanks,
-Joe
The unlocked doesn't have anything to do with the bootloader. It strictly means that the phone isn't tied to any carrier, but has every US carrier band (CDMA, GSM, all the LTE stuff, etc.), so you can easily switch between carriers.
In terms of hotspot/tethering, I can't give you an answer on that yet as I just ordered my GS7E Unlocked a few minutes ago. I'm also a Verizon users but I haven't had unlimited data in a while. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will weigh in and provide a better answer.

unlocked US Cellular S8+ on ATT

Hi,
I see Samsung has sales on S8+ from US Cellular for less than the one from ATT.
If I buy the US Cellular one and insert my ATT SIM, it should rebrand it as an ATT phone right?
At that point, will it work and behave just like an ATT phone or will ATT block/prevent the stuff like VoLTE/HD voice/visual VM etc as it is not a true ATT branded phone?
thanks
It is unlikely to work that way. After you purchase you will need to have US Cellular unlock the phone. If buy it outright, they may do that but you will want to check with them first. If you buy it unlocked as mentioned in the title it should be ok.
Once the phone is unlocked there is no reason it wouldn't work on AT&T, but it will not rebrand itself. You will need to load AT&T branded firmware on it to take advantage of VoLTE.
ZuluAlpha said:
It is unlikely to work that way. After you purchase you will need to have US Cellular unlock the phone. If buy it outright, they may do that but you will want to check with them first. If you buy it unlocked as mentioned in the title it should be ok.
Once the phone is unlocked there is no reason it wouldn't work on AT&T, but it will not rebrand itself. You will need to load AT&T branded firmware on it to take advantage of VoLTE.
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Are you sure? From what I've read 1) US Cellular phones after a certain date come unlocked (forget the exact date but it was before the S8+, so nearly certain it is unlocked) 2) the US S8/S8+ will rebrand based on the inserted sim (from the galaxy s8 reddit PSA announcement old.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/7jdcno/psa_with_the_latest_us_carrier_updates_your_phone/ )
So it will brand and push ATT firmware
That's why I was asking specifically if things like VoLTE would work in case someone else has done this. It seems ATT is more restrictive about allowing certain features than other carriers
mego2 said:
Are you sure? From what I've read 1) US Cellular phones after a certain date come unlocked (forget the exact date but it was before the S8+, so nearly certain it is unlocked) 2) the US S8/S8+ will rebrand based on the inserted sim (from the galaxy s8 reddit PSA announcement old.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/7jdcno/psa_with_the_latest_us_carrier_updates_your_phone/ )
So it will brand and push ATT firmware
That's why I was asking specifically if things like VoLTE would work in case someone else has done this. It seems ATT is more restrictive about allowing certain features than other carriers
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Click to collapse
That may be true of US Cellular, they do seem to be pretty customer friendly. I had interpreted that the device will configure the hardware to operate on whatever carrier's SIM is in, but not the firmware. However, I have not tried this with mine. I do have a branded S8 that I have put unlocked firmware on and it stays on that firmware.
If the phone is not carrier locked and you put an AT&T sim in it, then it should work on the AT&T network. You will NOT get VoLTE/HD calling or Wi-Fi calling. Regular calling and LTE+ data will work fine.
It will not automatically download the AT&T firmware and become an AT&T branded phone.
I do not know what will happen if you put the AT&T firmware on it. I asked if anybody had switched to the AT&T firmware and gotten VoLTE or wifi calling, but did not receive any answers.
I have an unbranded phone on AT&T. I've not gone through the trouble of switching to the AT&T firmware.
J M L said:
If the phone is not carrier locked and you put an AT&T sim in it, then it should work on the AT&T network. You will NOT get VoLTE/HD calling or Wi-Fi calling. Regular calling and LTE+ data will work fine.
It will not automatically download the AT&T firmware and become an AT&T branded phone.
I do not know what will happen if you put the AT&T firmware on it. I asked if anybody had switched to the AT&T firmware and gotten VoLTE or wifi calling, but did not receive any answers.
I have an unbranded phone on AT&T. I've not gone through the trouble of switching to the AT&T firmware.
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Click to collapse
Have you gotten theat&t firmware to work on your phone?
fredwhocares said:
Have you gotten theat&t firmware to work on your phone?
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Click to collapse
I have not tried. Other than VoLTE and wifi-calling the phone works perfectly, and I've never had to reset it, so I've not bothered to try and change firmware.

Flash AT&T on a T-Mobile S10+

If I buy used T-Mobile can I Flash AT&T firmware on it so I will have AT&T Enhanced Messaging and Wifi Calling Just as if it was an ATT phone????? Thanks
If the phone is network unlocked in theory the sim it sees when you first boot from setup it should then download all the carrier software and features. There is only one carrier U firmware so there isn't specific AT&T, T-Mobile. Now if AT&T tracks their IMEI's that were meant to be on their network then that may be where this all falls apart and some features may not come over then.
At least that is how it has worked in the past. Someone else feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
tailgunner9 said:
If I buy used T-Mobile can I Flash AT&T firmware on it so I will have AT&T Enhanced Messaging and Wifi Calling Just as if it was an ATT phone????? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw a report on the forums here where someone flashed the att userdata and wiped and all of the carrier features worked.
I know on the 9/9+, even with the BOYD firmware, or flashing att bloat would not make a NON-ATT purchased device have advanced messaging /wifi calling / VoLTE. The trick was to activate that stuff on an att branded phone and then swap the sim.
It was very much a YMMV.
Similar issue here. My problem is i bought a s10 plus AT&T and it was supposed to be unlocked, however it wasn't the case. Mine is still AT&T locked and when i called them about my issue they said i would have to get service with them for a few months then i could end the service by paying the cancellation fee. I could then unlock the device. They also told me that my phone has an unpaid balance that would have to be paid prior to starting service. I have tried to contact the seller but to no avail. Anyways, my question is can I flash T-Mobile stock firmware to this phone and use it on T-Mobile?

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