I recently bought used Sprint Samsung Galaxy S7. It turned out the phone is locked to Sprint and is on bootloader v5. I called Sprint but they refused to unlock it even though it is paid in full because I am not the owner of the account that phone is associated with. I bought it from an electronics recycling company, so they cannot help with this. I would like to use it with a gsm carrier, like ATT or T-Mobile. What are my options here? Can the phone be unlocked by third-party? Even if unlocked, can the necessary bands and other settings be made available? Any hacks that trip KNOX are unfortunately not acceptable in my case (it seems putting U firmware with BL5 will trip KNOX).
IMEIGURUS.COM should have a carrier unlock for you. not saying its free.
That is fine but after it is unlocked would I be able to use it with t-mobile or att without issues? I read a lot about LTE frequencies locked, missing menus to set APNs, etc.
It is fine if the answer to my original question is to simply get rid of the phone. I am already considering this, as I naively thought that all it would need is a call to Sprint to unlock it and then flashing the U firmware.
grga1 said:
That is fine but after it is unlocked would I be able to use it with t-mobile or att without issues? I read a lot about LTE frequencies locked, missing menus to set APNs, etc.
It is fine if the answer to my original question is to simply get rid of the phone. I am already considering this, as I naively thought that all it would need is a call to Sprint to unlock it and then flashing the U firmware.
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There is a thread here about unlocking additional LTE bands.
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I cant find a clear answer if an ATT galaxy s5 will work on tmobile ( phone is unlocked) or will it be missing some features
and also if I install a tmobile stock rom on att phone will it have the wifi calling and all the features of a t mobile phone?
im trying to buy a phone today and cant find any solid info on the internet its a bit confusing
There are lots of existing threads that ask and answer this, so your search missed those (or you didn't search).
Anyway, you can use a TMB phone on ATT without any issues. It doesn't work as well in the reverse as you want to do. The ATT model is missing several frequency bands that the TMB phone has. And ATT, unlike most carriers, also locks the bootloader.
So a (SIM unlocked) 900A phone will work on TMB but will have some gaps in coverage. In a large city with lots of redundant bands that may not be much of a problem. But you will be subject to more congestion, dropped calls and outside of large, urban centers you may even have no coverage i.e. if an area is only served by the bands your phone doesn't have.
And the locked bootloader means that you can't install a custom kernel or recovery. Although you can emulate them with the Safestrap program on an ATT handset. The best way to get the TMB apps, wifi calling, etc is to root and install a custom ROM that is 900T based or 900F based, with the TMB apps added.
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Hey guys I'm not entirely sure if this is the right section to post this but any help would be appreciated. I have a galaxy s5 that my buddy sold me and i want to unlock it, but i called for an unlock code from us cellular, and they said i have to come to a corporate store to have them connect it to their software . I don't want to do this because it's 5 hours there one way. I don't have that much time seeing as how i work 60 hours a week .... is there anything you guys know of that i can do? :/ Any help would be appreciated! If you can try to keep it easy to*understand?
Im in the same situation. I have a US Cellular Galaxy S5 that i purchased online to unlock but i havent found an unlocking website or its only for international GSM unlock. I want a domestic unlock and I live in the middle of Arizona with no US Cellular stores.
Most unlock codes don't work on CDMA-locked devices/carriers (Verizon, US Cellular, Sprint) due to how differently CDMA phones ID themselves on a network - the SIM card is essentially only used for LTE, so a SIM unlock is useless. I haven't been able to find much hard information on it, but the process (as I understand it, someone else please correct me if wrong) involves the carrier a phone is locked to unlocking the phone, removing any codes which that carrier uses to ID the phone on the network, and handing it off to you. Think of it as a reverse provisioning.
For that reason, you're pretty much got to take the phone in. USCC doesn't want you to jump on the unlock fad and accidentally hose your phone for use on their network should you just be experimenting, so actually going in and talking to them provides a nice chance to make sure you know what you're doing and want to go through with it. I also don't think they've got the auto-unlock infrastracture in place (as opposed to auto provision).
Also, keep in mind - the CDMA S5s don't use full frequency bands like the GSM ones do. This will show you which ones the USCC one uses - http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s5_cdma-6338.php - look for G900R4. You should be ok on AT&T/Cricket or T-Mobile but it looks like you'd be pretty well hosed on another CDMA carrier.
Hello! I've read a lot of posts but I'm unsure about how to do this...I apologize if I've missed something, but I'm asking for some help. I have a sprint note8 that's been sim unlocked from sprint and now has service with TMobile. Most services work with the exception of mms while connected to wifi. I've done all the apn stuff and the only thing that will allow mms is to get off wifi. This appears to be a common issue with T-Mobile port ins. I would like to flip this from sprint based to T-Mobile based to unlock all the features of the phone. I've read that there's a carrier switch and/or a carrier firmware. I don't know which one I need to do since the phone is sim unlocked. Can I get by with doing the carrier firmware only? Do I need to do both? Will my wife kill me if I lose all her stuff, yes. Thanks for any guidance you can provide!
All,
I have an original TMobile, Galaxy S8, G950U. I unlocked it through TMobile and I purchased a Straight Talk BYOP kit from the local Wally-Mart, and put the AT&T SIM into my S8.
I know there are a number of guides out there, to do carrier switching. Trust me I have downloaded GBs worth of carrier firmware and combination firmware, eng boot, what have you. Nothing has worked as far as allowing me to carrier switch.
Here is my issue. The building where I work sucks for Tmobile. It is a hardened building and TMobile's signal does not penetrate. AT&T and Verizon work great. I unlocked my phone through TMobile and was able to flash the unlocked firmware on it. But, in theory, this did not enable all the AT&T radios, because I have an AT&T work phone and it works fine in the same spot, but my S8 cannot send or receive calls, in the exact same spot.
The problem is that I am on Bootloader V3 and I cannot for the life of me find an EngBoot with V3, so I can do a carrier switch and flash the AT&T modem. If someone has been able to do this, or if I just suck at searching, then please let me know, I'll be glad to take the hit.
So if anyone can point me the right direction for BLV3 carrier switches, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks all, for looking and trying to help.
So, after reading through several different threads on several sites, the only DEFINITE answer to getting wifi calling on an unlocked S8, even after rooting, flashing, etc. is that you still need to get an IMEI from an ATT branded S8 in order to get the wifi calling, volte, hdaudio, etc. that come with a ATT branded S8??? Has anyone had permanent success flashing the ATT Branded firmware to a unlocked ATT S8 getting wifi calling, etc. to work without having to get a new IMEI? Don't want to have to go through the pains of having to return my unlocked S8, paying the stocking fee (if required) and paying the additional $100 or more for the ATT branded phone. Thank you in advance.
I called AT&T and switched my IMEI to an AT&T S7, but as soon as I connected my unbranded S8 the system automatically switched back to saying I had an unrecognized phone. I don't know what would have happened if I'd used the IMEI from an AT&T S8, because I don't have access to one.