Hello,
I am new to this site, and have a burning question I am trying to find an answer for.
So AT&T has been my carrier since about 2014. In July of 2019, I purchased an unlocked S8 from Amazon for about $350 Description says it is: Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB Factory Unlocked Smartphone - US Version (Midnight Black) - US Warranty - [SM-G950UZKAXAA]. In the settings, the model number is listed as: SM-G950U1.
Recently, I received a message from AT&T saying that they are shutting down their 3G network in February of 2022, and that my phone will no longer work on their network. I went into one of their stores and showed them that my phone operates on LTE, but I was told that is for data only and voice operates on 3G. I could not remember the VoLTE name at the time, but mentioned that my phone had the capability to operate on LTE. They refused to go thru settings with me, and told me that my phone will stop working in February. Period. End of story. Also, I was told the same thing that the message states, that they are sending me a new phone and will be deactivating my phone after 30 days.
Now some of my friends are laughing at me saying, "Dang free phones!" But I do not want a 5G phone (which is obviously what they are sending). I have my reasons and this is not what I wish to discuss here.
The issue is... I love my telephone!! It does exactly what I want, and I don't need anything new. Not to mention that I paid for it entirely, with no subsidy from AT&T. I specifically bought it unlocked with intentions of avoiding contracts and having the ability to switch carriers if I so choose.
I am pretty sure that I saw VoLTE mentioned in my settings a while back. But now a search on my phone finds nothing. I assume a firmware update hid this info from me.
So... what gives? Does anybody here know if this particular device can make/receive voice calls using VoLTE - on AT&T (or any other carriers) - simply by changing settings in the phone? Do I have any options to make my phone continue to operate as intended? With any carrier?
Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Steve
willnotbecontrolled said:
Hello,
I am new to this site, and have a burning question I am trying to find an answer for.
So AT&T has been my carrier since about 2014. In July of 2019, I purchased an unlocked S8 from Amazon for about $350 Description says it is: Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB Factory Unlocked Smartphone - US Version (Midnight Black) - US Warranty - [SM-G950UZKAXAA]. In the settings, the model number is listed as: SM-G950U1.
Recently, I received a message from AT&T saying that they are shutting down their 3G network in February of 2022, and that my phone will no longer work on their network. I went into one of their stores and showed them that my phone operates on LTE, but I was told that is for data only and voice operates on 3G. I could not remember the VoLTE name at the time, but mentioned that my phone had the capability to operate on LTE. They refused to go thru settings with me, and told me that my phone will stop working in February. Period. End of story. Also, I was told the same thing that the message states, that they are sending me a new phone and will be deactivating my phone after 30 days.
Now some of my friends are laughing at me saying, "Dang free phones!" But I do not want a 5G phone (which is obviously what they are sending). I have my reasons and this is not what I wish to discuss here.
The issue is... I love my telephone!! It does exactly what I want, and I don't need anything new. Not to mention that I paid for it entirely, with no subsidy from AT&T. I specifically bought it unlocked with intentions of avoiding contracts and having the ability to switch carriers if I so choose.
I am pretty sure that I saw VoLTE mentioned in my settings a while back. But now a search on my phone finds nothing. I assume a firmware update hid this info from me.
So... what gives? Does anybody here know if this particular device can make/receive voice calls using VoLTE - on AT&T (or any other carriers) - simply by changing settings in the phone? Do I have any options to make my phone continue to operate as intended? With any carrier?
Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue with crickett (att).
got that txt msg, recently maybe december there was a firmware update that greyed out my network settings and hid some items.
i cant even change my prefered network, 3g 4g lte etc, its locked..
I have the 950u1 also
HOWEVER I have a s8 950U that I think has all these unlocked.
Im going to backup and odin flash the U firmware to the UI and see if it works.
Thats bull**** about doing this. greedy ****s..
I go with somone else if I have to.
willnotbecontrolled said:
Hello,
I am new to this site, and have a burning question I am trying to find an answer for.
So AT&T has been my carrier since about 2014. In July of 2019, I purchased an unlocked S8 from Amazon for about $350 Description says it is: Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB Factory Unlocked Smartphone - US Version (Midnight Black) - US Warranty - [SM-G950UZKAXAA]. In the settings, the model number is listed as: SM-G950U1.
Recently, I received a message from AT&T saying that they are shutting down their 3G network in February of 2022, and that my phone will no longer work on their network. I went into one of their stores and showed them that my phone operates on LTE, but I was told that is for data only and voice operates on 3G. I could not remember the VoLTE name at the time, but mentioned that my phone had the capability to operate on LTE. They refused to go thru settings with me, and told me that my phone will stop working in February. Period. End of story. Also, I was told the same thing that the message states, that they are sending me a new phone and will be deactivating my phone after 30 days.
Now some of my friends are laughing at me saying, "Dang free phones!" But I do not want a 5G phone (which is obviously what they are sending). I have my reasons and this is not what I wish to discuss here.
The issue is... I love my telephone!! It does exactly what I want, and I don't need anything new. Not to mention that I paid for it entirely, with no subsidy from AT&T. I specifically bought it unlocked with intentions of avoiding contracts and having the ability to switch carriers if I so choose.
I am pretty sure that I saw VoLTE mentioned in my settings a while back. But now a search on my phone finds nothing. I assume a firmware update hid this info from me.
So... what gives? Does anybody here know if this particular device can make/receive voice calls using VoLTE - on AT&T (or any other carriers) - simply by changing settings in the phone? Do I have any options to make my phone continue to operate as intended? With any carrier?
Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Steve
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
press phone icon, then top right corner hit the 3 vertical dots.
select settings and it should be in there if you havent updated lately... they ****ed us and locked out network and volte settings.
djmdesign said:
Same issue with crickett (att).
got that txt msg, recently maybe december there was a firmware update that greyed out my network settings and hid some items.
i cant even change my prefered network, 3g 4g lte etc, its locked..
I have the 950u1 also
HOWEVER I have a s8 950U that I think has all these unlocked.
Im going to backup and odin flash the U firmware to the UI and see if it works.
Thats bull**** about doing this. greedy ****s..
I go with somone else if I have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please let me know if this works. I thought about doing the same thing, but have not gotten around to trying it. In theory, it sounds like a solid plan. But I have a couple of concerns.
During a recent phone call, AT&T told me their system has flagged my IMEI and that my phone will stop working very soon. So, if the system flagged an IMEI as an unsupported device, will it even matter which firmware is installed? Or will their system just deactivate the phone at some point?
Second, if you install the 950U firmware in place of the 950U1, will the device become carrier locked at this point? That would really suck if it did.
BTW, I was able to lock preferred network to “LTE only” by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and entering Device information screen. Unfortunately, my phone would not complete a call when using LTE only setting. VoLTE provisioned toggle is greyed out, along with others. Seems to me that if a guy could self provision VoLTE, this would solve the issue.
I called AT&T tech support and spent 45 minutes trying to get them to provision VoLTE, but they could not, or would not do it. At first, they kept telling me that my phone is a 3G phone. I argued that I could change the radio to “LTE only” and that my sim card status showed LTE for “mobile voice network type”, which proves that the phone is indeed LTE capable for voice calls - but that it will not complete a call because it is not provisioned to do so. Eventually they told me that their system would not allow them to provision VoLTE for me, since it is flagged as an unsupported device. Which leads back to the first part of this post.
I also found some stuff on reddit about putting the phone into “engineering mode” and something about a Samsung tool that unlocks additional dialer codes. Have not tried this, tho.
At this point, I am just completely fed up with AT&T for this whole S8 situation, as well as other unrelated issues. I will most likely switch carriers for principle’s sake, even though I know other carriers play similar games.
Anyway, I am interested in whether or not you find a solution and would very much like to hear about it. Thank you for the response!!
willnotbecontrolled said:
Please let me know if this works. I thought about doing the same thing, but have not gotten around to trying it. In theory, it sounds like a solid plan. But I have a couple of concerns.
During a recent phone call, AT&T told me their system has flagged my IMEI and that my phone will stop working very soon. So, if the system flagged an IMEI as an unsupported device, will it even matter which firmware is installed? Or will their system just deactivate the phone at some point?
Second, if you install the 950U firmware in place of the 950U1, will the device become carrier locked at this point? That would really suck if it did.
BTW, I was able to lock preferred network to “LTE only” by dialing *#*#4636#*#* and entering Device information screen. Unfortunately, my phone would not complete a call when using LTE only setting. VoLTE provisioned toggle is greyed out, along with others. Seems to me that if a guy could self provision VoLTE, this would solve the issue.
I called AT&T tech support and spent 45 minutes trying to get them to provision VoLTE, but they could not, or would not do it. At first, they kept telling me that my phone is a 3G phone. I argued that I could change the radio to “LTE only” and that my sim card status showed LTE for “mobile voice network type”, which proves that the phone is indeed LTE capable for voice calls - but that it will not complete a call because it is not provisioned to do so. Eventually they told me that their system would not allow them to provision VoLTE for me, since it is flagged as an unsupported device. Which leads back to the first part of this post.
I also found some stuff on reddit about putting the phone into “engineering mode” and something about a Samsung tool that unlocks additional dialer codes. Have not tried this, tho.
At this point, I am just completely fed up with AT&T for this whole S8 situation, as well as other unrelated issues. I will most likely switch carriers for principle’s sake, even though I know other carriers play similar games.
Anyway, I am interested in whether or not you find a solution and would very much like to hear about it. Thank you for the response!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I'm Newbie around here. I'd like to share my experience with ATT and my beloved S8+ this past few months:
Much like you and many others I started receiving texts from ATT by mid 2021 saying my phone would not work after Feb '22. Yes, every time they suspended my line I wasted 30~ 40 mins on the phone, listening how they would insist my S8+ was a 3G phone. It didn't matter that I offered to send them screenshots of my device showing the "VoLTE option" and "4G LTE" while both in the USA and Mexico. Thing is, they only based their saying on a st....id whitelist and all the reps are just talking heads.
I use an S8+ international version which is NOT on the dreaded list. and I am on the 300/year prepaid plan which allows roaming between Mexico and USA with no 50/50 usage limit.
I bought this phone on amazon for 350-ish bucks a couple of years ago and I love it!
I have to cross the Mexico/USA border very frequently and I need two separate numbers one on each country for business reasons so dual sim is a must. On the other hand, I receive lots and lots of phone calls while driving, this made me crave for android 8.1 when call recording was allowed by google, not the case anymore. None of these 2 features are available on the S8/S9 US based phones. I do not need 5G, I do not use social media nor watch videos on my phone but do get to use Pandora, Spotify, MLB radio and so on......... Enter SM-G955F/DS. I was able to change Samsung's CSC code to Israel so call recording is active for all those notes I cannot write down while driving and I get to carry just one device with 2 separate numbers thanks to a dual sim.
Ok, so back to my phone not being on the f... list :
Around Feb 10th, I got yet another email and SMS telling me it was my last opportunity to change or I MAY be disconnected after 2/22/22 ( funny choice of date huh?). I noticed that words on email and text messages had been changed from WILL NOT on Jul/2021 to MAY NOT work on Feb/2022. Since I know for a fact that my phone is VoLTE capable, I figured my S8+ would work as long as AT&T did not intentionally disconnected my line.
So, I took a crappy phoenix ATT phone and updated it's IMEI on my account via the ATT prepaid webpage. After getting "approval" from ATT's system, I put the SIM card in and used it for a full weekend. After that, I put the SIM card back to my S8+ and it is still going strong to date.
Today is March 1st, and I have been weary of ATT sneaking me out of their system but fortunately it has not happened yet. Needless to say, I have not updated my S8's IMEI on ATT's webpage and do not intend to do so.
Now, This "proves" that my phone is indeed capable of using VoLTE and HD , and all those things ATT said it would not do is just plain B.S.. if they disconnect me down the road I would definitely move to T Mobile although I would have some issues with the 50/50 international roaming and I still have 8 months left on my prepaid annual plan with ATT so, keeping my fingers crossed.
AT&T just wants to make more money out of selling new 5G devices while getting rid of their stocked 4G phones.
I wouldn't mind if they just plain out stated " If you do not buy from ATT then ATT will not support your device and will not sell service to you" then again, it would probably be a PR nightmare for them although they do that for WIFI calling anyways.
Ain't it funny how 2/22/22 is coincidentally a paycheck's time ( 2 weeks) after a new flagship phone (S22) was made available for purchase ?
Anyways, enough for ranting and conspiracy theories lol...
I have taken out and put back to my S8+ the SIM card two times in the past 9 days after 2/22/22 and my service is still in good standing.
Maybe if you got a new replacement phone that you don't like, you may swap back your SIM card and it MAY work just like mine is even if it is NOT ON THE INFAMOUS WHITE LIST.
Oldschoolguy said:
Hi, I'm Newbie around here. I'd like to share my experience with ATT and my beloved S8+ this past few months:
Much like you and many others I started receiving texts from ATT by mid 2021 saying my phone would not work after Feb '22. Yes, every time they suspended my line I wasted 30~ 40 mins on the phone, listening how they would insist my S8+ was a 3G phone. It didn't matter that I offered to send them screenshots of my device showing the "VoLTE option" and "4G LTE" while both in the USA and Mexico. Thing is, they only based their saying on a st....id whitelist and all the reps are just talking heads.
I use an S8+ international version which is NOT on the dreaded list. and I am on the 300/year prepaid plan which allows roaming between Mexico and USA with no 50/50 usage limit.
I bought this phone on amazon for 350-ish bucks a couple of years ago and I love it!
I have to cross the Mexico/USA border very frequently and I need two separate numbers one on each country for business reasons so dual sim is a must. On the other hand, I receive lots and lots of phone calls while driving, this made me crave for android 8.1 when call recording was allowed by google, not the case anymore. None of these 2 features are available on the S8/S9 US based phones. I do not need 5G, I do not use social media nor watch videos on my phone but do get to use Pandora, Spotify, MLB radio and so on......... Enter SM-G955F/DS. I was able to change Samsung's CSC code to Israel so call recording is active for all those notes I cannot write down while driving and I get to carry just one device with 2 separate numbers thanks to a dual sim.
Ok, so back to my phone not being on the f... list :
Around Feb 10th, I got yet another email and SMS telling me it was my last opportunity to change or I MAY be disconnected after 2/22/22 ( funny choice of date huh?). I noticed that words on email and text messages had been changed from WILL NOT on Jul/2021 to MAY NOT work on Feb/2022. Since I know for a fact that my phone is VoLTE capable, I figured my S8+ would work as long as AT&T did not intentionally disconnected my line.
So, I took a crappy phoenix ATT phone and updated it's IMEI on my account via the ATT prepaid webpage. After getting "approval" from ATT's system, I put the SIM card in and used it for a full weekend. After that, I put the SIM card back to my S8+ and it is still going strong to date.
Today is March 1st, and I have been weary of ATT sneaking me out of their system but fortunately it has not happened yet. Needless to say, I have not updated my S8's IMEI on ATT's webpage and do not intend to do so.
Now, This "proves" that my phone is indeed capable of using VoLTE and HD , and all those things ATT said it would not do is just plain B.S.. if they disconnect me down the road I would definitely move to T Mobile although I would have some issues with the 50/50 international roaming and I still have 8 months left on my prepaid annual plan with ATT so, keeping my fingers crossed.
AT&T just wants to make more money out of selling new 5G devices while getting rid of their stocked 4G phones.
I wouldn't mind if they just plain out stated " If you do not buy from ATT then ATT will not support your device and will not sell service to you" then again, it would probably be a PR nightmare for them although they do that for WIFI calling anyways.
Ain't it funny how 2/22/22 is coincidentally a paycheck's time ( 2 weeks) after a new flagship phone (S22) was made available for purchase ?
Anyways, enough for ranting and conspiracy theories lol...
I have taken out and put back to my S8+ the SIM card two times in the past 9 days after 2/22/22 and my service is still in good standing.
Maybe if you got a new replacement phone that you don't like, you may swap back your SIM card and it MAY work just like mine is even if it is NOT ON THE INFAMOUS WHITE LIST.
View attachment 5549949View attachment 5549951View attachment 5549953View attachment 5549955
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep... AT&T is full of it. I got sick of wasting my time and energy trying to fight this. I eventually just switched over to TMo, and I have been running around with my S8's radio set to LTE only. No issues whatsoever. Great cell service, $30 bucks a month cheaper, all fees included in the flat rate, and a free Netflix account, to boot.
See ya AT&T!!! I hope some group with the the gumption and time takes you to court for your deceptive trade practices. I hope you lose lots of customers, time, and money for your douchery!!!
Has anyone looked into potentially using ODIN to use AT&T's firmware on the unbranded G950U1 without rooting to see if it adds the VoLTE software feature? Does anyone know if that flashing will disable (permanently break) samsung pay? I don't want any rooting since that will permanently break samsung pay on the hardware.
Related
According to the specs listed on the T-mobile website for their version of the Tab, it says it has all 4 GSM bands and the 2 AWS bands. Their product picture even shows it as having cellular reception (all 4 bars of service). Seeing as how the device does have a mic, speaker, and even bluetooth, how difficult would it be to flash voice capabilities onto this puppy? Or could you just install Dialer One, seeing as how there is no dialer app, and make outgoing calls? Do you think that since it has the cellular radio and all 4 GSM bands, voice is just turned off?? This device comes out in 5 days, does anyone have any hands on time with an early release or a beta version?? Lets get busy making this a reality...
Wrong subforum bud.
Wrong subforum AND the bars need not have anything to do with voice service. 3G data can have good or bad reception, too.
sorry for posting in the wrong subforum... just a little news though...
Just came back from demoing the Tab at my local tmobile store. It does use a standard sim. However the update is this: in the apps management screen, it seems that the only thing missing is the actual phone apk. The phone utility apk is there and the contacts apk is there. It looks like we just need the phone apk and then possibly the contacts merge apk to get voice enabled. Anyhow, the phone is being released at 11am pst tomorrow in my town, mine is on reserve so I will have it by 11:05am pst. anyone who wants to guide me into activating voice on this baby, send me a message and i will be happy to assist with trying some methods out.
webconnect vs phone line...
@jdmadonna
Are you paying full price for this puppy? if youre not, you might want to think twice about it. the device requires a webconnect line, which will only provide data and text no voice option. If you pay full price you will be able to do what you wish.
If you do try to throw your SIM from an android device on to it and it works please let me know.
good luck
@amdivoff
yes, I am paying full price. If you buy it on contract, the selling rep HAS to assign you a webconnect plan. As you stated, if you buy off contract, you can do whatever will work for you. Some say it would just be easier to flash the EU, either way, I hope to have an answer by the end of the week.
I will be following these threads, would hope to ditch my Dell Streak for a Tab! when everything works,
Okay, I'll start with a little background. I'm a Verizon Wireless employee, and the store's resident Android nerd. That said, I'm stumped on something.
With the recent government ruling about sim-unlocking phones, we've seen an influx of devices from other carriers. Honestly, we've not been trained on how to handle these. Popping active sims into the phone typically activates them just fine, but we've been running into issues with SMS pretty frequently. Also, having AT&T firmware on a Verizon device is weird too, and can result in some odd behavior with baked in features.
With regard to the SMS issues, my immediate first thought was to edit the APN settings. Those are greyed out on a lot of devices I've seen though. So now I'm thinking something needs to change in the firmware. We do not have the ability to flash firmware* though.
We recently had a customer come in and activate 12 sim-unlocked US Cellular GS5s.They report that everything is working except SMS. What do I do?
*We do have an unapproved laptop laying around, and I do have Kies installed on it. I've never used it though, and nobody in the store wants to be liable for bricking a phone. With the right customer, I'd be willing to try it through Kies if that's something it is capable of. But as a large store, that's not a viable solution for most customers.
YamiYaiba said:
Okay, I'll start with a little background. I'm a Verizon Wireless employee, and the store's resident Android nerd. That said, I'm stumped on something.
With the recent government ruling about sim-unlocking phones, we've seen an influx of devices from other carriers. Honestly, we've not been trained on how to handle these. Popping active sims into the phone typically activates them just fine, but we've been running into issues with SMS pretty frequently. Also, having AT&T firmware on a Verizon device is weird too, and can result in some odd behavior with baked in features.
With regard to the SMS issues, my immediate first thought was to edit the APN settings. Those are greyed out on a lot of devices I've seen though. So now I'm thinking something needs to change in the firmware. We do not have the ability to flash firmware* though.
We recently had a customer come in and activate 12 sim-unlocked US Cellular GS5s.They report that everything is working except SMS. What do I do?
*We do have an unapproved laptop laying around, and I do have Kies installed on it. I've never used it though, and nobody in the store wants to be liable for bricking a phone. With the right customer, I'd be willing to try it through Kies if that's something it is capable of. But as a large store, that's not a viable solution for most customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would defer to my boss or VZ corporate lest I get fired for doing the "wrong thing", which I learned on an internet forum!
UNBELIEVABLE
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
YamiYaiba said:
Okay, I'll start with a little background. I'm a Verizon Wireless employee, and the store's resident Android nerd. That said, I'm stumped on something.
With the recent government ruling about sim-unlocking phones, we've seen an influx of devices from other carriers. Honestly, we've not been trained on how to handle these. Popping active sims into the phone typically activates them just fine, but we've been running into issues with SMS pretty frequently. Also, having AT&T firmware on a Verizon device is weird too, and can result in some odd behavior with baked in features.
With regard to the SMS issues, my immediate first thought was to edit the APN settings. Those are greyed out on a lot of devices I've seen though. So now I'm thinking something needs to change in the firmware. We do not have the ability to flash firmware* though.
We recently had a customer come in and activate 12 sim-unlocked US Cellular GS5s.They report that everything is working except SMS. What do I do?
*We do have an unapproved laptop laying around, and I do have Kies installed on it. I've never used it though, and nobody in the store wants to be liable for bricking a phone. With the right customer, I'd be willing to try it through Kies if that's something it is capable of. But as a large store, that's not a viable solution for most customers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense, I'm actually trying to do the opposite and move my Verizon S5 and S3 to T-Mobile. (Verizon phone reps, through six separate phone calls, gave me six different stories of how to unlock my phone. I'm experiencing hiccups as I go - T-Mobile gave me some misinformation as well.)
They were able to change a lot of settings for their network, there are still SMS issues and other random odd issues. Maybe that's the nature of it?
I haven't looked into this in over a year, but I was under the impression that Verizon operates on an IMEI white list, i.e. ONLY Verizon branded phones are allowed on the network. When a user attempts to activate a phone on the network, it's IMEI is checked against the list of IMEIs for every phone Verizon has sold. If it's IMEI is not on that list because it's a non-carrier branded phone or it's another carrier's version of the phone it will not be allowed on the network regardless of hardware compatibility.
From what I recall, this was also the reason that Nexus 7 LTE buyers were screwed by Verizon. Verizon was advertised as supporting the tablet because legally they had to due to the open access provision they agreed to when they purchased their LTE spectrum. Up to that point Verizon had operated with a white list as I described above. They were able to get away with this despite the open access provision because they run voice and text over the older 2G and 3G networks on which they have not agreed to open access. When the tablet came out, for months Verizon had no system in place to activate it because the IMEIs were not on the white list. Users were able to successfully connect to the network with a SIM activated in another tablet proving that it was not a hardware issue.
Has this changed in the last year? If so that great news!
---------- Post added at 12:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
I just Googled it, and based on information from November when the Nexus 6 came out, Verizon still operates on a white list, but it's only for activating NEW LINES. Verizon will not allow you to activate a new line with a non-Verizon branded phone, however, once the SIM has been activated, if it is placed in a non-white listed phone, that phone will be allowed on the network.
Some people suggest that you can take the IMEI of a floor model at the Verizon store and enter that when you order a SIM CARD, and that will allow for activation. I cannot personally verify this as I'm not a Verizon customer, and I'm not sure if the SIM activation process requires an actual phone with a white listed IMEI.
---------- Post added at 12:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 PM ----------
Also OP, have you verified that the handsets with SMS problems support all of Verizon's 2G and 3G network frequencies? From what I recall, Verizon still runs voice and SMS over its legacy 2G/3G networks. I'm not sure if they've implemented Volte yet, but it's likely that older handsets and even some newer ones don't support it, especially if they don't have a Verizon ROM. It's possible that a handset could support only Verizon's LTE frequencies or support everything except it's 3G frequencies for example. If it supports only the LTE frequencies, data could work while voice and SMS don't. If voice and SMS are run over different frequencies it's possible that only one of the two will work.
Information on supported frequencies can be tough to find for phones sold in the US. The information is readily available for the same phones sold anywhere else in the world. The most plausible explanation is that this is because the US carriers insist upon it. They've been forced to start unlocking phones that in the past they've been able to permanently lock to their own networks for domestic use. To combat the emergence of a free marketplace where customers are free to move to a carrier offering a better deal, the carriers have started specifying that their carrier branded versions of the phone be shipped with firmware (possibly also hardware variations) that does not support the frequencies of other US carriers. That way, the phone is "unlocked," but it still won't work on other US networks, so they've managed to sidestep the legislation and continue screwing over consumers.
If the supported frequencies aren't listed on the manufacturer website, you can find them in FCC testing documents.
If customers do have a problem where voice or SMS doesn't work because the frequency isn't supported, they could use a Google voice number for calls and SMS over the data network using the Hangouts app. It works great for me. Your employer definitely would not approve of this suggestion though, since it compromises the way they've artificially limited their technology to force consumers to pay more. All calls and texts to/from a Google voice number are totally free when you're on a Wifi network, and the number is device agnostic, so there's no barrier at all to switching phones or carriers. Verizon wants to use your phone number to make switching as inconvenient as possible, so they don't want you using a cloud based phone number.
Yesterday I bought a $50 starter pack from Verizon prepaid to get a sim card because my last phone didn't use a Sim. So I go to the store to get help activating it. They told me that I'd need to call cs because they didn't provide support for prepaid. So I called & everything went well until the tech had me to restart the phone & try o make a call. All I got was a notice to reboot my phone because there was an error. So the cs guy transferred me to tech support where I spent almost 2 hours on the phone with a lady that wasn't able to get the phone working. She kept telling me the phone wasnt in the system, even though the 1st guy added it with no problem. She then wrote up a ticket to escalate the issue to an advanced department & says they should figure something out in 48hrs. In the meantime I asked if I whould be credited these 3 days that I paid for & won't actually have service, answer: no. Smh.
Additional info my phone now shows the Verizon network & level of service in status bar. However it sometimes says no sim, emergency calls only.
If anyone has any suggestions at all as to what I can do or say to them to get this fixed it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Did you try to do it online ? The website will see the imei number and should let you add it.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
I tried doing it online first & when that didn't work I called. I've still not heard anything from the uber tech ppl @ Verizon. The lady I spoke with didn't give me the ticket #, blue I'm wondering if it was actually submitted.
This may or may not help, but I had a time trying to get my XPE activated on VZW last week. I tried to activate it online, on the phone with Verizon, at a Verizon store and finally at Best Buy. The only reason the Best Buy guy helped me is that he and his roommate had recently bought one so he knew it would work.
I think in the end what it was is that the I and others were putting in the IMEI instead of the MEID. The IMEI is one digit longer and you need to use the shorter number. The guy at Best Buy said something to that effect in passing, but I did not follow up with him on it. Try using the MEID by going to About Phone->Status->IMEI Info and using the MEID for activating.
Another thing to note - if you get the MEID by typing in *#06# into the dialer keypad, it brings up the longer number, even though it says it is the MEID, it is really showing you the IMEI. Hopefully this helps someone.
I'm glad to hear you were able to get yours activated! Trying the MEID is a good suggestion, but it didn't work. That's the # requested when you try to activate online. I'm going to spend a few hours on the phone with tech support today & see if they have figured out a solution.
Maybe try calling back at a different time. I was SO reluctant to buy this phone only because I KNEW I’d end up having to call Verizon and deal with the support line. Amazingly, the first lady I talked to knew exactly what phone I was using and got it working in seconds. I'm on unlimited & she did her due diligence in trying to convert me to a different plan (unsuccessfully).
My connection and speed has been miserable at best though… My APN settings were on global, I switched it to CMDA 2 days ago, the connection has gotten faster/better. It's still unreliable though, I don't think I live in an area THAT saturated with Verizon customers... still trying to find a solution for constant/good connection/speeds. I’m not doing anything that would put me in the throttled group either… just slow-garbage connection. Not completely happy with the phone yet. *Completely stock.
Edit: By "I" I mean, "My wife's". This phone was my attempt to convert her from Apple and this situation isn't helping at all.
The trick is to activate the sim card, then put it in the MXP. If you can borrow someone's Verizon phone (i.e. They put their sim in your MXP to free their phone) then you should have no problem getting Verizon to activate a free and clear Verizon phone. Once activated just swap sims back.
I buy/sell/trade phones all the time (had my sim in 3 today). The only time I've had an issue activating on Verizon is when I messed up my sim and only had a Sprint/unlocked Nexus 6 to use at the moment. It took me hours to get a tech to activate. Finally he pulled up an old IMEI from my account and used that phone to activate my sim.
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I had trouble activating on prepaid aswell a store was nice enough to give me a sim card and I called and it took 2 representatives to activate and an old galaxy s3 meid I had laying around for some reason.
Jodsfk421 said:
Maybe try calling back at a different time. I was SO reluctant to buy this phone only because I KNEW I’d end up having to call Verizon and deal with the support line. Amazingly, the first lady I talked to knew exactly what phone I was using and got it working in seconds. I'm on unlimited & she did her due diligence in trying to convert me to a different plan (unsuccessfully).
My connection and speed has been miserable at best though… My APN settings were on global, I switched it to CMDA 2 days ago, the connection has gotten faster/better. It's still unreliable though, I don't think I live in an area THAT saturated with Verizon customers... still trying to find a solution for constant/good connection/speeds. I’m not doing anything that would put me in the throttled group either… just slow-garbage connection. Not completely happy with the phone yet. *Completely stock.
Edit: By "I" I mean, "My wife's". This phone was my attempt to convert her from Apple and this situation isn't helping at all.
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Verizon can't legally throttle you based on your unlimited data and/or monthly usage. They can and will, however, throttle you if you're in a congested area. Every time we go to sporting events, shows, or any type of big event where hundreds of phones are pinging the same tower my service crawls. At my home (in the country) I don't even use WiFi because my phone runs circles around my 60 MBPS Charter WiFi (which rarely/never sees 60 MBPS).
Do you live in the city, an apartment, anywhere that's congested?
Also, in case you weren't aware your bill will be going up $20 per line for every unlimited line not currently under contract. The cut off to get under contract was 11/15 so my 2 lines will cost me an extra $40 on my next billing cycle.
EDIT - Not sure of the legality of them throttling unlimited users but Verizon did try to implement that. They caught so much flak from users and the FCC, they opted to increase monthly charges and only throttle the top 1% of data users on any given tower during periods of heavy use.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
Had the same exact problem last weekend. Tried to do it online...wouldn't work. Went into the Verizon store and they couldn't do it either. They activated the sim in another phone, set up the account, then moved the sim to my phone and then ported my phone number over. Took almost two hours to get onto a prepaid plan.
This is only a problem if it's a new account/sim card. If you are pulling a sim from a previous phone, it goes smoothly.
magentacat said:
Yesterday I bought a $50 starter pack from Verizon prepaid to get a sim card because my last phone didn't use a Sim. So I go to the store to get help activating it. They told me that I'd need to call cs because they didn't provide support for prepaid. So I called & everything went well until the tech had me to restart the phone & try o make a call. All I got was a notice to reboot my phone because there was an error. So the cs guy transferred me to tech support where I spent almost 2 hours on the phone with a lady that wasn't able to get the phone working. She kept telling me the phone wasnt in the system, even though the 1st guy added it with no problem. She then wrote up a ticket to escalate the issue to an advanced department & says they should figure something out in 48hrs. In the meantime I asked if I whould be credited these 3 days that I paid for & won't actually have service, answer: no. Smh.
Additional info my phone now shows the Verizon network & level of service in status bar. However it sometimes says no sim, emergency calls only.
If anyone has any suggestions at all as to what I can do or say to them to get this fixed it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
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Click to collapse
First of all the Pure may not work for pre-paid but it definitely works for post paid. However if you have it working then OK. As for your other issue try changing Settings > under Wireless & networks choose "More" > Cellular networks > Preferred network type > choose LTE/CDMA.
I used to leave mine on Global all the time until a few weeks ago I started getting a message similar if not the same as yours. Everything still worked OK but the error message would not go away no matter what I did...until I stopped using Global. Now I have not tested it recently to see if Global would work again but from reading about the Global setting it is really for when you are "global" that is, out of the country and roaming for a signal that can be used. While here in the USA as long as you have a decent signal for LTE/CDMA then no need for the phone to even try to connect. It should just do so automatically. Give it a try and report back.
Anyone currently using this on Google Fi? How do you like the service and how is the phone performing?
LG G6 (VS988 Verizon Variant BOOOO) but on Google Fi
The service is awesome. I switch back and forth between T-Mobile and Google Fi SIMs. My phone is a bad example because even though I paid for it outright and I left Verizon only after my contract ended, I cannot install an unlocked bootloader or root my device and as far as I know this is a Verizon thing only, (meaning Verizon special crafted the Android OS before putting it out so as to prevent people from actually having that 100 percent ownership feeling.) However the data and everything is good. Start out slow, order your SIM through Google Fi (if they ask say you have the LG G7, trust me, they'll refuse to activate the G6 so I had to call back and lie and sure enough it worked. After I got my SIM in the mail (all over the web via the Fi website,) I popped it in, my phone asked for a restart because it has a new SIM, restarted phone and installed the Google Fi app from Play Store, a few seconds later and one more restart and the APNs all changed themselves, phone was in Global mode and zooming away. And...tsk tsk...I haven't paid for service yet but maybe it's because my phone is all locked up to Verizon but they are not recording any data usage for me neither so I have free service through Fi. THAT BEING SAID, I am a huge fan and patron to Google and their services so I'm going to call and get this issue resolved. I'm sure it's just that they need my IMEI or something of that sort. If you have any other variant of the LG G6, first off, congrats for not going through Verizon like I did and never being able to root/ADB bloatware and etc., and two, give it a shot. You can get your SIM and start using the service (talk/text at least) before paying anything and of course it's month to month so no commitment.
Oh ya! I also noticed, rather this is intentional on Google's part or not, that my Mobile Hotspot feature works as well If you have anymore specific questions feel free to let me know!
Thanks for the reply. I'm guessing that you started before November as they have now opened the program up to other phones including the G6. (Mine is an unlocked T-Mobile one, which I am on now, so should work fine as I will still be using T-Mobil's towers.)
I realize this is an old post, but wondering if you are still using fi with the LG G6. I am wondering if root will give me the ability to auto-switch between the 3 networks. It's a deal breaker for me if I'm stuck with just TMobile's network. I have the US Cellular variant.
Thanks.
I received my launch day one plus 8 pro, model IN2025. I am currently with sprint but they refuse to activate the device. They insist it is carrier locked and they can't activate it. I have put my sim in there and it works for a few minutes until I get a sim locked error, then it doesn't work. I wanted to switch to tmobile but, for whatever reason, my BYOD order was flagged as potential fraud and I am required to go into a store to complete my order - which isn't really possible as there are only 3 stores in my state that are still open, none of which are near where I live. I have checked AT&T and Verizon and their sites both say the phone isn't compatible. I have a google fi sim on the way but I am curious if anyone in the states has successfully activated an 8 pro and if so, what carrier they have.
Thanks!
CA, T Mobile, no error at all
samyuan9826 said:
CA, T Mobile, no error at all
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Well that gives me some hope. This is why I wanted to move back to tmoblie but there is literally nothing I can do. I have spent hours upon hours on the phone, chat, and even on DM with their twitter support. The only way for me to activate service is to go into a store which is impossible. There are no stores open in a 75 mile radius of me and I don't think it is wise to be driving all over for what is definitely not an essential service. I guess I will hold out hope for Google Fi because Sprint is just awful.
Tmobile here too no issues. Works perfect
berdo said:
Well that gives me some hope. This is why I wanted to move back to tmoblie but there is literally nothing I can do. I have spent hours upon hours on the phone, chat, and even on DM with their twitter support. The only way for me to activate service is to go into a store which is impossible. There are no stores open in a 75 mile radius of me and I don't think it is wise to be driving all over for what is definitely not an essential service. I guess I will hold out hope for Google Fi because Sprint is just awful.
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Could it be they are merging at the moment?
samyuan9826 said:
Could it be they are merging at the moment?
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If it is, then you would have thought one of the 8 or so people I spoke with would have said something. I do know that Sprint told me they could not activate the phone because it was carrier locked and even after I had a chat with One Plus support per Sprint's request and copied and pasted one plus's response that the phone was not carrier locked and compatible with sprint, the sprint rep from the advanced support team still insisted the phone was carrier locked and that I should return the phone.
I have no idea what the issue is with T-Mobile. They ran my credit, took my payment, setup my order and then a bot automatically canceled my order and booted me off the chat. The canned message said I couldn't complete the order over chat or the phone, that I would have to go to store. After 3+ hours on chat and phone last night I finally gave up. The rep on twitter event sent me a DM basically saying that my best option was to use screen shots of our conversation and dispute my credit and try again once I can actually go to a store.
It is just one giant cluster F.
berdo said:
If it is, then you would have thought one of the 8 or so people I spoke with would have said something. I do know that Sprint told me they could not activate the phone because it was carrier locked and even after I had a chat with One Plus support per Sprint's request and copied and pasted one plus's response that the phone was not carrier locked and compatible with sprint, the sprint rep from the advanced support team still insisted the phone was carrier locked and that I should return the phone.
I have no idea what the issue is with T-Mobile. They ran my credit, took my payment, setup my order and then a bot automatically canceled my order and booted me off the chat. The canned message said I couldn't complete the order over chat or the phone, that I would have to go to store. After 3+ hours on chat and phone last night I finally gave up. The rep on twitter event sent me a DM basically saying that my best option was to use screen shots of our conversation and dispute my credit and try again once I can actually go to a store.
It is just one giant cluster F.
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RIP - my order was from OnePlus.com back to the launch day - I really don't think they have any kind of carrier locks. I would say returning/exchange the phone is the best option
Mine Activated fine on T-Mobile
https://www.androidheadlines.com/2020/04/oneplus-8-5g-networks-compatibility
"Sprint users are basically completely out of luck. As the OnePlus 8 doesn't support its 5G network, nor its 4G LTE or its voice (CDMA) network."
I just got mine today and works perfect with Tmobile prepaid, wifi calling and everything works
T-Mobile Ohio with no issues here.
Sent from my IN2025 using Tapatalk
I grabbed a Google Fi card today and so far so good. I'm connected to LTE with speeds that were comparable when I had TMobile. Pretty pumped to be living that 120hz life and not using Samsung's garbage skin.
It's funny, there is a mod to turn on WiFi and VoLTE which 100% works fine on Sprint. I can normal service for about 5 minutes and then Sprint shuts it down. I could reboot and work again, and then they'd shut me down again. So yeah, no CDMA but VoLTE worked just fine.
I'm on T Mobleand it was a snap. No issues at sll
anyone activate on verizon in us?
TIA
bkrickles said:
anyone activate on verizon in us?
TIA
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Yes i activated mine on verizon and had no issues at all. The one problem im running into is we dont have an option for wifi calling. Benn on chat with verizon and oneplus, verizon tried to get it to work for 2 hours where oneplus said its something wrong on verizon end because wifi calling is a default feature....
berdo said:
I received my launch day one plus 8 pro, model IN2025. I am currently with sprint but they refuse to activate the device. They insist it is carrier locked and they can't activate it. I have put my sim in there and it works for a few minutes until I get a sim locked error, then it doesn't work. I wanted to switch to tmobile but, for whatever reason, my BYOD order was flagged as potential fraud and I am required to go into a store to complete my order - which isn't really possible as there are only 3 stores in my state that are still open, none of which are near where I live. I have checked AT&T and Verizon and their sites both say the phone isn't compatible. I have a google fi sim on the way but I am curious if anyone in the states has successfully activated an 8 pro and if so, what carrier they have.
Thanks!
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Click to collapse
Sprint is a PITA with unlocked devices. They have different SIM cards for different unlocked devices and you can’t use one SIM in every device normally. I had that issue as well and they always sent me SIMs based on the phone. I have T-Mobile now and use my SIM in Pixels, iPhones, and my OnePlus with no issues. Always had to call sprint to switch between my devices as well it was terrible. T-Mobile you just switch the SIM and it’s good.
The OnePlus model sold by OnePlus should have worked good on US TMo.
However, has anyone over here gotten a global model from banggood to work on TMo ? Their posted frequencies look like 41 and 71 are missing, and possibly some others.
kng60ft said:
Yes i activated mine on verizon and had no issues at all. The one problem im running into is we dont have an option for wifi calling. Benn on chat with verizon and oneplus, verizon tried to get it to work for 2 hours where oneplus said its something wrong on verizon end because wifi calling is a default feature....
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Click to collapse
Have you tried enabling the switch via logkit?
1. Dial *#800#
2. Go to Oneplus logkit
3. Go to function switch
4. Check on Vowifi switch
5. Reboot your phone
6. go to settings -- wifi & internet -- sim & network
7. Turn on WIFI Calling
8. Reboot your phone
berdo said:
Have you tried enabling the switch via logkit?
1. Dial *#800#
2. Go to Oneplus logkit
3. Go to function switch
4. Check on Vowifi switch
5. Reboot your phone
6. go to settings -- wifi & internet -- sim & network
7. Turn on WIFI Calling
8. Reboot your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I followed those steps and when I select function switch, there is nothing on the screen that says VoWIFI.
Has anyone got it working with AT&T? Mine arrives tomorrow, hoping to just switch my sim card from my Pixel 3 XL into 8 Pro seemlessly.