Background:
I have a Samsung Galaxy SIII mini with Carbon Rom 4.4.2. I live in Mexico right next to the border with the US. My network carrier is movistar and I'm on contract (not prepaid).
Problem:
Back when my phone used the stock Jellybean 4.1.2 firmware I could just select my Mexican carrier and it would completely ignore T-mobile or At&t. Now with 4.4.2 my phone is connecting to T-mobile whenever I'm near the border even though I manually select Movistar from the list of carriers within range. Whenever my home networks signal diminishes it goes into roaming automatically even if it doesn't completely loose coverage. I hate to loose data connectivity because it goes into roaming and I won't enable data access while roaming because it's very expensive. How can I make the phone act the way it used to do with the stock Jellybean rom without having to revert to 4.1.2?
Note:
I'm going nuts over this because every time someone asks how to do this in this forum the only answer they get are instructions to disable data while roaming. I refuse to believe there is no other way to do this other than "suck it up" as most responses from other threads seem to be.
Related
my friend tom got his galaxy s like two months ago. he has a even more plus plan with unlimited everything on tmobile and he used that in a iphone 3g for a year with no problems and he could roam with no issues on att.
with his new vibrant its not working! it takes forever to try to connect then gives a error. the sim should be good since it roams in two other unlocked phones..
for the note, his phone IS unlocked... that was the first thing we thought of..
the error is: unable to select network.. your sim card is not allowed to connect to this network
this phone is a quadband phone so it should work.. we have put a att legit iphone sim in it and it works great.. what gives? why can't he roam on this new phone when other phones do? running bionix rom.. have tried updates, wondering if anyone has any opinions or info
we've already tried changing network settings with *#0011#, gone into service mode *#*#197328640#*#* with no luck
edit: we've tried not allowing the phone to connect to our local att 3G band (1900) and use all other bands again with no luck. the phone connects to canada's rogers network tho.. weird..
anyone check this out yet?? anyone got it workin? any reports would be killer ...
we have tried more settings through service mode still with no luck. when we specify certain bands and leaving the att 3G local band unchecked, it will not hop on T-mobile with the setting! Crazy! not sure if it's the rom, radio version or kernel but we will keep tweaking and posting results.. if anyone is having this issue or has concerns any posts or signs of life would be cool lol
Same issue
Unfortunately, I don't have a solution, but I've been working on this same issue since september. I originally contacted tmo about the problem to see if they somehow hadn't provisioned my phone/account for roaming. Needless to say they were not much help. They suggested I exchange the phone for a new one, which I did, and I still have the same problem.
I'm in a rural area of california where tmo has roaming on att towers. My girl has tmo service with a different samsung phone and she can roam on att just fine. She can send/receive calls and text. I even put my sim in her phone, and it works, so I've pretty much narrowed the problem down to an issue with the vibrant itself.
My phone is not unlocked, so we've ruled that out. I'm running bionix fusion with ji2 modem now, but I've had the issue with the stock phone before ji6, and after ji6 ota. I've tried messing around with the service menu the same as you, and I haven't got anywhere either.
I have been able to get the phone to at least lock on to att by adding the apn internet2.voicestream.com, and it will get past the "not registered on network" message. Unfortunately, it won't complete a call or send a message, it just times out after about 15 seconds and drops back to the previous menu (depending on whether I tried to dial out of contacts, the call log, or the dialer). But it does not give me an error message, it behaves as if the call connected and immediately hung up.
I had given up on it for the past couple weeks, but I have time now to try and work it again. Let me know if you've gotten anywhere, and I'll do the same.
The fix is: when you're in an att roam area, set your phone to gsm 850 only via the service menu. If your phone doesn't auto lock on the att network, search for available networks and choose att. After that you should be able to send and receive calls and texts.
after yet some more messing around, still no luck. it's clearly a thing with tmobile not allowing roaming..... because i read many threads off the gooooogle that say tmobile is pretty much going away and any "contractless" plans don't have roaming so they don't lose money....
dickheads. at least he's grandfathered in with a good unlimited everything plan tho..
even if all this said, if anyone finds any info out post!
the other day i was out of tmobiles network coverage and on att voice and edge not 3g. i live in texas
this is with a stock vibrant jI6
tried the app RoamControl with no luck. it uses different tmobile bands when in "roam only" mode. anyone have any luck yet?
hi there, i have a rogers branded x10a that i have debranded n unlocked for use on fido.
now everytime i use the phone, the roaming symbol is there. i tried to dowload settings through sony ericsson but it always fails or tells me to go to sony ericsson. note that I dont have a data plan, i have data on lock down with provider and also turned off data option. but i have wifi on when i attempt to do this.
i have tried filling out Fido 3G apn data according to the file in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=876878
doesnt seem to work. what could be the roaming symbol be caused by? i am definitely not roaming atm.
no one can help me =(?
Don't worry about it. I had Fido for 5 years and it always showed that on every single phone I had. (I never had phones from fido, they were always unlocked bought elsewhere).
Fido is Rogers, so you are basically using Rogers' network and your phone tells you that.
i am not so much as worrying, i was just wondering if there was a way to fix it. o well thank anywys!
Since I have used the sony Z2 on us T-Mobile I have not seen the phone roam at all. Here is where my question is. Last Sunday I was fishing in international water and I noticed I lost signal about 12 miles off shore. My friend who had an Att phone still had signal. At one point I did a "mobile network" check. Roaming was checked off. And then when I searched verizon and att both came up but it would not let me connect to any of those networks. So it is almost like the phone will not let me roam. Am I missing something? Is there a way to check for international roaming? Is it because my phone is rooted with boot loader unlocked. Or is this something with t mobile. Phone model is d6503 and I am on the simple choice (credit check) plan. I will be traveling internationally throughout the year and I want to make sure I am not going to have any issues connecting to networks. Thank you in advance for your help on this
I live in Toronto and am Fido customer. I was visiting my sister's family in Chicago over the weekend. While there, my brother-in-law gave me to use his Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 (SCH-I545), which is a CDMA phone but also has a SIM card slot. I did some Internet search and, although the information is somewhat conflicting, most of the sources indicate that this particular CDMA phone is SIM unlocked to allow Verizon's customer traveling abroad where there is no CDMA coverage to be able to put a SIM card and use roaming. Or at least that's how I understood it.
Anyway, I put my Fido SIM card (luckily, in the same micro SIM format that the SCH-I545 required) and after changing the Setting > More networks > Mobile networks > Network mode to GSM/UMTS (the other two options being Global and LTE/CDMA), it connected just fine. It showed AT&T on the main screen (probably Fido's roaming partner in the US?). On the top bar it showed full bars connection indicator, with the letter "H" next to it. While in Chicago, I had my roaming data disabled so can't say if data worked, I also didn't really use the phone to talk (didn't have to), but I did receive a couple of texts from friends from Toronto. I also called my sister once (who is on T-Mobile). She didn't pick up, but later she saw a missed call from my Fido number. So I assume if she had picked up, we would have been able to talk. In other words, in Chicago my Canadian Fido SIM card seemed to have worked on this Verizon S4 through AT&T roaming.
Knowing that, I took the phone with me in Toronto. Here though it does NOT work with the same Fido SIM card. Shows empty triangle and no connection. It doesn't matter which of the tree options I choose under Network mode. If I manually search for available networks, it shows CAN Rogers Wireless, Bell and Telus. Since Fido is actually owned by Rogers and uses Rogers' towers, I select Rogers, but after sitting 5 minutes at "Registering on CAN Rogers Wireless", it says that the network was not available and it couldn't connect. I tried rebooting, wiping - no difference.
Can someone help me with making this phone work with Fido in Canada? Or may be educate me why it worked in Chicago and not here?
Update on this: I spent some time browsing the forum and now I have the phone rooted using Towelroot, also SafeStrap 3.72 and SuperSU 1.94 installed. SELinux is set to "Permissive". I have Odin 3.10 working fine and can easily go back and forth between MK2, NC2 and NC5, wipe or no-wipe . I was able to flash two other custom ROMS - DARTHSTALKER S4 VERSION X1 and Hyperdrive RLS18.1. Everything works fine, except I can't connect to my wireless provider. I tried with three SIM cards - Fido, Telus and Koodo and the result is the same for all - no connection, no bars (empty triangle), and a small sign next to it like "no entry". If I check under "About phone > Status", it says Network: Unknown; Signal 0 dBm, 99 asu, Mobile network type: Unknown; Service status: Out of service; Mobile network state: Disconnected.
Everything else appears to work just fine, inlcluding WIFI, GPS, etc.
There is one exception though - with the DarthStalker ROM I linked above I DO get some bars - floating between 1 and 4, never full. However still no service. Phone status shows the same.
I tried RegionLock Away v1.3 - no difference. Tried selecting different band using guides like this one - no difference too.
There MUST be something, possibly a very small thing, that's preventing this phone from connecting in Canada (remember, it worked in the US). But at this point I'm out of ideas. Anyone?
stfn74 said:
Update on this: I spent some time browsing the forum and now I have the phone rooted using Towelroot, also SafeStrap 3.72 and SuperSU 1.94 installed. SELinux is set to "Permissive". I have Odin 3.10 working fine and can easily go back and forth between MK2, NC2 and NC5, wipe or no-wipe . I was able to flash two other custom ROMS - DARTHSTALKER S4 VERSION X1 and Hyperdrive RLS18.1. Everything works fine, except I can't connect to my wireless provider. I tried with three SIM cards - Fido, Telus and Koodo and the result is the same for all - no connection, no bars (empty triangle), and a small sign next to it like "no entry". If I check under "About phone > Status", it says Network: Unknown; Signal 0 dBm, 99 asu, Mobile network type: Unknown; Service status: Out of service; Mobile network state: Disconnected.
Everything else appears to work just fine, inlcluding WIFI, GPS, etc.
There is one exception though - with the DarthStalker ROM I linked above I DO get some bars - floating between 1 and 4, never full. However still no service. Phone status shows the same.
I tried RegionLock Away v1.3 - no difference. Tried selecting different band using guides like this one - no difference too.
There MUST be something, possibly a very small thing, that's preventing this phone from connecting in Canada (remember, it worked in the US). But at this point I'm out of ideas. Anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you input APN's after inserting the SIM's?
joshm.1219 said:
Did you input APN's after inserting the SIM's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, either manually or automatically in Darthstalker ROM. Forgot to mention that.
stfn74 said:
I live in Toronto and am Fido customer. I was visiting my sister's family in Chicago over the weekend. While there, my brother-in-law gave me to use his Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 (SCH-I545), which is a CDMA phone but also has a SIM card slot. I did some Internet search and, although the information is somewhat conflicting, most of the sources indicate that this particular CDMA phone is SIM unlocked to allow Verizon's customer traveling abroad where there is no CDMA coverage to be able to put a SIM card and use roaming. Or at least that's how I understood it.
Anyway, I put my Fido SIM card (luckily, in the same micro SIM format that the SCH-I545 required) and after changing the Setting > More networks > Mobile networks > Network mode to GSM/UMTS (the other two options being Global and LTE/CDMA), it connected just fine. It showed AT&T on the main screen (probably Fido's roaming partner in the US?). On the top bar it showed full bars connection indicator, with the letter "H" next to it. While in Chicago, I had my roaming data disabled so can't say if data worked, I also didn't really use the phone to talk (didn't have to), but I did receive a couple of texts from friends from Toronto. I also called my sister once (who is on T-Mobile). She didn't pick up, but later she saw a missed call from my Fido number. So I assume if she had picked up, we would have been able to talk. In other words, in Chicago my Canadian Fido SIM card seemed to have worked on this Verizon S4 through AT&T roaming.
Knowing that, I took the phone with me in Toronto. Here though it does NOT work with the same Fido SIM card. Shows empty triangle and no connection. It doesn't matter which of the tree options I choose under Network mode. If I manually search for available networks, it shows CAN Rogers Wireless, Bell and Telus. Since Fido is actually owned by Rogers and uses Rogers' towers, I select Rogers, but after sitting 5 minutes at "Registering on CAN Rogers Wireless", it says that the network was not available and it couldn't connect. I tried rebooting, wiping - no difference.
Can someone help me with making this phone work with Fido in Canada? Or may be educate me why it worked in Chicago and not here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I just saw your thread. I have exactly the same issue as yours. Have you fixed the issue? How did you do it? Thanks.
---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 PM ----------
wenxianren said:
Hi I just saw your thread. I have exactly the same issue as yours. Have you fixed the issue? How did you do it? Thanks.
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Click to collapse
sorry, just saw your private message. my situation is: I bought it from the ebay, when I got it , I can use it in canada Chatr network without any problem. But the problem is one time I click the system update, then when I reboot the phone, it can't find the service just as you mentioned in the main thread. It's really strangle. Since it did work before. Maybe need to set in some place, but I never find the answer from the internet. too sad! :crying:
I just bought a lightly used so-called "factory unlocked" S21. Everything seems to work just fine (Email, Texts, Phone calls, Internet). But it's exhibiting one weird issue I've noticed. When notifications are all clear it displays "Sprint" in the upper left corner as the network. In addition to that if I go into Settings in various areas I see "Sprint". CSC codes are showing as SPR/SPR/TMB which is Sprint and T-mobile. I'll post all the screen captures.
Just as some background info, after a Safeswitch transfer, all I did was swap out the sim from an old locked S7 Verizon phone to the newer unlocked S21. I don't think using the old SIM has anything to do with displaying Sprint since it's Verizon sim. My theory is that the vendor unlocked it but didn't flash the firmware to the generic unlocked version. It still has the Sprint firmware. Verizon is sending me a new SIM which I can try but I'm not optimistic that it's a SIM issue. I have not done a factory reset because I thought the vendor sent it already reset. I'm not optimistic this would reset the "Sprint" issue either. My question is should I keep the phone or return it? It was only $299 and works perfectly. I just get a little annoyed that they sold it as "factory unlocked" but is shows "Sprint" on the home screen and it appears all over the phones Settings menus. There was a theory that Android 10 had a bug in it that caused this but I'm not sure this is the cause.
Below is a related thread and how I found out about this forum.
Verizon phone shows "Sprint" as provider?
Hi, I have Verizon and after updating to Android 10 today (official Verizon OTA update), when I check the SIM status it will sometimes say "Sprint". It'll also sometimes say "Sprint" when I swipe down from top and look in upper right hand corner...
forum.xda-developers.com
Your phone is originally T-Mobile based on the sales code you provided. You can change it to either Verizon CSC or U1 Firmware. Meaning, you would need to flash the phone, or get access to certain tools that let you simply change the CSC. If flashed to U1, the device would restart based on the inserted SIM and load all necessary firmware for proper connection, but no bloatware.
What is your desired goal? Verizon firmware, or Samsung unlocked firmware?
Thanks for the reply. I really learned a lot buying this phone and did tons of research on it. What I ended up deciding was to just keep the firmware as Sprint/T-Mobile. It does everything so well and the only sign of Sprint is the network name at the top right notification area. It doesn't bother me anymore. I had a bit of an issue with the eBay vendor saying it was factory unlocked when it doesn't have the Samsung factory firmware on it, showing Sprint whenever I have a connection to Verizon's network. But the price was really good and the phone is so nice, battery life is great. Since the phone is all setup and working great I'm just going to leave it. I did quite a bit of customization on the phone already and I'd lose some of that if I loaded new firmware.
It seems like a symptom of the Sprint/T-Mobile firmware is the eSim is not available. That was a nice surprise. This whole purchasing an unlocked phone thing has been quite the enigma. This is why I hate switching phones and I consider myself pretty tech savvy. What a mess. Then Verizon screwed up the new sim so the phone wouldn't call or text. All so they could force me into a newer more expensive plan. Crooks. So I tried to change over to Mint Mobil using the eSim option. The eSim was likely disabled in the firmware so that was impossible. Also Verizon wouldn't let them port my number without a special pin. Which I couldn't receive because Verizon botched my sim and I couldn't get the text from Verizon with the new pin. Disaster.