First of all, thanks in advance for any help or tips you can provide! I did a search and found one thread from selveral months ago that asked a similar question, but no one had responded.
I have a Gear S that a family member purchased in South Korea directly from Samsung. It works great when it's connected to my phone, but I'd like to use it as a standalone device, preferably on Verizon. Verizon said their system doesn't recognize the IMEI so they can't add it to my account, but that I might be able use an already activated SIM card.
Unfortunately I don't have any devices that use a nano SIM like the Gear S, so doing this would be some hassle, and I want to have some idea that it would actually work. Looking around on line, it appears there may be a issue with the frequency band used by the watch and that used by American carriers, but I can't tell for sure if this is an issue for this device or whether it is surmountable.
Is there any way to get my watch to function as a standalone device on a US carrier? Can I use it on Verizon? If so, what steps are necessary?
Model number: SM-R750
Software version: R750XXU1BOG1
You have two problems here:
1. Gear S is dual-band only. Only US version will work with US carriers. Rest of the world use the entirely different bands.
2. Verizon is a CDMA carrier. It still uses CDMA for voice, text and 3G data. Only the LTE data uses SIM card. Verizon's version of Gear S doesn't use SIM card at all. So, even if you get a compatible US version of S, unless it has Verizon name on it, it won't work.
Related
I saw a couple of tech points in the other threads. I myself have purchased the Att variant and planning to set it up with T Mobile but as I said, someone pointed out that they have different cellular banding or something to that effect. This person went on to say even if we were to get the ATT Gear S version on T Mobile that speeds would probably only be 2G.
From the articles that I've read on the Gear S specs I haven't come across anything saying that Samsung has designed specific versions for each U.S. carrier.
I do not have the answer at this time whether or not full cross compatibility is built into the device or not. Purely going by what has been announced, again I do not think it has been modified to keep us from doing carrier jumps.
I will update when Tmobile gets their networks up and running for the Gear S. If anyone can clear this up with for sure information, please do so. Feel free to speculate but if you're not certain please say so. Thanks.
If I can't get full functionality on the TMobile network with my ATT purchased and unlocked Gear S, I guess I'll have to return it and pony up the extra $50 that TMobile charges and fully join that club. Guys it may not be worth the hassle. I'll have an update soon on how all this works out, however I'd like to welcome feedback on the issue.
hughedee74 said:
If I can't get full functionality on the TMobile network with my ATT purchased and unlocked Gear S, I guess I'll have to return it and pony up the extra $50 that TMobile charges and fully join that club. Guys it may not be worth the hassle. I'll have an update soon on how all this works out, however I'd like to welcome feedback on the issue.
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Im doing the same thing tomorrow.
You can go to Samsung.com to check out the official spec. There are 5 different carrier variants but only three listed so far: AT&T (SM-R750A), Verizon (SM-R750V) and Sprint (SM-R750P). The missing two are T-Mobile (SM-R750T) and US Cellular.
Each listed different supported network (CMDA vs GSM) and bands.
It has the Snapdragon 400 which supports a HUGE number of bands and supports a global mode for both CDMA and GSM.
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/400
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/wearables/samsung-gear-s
Someone will figure out a way to get the device to work with them back and forth ... it may be through a rom or a command line. But if you aren't a tinkerer you'll probably want to go with the version of the watch for your preferred carrier.
Update: I did a search through the FCC and didn't see one with T-Mobile specific bands (1700/2100). Bad news though is that there definitely are two variants for CDMA AND GSM. Argh. I stand brutally corrected!
I was given Gear S (sm-r750) as a demo device. I worked with an att rep and got the sim card and device activated on service, but my device doesn't connect to cellular or data. I worked with tech support to work out the issue and tried refreshsing everything on att's side and even changed the apn settings. I have a Sprint Note III. I'm not sure if that has an effect on the gear s being activated. Has anyone else tried to do this/is it possible?
Shameless self-bump.
scroaty said:
I was given Gear S (sm-r750) as a demo device. I worked with an att rep and got the sim card and device activated on service, but my device doesn't connect to cellular or data. I worked with tech support to work out the issue and tried refreshsing everything on att's side and even changed the apn settings. I have a Sprint Note III. I'm not sure if that has an effect on the gear s being activated. Has anyone else tried to do this/is it possible?
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The carrier that your device is through does not have an effect on whether the gear will activate. I am using a T-Mobile Gear S with my Verizon Note Edge at the moment. I cannot speak for trying to activate the international model.
International version of Gear S will not have the frequency support of US carriers. Gear S is a dual-band device. International version supports 900/1800Mhz. US version supports 850/1900MHz. So, either version will get no signal what so ever on other area, e.g. US version won't work internationally while international version won't work in US.
foxbat121 said:
International version of Gear S will not have the frequency support of US carriers. Gear S is a dual-band device. International version supports 900/1800Mhz. US version supports 850/1900MHz. So, either version will get no signal what so ever on other area, e.g. US version won't work internationally while international version won't work in US.
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Thank you. Not the answer I was looking for, but at least I know so I can cancel my account.
Dears,
I need your help. I have Gear S R750T running on R750TUVU1ANJ7. I have just rooted my Gear S following the exact instruction in this link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/gear-s/development/definitive-guide-to-rooting-gear-s-t2973455
Unfortunately, SIM Card still not working even after rooting. There is no coverage appear in the watch.
Do you have any solution or suggestion to overcome this problem.
Thanks,
A.AZIZ
I have the exact same issue.
USA phones (and GearS watches with phone functionality) use a different communication channel than those for Europe/Asia.
So, if you're trying to use a phone/watch designed for one set of frequencies (for example USA uses dual band 850/1900) on a network with a different set of frequencies (in Europe it's 900/1800) it will simply not work.
You should definitely research this kind of info BEFORE buying any GSM type device (phone, smartwatch, 3g/4g tablet, ...) or you'll end up with a "WIFI only" device
EDIT :
Here's a list of countries that use the same frequencies as USA :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_wireless_communications_service_providers
Also, for Yemen the network uses the GSM 900 system, so an American phone won't work : http://www.gsmarena.com/network-bands.php3?sCountry=YEMEN
Thanks verzipo for your reply
Thanks verzipo for your reply
I don't think the problem is the band frequencies as most mobiles whatever be GSM or CDMA brought from USA are working properly here in Yemen. Only mobiles which are factory locked or restricted by a carrier need a back door solution either by rooting or some utility applications. I feel frustrated and cheated by buyer that I spent more money for the Gear S on un-used feature in my country.
Anyway, I will try my best to use the WIFI feature to its end limit to compensate
Thanks Man again.....
Hi guys,
I rooted the phone, installed audio and viper mod... but the only reason I even got that far was trying to root the phone to get additional bands added to the modem. Seems like I am not getting far lol.
The ulefone power 3s I got does not work in canada for bell... as it lacks 3g apparently and only has 2g and 4g? 4g data works, calling phone with 2g works. So data works for bell mobility and rogers, but voice and sms does not work with bell mobility... only with rogers/fido/koodo.
I am going to switch to rogers from bell due to better cost (45 a month plan with data) vs 80+ with bell... so ill get voice working but im worried then how much this phone will work when roaming in the states and what have you....
I seem to be only able to find how to edit bands with qualcom based phones but ours is a p23 or mtk 6763 processor phone.
Did you figure this out?
Just wondering if you were ever able to unlock the bands. I am having a similar issue
Fault of the smartphone made in mediatekļ¼
The japan domestic carrier company where iPhone is set to use all of carrier bands in Japan merely hangs SIM lock and sells a terminal, but even which carrier is available if I cancel it.
However, there is no human being who wants to use this even if the phone which is how much which is the phone which is usable only in Japanese Tokyo where only a measure band of 3G and the LTE is usable because it is sold domestically without most of the carrier bands in Japan being available is bargain as for the smartphone made in mediatek
Even if the person buying it appears if baseband sets it freely and can add it, such an application does not exist.
Because I get the root right, in z3c of sony where band addition is possible freely by QPST and QXDM if it is a phone of snapdragon, there are still many users
The smartphone made in mediatek is a really useless (not smart) phone in Japan
My question remains, when carrier unlocking an s9 or s9+, is there any way to make it available on different network types like say if the phone started out using a carrier that uses CDMA, is their any way to flash it to utilize t-mobile's frequency bands?
I unlocked two galaxy s9+'s that were on xfinity, which uses verizon towers. The two phones did unlock, but only for carriers utilizing CDMA. I was hoping they would be able to be used on t-mobile after unlocking, but they can't. Only messaging and data works using a t-mobile SIM card. Verizon works fine. SO my question still remains, is there a way to make it work?
I used itekimei .com to have the phones unlocked, as I found they were suggested here on XDA. And they weren't really able to answer my question either. They said it should work with t-mobile, but the conversation ended with "t-mobile is having problems with unlocked phones." This is super frustrating trying to get an answer.
Edit: I found this forum https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/help/sim-unlocking-sprint-samsung-galaxy-s9-t3783571 which debates whether it will work or not. Also this one specifically about Xfinity https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/help/xfinity-mobile-unlock-service-t3796349. But mine didn't work. I don't think U.S. S9's are cross compatible from CDMA to GSM. I have been searching and searching and can't find a way.
Yes, the US unit hardware is cross compatible. Heck, Verizon itself isn't all CDMA. They are phasing out CDMA soon and most of their network is LTE.
I have a US unlocked S9+ and can use any carrier in the US. You could too, all you need to do is flash the US Unlocked firmware to the device using Odin.
Your problem may be the Xfinity firmware restricting certain bands is all. Or possibly the device isn't really unlocked.
Regards,