New to this, but I'll try to explain the best I can.
I've talked to tech support from my old carrier, my new carrier, and Samsung for about 15 hours total. I'm getting absolutely no where.
I purchased a Samsung Galaxy A20 from Spectrum mobile 3 months ago. I ended my service with them and switched to Red Pocket mobile when they had their black friday / cyber monday sim kit deal.
When I activated and ported my number over to Red Pocket I thought there was an issue with the number port.
But going back and forth with customer service they couldn't figure out what was wrong, as my account was activated and they confirmed that they now owned my phone number.
Eventually I realized my device was still locked with Spectrum. They provided me with an unlock code which did not work. They suggested using the unfreeze code which worked, my device said accepted/unlocked.
Phone works, can make calls and send text messages. However,I cannot access data.
My network operator still says Spectrum, and my Access Point name says charter (Spectrum's APN).
I cannot select the Add button, or the Reset to Default button in Access Point Names.
I took this to mean that my device was still locked since the unlock code did not work.
I thought the unfreeze code was specifically for if you attempt too many unlock codes and it locks you out of making more attempts.
That was my understanding, that the purpose of the unfreeze code is to enable you to make more attempts with the unlock code.
Again, I'm not really sure.
But regardless, Spectrum insists that despite it saying that my device is still locked according to their information, that the only way for it to say unlocked on their end is if i actually connect to my new provider, but that they have done everything on their end and that my device is unlocked and I should be able to connect to my new provider.
FUNNY right... in their records it says my device is still locked, but that that's not really accurate, and that it should be unlocked.
However, I have Red Pocket's SIM in my phone. And I can place and receive calls/texts. Spectrum and Red Pocket both use CDMA, so that makes sense to me. But since I am routing through Spectrum still, and I am unable to Add Red Pocket's Access Point Name in my phone, I cannot connect to Data / LTE.
From what I've explained here, do you all feel like my device is truly unlocked?
What is the best way for me to bypass this? How do I get my phone to switch from Spectrum's Access Point Name to Red Pocket's Access Point Name so that I can access Data/LTE ??
Thank you for taking the time to read my plight, and I appreciate any assistance anyone can give me with this.
I am not sure if attempting to root my phone or messing around with those kinds of settings will fix anything. I am not familiar with how to do that, but I will try anything at this point.
I have the A20 under MetroPCS still locked to their network. I can add APN's to it. So not sure why you are having this problem.
Medfordite said:
I have the A20 under MetroPCS still locked to their network. I can add APN's to it. So not sure why you are having this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly. Very strange why I am not able to add APNs.
I talked to a Samsung representative who suggested that it is probably either a software issue or the firmware installed by Spectrum.
When I told the Samsung representative that they assured me that my phone is unlocked (although I don't believe they even know what they're talking about since it is listed as locked in their system), he even went as far as to say that my device may be SIM unlocked, but they may have installed some sort of firmware on their phone that locks the Access Point Name to their server forcing the user to stay with them. Thus the phone will be able to take a new SIM, but it won't do the user any good since the firmware installed on the phone will not allow the user to connect to any other provider's Access Point.
I asked the Samsung representative if it was even legal for them to do that? He said it wouldn't surprise him as corporate giants such as Charter try to monopolize markets. He then went on to tell me that Charter took over as the internet provider in his area about a year ago and no longer has any other internet service providers in his area to choose from.
But again, I don't know if this is actually the case. But does anyone have any thoughts about what is going on or any suggestions as to what other things I can try to do to get connected to my new provider?
A quick update in case anyone in the future is wondering about my issue.
So after talking with another Spectrum customer service representative I have discovered that although my device was SIM unlocked over 2 weeks ago, my device is still carrier locked. They put an initial request for a carrier unlock over 2 weeks ago. Then after calling technical support a few days after that they had put in another request for the carrier unlock. A couple of days ago the representative I talked to went through all of the previous activity logs with my phone and discovered that the carrier unlock kept getting stuck on the end process of unlocking. He opened up another case for me (this will be the fifth ticket created for my account), but I expressed my concerns and doubts with him that it will accomplish anything.
I explained to him that if the issue can not be resolved on their end that I am pretty much out of luck. Since I have discovered on several forums that the Samsung A20 US version cannot be rooted, so there is no way to unlock the bootloader and install Samsung factory firmware to bypass the carrier locked APN on my own. I explained to him that if there was a way for me to do it I wouldn't even be calling, and I would have fixed the issue myself. However, since I am pretty much out of ideas to get my phone to work with my new carrier on my own and Spectrum can't seem to figure out how to carrier unlock my device even though they are LEGALLY REQUIRED to do so, that I am pretty much just about to give up and sell this device as a carrier locked phone on Swappa. He said yeah that's probably what I would do too at this point..
I said LOL, yeah but the problem there is I spent over $200 on this phone that I was only able to use for 2 months, and if I go that route I will likely only be able to get $50 for it.
He said yeah I can understand that that's frustrating, but I really don't see any other options you really have.
They also refuse to provide me with any sort of compensation even though clearly the mistake is on their end.
Bottom line.
NEVER BUY A PHONE FROM CHARTER / SPECTRUM.
Considering their business practices I would never buy phone service / internet service / any service they offer in the future, and would highly advise everyone else from ever purchasing anything from them in the future.
Related
Hi, this is my first post on the XDA forums and I have some Q's. Hopefully I find some A's. Can someone point me in the right direction or explain this. I bought a used Sprint Mogul and I have Alltel. I want to have this phone work for Alltel. All I have right now is the newest HTC rom for alltel and the Titan Unlocker. Will someone give me a hand on how to make this phone my new phone for Alltel? BTW I dont want to really run any custom roms unless I have to.
Thanks,
Moulds
The problem isn't the rom, the problem is that carriers store their "own" ESN's in their systems, since the phone wasn't sold to Altel originally, it won't be in their system. There are stories of people having success getting one carrier or the other to activate other carriers phones, but it's extrememly rare and very difficult to do. The first thing you would have to do is download the stock rom for Altel for your model phone, flash it, and verify the phone boots and appears to work. At this point, you can try going into the Altel store and see if you can convince their reps to activate the phone. If they won't, then try calling customer service and see if you can get them over the phone to do it, however again, their system is going to throw up a flag when they try to activate someone other carriers phone.
If the phone doesn't look exactly like Altel's there is even less of a chance of getting it activated.
Honestly your best bet is to put it back on ebay and take the proceeds from that sale to buy a used Altel phone. You will have a whole lot less trouble.
BTC
Well what if I took the current esn of my razr on change my mogul to that? would that work and if so how do I do that.
That is illegal and even discussing it in this forum can get you banned.
While possible, Altel will know it's a data phone and could legally sue you for violating their terms of service.
Again, your best bet is either to change to Sprint, or swap the phone out on ebay for one from Altel.
BTC
Mogul on Alltel
I just bought a Mogul and loaded an Alltel stock ROM last weekend. It has been working great. Alltel will put the ESN in no problem if you call them on the phone. Don't tell them it is from another carrier. All they asked me was what type of phone it was.
Tools I used:
ftp://ppcgeeks.com/../Tools/QPST_2.7.249.zip -THis is used to unlock your phone if needed and update the service information from Sprint to Your Provider
ftp://ppcgeeks.com/../Tools/GetSPC.zip (finds your phone's MSL if it needs unlocked).
ftp://up.ppcgeeks.com/Titan/Users/Im...rd-SPL-MFG.exe - Run this and then your RUU loader afterwords to install your ROM
Latest ROM ver 3.52.671.9 (What I am running) @ http://www.htc.com/us/supportdownloadlist.aspx?p_id=63&act=all
make sure you have the usb cable, activesync if you are on XP, otherwise Vista has it already.
Basically you need to
1. Get the MSL code from GetSPC inputing your ESN and it outputs the MSL.
2. Put your phone in DIAG mode (##3424# ##3424 Send, or #*#3424). If it is a sprint phone, the first one will work.
3. Run QPST (you will need the MSL you obtained from getSPC
4. You may want to save the phone's configuration if you ever want to roll back to the SPCS config. Anway, Change the MSL to 000000 and write it back to the phone.
5. then run the Hard-SPL-MFG.exe program, paying attention to when it tells you to disconnect and reconnect your phone.
6. Then install your ROM by running the RUU program on your pc.
7. Now, you will need to configure service by going into DIAG mode again (probably need to use ##3424 SEND now) and using QPST change the service information to that for Alltel or whatever carrier you want. I had it easy, I plugged in my Samsung Hue R500 and copied the service information off of that one.
8. If you get all the service information right, you should be able to call Alltel, give them the ESN. If they give you slack, wait a bit and call back until you get someone nice. Persistance is the key. Then you can do *228 for OTA programming.
If you need Alltel config I will post it here, just PM me.
Scott Emick
BillThyCat said:
The problem isn't the rom, the problem is that carriers store their "own" ESN's in their systems, since the phone wasn't sold to Altel originally, it won't be in their system. There are stories of people having success getting one carrier or the other to activate other carriers phones, but it's extrememly rare and very difficult to do. The first thing you would have to do is download the stock rom for Altel for your model phone, flash it, and verify the phone boots and appears to work. At this point, you can try going into the Altel store and see if you can convince their reps to activate the phone. If they won't, then try calling customer service and see if you can get them over the phone to do it, however again, their system is going to throw up a flag when they try to activate someone other carriers phone.
If the phone doesn't look exactly like Altel's there is even less of a chance of getting it activated.
Honestly your best bet is to put it back on ebay and take the proceeds from that sale to buy a used Altel phone. You will have a whole lot less trouble.
BTC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alltel DOES activate CDMA phones NOT branded Alltel. Please have all your info str8 before misinforming someone.
steps said:
Alltel DOES activate CDMA phones NOT branded Alltel. Please have all your info str8 before misinforming someone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Altel store here doesn't. I don't have Altel so I have never called their customer service, but since I see this same question asked for every other carrier and they all get the same advice I handed out, I assumed that all Altel stores were the same.
Sorry for "misinforming" someone, however, the fact that it has been programmed for sprint may cause him issues down the road... So again, I still think my advice of getting an Altel branded phone is the smartest option.
BTC
Wow thanks for the help anything else I should be warned of?
why would getting an alltel phone be any different than using a sprint/AT&T etc phone. They are all the same, just locked onto their networks for service. If he had bought an HTC Titan that was not branded to a carrier he would have the same luck as all others. Many people still buy unlocked out of the box phones. Most carriers will also add them to their services. The stores may not, but the phone people will. These companies are in business to make money and have customers and turning someone down because they don't get your free phone ain't gonna happen. Just don't tell them it was another carrier's phone.
First off AT&T is GSM, which means if the phone is unlocked you can just stick and sim card in there and bam, it works.
CDMA is different. I know I have looked at my QPST and EPST info pretty close, and there are many settings in there that are carrier specific, so that if you were to try to use it on a different carrier it wouldn't work very well. Phone most likely will work, but data is a different beast. I see dozens of people on here who flash a sprint rom on their verizon phone and accidently let customization run, once you've done this, rolling back to a verizon rom in some cases doesn't fix the problem, you have to go in and hand edit a lot of settings, the same could apply here, since Sprint apparently is different than most carriers.
I'm glad you've had luck getting other carriers phone's activated, and how many of those were smart phones? I bet most were just plain phones, in which case there isn't any problems.
I'm not gonna get in a flamewar with you, I stated my opinion, you stated yours, I feel yours is wrong, you feel mine is wrong. Lets leave it at that.
As to the OP, feel free to try to get it activated, heck, it might work, but if it doesn't, then again, get the correct carrier branded phone and you will have no problems!
BTC
One question am I able to just get the service information from my razr and use that? and if so how do I do that.
actually I am not flaming, and not stating opinion. I am stating fact. If you buy a stock HTC phone w/o contract, which would be unlocked. You can get it activated on any carrier that supports its network CMA or GSM. Smartphone or regular phone. The point is to not tell them it was from another carrier.
One question am I able to just get the service information from my razr and use that? and if so how do I do that????
scottemick said:
I just bought a Mogul and loaded an Alltel stock ROM last weekend. It has been working great. Alltel will put the ESN in no problem if you call them on the phone. Don't tell them it is from another carrier. All they asked me was what type of phone it was.
Tools I used:
ftp://ppcgeeks.com/../Tools/QPST_2.7.249.zip -THis is used to unlock your phone if needed and update the service information from Sprint to Your Provider
ftp://ppcgeeks.com/../Tools/GetSPC.zip (finds your phone's MSL if it needs unlocked).
ftp://up.ppcgeeks.com/Titan/Users/Im...rd-SPL-MFG.exe - Run this and then your RUU loader afterwords to install your ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the link to the 3rd file you listed is broken... is there anywhere else to get that file? i've tried to google it but i cant get the whole filename from the link to do so.
Thanks for any help
Actually it can be done. I done it today with no problem. Just because the epst and qpst settings are carrier specific doesn't mean that they cant be changed. What I will say is that after you have unlocked the phone and finally have your # activated on alltel via esn your sprint mogul will be functional. you have to update the prl so u wont be stuck in roaming and your data package will be disabled because Sprint uses a different server address. In order to change these settings you will use both qpst to set in hard settings and back everything up and then epst to keep the settings within the phone. the reason you wont have data has to deal with the Security and M.IP settings. its a lot to type so im not going to but if im on at any time you can pm me to walk you through it or even better you can reach me on yahoo messenger. its set within my phone as well so I can give you real time help with the settings on the spot. My messenger name is seraphazaziel79 as well.
I bought a Qwest phone sometime this Spring and I was trying to get it activated on Verizon. I flat out told them it was from another carrier, they put that in my customer file and copied down the ESN so when I called back and told them that it was a XV6800 they called me out on it. Basically lie to them from the beginning and you should be good. If they won't activate it you can sell a Sprint phone on ebay. My Qwest phone makes a pretty decent paper weight.
I have been digging through the threads and it gets confusing with different people referring to unlocked tablets that are overseas etc.
I have a tmobile US springboard that is running the most recent rooted mediapad rom from this board (it runs great btw).
I was hoping I could use this device as my phone. I rarely take voice calls on the phone. I have Bluetooth in my car which is really the only place I talk to anyone and I have a Bluetooth headset if I need it. Most of the time I send texts and use data.
The problem is that when I put my phone sim card in the tablet, phone and sms work fine but data stops working (more specifically, it redirects to my.tmobile.com). From what I have read, I think we are just going to have to deal with it for now but I wanted to see if there are any options because some people thought that removing the imei file would help. There is also some stuff about data in the build.prop for the device.
How about getting a device subsidy unlock code from t-mobile? I should be eligible.
IMEI unlock
I copy and paste tmobile policy as blow:
support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1588
" For information on the SIM Unlock Code, refer to the following:
If you purchased a device from T-Mobile, it has been programmed with a SIM lock which will prevent the phone from operating with other compatible wireless telephone carrier’s services. If you wish to use the phone with the service of another wireless telephone carrier, you must enter a numeric SIM Unlock Code to unlock the phone.
If you have a Postpaid Plan, T-Mobile will provide the SIM Unlock Code upon request to eligible customers, provided the requesting customer has a minimum of 40 days of active service with T-Mobile and did not request a Subsidy unlock code in the last 90 days.
For customers with a Prepaid Plan, T-Mobile will provide the SIM Unlock Code upon request to eligible customers, provided the requesting customer has a minimum of 60 days of active service with T-Mobile and either a Prepaid Plan account balance of at least $10.00 or a prior refill within the last 30 days.
T-Mobile will provide the SIM Unlock Code upon request to eligible former customers, provided that T-Mobile has such code or can obtain it from the manufacturer.
If you paid full retail price for a device, you qualify to have the SIM subsidy unlock code providedif you meet the following requirements:
The device must have been purchased at a T-Mobile retail store or authorized T-Mobile retailer.
The device must be paid for completely. You must be able to fax the proof of purchase to T-Mobile."
As indicated if the device is paid for completely, we qualify to have the unlock code. Have you or anyone tried to get an unlock code and tested?
I bought a Springboard on ebay and signed up for prepaid data for 60 days with tmobile after which time I requested a SIM unlock. I received the unlock code and after inserting my AT&T sim I'm able to make calls , get data, and text.
I can't specifically verify which bands on ATT nor whether I am getting real 3G data. I can verify that I am able to talk, text, get data.
v35lee said:
I bought a Springboard on ebay and signed up for prepaid data for 60 days with tmobile after which time I requested a SIM unlock. I received the unlock code and after inserting my AT&T sim I'm able to make calls , get data, and text.
I can't specifically verify which bands on ATT nor whether I am getting real 3G data. I can verify that I am able to talk, text, get data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're able to get more than 384kbps then you've got HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA or whatever (real 3G is 384kbps). On most country, the signal label would change to H, on T-Mobile it would probably change to 4G. I can't exactly verify the label change though, since I'm on a data plan with 3G only speed (so my top speed is 384kbps).
If you can't trust the label then use those speed test app and verify it yourself.
richdaley said:
I have been digging through the threads and it gets confusing with different people referring to unlocked tablets that are overseas etc.
I have a tmobile US springboard that is running the most recent rooted mediapad rom from this board (it runs great btw).
I was hoping I could use this device as my phone. I rarely take voice calls on the phone. I have Bluetooth in my car which is really the only place I talk to anyone and I have a Bluetooth headset if I need it. Most of the time I send texts and use data.
The problem is that when I put my phone sim card in the tablet, phone and sms work fine but data stops working (more specifically, it redirects to my.tmobile.com). From what I have read, I think we are just going to have to deal with it for now but I wanted to see if there are any options because some people thought that removing the imei file would help. There is also some stuff about data in the build.prop for the device.
How about getting a device subsidy unlock code from t-mobile? I should be eligible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a question: Since your device has updated firmware (mine is running ICS), does it mean it has been unlocked already? Have you tried a SIM from another carrier? In another word, will updating to a generic firmware unlock tablet automatically? My reasoning is that all the coding/decoding is through software and an updated generic firmware removes all the T-mobile stuff as far as I can tell. The software that is in charge of sim lock is very likely been replaced as well. My doubt is that people can then buy a Springboard with data contract at a much lower price and update the firmware to remove the lock. I bet T-mobile is smart enough not to let that happen.
I finally got the unlock code from T-mobile and bought an ATT sim card. Unlock is not that as simple as I thought to be. Strangely, my ICS does not pop up the unlock code entering interface. I cannot remember from which post I downloaded the ICS. It is within "the" giant thread. By using the famous ()()2846579()()=, it showed nothing after "SIM card lock state". So I flash back to HC3.2 and unlock the device in the pop up interface. After flashing again to the most recent general firmware from huaweidevice.com, it shows "SIMLOCK_DEACTIVE" after "SIM card lock state". Recalling the sim card lock status is one of the features installed after a second boot during the installation and I did not recall my first ICS did that, I am wondering if the first ICS does not install the component related to sim card lock status. Probably my springboard under first ICS is unlocked by software.
Anyway, I am pretty happy with the latest version and have an officially unlocked springboard. From this experience I learned that SIM card lock status in general does not change after update the firmware (at least the official one). And probably someone can do it by modifying the firmware by his/her own.
By the way the ICS I first had has no fastboot option.
pokemonian said:
So I flash back to HC3.2 and unlock the device in the pop up interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am thinking of unlocking too and I am wondering where you found the HC3.2 to flash? I searched the forum and the only one I found appeared to be made up of many smaller files. There appeared to be multiple versions of files and I was not sure which ones I needed and how to flash them.
If you only want to unlock, flash the latest ics for general purpose from Huawei. The unlock interface appears after you insert a sim card other than tmobile.
Sent from my HUAWEI MediaPad using XDA
Ok so I (foolishly) bought a galaxy s4 with verizon even though I was moving overseas to Israel in two months. I made sure that the phone was world capable (like it can do cdma and gsm) and the guy at the store said it would handle foreign sims no problem. Once I arrived here I got a new sim. I figured out that it needed to be in gsm. From then on it had the service bar and confirmed it was connected to Orange. Since then I have been able to receive calls and texts, but not make them, every time I try to make a call before one ring I get a prerecorded message saying that my number cant be completed as dialed. I have tried several things already to fix this: to a cell phone repair person, to the local sim carrier where a lady tried using the sim of her own phone, customer service at verizon and samsung (who both told me to go see the other). I also did a factory reset which didnt do anything.
my phone is not rooted and is schi545 ME7. I will root if I have to, but if I dont I would prefer not to for the time being
Anyway I suspect the problem has something to do with the fact that I got the phone from verizon. Every time I start the phone I get the Verizon logo and after a minute I get a notification from the verizon set up wizard saying that I have a non verizon sim and that the sims source is unknown. I also tried disabling the verizon security and was able to make the notification go away but the problem persists.
Can someone with experience with this kind of stuff help me please? Thank you so very much:good:
Are you sim unlocked? I don't think the phone is unlocked. Talk to verizon to see if they'll unlock it.
According to verizon I am. I spoke with multiple representives from verizon and they said the phone was unlocked
medphratalon said:
According to verizon I am. I spoke with multiple representives from verizon and they said the phone was unlocked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has any one told you if you have to change any apn, access point name? That may be the problem too. They can be specific to the carrier.
No, how do you configure that
medphratalon said:
No, how do you configure that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In system settings, network & wireless, more, mobile networks, access point name. It'll be specific to the carrier so i can't help you there.
all LTE Verizon phones after Galaxy Note 2 are factory unlocked it must be a APN issue. Try maybe to do a factory reset and as previous poster suggested do the steps he told you to change the APN or look into I think it's called HiApn in Play Store.
Also try to put it in global mode or GSM? play with the settings.
still having problems
Thanks for all the input everyone but my problem still persists
I downloaded HiApn and followed its instructions to which told me to set up 3 Apns. I noticed that only one of them can be active at the time. I tried with each one active and I still can not make phone calls. Does anyone have any other ideas?
medphratalon said:
Ok so I (foolishly) bought a galaxy s4 with verizon even though I was moving overseas to Israel in two months. I made sure that the phone was world capable (like it can do cdma and gsm) and the guy at the store said it would handle foreign sims no problem. Once I arrived here I got a new sim. I figured out that it needed to be in gsm. From then on it had the service bar and confirmed it was connected to Orange. Since then I have been able to receive calls and texts, but not make them, every time I try to make a call before one ring I get a prerecorded message saying that my number cant be completed as dialed. I have tried several things already to fix this: to a cell phone repair person, to the local sim carrier where a lady tried using the sim of her own phone, customer service at verizon and samsung (who both told me to go see the other). I also did a factory reset which didnt do anything.
my phone is not rooted and is schi545 ME7. I will root if I have to, but if I dont I would prefer not to for the time being
Anyway I suspect the problem has something to do with the fact that I got the phone from verizon. Every time I start the phone I get the Verizon logo and after a minute I get a notification from the verizon set up wizard saying that I have a non verizon sim and that the sims source is unknown. I also tried disabling the verizon security and was able to make the notification go away but the problem persists.
Can someone with experience with this kind of stuff help me please? Thank you so very much:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Setting, call setting, disable the prefix international. I have done the same for using Verizon S4 in Indonesia.
Mine was not unlocked either, although I knew this before buying. This is a guide I tried (without success) to unlock it on my own.
Like the last poster, I reside in Indonesia, but I was never with Verizon. I rooted mine and have had no problems since.
Ok so I went to call settings and the closest I found was assisted dialing for international calls and the option to turn it on or off. I played with that for a bit and it didnt work.
I also tried the code and it said connection problem or invalid code
during my fiddling I came upon an app that showed promise of fixing my problem if I had adb shell. Does anyone have a good place to get that? I tried a few that didnt work out for me. There was another that showed promise but it wouldnt send a package no matter what I try
Thanks
If you want ADB, you need to download Android SDK and have Java Runtime Environment also installed. Then, it is just a matter of typing in "adb" into the command prompt of Windows.
Is there a serious conflict for you not rooting the device? The true benefit of doing this is to get SIM cards from anywhere to work, and to allow certain apps to work. Rooting is simply a matter of bypassing security parameters. As long as you follow instructions strictly, you won't have an issue using the phone as it should be used.
yea I suppose I could try to root it. Im just not great at that stuff and am worried about messing up my phone permanately
medphratalon said:
yea I suppose I could try to root it. Im just not great at that stuff and am worried about messing up my phone permanately
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to root. You need to sim unlock. Get a hold of att international chat and adj them for an unlock code.
Hey guys thanks for all the help but I figured out that it was just a bad sim all along and that the first school screwed me over
But everything works now
Hi everyone. Last month, I bought a network unlocked Xperia 1 J8110 from a UK vendor for use here in the US. It arrived in excellent physical condition and is from a reputable seller with thousands of phone sales, so not just some random person. I checked behind them, and this phone is for sure network unlocked (see attachment) and from what I've read online, it should work in the US. I've owned plenty of UK phones from other brands and they worked fine here.
The trouble is, I have not been able to get this thing to work with any carrier! I’ve now tried Ultra Mobile (T-Mobile’s network), AT&T, and now US Mobile (Verizon’s network). When I plug in a SIM card, the phone recognizes it and reboots. However, after going through the activation process, I never get any 3G, 4G, or SMS functionality. This is ironic as I have Verizon and T-Mobile towers literally behind my house.
The furthest I got was with AT&T, which received the welcome SMS and showed full bars on network signal. However, the phone kept asking me to “Sign in to network” like it does with WiFi but there was no way to do that. This was after doing the full activation with AT&T, giving them my IMEI, receiving a phone number, a confirmation email and everything. With Ultra, I got the welcome SMS from them but was never able to send my own or do calls in either direction. With US Mobile, it does literally nothing. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth work fine, and I’ve checked for obvious stuff like airplane mode being on.
I then figured I’d see if maybe flashing a version of the J8170 firmware would help. I used NewFlasher to flash the “J8170_Customized US_55.2.E.0.165-R7C” as downloaded off of XperiFirm, which was successful. But it’s made no difference. The only issue I’ve seen others report online is that VoLTE might not work with international phones, but I can’t make calls or send texts period.
Can anybody think of what the root of this problem might be? I’ve tried to figure this out for myself, but I’ve reached a dead end in my searching online, maybe I’m just not choosing the correct keywords. Please let me know which other screenshots or other information is required and I’ll post them. I will be so thankful for any input at all. I appreciate it.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 5G TABLET that is locked by Verizon. I put a T-Mobile sim card in it and it says it is not a Verizon sim card and shows a ? on top of the icon for the sim card. There is nothing asking me to enter a reset code. Under the phone number it says Unknown. So using an unlock code wouldn't work unless I can find a place to enter it. I tried to get Verizon to unlock it over the phone and they said I had to take it to a store, at the store they said it had to be done over the phone and the person saying it had to go to a store gave me inaccurate information. Samsung won't do anything and T-Mobile said go to Verizon. It hasn't had any service with Verizon for over a year and it was with the prior owner. I've wasted hours on this and accomplished nothing. What's my best plan of action here?
This may be unrelated to your problem, but I tried unsuccessfully to move my Verizon Tab S8+ (fully paid for) to T mobile, and was advised by the T Mobile engineers that it did not have the necessary drivers for their 5G network. Indeed, I tried using a T Mobile Sim card, and it would only connect to their 3G network.
Katmeat said:
This may be unrelated to your problem, but I tried unsuccessfully to move my Verizon Tab S8+ (fully paid for) to T mobile, and was advised by the T Mobile engineers that it did not have the necessary drivers for their 5G network. Indeed, I tried using a T Mobile Sim card, and it would only connect to their 3G network.
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Good to know. I trust about half of what T-Mobile 'experts' tell me on the phone. Are you able to text to anyone on the tablet over their network?
Sorry, I only text thru my connected phone account. But the only limitation I had w the tablet was an inability to connect to the 5G bands, but 3G did work on T Mobile. My Tab was not locked to Verizon. It just does not have the necessary radio bands to connect to their 5G signal.
Nobody here has a clue how to unlock this tablet?
Darktanian said:
Nobody here has a clue how to unlock this tablet?
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Have you tried opening the dialer pad and doing *#2263# and enabling all the network channels that way?
Darktanian said:
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 5G TABLET that is locked by Verizon. I put a T-Mobile sim card in it and it says it is not a Verizon sim card and shows a ? on top of the icon for the sim card. There is nothing asking me to enter a reset code. Under the phone number it says Unknown. So using an unlock code wouldn't work unless I can find a place to enter it. I tried to get Verizon to unlock it over the phone and they said I had to take it to a store, at the store they said it had to be done over the phone and the person saying it had to go to a store gave me inaccurate information. Samsung won't do anything and T-Mobile said go to Verizon. It hasn't had any service with Verizon for over a year and it was with the prior owner. I've wasted hours on this and accomplished nothing. What's my best plan of action here?
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If it has been a year, then it should work. Who was the previous owner? You may need to contact them. It is possible that it is still associated with his or her account. I had a friend that had the same problem with an iPad that was Verizon plan and he wanted it to work on T-Mobile. After several calls to Verizon he got it to work. T-Mobile can't do anything until Verizon fixes it.
Update: After thinking about this a bit more. The person who said that you need to take it to a Verizon store is probably correct. For Verizon to remotely unlock it, it has to be on its network, meaning you need a Verizon SIM.
On a more cynical side. It is possible the person you acquired it from never paid the device off. Here is how the scam goes.
- Person buys device on a payment plan with a CC.
- Verizon sends device and activates it on its network.
- Person then ghosts Verizon on payments
- Person the sells device at near retail price and pockets the difference between what he or she has already paid Verizon
- Verizon does not unlock device because it is now considered stolen
- New user (you) are not able to get the device unlocked to work on another network