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I noticed that the SIM cards keep changing every so often.
The new SIM cards have a smaller gold-metal surface area, whereas the older ones have a bigger gold-metal surface area.
Any ideas why?
Is there any benefit to swap out your SIM card to the newest? The SIM that comes in the box has a smaller gold-surface area.
(When was using previously using the iphone, my SIM was pretty beat up from switching phones all the time and the gold-metal part practically had indentations, which did give me reception problems. When I swapped it out with a new one at the store it did fix the problem. Obviously a surface contact problem.)
* Picture attached below *
iunlock said:
I noticed that the SIM cards keep changing every so often.
The new SIM cards have a smaller gold-metal surface area, whereas the older ones have a bigger gold-metal surface area.
Any ideas why?
Is there any benefit to swap out your SIM card to the newest? The SIM that comes in the box has a smaller gold-surface area.
(When was using previously using the iphone, my SIM was pretty beat up from switching phones all the time and the gold-metal part practically had indentations, which did give me reception problems. When I swapped it out with a new one at the store it did fix the problem. Obviously a surface contact problem.)
* Picture attached below *
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Here's the pic.
I did have a weird situation where replacing the sim actually somehow increased my data speeds...the old sim was only a year old ...but i ain't complaining
didn't really notice any less surface area tho
newspeak said:
I did have a weird situation where replacing the sim actually somehow increased my data speeds...the old sim was only a year old ...but i ain't complaining
didn't really notice any less surface area tho
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That's interesting....hmmm....now I'm really curious haha...
I swapped out my 1 year old SIM as well and now im getting 3G signals in my house whereas my old sim would drop 3G service more often.
Idk I change sim cards for all my phones since g1 since there's nothing on it ever since using google contacts
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
There is typically no need to replace your sim card unless you are having problems with it (ie not registering on the network.)
However older sim cards have a restriction on how many times they can register on the network, and after they hit the limit the phone will stop connecting, so if you want to prevent this issue (usually takes a couple years, and is a lot more likely in areas where your signal drops, for people who travel a lot, and in 3G coverages areas where you swap back and forth between 3G and 2G) you can use one of the newer sim cards. To Identify whether your sim is the newer variant with no registration restriction look at the back where the gold contacts are, if its a newer sim it will say in small lettering "TMXXXX" (where X is a number, ie TM4322) and it will also have an expiration date printed (it must be activated by this date or it becomes unusable.)
In terms of 2G/3G the sim card itself and its age should not make a difference as the capability to connect to those networks is dependent on the phone, not the sim. You can think of a sim card as a gateway that connects your phone to the billing system and authenticates it.
Having had said that, if you are having connection issues it could just be a defective sim card, to check, just place the sim in a phone that isn't having any connectivity problems, if it starts having problems, replace your sim.
In terms of the digit you highlighted in that picture, I believe it has to do with the manufacture year, although if I remember correctly its digits 4 and 5 that make up that information, but otherwise isn't anything important to a consumer.
well i got curious and checked ....i have the bigger sim ...i don't think the numbers matter much
Aphotix said:
There is typically no need to replace your sim card unless you are having problems with it (ie not registering on the network.)
However older sim cards have a restriction on how many times they can register on the network, and after they hit the limit the phone will stop connecting, so if you want to prevent this issue (usually takes a couple years, and is a lot more likely in areas where your signal drops, for people who travel a lot, and in 3G coverages areas where you swap back and forth between 3G and 2G) you can use one of the newer sim cards. To Identify whether your sim is the newer variant with no registration restriction look at the back where the gold contacts are, if its a newer sim it will say in small lettering "TMXXXX" (where X is a number, ie TM4322) and it will also have an expiration date printed (it must be activated by this date or it becomes unusable.)
In terms of 2G/3G the sim card itself and its age should not make a difference as the capability to connect to those networks is dependent on the phone, not the sim. You can think of a sim card as a gateway that connects your phone to the billing system and authenticates it.
Having had said that, if you are having connection issues it could just be a defective sim card, to check, just place the sim in a phone that isn't having any connectivity problems, if it starts having problems, replace your sim.
In terms of the digit you highlighted in that picture, I believe it has to do with the manufacture year, although if I remember correctly its digits 4 and 5 that make up that information, but otherwise isn't anything important to a consumer.
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Thanks for your input.
As for the exp. date, where is that located. I don't see it.
Aphotix said:
In terms of 2G/3G the sim card itself and its age should not make a difference as the capability to connect to those networks is dependent on the phone, not the sim. You can think of a sim card as a gateway that connects your phone to the billing system and authenticates it.
Click to expand...
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That's what I thought...until a lot of people started noticing better 3g connection/speeds with the new sim cards. Just a placebo effect perhaps?
The size difference could also be for users who want to make it a micro sim so they can put it in their unlocked iPhones. I don't have either of these sim cards to compare, so I'm not sure.
hmm.. the sim im using is almost 8 years old. its been moved from phone to phone so many times there are wear marks on the contacts. still works fine though.
When I first got my g1 a few years ago I had issues with the market. There were apps that I knew were available (private apps) but I could not download them. I went to a T-Mobile store and looked at the display phones. One of them was able to see private apps, the other like mine, could not. I talked it over with the rep and we decided to replace the sim card. It was a random, no other ideas, decision. Started the G1 back up and Market was now working as expected. There were no other benefits noticed. Since then, I tend to replace the sim anytime a new phone is purchased.
Your milage may vary.
-Ryan
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
When I got my Vibrant, coming from the g1, tmo wanted to just pop it in the Vibrant. I made them put in the new sim card just to be safe, figured the one that came in the box brand new SHOULD be better.
iunlock said:
Thanks for your input.
As for the exp. date, where is that located. I don't see it.
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Its only on the newer ones, the old ones don't expire, they just stop working after a set number of registrations on the network.
In regards to sim issues, they really shouldn't have any impact at all. Changing a sim card refreshes the billing information in the system (like what kind of services your phone is supposed to have and what not) customer care can do this without the need for a new sim.
Hoenstly though, sometimes a sim replacement is needed, I've seen stranger things.
s15274n said:
When I got my Vibrant, coming from the g1, tmo wanted to just pop it in the Vibrant. I made them put in the new sim card just to be safe, figured the one that came in the box brand new SHOULD be better.
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When I bought my phone out right, the rep opened the box and took out the SIM then sold me the phone.
I guess it doesn't matter since swapping out your SIM at the T-Mobile corporate stores is free.
I just tried this since there is a tmobile store across from where I work. I used SpeedTest app and ran it 3 times before the swap. Average was about 2500 kbps download and 300 up. I swapped the sim out, went back to the spot where I originally tested and ran three more times and got about the same rate with the new sim. My old one was about 3 yo from when I had my Dash.
MonkySlap said:
I just tried this since there is a tmobile store across from where I work. I used SpeedTest app and ran it 3 times before the swap. Average was about 2500 kbps download and 300 up. I swapped the sim out, went back to the spot where I originally tested and ran three more times and got about the same rate with the new sim. My old one was about 3 yo from when I had my Dash.
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I'm thinking the only time one would see a difference is if they are having poor contact surface from the SIM wearing out. I've seen ooolld SIM's where the metal had indentations like no other.
Just read the thread and said why not had the same sim card since I first signed up with tmobile 5 years ago.
When I talked with the rep on the phone and explained this to him and asked could this help he stated that the official tmobile policy is if the old sim card works no need to switch. However, because of the technical specs on the card could cause better reception, they just can't guarantee it, they only guarantee it will not get worse. He asked if I was having issues and I said no i'm just a nerd and wanted to know if it would help. Just swapped it out going to give it a test around the house and will report back.
Back Story:
Upgraded from G1, perfect 3G everywhere in chicago, couldn't even get it to drop from 3G no matter where I went. With the Vibrant and and old sim card, constantly dropped to 2G no big deal still was speedy
New Sim Card:
will report after testing
Old Sim Card
My connection constantly jumped from 2G to 3G all over my house constantly
New Sim Card
Solid 3G all through the house, will report back after tomorrow when I travel all over chicago
After buying my One Max SIM free I switched over from O2 to 3, and then got my original number ported to the new SIM card. After the porting happened this morning I switched the 3 SIM card into the phone and thought I was good to go. However I'm getting terrible download speeds (~150Kbps) in areas which worked fine with the same handset on the O2 network. I've also checked with a friend here at work who's also on 3 but has a Galaxy S 4 and he's getting perfectly fine download speeds vs my terrible ones even when both handsets are sitting side by side. So the handset is capable of decent speeds in itself and the network is also fine with other people's phones. I noticed also that in the bar at the top of the phone display the network icon never cycles up from H to H+ (which it did when I was with O2) and I assume this is a part of the problem.
So, any other One Max owners here on the UK 3 network who can comment on their network speeds? Is it possible there's some incompatibility between the network bands the One Max supports and those that 4 use? That seems unlikely in this day and age but you never know. My friend did mention that our boss had a similar experience with his iPhone when he first switched to 3 but it settled down and was fine after a while so is there some weird 'bedding in' period when you first switch networks or something?
You could probably contact 3 support and check if your phone is supported
pradeepvizz said:
You could probably contact 3 support and check if your phone is supported
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Aye, 3 themselves will be my next stop if things don't improve in the next couple of days but I was curious if anyone else was having any issues. Three do offer the HTC One so it's pretty unlikely the One Max wouldn't be supported but you never know I suppose.
Makes sense - Your case seems to be very similar to one i had with my provider. LTE wont work and i lodged a compliant to get it fixed
pradeepvizz said:
Makes sense - Your case seems to be very similar to one i had with my provider. LTE wont work and i lodged a compliant to get it fixed
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So did they manage to fix it from their end or did you need to get a new phone or something else?
Medulla said:
So did they manage to fix it from their end or did you need to get a new phone or something else?
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They fixed it from their end. i had switched from HTC One to a HTC One X+ which did not have LTE and i unsubscribed by data package for 2 months which made the backend system de-activate LTE on my number and it could be only fixed by the tech team.
Cool, well, hopefully something similar can be done for me. I'll give it until lunch time tomorrow to see if it sorts itself out and if not I'll go into the store and ask them to look at it. The phone's basically unusable as it stands which is unacceptable so if they can't get it sorted pretty quickly I'll just walk. Luckily it's only a rolling one month contract I've signed up for, although I'm not sure there are any decently priced alternatives. I might end up regretting giving up my ancient and cheap O2 unlimited contract here...
What comes to my mind is that you could go to the phone testing mode and try to have a look at the phones capable network types and compare it to 3 network types
To go to test mode, you have to *#*#4636#*#* and there choose phone info.
Here is an example of what I see on my phone
Sent from my HTC One max using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
It was set to WCDMA preferred so I've changed it to GSM/WCDMA/LTE auto but 3 definitely haven't rolled out LTE and I don't even know if they have GSM on their network so I don't know if this'll make any difference.
Interestingly the phone number listed in that phone info panel is the original phone number (i.e. the number that was on the SIM out of the box before I ported my old number onto it) but that could just be hard-coded onto the SIM at some level and not really used for anything I suppose.
Looked into Sprints Community Forum to see if they will support this device and it looks like they will not. I am getting this phone and it looks like I'll be leaving Spint.
Here is the thread to the forum. https://community.sprint.com/baw/message/1052157#1052157 Wanted to share in case anyone else is getting it in hopes that Sprint would support it.
Sprint generally tries to avoid factory unlocked phones so their bloatware stays in place.
Yep, Sprint has strict control over what is allowed access to their network. While the A7 has all the bands for Sprint usage, ZTE has said that they're working with Sprint (and Verizon) to get it approved for their networks.
I wouldn't bother too much with what Sprint_Jeffrey & co. said, they are probably in a similar position to the people within ZTE who claimed just days before the boot-loader unlock announcement that they would not be allowing unlocking of the boot-loader. Until an announcement is made by the Sprint people responsible for such things reps like Sprint_Jeffrey & co. are as much in the dark as the rest of us.
What I've heard about this phone and other unlocked phones with Verizon and Sprint support built into the hardware is.
From official channels you will get no support for the device and you can't go to the store and activate the phone.
But most of the time if you take an existing sim from your current phone and pop it in the new unlocked phone it will work just fine. It's worth a shot before leaving sprint if you like the existing service you have.
Unless you were already planning to leave for the greener pasture of GSM service, so many more device options available which is why i only consider GSM carriers myself.
Don' t know about Sprint but swapping in an active SIM from Verizon does NOT work. Been trying for three weeks. I am going to AT&T.
jaseman said:
Don' t know about Sprint but swapping in an active SIM from Verizon does NOT work. Been trying for three weeks. I am going to AT&T.
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So you are disagreeing with the, probably, 50 posts I've seen with Verizon working on the Axon 7? I'm getting mine delivered today and will be trying it out tonight. I'm expecting it to work.
Eh, you won't miss Sprint. You could probably go with a cheaper service like Cricket and have better coverage, anyway. Verizon is the only CDMA carrier worth using, but you pay out the bum for the pleasure.
jaseman said:
Don' t know about Sprint but swapping in an active SIM from Verizon does NOT work. Been trying for three weeks. I am going to AT&T.
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Works with my active Verizon SIM fine. Full bars Band 4 LTE, full bars CDMA, no roaming indicator (yet).
xtermmin said:
Works with my active Verizon SIM fine. Full bars Band 4 LTE, full bars CDMA, no roaming indicator (yet).
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I tried again with Verizon and it is a no go. I hope those of you who are stuck with Verizon can get things worked out. I suppose Verizon will start to play nice in due time. I, however, have moved on to AT&T pre-paid. Took about 10 minutes for them to get my Axon 7 working properly. There were other ZTE devices in the store also. At least one other cell phone and a couple of other items. So they are already familiar with ZTE and had no trouble getting things setup correctly. Bye-Bye Verizon!
jaseman said:
I tried again with Verizon and it is a no go. I hope those of you who are stuck with Verizon can get things worked out. I suppose Verizon will start to play nice in due time. I, however, have moved on to AT&T pre-paid. Took about 10 minutes for them to get my Axon 7 working properly. There were other ZTE devices in the store also. At least one other cell phone and a couple of other items. So they are already familiar with ZTE and had no trouble getting things setup correctly. Bye-Bye Verizon!
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Did you make sure to use the SIM1 slot instead of the SIM2/microSD slot? Only SIM1 is CDMA enabled.
I don't know why Sprint and Verizon are dicking around. Moto G4 and Google Nexus phones can run on their networks why not ZTE Avon?
rczrider said:
Eh, you won't miss Sprint. You could probably go with a cheaper service like Cricket and have better coverage, anyway. Verizon is the only CDMA carrier worth using, but you pay out the bum for the pleasure.
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Not if you have RingPlus. I have 5 RingPlus free monthly lines each having 6000 mins/ text/ MB waiting to be ESN swapped out to better equipments
ultrasoul said:
Not if you have RingPlus. I have 5 RingPlus free monthly lines each having 6000 mins/ text/ MB waiting to be ESN swapped out to better equipments
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I have RingPlus with a "free" ($15 initial top-up) 1400 plan. And it's great that you have 5 nice plans, but let's be honest, R+ isn't the same as it was last year. Plans like that don't come up much (if ever) anymore and when they do, the hoops make it a real PITA. I'll be surprised if R+ is even around in another year.
And in any case, it's still Sprint and Sprint's network is literally the worst you can use. It's great if you never travel and don't need service outside of cities, but "free" is the only case in which I would use their network. I use R+ with my Moto E as a streaming music player when I'm on the beach or out mowing or doing something else where the phone might get trashed.
xtermmin said:
Did you make sure to use the SIM1 slot instead of the SIM2/microSD slot? Only SIM1 is CDMA enabled.
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Yes, all attempts were in SIM slot number 1 only. Constant roaming. On AT&T now and all is working great for less money. No brainer if you can do it.
jaseman said:
Yes, all attempts were in SIM slot number 1 only. Constant roaming. On AT&T now and all is working great for less money. No brainer if you can do it.
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Er, constant roaming is normal... it's one of the many bugs that the A7 has on Verizon right now. Just had to check "data when roaming" and you would have been good to go.
xtermmin said:
Yep, Sprint has strict control over what is allowed access to their network. While the A7 has all the bands for Sprint usage, ZTE has said that they're working with Sprint (and Verizon) to get it approved for their networks.
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Sprint locks their RUIM/SIM cards to the MEID of the device. Verizon does not engage in this 'anti-consumer' practice.
So can I just put a Sprint Note 4 sim in the Axon 7 and it will work?
I switched from sprint to cricket when I bought the axon 7. Got a good deal for signing up for auto pay and the signal has been wayyy better (in Pittsburgh). I drive all around town for work and only ran into one (almost) dead spot.
Active iPhone Sprint SIM doesn't work in Axon 7
sounreal said:
So can I just put a Sprint Note 4 sim in the Axon 7 and it will work?
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No this almost surely won't work. Though it's hard to be 100% sure as Sprint is so finicky with their different SIM card types...my Sprint phone is an iPhone 6S so perhaps the SIM isn't as friendly to Android phones (which is ridiculous but Sprint really does differentiate Android vs. iOS SIMs, which I found out the hard way)...
But I tried anyway with my FreedomPop Sprint SIM...below are some pictures of what happened. The Axon 7 showed a signal and a 4G/LTE icon, but the internet connection didn't work (it just shows a constant upload indication) and there was no 1X signal either when I checked LTE Discovery. So it seems that Sprint is effectively blocking the Axon 7 (as it would any non-Sprint MEID'd phone I believe) from making a data connection or making calls/texts.
It's a shame...Verizon doesn't do this...my Verizon SIM works great in the Axon 7...this is purely a Sprint limitation it seems, which is funny as they're the most desperate of the four major carriers and yet make it nearly impossible to do business with them even though we have a perfectly viable Sprint phone in the Axon 7.
Sprint binds the imei, icc id and phone number to the account. Everything has to match or you get no service.
Sprint is dead, move to a different carrier.
Has anyone else made the switch from the Moto X Pure to the Moto Z?
I'm loving the phone but I used to get amazing LTE speeds on my Moto X with MetroPCS and after switching to the Moto Z it dropped drastically. I thought it was congestion or something but it never picked up, I switched to T-Mobile over the weekend and I'm assuming since it's the same network I have the same exact issue.
I average about 4.5Mbps down when it used to be at least 3 times faster on my Moto X Pure.
thefatalepic said:
Has anyone else made the switch from the Moto X Pure to the Moto Z?
I'm loving the phone but I used to get amazing LTE speeds on my Moto X with MetroPCS and after switching to the Moto Z it dropped drastically. I thought it was congestion or something but it never picked up, I switched to T-Mobile over the weekend and I'm assuming since it's the same network I have the same exact issue.
I average about 4.5Mbps down when it used to be at least 3 times faster on my Moto X Pure.
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Over 55Mbps on H3G ITA here...
Hmm, well apparently changing the SIM to T-Mobile changed my APN settings automatically, but under APN type the entry was strange. I put the usual there and so far speeds are now 8-10Mbps. Still not too great but much better than what I was getting...
thefatalepic said:
Hmm, well apparently changing the SIM to T-Mobile changed my APN settings automatically, but under APN type the entry was strange. I put the usual there and so far speeds are now 8-10Mbps. Still not too great but much better than what I was getting...
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It happens...
Interesting topic. I'm on AT&T. When I purchased my Moto Z Play from Best Buy, I simply took the sim card from my Moto X 2014 phone that I used on the LTE service for 2 plus years.
For 2 weeks, I had full LTE service on my Moto Z Play, then it just quit. I called phone CSR, no help. I spent 2 hours on phone with AT&T. No go, went to AT&T store to reprovision phone with new sim card. All I was getting before going to the store was HSPD+, after wasting time at the store, still in H+. Went to best buy, kid at store spent 1.5 hours on phone with AT&T, no help, but AT&T will call me. Two days later, I get text from AT&T, call this number.
I haven't had time to call back. All I'm seeing for service is H+, no LTE. AT&T seems to say that IMEI seems "compatible", but you didn't buy the phone from AT&T.
So much for bring your own phone. I'm pretty pissed about it since I HAD LTE service initially. I feel like the phone is being blocked from full service by AT&T because MOTO/Lenovo didn't jump through AT&T hoops properly.
sailindawg said:
Interesting topic. I'm on AT&T. When I purchased my Moto Z Play from Best Buy, I simply took the sim card from my Moto X 2014 phone that I used on the LTE service for 2 plus years.
...
So much for bring your own phone. I'm pretty pissed about it since I HAD LTE service initially. I feel like the phone is being blocked from full service by AT&T because MOTO/Lenovo didn't jump through AT&T hoops properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably you are right... carriers can enable & disable LTE on single SIM if they want to... e.g. H3G in Italy charge 1 EURO/month for LTE!
In these occasions the best solution is... change provider!
Not so much that they "disabled" LTE for my sim card. The new sim card works perfectly in my old phone, LTE all day.
Is more a matter of MOTO/Lenovo not getting AT&T's "approval" for the Moto Z Play IMEI range. What sucks is both companies will point the finger at each other as the problem.
I have a finger to point at both! I'm hoping this resolves itself over time. Unfortunately, I have a family plan, live in the US, AND I'M NOT CHANGING TO VERIZON. If it was my phone only, different story.
What I should try is a sim from one of the MVNO's to see if I can get LTE again. But I see it as an AT&T problem created by AT&T because they get no profit from a new phone sale.
Anybody on AT&T getting LTE service? Please post APN.
Many thanks.
Only double check that LTE/3G/2G preferences are OK and copy working fine APN from the old phone as last tryout....
Did that as well! Copied the APN from my Moto 2014 with the new sim card. Had LTE on the 2014 phone.
Swapped the sim back into the MPZ with the 2014 APN & all I get is H+ still. That's why I think it's more IMEI "approval" related.
I was also thinking maybe hardware related.
What are the dialer codes for the MPZ?
Hi all, I just bought a new Samsung S9 plus 256gb US version unlocked from Samsung's website and I have TMobiles unlimited one plan. The Sim card I got was in my old ZTE Blade V8 Pro unlocked (you can probably guess why I bought a new phone). After putting the SIM card in the new phone for about a few hours it was a night and day difference where places I tested my LTE speed was 30mbs verses 6-8 on the old phone and the internet loaded quicker.
However, later in the day I started getting no connection or slow speeds and sometimes got edge+ connections in places where even my crappy V8 Pro would get connections. I called TMobile and gave them my phone's emei number and the Sim number that I used. At first it worked better but I still get less bars of reception and there are times when it takes a while for a LTE connection when there is no wifi. I even get LTE+ and it will still load some things like twitch streaming slow.
Someone suggested flashing TMobile firmware to the phone to try help connecting to their network like their branded phone's, but I have no idea what file to download for TMobile firmware for Odin to flash. Also, would it help to get updates from TMobile faster? People who have a TMobile sold S9+ are getting the new delayed update but my unlocked phone isn't. Thanks for your time.
I can say with a great deal of confidence that flipping firmware will not resolve this problem. It sounds like a hardware issue to me.