Related
Hy guys,
I've been reading on that thread for few days and one question raised in my head.
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=790984
And that post
forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8299301&postcount=18
If I buy an International (European or other version) of the Galaxy I9000 that doesn't support frequencies HSPA 850MHz from scratch, do you think it has the same hardware as the Bell Canada one ans that it's just the firmware that enable or disable those frequencies?
If so, it may be interresting to try flashing one Internal version of the I9000 with the CSC and Phone file from firmware UGJH2 and see if it enable the 850MHz HSPA frequency.
If that work, that means that International and/or European unlocked I9000 phone are exactly same hardware and that, We could buy them and use them with Bell and other providers in Canada instead of buying a Bell one.
short answer no
it has been tested and re-tested by several people already
it doesn't work
but feel free to try if you have the time and money to spare
if you want the I9000M (3g 850/1900/2100) you can get it off ebay if you don't care about the 3 button issue, but if you do care about the 3 button thing, you can ping me
Wow thanks alot AllGamer for the quick reply. Sorry if that thread is a double post because I haven't seen one talking about this specifically. I've seen alot about the 850Mhz lost after flashing firmware thow...
So if I understand it correctly... the only option we have is to buy a I9000M from Bell and do the 3 buttons fix from that thread in order to be able to unlock and upgrade...
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=784704
I still don't get why those big compagnies does different hardware versions of the same phone for different regions.... that must cost more money...lol
P.S. anyone know if Bell allow us to buy that phone full price (499$) without even activating it or we really need to get it activated for a month even at full price???
franckqcc said:
I still don't get why those big compagnies does different hardware versions of the same phone for different regions.... that must cost more money...lol
P.S. anyone know if Bell allow us to buy that phone full price (499$) without even activating it or we really need to get it activated for a month even at full price???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct in all counts
yes, it's kinda stupid they have released more than 8 different variants of the same phone, each of them with just minor changes in hardware/software
like with TV, no TV
with Front Camera, no FC
with Upload speed cut off, Full speed upload (USA AT&T)
with Flash, with no Flash
with more storage, with less storage
with keyboard, without keyboard
with these radio bands, without that radio band
with... bah just too many
I have no clue how they keep up with all the different branches of the same tree
re: Bell...
nope, they do have an activation fee when you purchase it, even when you but it off at full price, the total is roughly $650~680 including all the taxes, activation, shipping materials, shipping, packaging, all the other crazy fees the Bell and the government charges
Just by curiosity.. Do you know a version of that phone that work with 850MHz but include the flash for the camera?
That would be nice to have a flash included with it
The flash is on the CDMA Galaxy S for Verizon only. I don't think this device can be unlocked but anyways I don't think you would want a CDMA smartphone in Canada.
he can always hook it up to Telus or Bell, both runs on CDMA
but you are right CDMA kinda sucks, you can't travel to Europe or most other countries with it.
Yep and since CDMA is way slower than HSPA, that would be useless....the only time we use CDMA is in the regions where HSPA isn't working...
Thanks all for your reply
AllGamer said:
he can always hook it up to Telus or Bell, both runs on CDMA
but you are right CDMA kinda sucks, you can't travel to Europe or most other countries with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bell or Telus will not allow anyone to hook up another carriers CDMA phone. This is NOT an option.
In relation to this same question somewhat...What about a hardware transplant from a Bell Vibrant to a European i9000?
Does anyone know what radio chipset the Bell Vibrant uses and what radio chipset the European i9000 uses? I've seen two different radio chipsets for the i9000, one from Qualcomm and one from Triquint:
Qualcomm RTR8265: (Maybe the Korean i9000?)
http://translate.google.com/transla....com/News_List_View.php?nModeC=4&nSeq=1742568
Triquint TQM6M26028L: (Maybe the Singapore and European i9000?)
http://www.phonewreck.com/2010/08/19/samsung-galaxy-s-teardown/
http://www.careace.net/2010/06/09/disassembly-of-the-samsung-galaxy-s/
http://www.careace.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/galaxy-s-disassembly-28.jpg
Unless I'm reading all 3 disassembly wrong, they have conflicting info in regards to the radio being used. Maybe the radio chipset being used is dependent on the region where the i9000 is from? Can any one confirm? I plan on purchasing an international i9000 to replace my bricked i9000M and would like to see if I could transplant certain parts to see if I could get the 850 MHz via hardware. I plan to disassemble my bricked Bell Vibrant once my toolkit comes in and take some pictures so maybe it'll be of help to people in the future.
Electroz said:
Bell or Telus will not allow anyone to hook up another carriers CDMA phone. This is NOT an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not sure where you got that from but i worked for Telus and we hooked up quite a bunch of USA verizon/sprint CDMA phones online.
we used to do a IMEI check first to make sure it was not blacklisted before signing them up for a plan with their phone
is there an easy way to find this out without taking apart the phone?
dawgpound6985 said:
In relation to this same question somewhat...What about a hardware transplant from a Bell Vibrant to a European i9000?
Does anyone know what radio chipset the Bell Vibrant uses and what radio chipset the European i9000 uses? I've seen two different radio chipsets for the i9000, one from Qualcomm and one from Triquint:
Qualcomm RTR8265: (Maybe the Korean i9000?)
http://translate.google.com/transla....com/News_List_View.php?nModeC=4&nSeq=1742568
Triquint TQM6M26028L: (Maybe the Singapore and European i9000?)
http://www.phonewreck.com/2010/08/19/samsung-galaxy-s-teardown/
http://www.careace.net/2010/06/09/disassembly-of-the-samsung-galaxy-s/
http://www.careace.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/galaxy-s-disassembly-28.jpg
Unless I'm reading all 3 disassembly wrong, they have conflicting info in regards to the radio being used. Maybe the radio chipset being used is dependent on the region where the i9000 is from? Can any one confirm? I plan on purchasing an international i9000 to replace my bricked i9000M and would like to see if I could transplant certain parts to see if I could get the 850 MHz via hardware. I plan to disassemble my bricked Bell Vibrant once my toolkit comes in and take some pictures so maybe it'll be of help to people in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AllGamer said:
not sure where you got that from but i worked for Telus and we hooked up quite a bunch of USA verizon/sprint CDMA phones online.
we used to do a IMEI check first to make sure it was not blacklisted before signing them up for a plan with their phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats pretty weird then. CDMA phones don't even have an IMEI. That is a gsm/hsdpa specific number.....
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
you said IMEI people will understand what it is
you tell them ESN they will be like "wuuaaat number?"
cust: "my old number before DC?"
me: NO
Your number under the battery compartment or box that came in...
cust: "wuaaat? where?"
me: ohh... never mind, just give me the phone
cust: "here"
me: where's the sticker?
cust: "i peeled it, it didn't look good" (that happened once)
another time was
me: where's the sticker?, it's all smudged & worn out!
cust: "i dunno"...
needless to say both cases were denied, no IMEI/ESN can't register them
a couple of times we did get some black listed ESN from verizon/sprint, also denied on those cases
most of the time they are okay, and can easily be joined to the network, the only trouble was finding the re-programing instruction for those Odd phones as we knew by memory the models we sold, but anything weird will take some times.
we always charged extra for that.
Okay so quick update and something quite interesting. I'm disassembling my Vibrant right now and the piece where the antenna connects is labeled i9000T. More to come in a new thread.
dawgpound6985 said:
Okay so quick update and something quite interesting. I'm disassembling my Vibrant right now and the piece where the antenna connects is labeled i9000T. More to come in a new thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ohhhhhhhh wow! so we got a Latin America model inside?!
AllGamer said:
ohhhhhhhh wow! so we got a Latin America model inside?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to be one part. Check out the pictures here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8395614#post8395614
<farnsworth> Good news everybody! </farnsworth> I have the european i9000 (900/1900/2100) which I bought unlocked in New York City and have been using (with 3g/HSPA) on AT&T.
When I came home to canada, I got a bell sim card (as I have a bell plan, previously with a CDMA phone). When I started the phone, all I was getting was voice, and I was very dissapointed.
I decided to see if Rogers or Tellus would work (as somebody told me they use 1900 more than 850), and when the rogers guy tried his sim, it was the same story. THEN he figured out that for this phone, you have to manually enter the APN info for the canadian carrier. He tried it on my phone, and I started picking up EDGE.
I immediately called bell tech support for the same info, and they refered me to the website. I entered the bell APN info in the settings menu and I now have HSPA on bell in Canada on my european i9000! Spread the word!
mthiffau said:
<farnsworth> Good news everybody! </farnsworth> I have the european i9000 (900/1900/2100) which I bought unlocked in New York City and have been using (with 3g/HSPA) on AT&T.
When I came home to canada, I got a bell sim card (as I have a bell plan, previously with a CDMA phone). When I started the phone, all I was getting was voice, and I was very dissapointed.
I decided to see if Rogers or Tellus would work (as somebody told me they use 1900 more than 850), and when the rogers guy tried his sim, it was the same story. THEN he figured out that for this phone, you have to manually enter the APN info for the canadian carrier. He tried it on my phone, and I started picking up EDGE.
I immediately called bell tech support for the same info, and they refered me to the website. I entered the bell APN info in the settings menu and I now have HSPA on bell in Canada on my european i9000! Spread the word!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go outside of a large metropolitan area and report back. Or maybe you could even try reading this thread....
I just purchased an unlocked Optimus black, I have inserted my sim card and can connect, however it doesn't seem to go into 3g mode. My Carrier is Rogers, (Canada). When I look in the Settings/.../Network Mode the options I have are GSM/WCDMA (auto mode) or WCDMA only or GSM only. Does this mean the phone will not do 3G on Rogers? Rogers is a GSM Carrier.
When I checked the frequencies (@gsmarena) for the phone prior to purchasing, it listed 2 "HSDPA 900 / 1700 / 2100" & "HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100" my current phone matches the second one so I assumed all was good, have I erred in assuming the phone supports both when in actuality it only supports one depending on which 'sub' model you get?
Accept my apologies if I have asked this question in the wrong area, and tell me to bugger off after pointing me in the right direction.
Tia...
bolloc said:
I just purchased an unlocked Optimus black, I have inserted my sim card and can connect, however it doesn't seem to go into 3g mode. My Carrier is Rogers, (Canada). When I look in the Settings/.../Network Mode the options I have are GSM/WCDMA (auto mode) or WCDMA only or GSM only. Does this mean the phone will not do 3G on Rogers? Rogers is a GSM Carrier.
When I checked the frequencies (@gsmarena) for the phone prior to purchasing, it listed 2 "HSDPA 900 / 1700 / 2100" & "HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100" my current phone matches the second one so I assumed all was good, have I erred in assuming the phone supports both when in actuality it only supports one depending on which 'sub' model you get?
Accept my apologies if I have asked this question in the wrong area, and tell me to bugger off after pointing me in the right direction.
Tia...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by unlocked OB? Is it other than P970?
The P970 (Normal OB) can't be networked locked in the first place.
And yes it's in the right place .
xonar_ said:
What do you mean by unlocked OB? Is it other than P970?
The P970 (Normal OB) can't be networked locked in the first place.
And yes it's in the right place .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone was advertised as unlocked and that it could be used with any GSM carrier. In the past when I had called a different carrier searching for better rates I was told it was ok to use my phone on their networks if it was unlocked so I made sure I didn't purchase a locked phone. So was that really redundant, this model can't be locked?
I think the problem I have is this phone doesn't appear to work on one of the frequencies I need (HSDPA/HSUPA 850). I compared the specs at gsmarena for my existing phone and for the OB, like I said in the first post, I thought they had similar frequencies. After posting this question I looked into it more, the specs for my existing phone at the manufacturers website differ, they show HSDPA/HSUPA at 900/1900/2100 MHz or 850/900/1900/2100 MHz. Then I researched the networks used by the carriers and sure enough Rogers is UMTS 850/1900 as are the other carriers here.
bolloc said:
The phone was advertised as unlocked and that it could be used with any GSM carrier. In the past when I had called a different carrier searching for better rates I was told it was ok to use my phone on their networks if it was unlocked so I made sure I didn't purchase a locked phone. So was that really redundant, this model can't be locked?
I think the problem I have is this phone doesn't appear to work on one of the frequencies I need (HSDPA/HSUPA 850). I compared the specs at gsmarena for my existing phone and for the OB, like I said in the first post, I thought they had similar frequencies. After posting this question I looked into it more, the specs for my existing phone at the manufacturers website differ, they show HSDPA/HSUPA at 900/1900/2100 MHz or 850/900/1900/2100 MHz. Then I researched the networks used by the carriers and sure enough Rogers is UMTS 850/1900 as are the other carriers here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
P970 can't be locked.
The sprint variant (LG Marquee) of the OB can be locked though, not sure about the Japanese and Korean variants though.
What firmware are you using? Perhaps it will be a good idea to use your countries firmware.
Just use the official LG Updater to install the firmware.
xonar_ said:
P970 can't be locked.
The sprint variant (LG Marquee) of the OB can be locked though, not sure about the Japanese and Korean variants though.
What firmware are you using? Perhaps it will be a good idea to use your countries firmware.
Just use the official LG Updater to install the firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forget now what the original version (V10something) was because since then I have managed to totally mess it up, it now has no imei# ...
As I said in my first post the issue was with 'data' performance it was pathetic, I did not see this phone show a 3g icon when connected and when I measured the speed it was reminiscent of performance we experienced a few years ago prior to 3g.
So I flashed it, with a patched V20J... oops, this is where things went from bad to worse. Somewhere during my troubleshooting research I noticed that this wasn't a P970. Although this is what was advertised in the sale, it is in fact a KU5900. I thought no problem I will download a korean firmware, that sounds easier than the reality though, I can't download the korean firmware from lg-phone-firmware.com probably because I am in Canada, I even tried to do it through a korean proxy, didn't work.
I found a link here to the V30I firmware that I could download, flashed that, bricked the sucker. Fixed the brick by putting the V20J back, found your post re. dd the imei to mmcblk0p11, it didn't work, perhaps this is one of the differences in the KU5900? And yes I did see your heading warning it was for a P970 only but figured what have I got to loose
I did try the LG updater it failed, come to think of it this is where I found out it was a KU5900, of course I tried that after the fact, and I found your thread about re-writing the nvram with advise to back it up first, after the fact.
Now to address the locking portion of your reply, I purchased a P970 on the day you replied to this thread. From a different carrier, they had a great deal on their plans and I needed to jump on it then and there, although I had purchased a new phone the deal also included a phone so I grabbed the 'same' an optimus black. This phone will only work with the sim they provided, when I put in my Rogers sim it wouldn't work, I tried setting it up manually, nothing. This is what I understand as being locked, whether the correct terminology is network locked or not I have no idea.
On a side note, the seller has agreed to replace the phone, unfortunately I believe that even though they have confirmed it will be a P970, I will end up with another KU5900, I couldn't care less providing I have access to KU5900 firmware which seems to be a bit of a challenge.
Hello everyone,
I want to to know exactly how I can implement this to my HTC one however what I've been told is that what ever Sprint devices they have sold will not able to work on this new upgrade.
I've been chatting back and fourth with an employee and he says it's a gsm based 4g LTE that's works on hspa or something that uses 1900mhz bandwidth. With that said will I be able to go ahead and convert to what my carrier uses?
Another note, I've successfully SIM unlocked but haven't had a SIM to try it out if it is unlocked, in doing the unlock will I be able to utilize this update to my carriers data speeds? All the employee said as of right now Sprint branded devices are not able to be used with the upgraded network and it uses a gsm based 4g that uses 1900mhz bands. Quite a few people are pissed about this but their normal users and do not know about root and everything associated with it, to include SIM unlocking.
Another thing the employee mentioned was they are now selling HTC one m7 and m8 that are able to utilize the network, he says they are "generic" and Verizon, what I'm thinking that they are just global versions of the device, so who ever got Sprint branded phones are screwed cause they can't upgrade to the new network.
I am hoping I can use this new found boost in data speeds locally!!
v1ral said:
Hello everyone,
I want to to know exactly how I can implement this to my HTC one however what I've been told is that what ever Sprint devices they have sold will not able to work on this new upgrade.
I've been chatting back and fourth with an employee and he says it's a gsm based 4g LTE that's works on hspa or something that uses 1900mhz bandwidth. With that said will I be able to go ahead and convert to what my carrier uses?
Another note, I've successfully SIM unlocked but haven't had a SIM to try it out if it is unlocked, in doing the unlock will I be able to utilize this update to my carriers data speeds? All the employee said as of right now Sprint branded devices are not able to be used with the upgraded network and it uses a gsm based 4g that uses 1900mhz bands. Quite a few people are pissed about this but their normal users and do not know about root and everything associated with it, to include SIM unlocking.
Another thing the employee mentioned was they are now selling HTC one m7 and m8 that are able to utilize the network, he says they are "generic" and Verizon, what I'm thinking that they are just global versions of the device, so who ever got Sprint branded phones are screwed cause they can't upgrade to the new network.
I am hoping I can use this new found boost in data speeds locally!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
County? City? State? You provided no information here. Also from the sounds of it NO you can not convert your phone. The bands 4G uses are limited by the hardware in them, if you bought a SPRINT CDMA phone in a foreign county no one screwed anyone except you screwing yourself. You should have bought the global version directly from HTC.
Kraizk said:
County? City? State? You provided no information here. Also from the sounds of it NO you can not convert your phone. The bands 4G uses are limited by the hardware in them, if you bought a SPRINT CDMA phone in a foreign county no one screwed anyone except you screwing yourself. You should have bought the global version directly from HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I'm not in the states I'm located in Guam, I'm aware of the hardware limitations, but I'm wondering if the device will be able to pick up signal. I believe my carrier will be using hsdpa bands at 1900mhz and I'm under the impression that the Sprint use those
I am screwed as well as others that have gotten Sprint branded devices here, I feel for them but those people are normal users, that don't know rooting and what associated with it. I don't feel too bad about having this device at all, it's been working great, I was just waiting for my carrier to bring out something 3G data.
I was really banking on having it be able to get the upgraded speeds, and maybe help others who are on the same boat as me.
Thanks again!
I have a Tab S2 T817W with LTE, unlocked and rooted.
I am leaving for Japan, China and Hong Kong for vacation soon. I was able to use the data SIM cards in those places to connect to Internet last time when I was there.
Is there anyway that I can use it as a regular phone, eg dial and receive phone calls with a local number?
I have hear 2 versions of an answer to this question & hope someone knows for real. Answer #1 is No as the versions of tablets sold in the USA do not have the calling hardware and answer #2 is probably yes with firmware mods as the hardware id the same in all versions. Anyone know the right answer?
I think all US LTE models have the phone removed, and I don't think hacking it in has worked thus far. You can sometimes do regular texting tho, but you may need to pay a little extra. As I just wrote in another thread, my SM-T719 works exactly like a phone tho, it's the international unlocked model, no carrier connection at all. Just pop in your sim and it's basically a huge smartphone I think the key here in the States is the network not recognizing the IMEI, so not knowing that it's a tablet.
YrrchSebor said:
I think all US LTE models have the phone removed, and I don't think hacking it in has worked thus far. You can sometimes do regular texting tho, but you may need to pay a little extra. As I just wrote in another thread, my SM-T719 works exactly like a phone tho, it's the international unlocked model, no carrier connection at all. Just pop in your sim and it's basically a huge smartphone. I'm using it on T-Mobile now as my only phone at the moment
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the model number SM-T719 (no letter) or something like SM-T719Y ??
rwcherry100 said:
Is the model number SM-T719 (no letter) or something like SM-T719Y ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just T719, no letter at all.
Verizon s2 lte can be used as a phone. Messaging+ from Verizon can enable calls and calls can be made and received. Only downside is, it is missing the 3g band. I live in Los Angeles so I always have lte signal.
Sent from my SM-T817V using Tapatalk
Long time lurker, first time poster here. First of all, a massive THANK YOU to everyone here. You guys and gals are Awesome! <3
So, I bought a Samsung S10 (SM-G973F/DS) on Ebay recently and flashed it to Lineage OS 19.1. All was fine until I tried to activate it. We did everything...manually changing the ASP settings, and a bunch of other stuff to try and get this thing to connect to the mobile network. Even placed the SIM card in another phone just to confirm the SIM card was fine, which it was.
Long story short, I think the device was perhaps locked even though the seller claimed it was unlocked. Whatever, I'm over it. I flashed stock back on it and re-locked the boot loader, sent it back. Not worth the aggravation. However, I am questioning if there wasn't something else I could have done?
I was trying to activate the S10 on Mint Mobile USA (a T-Mobile reseller, so GSM) it should have been fine. The default language on the device was German. I don't think that should matter, but maybe it does? Do European phones have problems activating in North America?
My question is: If I decide to get another S10 (SM-G973F/DS) from the secondary market (if its even worth it at this point, since the SM-G973F/DS is really hard to find), is there anything I can find out from the seller first so I don't end up having to send it back?
Or, should I just give up my dream of having an S10 installed with Lineage OS and it's glorious headphone jack and expandable storage forever? If so, are there any worthy alternatives to the S10 worth considering, given my affinity for headphone jacks and expandable storage?
Hello PhonePerfection, all a novel why you speak S10 G973F / DS in the United States.
Already your model S10 G973F/DS exynos 5G or the first 4G model so if these this Europe chip model, if now installed Samsung phone info look at who is scoring at worst take screenshots.
I don't understand your question United States, locked unlocked the seller.
You buy in the back market refurbished and unlocked telephone all operator therefore for sim card, the concern these the chip to install network either US or ASIA controls your model if these good SM-G973F/DS and not SM-G973U or G973U1.
Don't forget to say hello
I think what @meric57 is trying to say is that your phone doesn't have the right chips to communicate on the frequencies in the USA. It's made for other markets and other frequencies... so it won't work here.
If you use FrequencyCheck you can see what carriers support what frequencies on your specific model: https://www.frequencycheck.com/comp...m-td-lte-512gb-samsung-beyond-1/united-states
Scroll down to the "United States" area and you'll see it doesn't support the frequencies used in the USA (except for GSM 2.5, which is old and dead here in the USA). The US is primarily on LTE... and you can see that phone model doesn't support ANY of the available frequencies.
Bottom line "GSM" doesn't tell you enough. You have an incomatible phone model for the USA market. No SIM card will fix that.
Note, in SOME cases, you can activate other frequencies by loading different ROMs into the phone. My old LG V30 did this, for example. I have heard that you can run some Exynos phones here in the USA, but I don't know the details to help. FrequencyCheck may help you figure that out. Be sure the look for the complete model number, not just "Galaxy S10" or something... the naming is worthless for figuring this out.
schwinn8 said:
I think what @meric57 is trying to say is that your phone doesn't have the right chips to communicate on the frequencies in the USA. It's made for other markets and other frequencies... so it won't work here.
If you use FrequencyCheck you can see what carriers support what frequencies on your specific model: https://www.frequencycheck.com/compsomethingatibility/RdEkS7k/samsung-sm-g973f-ds-galaxy-s10-global-dual-sim-td-lte-512gb-samsung-beyond-1/united-states
Scroll down to the "United States" area and you'll see it doesn't support the frequencies used in the USA (except for GSM 2.5, which is old and dead here in the USA). The US is primarily on LTE... and you can see that phone model doesn't support ANY of the available frequencies.
Bottom line "GSM" doesn't tell you enough. You have an incomatible phone model for the USA market. No SIM card will fix that.
Note, in SOME cases, you can activate other frequencies by loading different ROMs into the phone. My old LG V30 did this, for example. I have heard that you can run some Exynos phones here in the USA, but I don't know the details to help. FrequencyCheck may help you figure that out. Be sure the look for the complete model number, not just "Galaxy S10" or something... the naming is worthless for figuring this out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
schwinn8 said:
I think what @meric57 is trying to say is that your phone doesn't have the right chips to communicate on the frequencies in the USA. It's made for other markets and other frequencies... so it won't work here.
If you use FrequencyCheck you can see what carriers support what frequencies on your specific model: https://www.frequencycheck.com/comp...m-td-lte-512gb-samsung-beyond-1/united-states
Scroll down to the "United States" area and you'll see it doesn't support the frequencies used in the USA (except for GSM 2.5, which is old and dead here in the USA). The US is primarily on LTE... and you can see that phone model doesn't support ANY of the available frequencies.
Bottom line "GSM" doesn't tell you enough. You have an incomatible phone model for the USA market. No SIM card will fix that.
Note, in SOME cases, you can activate other frequencies by loading different ROMs into the phone. My old LG V30 did this, for example. I have heard that you can run some Exynos phones here in the USA, but I don't know the details to help. FrequencyCheck may help you figure that out. Be sure the look for the complete model number, not just "Galaxy S10" or something... the naming is worthless for figuring this out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, this is great info. Good to know. It looks like that S10 could only communicate on 1 of 8 bands used by Mint/T-Mobile. That 1 usable band appears to have been deprecated by T-Mobile as it is. I think that explains it perfectly. Thank You!
You're welcome.
Yeah, frequencies/bands are very important to watch, particularly if you're buying out of market devices. You have to know model numbers and carriers to be sure of anything, and unfortunately this info is relatively hidden.
schwinn8 said:
You're welcome.
Yeah, frequencies/bands are very important to watch, particularly if you're buying out of market devices. You have to know model numbers and carriers to be sure of anything, and unfortunately this info is relatively hidden.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The CSC on that device was DBT (Germany). I had to find that out in order to put the correct stock OS back on there.
Makes me wonder if the ebay seller even knows this. They appear to specialize in mobile phones with tens of thousands of transactions, so I would hope they've encountered this situation before. They were more than happy to accept a return on the device. Sent me a prepaid shipping label immediately.
Back to the CSC... Let's say I look for another S10 (SM-G973F/DS) but I ask what the CSC is for that device. Are there any regions outside the lower 48 states with reasonably good chances of it working? I suppose I would need to study the mobile frequency website for the answer to that.
I did some quick searching, and supposedly there are websites that say the 973F/DS will work on MM (mint mobile)... but they don't detail how. For example: https://de-googled.com/blogs/news/a-word-on-network-compatibility-of-our-degoogled-phones
and https://www.ebay.com/p/15030406771 (in the description).
So, maybe it is possible? I don't know, so maybe someone else can chime in.
Personally, I stuck with U-version phones and gave up rooting/romming. It's just getting too hard to find phones that offer this, so I figured I'd just adapt back to a stock ROM, since choices are limited. I had done a bunch of that in the past, but I found that stock roms (today) are pretty good... and allow enough customization that made root/rom unnecessary... for me. My current is an SM-G975U1 (unlocked, USA, Snapdragon S10+) on Total Wireless (VZ MVNO)... it works great and I don't miss root/rom at all.
Rumor is that the Galaxy S23 will only be offered as Snapdragon, so maybe that will open up more options... but I doubt it. Samsung loves it's Knox system, and will likely lock down the phone even more with every generation.
schwinn8 said:
I did some quick searching, and supposedly there are websites that say the 973F/DS will work on MM (mint mobile)... but they don't detail how. For example: https://de-googled.com/blogs/news/a-word-on-network-compatibility-of-our-degoogled-phones
and https://www.ebay.com/p/15030406771 (in the description).
So, maybe it is possible? I don't know, so maybe someone else can chime in.
Personally, I stuck with U-version phones and gave up rooting/romming. It's just getting too hard to find phones that offer this, so I figured I'd just adapt back to a stock ROM, since choices are limited. I had done a bunch of that in the past, but I found that stock roms (today) are pretty good... and allow enough customization that made root/rom unnecessary... for me. My current is an SM-G975U1 (unlocked, USA, Snapdragon S10+) on Total Wireless (VZ MVNO)... it works great and I don't miss root/rom at all.
Rumor is that the Galaxy S23 will only be offered as Snapdragon, so maybe that will open up more options... but I doubt it. Samsung loves it's Knox system, and will likely lock down the phone even more with every generation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link. I think I may try for an S10 again if the seller can tell me what the CSC is. That page on De-googled.com affirms that American devices are more restrictive than their European counterparts.
It just doesn't make any sense to me personally to use a device with an open source OS that has loads of telemetry, spyware, bloat, etc. Which is a contradiction that I am not comfortable with. It's like installing a Linux distro that comes bundled with Facebook.
To me, being proactive about privacy is the equivalent to standing up for yourself in the real world. Sure, you can use a stock ROM and there is nothing wrong with that. It's having the freedom to choose which is most important. So long as that choice is available, I will happily go that route.
I like the added bonus of an Android device that seems faster with a longer lasting battery as well. I mean, I paid for this device. I should have the right to decide what apps are running on it.
No argument there... I agree with why we should be allowed to root/rom. Unfortunately, the carriers pull the strings in the USA (business over people) so we are losing options. Frankly, it pisses me off that they can still prevent phones from connecting to their network just because the IMEI doesn't match (even if the software is correct). In the end, if the device CAN work on the network, the carrier should have no say in allowing/disallowing it on the network. They like to claim that a "bad" device could "hurt" the network, but if that happens, they can lock out that phone and figure it out. I doubt that's even ever happened, but whatever. (They prevented me from using my already-working V30 US998 phone on the network, even though it ran as VS996 with no issues for years... they only later saw the IMEI wasn't "theirs" (original SIM card failed) so they prevented me from re-registering it. So stupid.)
Good luck, and let us know if you figure it out... I'm always curious to learn!
yes, most japan and europe phones do not have the correct radios channels in them for 4g and 5g. i ran into this same problem with my xperia phones that i bought overseas. this is a common problem that can happen.
The S10 and all it's variants is a world compatible GSM phone. So yes, the F variant should work with most GSM carriers and resellers in N. America.
There are various websites that will tell you what frequencies and carriers any particular model will work with if you do a search. Like this one.
WillMyPhoneWork.net - Check if your phone works on a network
Check 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE Network Frequency Compatibility for a Smartphone, Tablet, and Mobile Device in any Country and Mobile Network Carrier
willmyphonework.net
According to that site the SM-G973F/DS supports all 2G, 3G, and 4G frequencies used by Mint.