[Q] Searching manually for all available networks - T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I was wondering if anyone can answer this, besides T-Mobile who told me yes, but not sure how much I trust them.
Long story short, I can no longer connect to the t-mobile network from my work building. I had already tried, but they requested I do a manual search for T-Mobile network and select it to register on. In trying to do so I get an error that it cannot connect. It also shows 3 other networks when I search. AT&T, Verizon and MetroPCS. Those three do indeed get service in this building and people with those phones have no issue. Not surprised to see Metro PCS since it runs on TMOs network.
So here is my question, These networks only show if the phone can find them? So I *should* be able to force my phone to roam on AT&T? TMO said I could(I was roaming on AT&T a few months ago in another state with no TMO service), but it doesn't let me, won't roam but AT&T has an extremely strong signal here, assume because it sees a tmobile signal, but I cannot connect to it.
They are sending me a new phone to try Monday, but I won't work until Friday, so just figured I'd do some curiosity searching.
I will post screen shots later (at work and have to wait to go outside...*sigh*), but the phone also sees a signal at times, shows signal bars, but won't connect to any network. Is really weird.
Also noticed in the TMO store a few days ago when I had my sim replaced, that my note 4 was nearly 10dBm worse signal than their display phones for the Note 4, S6 and S6 Edge which all had pretty identical signal strength. This was both before and after sim replacement. Don't work with celluar as much (do cisco networking) but 10dBm might be enough to cause me problems in a building.
Hoping at this point it is the phone.

If your phone just got new discard tell tmobile to refresh u on the network.something not set right

BACARDILIMON said:
If your phone just got new discard tell tmobile to refresh u on the network.something not set right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We've done that. Doesn't work.
I know Tmobiles service works in this building, because MetroPCS does. No one else here has tmobile, but others do have metropcs which runs on tmobile.
is the stupidest thing. Been 5 weeks of not even being able to make emergency calls at work. Verizon/AT&T/MetroPCS/Sprint/etc. all get signal.
and to note, I was only getting HSPA+, but now my phone refuses to connect to HSPA+ if at all possible. Used to be I'd go outside and it would connect to HSPA+ and eventually switch over to LTE, now it only connects to LTE outside my workplace.
This happened on kitkat and lollipop.
I really think it is a network issue, but they have opened maybe 6 tickets in the 5 weeks and are always told no issue.
I am just trying to further research, I really don't want to have to switch to ATT or Verizon because 40 hours of the week i can't make or receive calls/texts/etc.

nosympathy said:
We've done that. Doesn't work.
I know Tmobiles service works in this building, because MetroPCS does. No one else here has tmobile, but others do have metropcs which runs on tmobile.
is the stupidest thing. Been 5 weeks of not even being able to make emergency calls at work. Verizon/AT&T/MetroPCS/Sprint/etc. all get signal.
and to note, I was only getting HSPA+, but now my phone refuses to connect to HSPA+ if at all possible. Used to be I'd go outside and it would connect to HSPA+ and eventually switch over to LTE, now it only connects to LTE outside my workplace.
This happened on kitkat and lollipop.
I really think it is a network issue, but they have opened maybe 6 tickets in the 5 weeks and are always told no issue.
I am just trying to further research, I really don't want to have to switch to ATT or Verizon because 40 hours of the week i can't make or receive calls/texts/etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been thru same thing.u have to keep trying till u find the few people they have that are smart and know the job they supposed to do. Some of those are morons. Take it with a grain a salt and don't believe the we will get back to you in 72 hrs and then never get the call. Keep pushing.
BAD ASS NOTE 4

BACARDILIMON said:
I have been thru same thing.u have to keep trying till u find the few people they have that are smart and know the job they supposed to do. Some of those are morons. Take it with a grain a salt and don't believe the we will get back to you in 72 hrs and then never get the call. Keep pushing.
BAD ASS NOTE 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I am gonna try the new phone, at that point will be a new phone and a new sim card. Rules me out 100%. After that, I will push. What I really need is to talk to a network engineer myself lol.
I am just trying to learn more about how some of this works. I tried google searching and seems there is very little information on any of this.

nosympathy said:
Well I am gonna try the new phone, at that point will be a new phone and a new sim card. Rules me out 100%. After that, I will push. What I really need is to talk to a network engineer myself lol.
I am just trying to learn more about how some of this works. I tried google searching and seems there is very little information on any of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They won't get on the phone.they afraid of getting yelled at lol
BAD ASS NOTE 4

Related

T-mobile having global network issues

Since i've seen about 6 posts of people thinking that the issues are ROM related, i figgured i'd post a thread.
There is a global outage with T-Mobile’s voice service. They are aware of the problem and are trying to fix. They say it can take up to 24 hours to get the system back up.
They apologize for the inconvenience.
I hope this'll help some people out!
Ken
epic fail TMO, epic fail.
http://www.softsailor.com/news/11033-t-mobile-has-been-down-nation-wide-still-faces-outages.html
kusotare said:
epic fail TMO, epic fail.
http://www.softsailor.com/news/11033-t-mobile-has-been-down-nation-wide-still-faces-outages.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i knew there was a link out there somewhere, i just didnt feel like hunting it down, lol. Thanks.
Man, first they wipe all their customers sidekicks...now we dont have service...wtf!?
mannn this is wack
people are reporting service trickling back.
too bad its been out all day for some of them...
Meh... This is about every day for me. Ever since I got my G1 a month ago, my texts and web services crap about for at least a total for 1-2 hours a day. It gets really annoying. I even had my phone and SIM card replaced. I am definitely not impressed with their network. I'm glad I kept my Vogue on my Verizon line, though.
its tmobiles switch from 3g to 2g towers.. beside the phone outages right now..
turn ur 3g off if you get bad 3g reception!
its not that t-mo is trying some new suff called 4g
we here in mn had problems with 3g. I lost service for about 30 seconds yesterday, but I keep my phone on EDGE. Had no problems so I'm going to stick with 2G until T-Mo gets their s*** figured out.
I got a text the other day from T-Mobile saying that they are making some improvements to their service in my area which may cause some temporary disruptions to service. Not had any problems at all though.
Phil

Thinking of going to Verizon after getting the M8

I have been with sprint for 8 years now. Just got the M8 for the new spark network that according to sprints coverage map, I was fully covered in. We'll, that's not the case. Been having a lot of problems, mainly if I drop to 3g, I actually have no data and no phone calls and can't send texts . I have to wait until I'm in an area that I think may have spark, and reboot my phone. Then I get a flood of text messages and voice mails. This has been going on 3 days now. Apparently this is a mass problem that could be a while to fix. I still have ten days to return it and reverse my contract. Sprint is so bad that if I'm somewhere I don't know where I'm at and try to pull up a route on maps, it will fail to pull anything up, or search for a route until it says no connection, even with 4 bars. It's hard for me to leave since I've been with them for 8 years, but I'm really getting tired of it. Would like to know of anyone else is considering this, or may have left Verizon for sprint and why.
Varekai said:
I have been with sprint for 8 years now. Just got the M8 for the new spark network that according to sprints coverage map, I was fully covered in. We'll, that's not the case. Been having a lot of problems, mainly if I drop to 3g, I actually have no data and no phone calls and can't send texts . I have to wait until I'm in an area that I think may have spark, and reboot my phone. Then I get a flood of text messages and voice mails. This has been going on 3 days now. Apparently this is a mass problem that could be a while to fix. I still have ten days to return it and reverse my contract. Sprint is so bad that if I'm somewhere I don't know where I'm at and try to pull up a route on maps, it will fail to pull anything up, or search for a route until it says no connection, even with 4 bars. It's hard for me to leave since I've been with them for 8 years, but I'm really getting tired of it. Would like to know of anyone else is considering this, or may have left Verizon for sprint and why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been with Sprint a while too. Just LTE in my area, works great though. I'll see whenever spark comes to my area. Have you talked to sprint about this problem? Possibly a defective phone or your tower's messed up. Do you have the same issues on CDMA only mode?
Not sure it's possible but I wonder if loading the right PRL might disable Spark. Or there is a way to shut it off in the phone settings.
LTE is still up and down for me so I leave my phone on CDMA 99% of the tie for stability.
Most places that I need speed I have WIFI.
LTE just isn't there yet.
I'm on hairy edge at home and hairy edge at work (both places I don't need it).
Even when I'm in strong LTE areas if you hit a 3G pocket the phone behaves badly.
Have not had it long enough to know if it's better or worse than HTC One M7.
But I switched it to CDMA.
I just loaded PRL 56018. So it roams on VWZ (3G only).
Varekai said:
I have been with sprint for 8 years now. Just got the M8 for the new spark network that according to sprints coverage map, I was fully covered in. We'll, that's not the case. Been having a lot of problems, mainly if I drop to 3g, I actually have no data and no phone calls and can't send texts . I have to wait until I'm in an area that I think may have spark, and reboot my phone. Then I get a flood of text messages and voice mails. This has been going on 3 days now. Apparently this is a mass problem that could be a while to fix. I still have ten days to return it and reverse my contract. Sprint is so bad that if I'm somewhere I don't know where I'm at and try to pull up a route on maps, it will fail to pull anything up, or search for a route until it says no connection, even with 4 bars. It's hard for me to leave since I've been with them for 8 years, but I'm really getting tired of it. Would like to know of anyone else is considering this, or may have left Verizon for sprint and why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go switch out the phone, another guy just did this in another thread Cuz his LTE wasn't working at all
~m8whl modded stock
2.265 Max ¦ 300 Min
ondemand
row
I had to switch my phone for the same reason you just stated. I don't have these issues anymore.
Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk
I have had sprint over 10 years now. Only reason I stay is I'm on Sero Premium. The network is absolutely horrible in my area. Dropped calls, week signal, 1X/3G/4G no data. I'm sticking it out for Spark & hoping 800 LTE will fix the coverage issues. The m8 has had better signal and seems to lock on a lot quicker. So far haven't had that many issues with it besides the network still sucking of course. If you don't have a good plan on Sprint I would leave. I think it will get better over time but it's still going to be a while yet. I have had problems since last July.
I left Verizon because of the ridiculous bills I kept getting. Boy is their network amazing. Signal and LTE everywhere.
Got the Sprint HTC one m8. I mean Sprint is just terrible. LTE barely works barely have a signal anywhere. Love the phone but only on WiFi around the City
Sent from my 831C using xda app-developers app
Success100 said:
I left Verizon because of the ridiculous bills I kept getting. Boy is their network amazing. Signal and LTE everywhere.
Got the Sprint HTC one m8. I mean Sprint is just terrible. LTE barely works barely have a signal anywhere. Love the phone but only on WiFi around the City
Sent from my 831C using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I got I think 9 people on my Sprint family plan, we've had Sprint for over 10 years now. I left for Verizon when the galaxy Nexus was relleased. Man, I loved Verizon, but my bill was upwards of $120 per month. Luckily I got to deal where if yo bought 2 or 5 GB plan, they would double it. So i had 10 GB of data at that time. The service was unbelievable, but I hated the price. So after 9 months, I came back to Sprint. Here in Boston, the service is great, but I've also seen a sporadic in and out connectivity.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
The issue I'm having us that while on lte I'm not receiving calls..
Sent from my 831C using xda app-developers app
Well I made the leap. Went from 03mb to 21mb at work.

T-Mobile Wideband LTE Thread

Post screenshots. As of now I don't think Wideband in Columbus, Ohio is live. My speeds are the same as before. What speeds should we be getting?
Anyone know the screen mode # for the flex to see the information?
I see this hidden menu option but not sure where to find if I'm on 15mhz.
*3845#*959# And don't want to mess my phone up. Lol
http://www.lg-phones.org/lg-g-flex-hidden-service-menu.html
Sent from my LG-D959 using Tapatalk
Hmmmmm i tried them numbers for Sprint and it didn't work but in your menu do you see lte engineering? I know for Sprint what i do is ##debug# takes me to a menu where i can see lte engineering and in there it would show which band your connected to.
yellowman82 said:
Hmmmmm i tried them numbers for Sprint and it didn't work but in your menu do you see lte engineering? I know for Sprint what i do is ##debug# takes me to a menu where i can see lte engineering and in there it would show which band your connected to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked and don't see that. Maybe I'll post all the options later. It's like 3 screen shots.
3845#*959# This is the hidden menu for T-Mobile. In the OP I had a * in front and was wondering why it didn't work. lol
For AT&T: Go to dialer and enter 3845#*950#
For Sprint: Go to dialer and enter 3845#*995#
39.51 down, 11.86 up, on VOLTE inside my house, outside of Chicago..
wase4711 said:
39.51 down, 11.86 up, on VOLTE inside my house, outside of Chicago..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice but do VOLTE has anything to do with your network speed? Thought VOLTE was voice over lte so you can talk on the phone while browsing the web using lte?
yellowman82 said:
Nice but do VOLTE has anything to do with your network speed? Thought VOLTE was voice over lte so you can talk on the phone while browsing the web using lte?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if it does anything for speed, since I am usually on wifi, and dont pay alot of attention to OTA data speed..
If I recall, when I did some tests awhile ago, I never got more than 14-20 megs down, and 6-7 megs up while in my house.
I thought those speeds were acceptable.
T-Mobile has a fantastic network in my area, and I was very happy with their phone/data speeds and quality, even before these updates..
wase4711 said:
Not sure if it does anything for speed, since I am usually on wifi, and dont pay alot of attention to OTA data speed..
If I recall, when I did some tests awhile ago, I never got more than 14-20 megs down, and 6-7 megs up while in my house.
I thought those speeds were acceptable.
T-Mobile has a fantastic network in my area, and I was very happy with their phone/data speeds and quality, even before these updates..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea i just did a google search and basically VOLTE really doesn't improve network speeds either T-Mobile updated something through that update or probably the tower around you got a small upgrade. I'm on sprint and i can't complain much as to they are really improving their network and trying to get everywhere covered here's some speeds of mine on sprint.
wow, where are you located?
before I came to Tmobile in February, I was a Sprint user for many years, and, I never had many problems with their network, although the data speeds were horrible.
when they announced the "new" network last year, I was excited that Chicago was one of the first cities to be upgraded; however, once the "upgrade" started, the network was horrific for me; we couldnt make phone calls from our house, data/calls would drop everywhere, and even with an AirRave, their service went from OK to unusable for me. Fortunately, Tmobile announced their program to pay your cancellation fees and such at that time, so we switched to TMO, and have had fantastic service from Day one.
I hated to leave Sprint after all those years, and especially when there was this promise of their great "new" network, so I am amazed to see you have such fantastic speeds and good call quality with them now.
wase4711 said:
wow, where are you located?
before I came to Tmobile in February, I was a Sprint user for many years, and, I never had many problems with their network, although the data speeds were horrible.
when they announced the "new" network last year, I was excited that Chicago was one of the first cities to be upgraded; however, once the "upgrade" started, the network was horrific for me; we couldnt make phone calls from our house, data/calls would drop everywhere, and even with an AirRave, their service went from OK to unusable for me. Fortunately, Tmobile announced their program to pay your cancellation fees and such at that time, so we switched to TMO, and have had fantastic service from Day one.
I hated to leave Sprint after all those years, and especially when there was this promise of their great "new" network, so I am amazed to see you have such fantastic speeds and good call quality with them now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm located in Miami and before having a sprint spark phone i had the note 2 which was really struggling on the band 25 network, i too was considering leaving them for T-Mobile but when the flex came out i went to the store to check it out and ran some speed test while i was there and i was amazed by sprint spark new bands so i decided to stay but I'm pretty sure Chicago should be good now or atleast picking up, sprint choose the best route in upgrading their network so it's really going to pay off when they are complete.
Stay on topic please both of you. Hehe j/k.
I left Sprint after 14 years for T-Mobile a little over a year ago. It's kind of funny how Sprint and T-Mobile switched roles at least in some places. T-Mobile use to suck but now Sprint does. I'm really surprised how quick T-Mobile improved the network. I thought Softbank would turn Sprint around quickly but that didn't happen. Now if the Sprint/Tmobile merger happens I don't see that being a good thing. If it does happen I'll probably go to AT&T.
I get around 20mbps with T-Mobile and that's more then enough for me. I'm running a lot of speed test waiting for the Wideband LTE to be active though. Lol
Man those Spark speeds from Sprint are insane! Honestly if Sprint could roll those numbers out for majority of consumers, I'd all be for the merger, lol!
JesseMT4G said:
Man those Spark speeds from Sprint are insane! Honestly if Sprint could roll those numbers out for majority of consumers, I'd all be for the merger, lol!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was more shocked when i ran the app and got these results when i'm usually averaging between 25~40mbps. I would like the merger to happen because it will actually give them a chance to compete against the big 2 major carrier especially with their prices.
I cant imagine that with the hundreds of millions they have both spent recently to upgrade their networks, their networks beings incompatible with each other, that there will ever be a merger between these 2..would the "merged" company be GSM or CDMA? Would they have spent 100's of millions to upgrade their incompatible networks, if a merger was in the works?
Doesn't make any sense, but who knows..
Sprint is taking years upgrading it's network even with Sotfbanks $. T-Mobile upgraded the network in a year. I really don't see prices going down if the merger happens. If anything they would go up. I'm just shocked Hesse still has a job. I do want to see Sprint turn things around though.
sweets55 said:
Sprint is taking years upgrading it's network even with Sotfbanks $. T-Mobile upgraded the network in a year. I really don't see prices going down if the merger happens. If anything they would go up. I'm just shocked Hesse still has a job. I do want to see Sprint turn things around though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you see that's where you don't know the difference the reason they're taking longer is the direction they went by also changing the whole equipment base etc at each site which are going to pay off in the long run tmobile isn't doing that they just upgrading their speed and such that's why they are finishing way quicker which is going to hurt them later on in the future when they really realize that it would have to replace almost all the equipment in that base site which will lead to problems like customer calling and complaining about the issue they are having with their service and such basically its going to be a deja vu all over again.
Here's what I'm seeing in Birmingham, Alabama. War Eagle !
Sent from my LG-D959 using Tapatalk
yellowman82 said:
Well you see that's where you don't know the difference the reason they're taking longer is the direction they went by also changing the whole equipment base etc at each site which are going to pay off in the long run tmobile isn't doing that they just upgrading their speed and such that's why they are finishing way quicker which is going to hurt them later on in the future when they really realize that it would have to replace almost all the equipment in that base site which will lead to problems like customer calling and complaining about the issue they are having with their service and such basically its going to be a deja vu all over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude take off your Sprint blinders. lol I was with Sprint for 14 years and had so many phones I've lost track. lol My point is I know what's going on in the wireless industry. Sprint is taking years to upgrade the network because they keep making bad decisions. Clearwire was a bust. WiMAX was a bust. LightSquared deal was a bust too – granted, that one wasn't really Sprint’s fault. Oh and the big Nextel mistake. Sprints history shows an inability to pick a winner. The only customers calling to complain are Sprints. I feel bad for Sprint customers when Hesse says "just wait for the network of your dreams". lmao They have been waiting for years. Sprint should be giving them a credit since some can't even watch a youtube video. I was one a year ago and Sprint said all 4 of my phones were defective. lol They offered me a one time $5 credit. I laughed then hung up the phone and went to T-Mobile. Then Sprint comes out with Framily. lol I think that's so stupid. I don't want to have recruit strangers and then worry about them paying the bill on time so my bill doesn't change.
T-Mobile has expanded Wideband LTE into 16 total markets, giving all T-Mobile LTE devices a speed boost with capable peak network download speeds up to nearly 150 Mbps. In January T-Mobile bought a swath of unused spectrum from Verizon Wireless for $3.3 billion that will help expand its coverage to more regions outside of the metropolitan areas.
I really hope the merger doesn't happen because T-Mobile is hot and Sprint will just cool them off. lol Hopefully T-Mobile can get another 3 billion for the failed deal like what happened with AT&T. No one can predict the future as far as you saying T-Mobile will go through what Sprint is going through now. Good thing is I'm not in a contract. Hopefully Sprint can turn things around and fix the bad image they have now. No one can deny, 2013 was T-Mobile’s year.
Report: T-Mobile best, Sprint worst carrier in KC
http://m.bizjournals.com/kansascity...e-best-sprint-worst-carrier-in-kc.html?r=full
Seems like I read somewhere that as of Jan 1st 2014 T-Mobile opened up 75,000 new towers in North America, supporting 4g LTE. I had Verizon for years then went to AT&T for about 6 months and now on T-Mobile. Verizon did have the best coverage of 4g lte , at&t was OK but I always had to fight them about BS on my bill and overages. I had a GS4 on AT&T during the 4.2 to 4.3 update, I was rooted with unlocked boot loader I couldn't take the OTA but that didn't stop them from sending the 592mb update 17 times one month and 22 times another month. Forcing me to have overages. I had to call and fight my way out of them both times. And if I didn't know as much as I do about android and our systems I couldn't have convinced the customer service MANAGER that that was what it was. Then after having issues with the network cust. Service told me they couldn't support or help me with my issue until I took the update. They said "Our tech support is trained to handle issues with 4.3" so I asked "what happened to the crew that was trained on 4.2, did you fire all of them?",
Long story short I left and got ETF paid by T-Mobile and got unlimited data again. I average 40-45 mBs download speeds and have had the best customer service experience with tmo.
And I love being able to use thus much data :
thats ALOT of Porno viewing, bro..:cyclops:
Agree with everything you said; Verizon is great if you travel for a living, but I dont do that anymore, so I only care what works in Chicago land; ATT was fine after they updated their network here a couple of years ago, but, their cust svc/tech support was lame at best, and after a brief try with Sprint, and their "Alleged" great new network, we decided our last hope was T-Mobile, and we love everything about them, for us, in Chicago land..
Great Customer service when we need them, great low pricing, great service in our area, and all issues are taken care of immediately, without a question or argument...We couldnt be happier with our cellular choices right now, and hope it stays this way for a long time..
We are moving to the Dallas area in a year or 2, so I hope their coverage is as good down there as it is up here..
I even bricked my first rooted g flex and took it to the T-Mobile store and for $5 shipping charge they sent me a brand new one not refurbished but new. The first one was only 3 weeks old.
The CEO and Head of Marketing are determined to make T-Mobile a monopoly and out to show other carriers it can be done better, faster, cheaper, and unlimited. Any company, mobile carrier or not, that does not take cues or adapt this mentality of business and customer care is run by morons.

Signal issues anyone?

I used to have an S4 and upgraded to S5 on AT&T. All is well, except that I am seeing strange signal issues. I had written these off as issues outside of the phone. However this past weekend I went camping with family at Detroit Lake, Oregon. My wife with S4 on AT&T had good HSPA signal. I was barely getting GPRS. No amount of rebooting, resetting would get me anything better than GPRS. I had to keep borrowing her phone to tether. I am back home now and I keep comparing my S5 signal to my wife's S4. She always has it at about 10 dbm better than me. I measured at several different locations in the house, with and without the cases on. None of it makes a difference. My S5 always has a weaker signal. I have some serious amount of work related travel coming up where I'll be on the road for a month. I am guessing that I cannot take the phone back to an AT&T store to swap for another one. It is about 45 days old. Is warranty repair the only option?
I am hoping that expecting my S5 to work as well as my S4 is not asking too much.
I just wanted to provide a quick update on this. I went to the local AT&T store and they suggested that I trying changing the SIM. It does appear that I was using a rather old SIM. And maybe it did not connect with all the towers. I am not sure. However the new SIM does appear to be working a little better. I'll have to keep an eye on this to make sure that it is not a fluke.
Good to know! Let us know if you find out it was a fluke.
Ambiguous signature with techie jargon and hyperlinks.

My switch from ATT, if T-Mo good in Chicago ?

I have been on ATT in the Chicago burbs for a few years now, been happy and satisfied with their service, no issues, and we have a good plan = 2 lines Unlimited minutes Unlimited texts, and 10GB shared Data for $130/Month. And with me on next it is $155/Month.
But I always like to at least root my Wife's phone for AdAway and XPosed stuff to tweak her phones better, and me I always root, and install Custom Recovery and ROM my phones, right now on a HTC One M8 converted to GPE and love this phone.
My point is, ATT has gotten worse and worse the last 18 months with locking down their phones, even root can take months to come by on flagship phones. And on principle it is really pissing me off, why give ATT money, if they won't even let me customize my phone anymore ? The ATT Note 2 I had two years ago, was the last best ATT phone IMO, I rooted it and ROM'd the heck out of that phone, but sadly with the new Note 4 those days are long gone and history with ATT.
Long story short, does T-Mobile offer competitive plans to what i currently have ? And how is their service in Chicago area ? Thank you
Well, you have two choices based on what you're interested in:
1. Switch service to T-Mobile. I also live in Chicago. The service isn't as good as AT&T here in the city, or elsewhere. LTE/3G data doesn't penetrate buildings as well. The calling and texting seems to be about the same when towers are near, but I know for a fact that AT&T has them beat in terms of coverage outside of major metro areas. I frequently drive between Chicago and Indianapolis- AT&T has 4G or LTE about 85% of the drive, while T-mobile will barely get phone calls to go through, much less high speed data. T-Mobile is cheaper service than AT&T, but you're getting what you pay for.
2. Buy the T-Mobile Note 4 off-contract and unlock it for AT&T. There are lots of threads here on xda about this- and it's what I've just done with my T-Mo note 4! I had done the same with my Note 3, there are presently no issues with t-mobile samsungs and at&T. connecting to LTE, phone calls, mms, sms, etc all works perfectly.
As you said, the AT&T variants are locked down and will probably remain that way. The ONLY note 4 you can buy that has the unlocked bootloader AS WELL AS support for LTE networks in the United States is the T-mobile Note 4. How much of a premium are you willing to pay for having the unlocked bootloader, is what you need to ask yourself. An off contract Note 4 from T-mobile costs $850 after Illinois taxes, and you'll need to activate the line for at least one day, meaning a few more bucks.
Hope that helps. I would go with option #2, especially if you're like me- grandfathered unlimited data from at&t.
obviously, the cost of the note 4's from t-mobile will decrease after the product is widely available and the initial hype dies down. So if you're enjoying your M8, wait a few months and grab a note 4 from swappa.com, ebay, or craigslist
Good points thanks.
I would almost like to test drive T-Mobile first for like a week, see how it is around town and in my office, etc... I am happy with ATT the past couple years, good service, it's just the principle of them locking down phones really irks me, and makes me want to take business elsewhere.
hey man, nice to see you here
I dont know about that other dude, but my service in the burr ridge/willowbrook area is fantastic with T-mobile
Also, I travel through lombard/villa park/elmhurst alot, and always have super strong signal, and in 8 months, I dont think I have dropped a single call; 4g speeds usually between 15-35 down,and 6-15 up, so I am one happy camper with Tmobile in chicagoland..
Do the test drive if you want confirmation yourself..
wase4711 said:
hey man, nice to see you here
I dont know about that other dude, but my service in the burr ridge/willowbrook area is fantastic with T-mobile
Also, I travel through lombard/villa park/elmhurst alot, and always have super strong signal, and in 8 months, I dont think I have dropped a single call; 4g speeds usually between 15-35 down,and 6-15 up, so I am one happy camper with Tmobile in chicagoland..
Do the test drive if you want confirmation yourself..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello neighbor
I work in Willowbrook, and most of my business is in the western burbs, so thanks for your input.
And the principle of the idea is pushing me away from ATT, the whole lockdown is so upsetting.
How quick is a port of our numbers from ATT to T-Mobile, if I pick up the Note 4 ?
If I recall, when I switched, the number porting was done by the time we left the store!
just bring in your old ATT bill, and make sure you know the password on your ATT account, and the porting should be really fast..
I am in IL, but downstate and live in the Metro St. Louis area. The comments about T-Mo coverage are spot on. If you are downtown, or within about a 10-15 mile radius of it, you should be good. I was a long time Verizon customer, and I jumped to T-Mo when VZW pissed me off with that "network optimization" nonsense.
My experience at the office with T-Mo has been great. Faster even that Verizon. At home (30 miles NE of downtown STL) it is a different story. Maybe 1 bar of HSPA (never LTE) inside my house. I don't travel much, so I can't comment there yet, but I will say that if you spend a lot of time on the road you probably are best off buying the T-Mo Note 4 and staying with AT&T.
I really like what T-Mo is trying to do, they just have to get more towers out there.
Porting the number takes less than 30 seconds flat... It is incredibly fast. (done it already with 2 lines from AT&T to T-Mobile) Now I have 3 lines in total with T-Mobile, (an old one plus 2 new ones coming from AT&T)
robroy90 said:
I am in IL, but downstate and live in the Metro St. Louis area. The comments about T-Mo coverage are spot on. If you are downtown, or within about a 10-15 mile radius of it, you should be good. I was a long time Verizon customer, and I jumped to T-Mo when VZW pissed me off with that "network optimization" nonsense.
My experience at the office with T-Mo has been great. Faster even that Verizon. At home (30 miles NE of downtown STL) it is a different story. Maybe 1 bar of HSPA (never LTE) inside my house. I don't travel much, so I can't comment there yet, but I will say that if you spend a lot of time on the road you probably are best off buying the T-Mo Note 4 and staying with AT&T.
I really like what T-Mo is trying to do, they just have to get more towers out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you know you can get them to "give" you a asus router, so you get a super wifi signal in your house, for data and calling...
wase4711 said:
you know you can get them to "give" you a asus router, so you get a super wifi signal in your house, for data and calling...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but I already have a better WiFi solution than their router. I had them send me their new LTE Booster and it helps a little, but it is still very spotty.
robroy90 said:
Thanks, but I already have a better WiFi solution than their router. I had them send me their new LTE Booster and it helps a little, but it is still very spotty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can I ask what solution you have that is better than a free AC router?
I had the asus RT-AC87, but returned it, because I got the same wifi speeds from the T-Mobile router, as I did from the $300 RT87..
How did you get tmo to give you an Asus router? I just switched from att to tmo here in jersey and my reason was for cheaper prices. I'm still within my 14 days but I will say I'm impressed so far. Greats LTE speeds, no issues with calls. I have derive at work & home so I think I'll be staying. I'm on the note 3 now waiting for n4 pre-order.
idelgado782 said:
How did you get tmo to give you an Asus router? I just switched from att to tmo here in jersey and my reason was for cheaper prices. I'm still within my 14 days but I will say I'm impressed so far. Greats LTE speeds, no issues with calls. I have derive at work & home so I think I'll be staying. I'm on the note 3 now waiting for n4 pre-order.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
info here and via google..
http://www.phonearena.com/news/T-Mobiles-CellSpot-Wi-Fi-router-available-now_id60802
https://www.google.com/search?utm_s...tmobile+wifi+router+available+date&gws_rd=ssl
edouble312 said:
Well, you have two choices based on what you're interested in:
2. Buy the T-Mobile Note 4 off-contract and unlock it for AT&T. There are lots of threads here on xda about this- and it's what I've just done with my T-Mo note 4! I had done the same with my Note 3, there are presently no issues with t-mobile samsungs and at&T. connecting to LTE, phone calls, mms, sms, etc all works perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So can you confirm the t mobile note 4 works fine with 4g lte on att? How did you unlock it? I current have the att note 3 on contract so would be paying out of contract prices and it seems to make more sense to go with t mobile if I want to customize it at some point or switch to t mobile later on. Also the t mobile note 4 is cheaper out of contract than att. If you are currently using the t mobile note 4 on att and everything works that's the route I'm going to go too. Just waiting for someone to verify that works as there are some threads with people having issues when going this route with the note 3. I've also heard if att ever asks for your imei or other phone info you should give them the numbers from an older att phone so they don't blacklist you and block you from using lte.
mike__o said:
So can you confirm the t mobile note 4 works fine with 4g lte on att? How did you unlock it? I current have the att note 3 on contract so would be paying out of contract prices and it seems to make more sense to go with t mobile if I want to customize it at some point or switch to t mobile later on. Also the t mobile note 4 is cheaper out of contract than att. If you are currently using the t mobile note 4 on att and everything works that's the route I'm going to go too. Just waiting for someone to verify that works as there are some threads with people having issues when going this route with the note 3. I've also heard if att ever asks for your imei or other phone info you should give them the numbers from an older att phone so they don't blacklist you and block you from using lte.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct about the imei. phone's working fine for me. speed tests are great, no issues with any LTE coverage. Maybe a little better than my previous phone- the T-mo Note 3 unlocked on AT&T.
I found a seller on eBay who got me the code. There's a thread in the questions/problems section that discusses my guys and all the other sellers.

Categories

Resources