Redirecting Spam Issue - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

My wife recently got the Samsung galaxy edge from Verizon. She has had problems with chrome, Firefox, etc every time she goes to look something up in her web browser it always redirects her to either you have adware, a virus, or porn. Tried several adware scanners and nothing was found. It quit when I tried a Vpn proxy app like hotspot shield. I turn it off and all the redirects start again. I've cleared cache, data and still does it. Is there a fix for this.

That sounds like a total headache. Since you got it directly from Verizon, the phone is safe. Sometimes when you buy used phones the system files could be modified which makes it difficult to fix. Do a factory reset in settings.

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[Q] SGH-T599N Network Mods?

I've had the SGH-T599N since October, and, coming from the Samsung Admire with all its roms and mods and support, I've found having this phone to be, well, not as great.
My 2 main gripes with using internet on this phone, are that some sites I go to just don't quite work right with however MetroPCS/T-Mobile has their network setup, which I'll sort of elaborate on, and as of late, the, for lack of better phrasing, the peaking and subsequent slowdown of my internet speeds.
I'll start with the latter, since it's easier to explain, and because I tend to ramble, I'll state the question again before explaining:
1. Is there any way I can mod this phone to bypass automatic network speed capping?
I have MetroPCS's unlimited 4G plan, which ran at satisfactory speeds always at hundreds of KB/s until recently, which I assume is due to my speeds being capped out of over-usage. Considering I use USB tethering daily, this is not shocking. The thing is, I could get around that with my Samsung Admire thanks to this mod: http://androidforums.com/admire-all-things-root/563714-mod-data-governor-remover.html and by extension, this mod: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=888372
Considering that was a 2.3.4/Gingerbread OS phone, this is a 4.1.2 phone, and I've looked around both of these forum sites long enough to know not to do any phone modding without extensive research and to wait for the bugs to be sorted out by others, I dare not even get my hopes up about being able to do that with this phone unless there's a confirmed forum post saying I can. Before that, I also found ways around the limits of my 3G network area that's bogged down by the sheer number of users, as thanks to QPST, but falls under the same situation. I don't even want to try modifying the build.prop, much less those deeper settings on my own for risk of breaking/bricking the one and only phone I have and still need to have functioning fully for many more months. So far, I've only gotten around all this by turning my phone and maybe the mobile network on and off, because the slowdown lock takes a couple minutes of use to kick in.
2. Can I change the network settings of this phone in a productive/significant manner, via APN changing, QPST, ROMs, or other such mods?
I've done all of these before on my Admire without any permanent errors. I found that APN Manager Pro is too outdated for this OS, and have yet to try similar APN programs for risk of permanent network damage. I cannot currently recall any significant mention of using QPST on this phone, or even this OS, so I've not tried that. The only ROMs I know of are Unjustified Dev's, both of which break the video camera functionality, which I have to have working. The only thing I've even done to this phone is root it and put ClockWorkMod from this page http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2421743. I haven't even bothered with the odexed files, bloatware, and such yet because I mostly use this phone as just a camcorder, an internet modem, and of course, a phone.
I wonder about this because it may indirectly solve the first problem, but there's different issues as well...I'll just explain:
Now, I notice that some sites I try to use with this phone simply fail to work as properly as they would if I were using a Wi-Fi network, something that also happened with my Admire. Unfortunately I don't have many examples that I can share for one reason or another other than these following two, which luckily involve big name websites. However, they may or may not prove useless in the end, so I'll put them in spoiler tags to be easily skipped over to go on to the more important part.
When I tried to access Tumblr with my old phone's network, whether I'm on my phone or USB tethering to my laptop, it always refused to let me log in, meaning I had to go to a Wi-Fi network and log in from there first, and then, if I wanted to "ask a question" aka submit a message to any of the blogs/pages I'm following/subscribed to, they would always say that that function is not available "at this time", which basically means forever since it seems to involve some error on Metro's side that'll never be fixed. I know it's not some kind of script error on the browser end, because if I stop the page from loading at the right moment, the text input field would actually display and maybe even work, rather than be dummied out by some eternal error message that doesn't even come up if I were using any other network.
Also, on my current phone, when I try to upload a video to Youtube on an associate's account while tethering to my laptop, it refuses to upload, much less even recognizing that I'm trying to upload, as it stays at 0 percent. This is also circumvented by just using a different internet connection. This does not ever happen when I'm using my own account, however, and I've managed to circumvent by changing the browser's user agent or switching browser completely.
Now, I said that the above two examples may not even be relevant, because these may be issues only I can reproduce. For some sites, I manage to get around the issues with different web browsers and/or user agent or proxy settings, but I sometimes get Gateway Timeout messages and other such unavoidable errors on sites that imply server side problems, but don't come up when I use other internet connections. Because the issues vary from site to site, I'm only asking for a verified method I can test directly on the phone, on my own, to get around these problems.
That's should explain enough of, if not all of the issues I'm having network-wise. It might seem like rambling, but it's better for me to explain it all now than for someone that actually has the answer to come by only to be missing one crucial bit of info. In case it is just rambling, to reiterate:
I have the 4.1.2 OS phone SGH-T599N, the Samsung Galaxy Exhibit from MetroPCS, which has been rooted along with CWM, but no other modifications. I'm trying to modify the network settings, and need a confirmed method, not a guess, on how to go about it.
Have you tried using a different browser? Opera will usually do things that chrome/stock can't. There are also YouTube uploader apps out there.
I think that if there was a magic hack to circumvent metro throttling out there it would at least have a sticky.
DevilDogg said:
Have you tried using a different browser? Opera will usually do things that chrome/stock can't. There are also YouTube uploader apps out there.
I think that if there was a magic hack to circumvent metro throttling out there it would at least have a sticky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Stock, no matter what browser I use, it fails to load. It's a network problem, not a browser problem. I also don't quite see any such app allowing me to schedule video posting, when even the Youtube app doesn't have this account specific function. What I do see is bunch of Youtube player apps and downloader apps, but no uploaders. Even if there was one with the option, I'd still have to go back to my laptop for it anyway, because there's a lot of information and tags I have to add to the videos, most of which is automatically loaded from Youtube's settings when using a comp, none of which shows up on a mobile.
As for the hack, considering the one I linked worked for me, but not for others, a mod that works only for certain networks isn't really the kind of thing that should be stickied. If this thread turns into a discussion on that, I'll never get a legitimate answer.
Suppose I need to bump this thread, since it got moved, and is over taken by the other threads.

Can't access some sites or use Pandora while in hotspot mode

This started out of the blue yesterday. So far, these are the sites: ABC News (mobile or desktop), NBC.com (mobile or desktop), CBS (mobile or desktop). Other sites, like Walmart.com, load. The sites that won't load are not offline, as I'm able to load them on my laptop and Galaxy S4. There is never an error message, just a blank page that never finishes loading.
This happens in Dolphin, Mercury and Opera browsers, indicating to me that this must be some problem with the OS itself, rather than an individual browser.
I've already rebooted and done a factory data reset, which helped for a few hours, but now the problem is back and as you can likely imagine, I've no wish to FDR every day. I also disabled web surfing protection in my Avira for Android, thinking that might have been the culprit. Obviously not.
I've read that browsers throwing up blank pages on active sites has been a known problem in Android. One suggested solution was to edit my APN and rename it from VZWINTERNET to just plain INTERNET, but all this did was remove my arrows and gray out my 4G icon, so I changed it back.
I'm rather flummoxed by this because everything else functions smoothly on my tab. I'm able to go to most other websites, just none of the ones I mentioned. I receive email, IMs, push notifications. All apps are able to use the Net, except for Pandora, which will freeze up.
I've noticed that this happens mostly when it's in Hotspot mode. Does sharing the bandwidth cost so much that the device is rendered unable to load sites while hotspotting for another device's access? Exiting hotspot mode does not assuage the problem.
I'm about a step shy of reflashing the whole thing with Odin. Do I need a PIT file to reflash the stock ROM?
Thank you.

Something is keeping apps from using mobile data...

I don't have any restrictions on apps using mobile data but for some reason, I have several apps like gmail and hangouts that won't sync unless on WiFi. Any way to figure out what is causing this? The YouTube app won't work on cell data, only on wifi... that's strange.
Thanks!
It's been happening for me too. I though it was just poor signal, but lately it's been worse.
I'll have 3 or 4 bars and can browse the internet just fine which is strange. I just tried clearing cache to see if that does anything.. I'll report back later
Sound Search is doing the same for me. Also, my phone keeps telling me I'm not signed in to Google when I'm on cell data.
Clearing the cache did not work, I tried deleting data from YouTube and other apps and that didn't work either. I really do not want to do a factory reset.
If you have Gasbuddy installed it might be that. Last week after taking an update for Gasbuddy anything that connected to my phone using it as a hotspot could not get internet access. Didn't make the connection at the time and factory reset my phone and hotspot started working correctly. Started reinstalling apps and when I got to Gasbuddy the hotspot quite again so I uninstalled Gasbuddy and everthing started working again.
That's strange. I don't have that app on my phone but I'll look to see what I recently installed and go from there. Good thinking there though.
Ended up doing a factory reset which worked.

Getting the dreaded NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID message

Hi all,
Hi all, first time poster here, please highlight any indiscretions or mistakes in etiquette and I will address them going forward (forgiveness is appreciated!). I have also asked this question on the Android Central forum a couple of days back but have had no response yet.
I have a Galaxy Tab S2 - 8.0 inch screen size, 3GB RAM, 32GB Storage, Android 7.0 (Kernel Version 3.10.9-10949424). It's been absolutely fine for over a year, the only recent thing I can recall doing which may have some relevance is removal of the Airwatch Software and Agent which my previous employer used to manage devices connecting to their corporate network. No AV software is installed.
I first noticed the issue when trying to browse one of the regular newspaper sites I read in Chrome, I got the "Your connection is not private message", with the "NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID". I am not able to proceed to the site - I just get the "back to safety" option.
The problem is more wide reaching, some apps that require internet access do not work any more, Google Play thinks it is not connected to the internet. Some web sites do work however, and so do some apps. A standard Google search will not work. E-mail via the stock app and the Outlook app both work.
I searched through many websites and found the same advice and steps to attempt resolution in a number of places, I will highlight below what I have tried.
Resetting the time, from automatic to manual and back on a number of occasions, with reboots in between.
Have tried connecting to 3 different WiFi networks, all of which work fine with other Android devices and my Win 10 laptop.
Rebooted my home router.
I have cleared the Chrome cache / history multiple times.
I tried the stock browser, the same happens.
Disabled Chrome, rebooted.
Re-enabled Chrome back to it's default version.
Installed the Toaster app via an apk, but I have to admit I have no idea what to do with it.
Rebooted multiple times.
There are no user installed certificates to delete / remove.
Under Settings->General Management->Reset, I went for Reset Settings and Reset network settings, with reboots etc...
None of the above have worked, the only thing I haven't done is a factory reset, to avoid the pain of restoring everything, even with backups etc it's tedious.
Any other suggestions or advice on anything I missed would be most welcome please before I take that step, many thanks in advance.
Peter

Pixel 5 rebooting only with mobile data

Hi there,
in November last year I bought a brand new Google Pixel 5 and I gotta say that I'm quite happy with it, however there's been something quite annoying: sometimes it freezes and reboots itself when I'm using mobile data. I tried to figure out what was causing the issue and why it only happens when I'm using mobile data but I can't really find an answer. If I use WiFi, everything is fine, I can listen to the radio, watch videos on YouTube, have Teams calls, browse the web with Chrome etc, however if I try to do the very same things with mobile data in 4G (there's no 5G coverage in my area) it freezes and then reboots. It doesn't always happen, it seems to be happening randomly and I have no idea why. After rebooting, the app that crashed still has something in memory and if I try to open it without killing it first, it will immediately freeze the phone again and make it reboot again. It happened while I was watching videos on Facebook, it happened while I was watching videos on YouTube, it happened while I was browsing with Chrome, it happened during a Discord call, it happened during a telegram call, it happened while I was checking the NHS COVID-19 app... It can occur after few hours or several times an hour and I don't know what's causing it. Android is a Linux like OS, is there a way to check the journal and see what's happening? And on top of that, is there a way to let Google know and make Android automatically report crashes? The phone is still new, it's not rooted and I've only unlocked the developers options to force the refresh rate to 90Hz but that's it. I reached out to Google and they offered to replace the phone as soon as I send it (RMA) however I would like to find out first whether it's really an hardware problem or if it's Android 11 being unstable. I do have all the OS updates and all the apps are updated. What do you think? Oh last but not least, the SIM ain't an eSIM, it's a physical SIM placed inside the phone.
thank you in advance,
Frank
FranceBB said:
Hi there,
in November last year I bought a brand new Google Pixel 5 and I gotta say that I'm quite happy with it, however there's been something quite annoying: sometimes it freezes and reboots itself when I'm using mobile data. I tried to figure out what was causing the issue and why it only happens when I'm using mobile data but I can't really find an answer. If I use WiFi, everything is fine, I can listen to the radio, watch videos on YouTube, have Teams calls, browse the web with Chrome etc, however if I try to do the very same things with mobile data in 4G (there's no 5G coverage in my area) it freezes and then reboots. It doesn't always happen, it seems to be happening randomly and I have no idea why. After rebooting, the app that crashed still has something in memory and if I try to open it without killing it first, it will immediately freeze the phone again and make it reboot again. It happened while I was watching videos on Facebook, it happened while I was watching videos on YouTube, it happened while I was browsing with Chrome, it happened during a Discord call, it happened during a telegram call, it happened while I was checking the NHS COVID-19 app... It can occur after few hours or several times an hour and I don't know what's causing it. Android is a Linux like OS, is there a way to check the journal and see what's happening? And on top of that, is there a way to let Google know and make Android automatically report crashes? The phone is still new, it's not rooted and I've only unlocked the developers options to force the refresh rate to 90Hz but that's it. I reached out to Google and they offered to replace the phone as soon as I send it (RMA) however I would like to find out first whether it's really an hardware problem or if it's Android 11 being unstable. I do have all the OS updates and all the apps are updated. What do you think? Oh last but not least, the SIM ain't an eSIM, it's a physical SIM placed inside the phone.
thank you in advance,
Frank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried resetting your network in settings? Were you using this same SIM in your old phone with no issues, or was it new? Have you tried to replicate the issue in safe mode to rule out an errant app? If resetting network doesn't work, just back up your data and factory reset the phone. Google may have suggested this already. It's pretty much their automatic response before RMA. Cheers.
Of course I tried to reset my phone and start from scratch but it didn't help. As to the SIM, it has been working fine on my old phone for years so it's not the one causing the issue. Besides, if I disable mobile data but I still use the phone to call other people using the carrier network, it doesn't have any issues at all. As to safe mode, it happened with Chrome and YouTube, standard Google apps, so I can rule out third party apps altogether. It's really weird.
I made a few more tests and it seems to be related to GPU Hardware acceleration. I said that it happened on Facebook, YouTube and Chrome and I thought about the common factor: I was watching videos. It happened while I was on Facebook watching videos, it happened while I was on YouTube watching videos and it happened while I was on Chrome visiting a website which had an ad in which there was a video playing.
Oh and it also happened when I opened the camera 'cause... guess what? Video!
What puzzles me is that it only happens in 4G but not in WiFi and I can't think of any possible reason why it's only occurring with mobile data...
Ok after trying to understand what happened I was finally able to solve the issue and it wasn't an hardware fault nor it was related to video. It was me using IPSec Xauth PSK with Always on VPN turned on. It turns out that using a third party application to connect via Open VPN fixed the issue. It's now more than a week and I've never had a single reboot or freeze or crash. I have no idea why, but all I can say is "stay away from IPSec Xauth PSK" guys, there's something deeply broken there. Anyway, I'm glad everything turned out to be ok.
Cheers,
Frank

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