Galaxy S5 Mini on Virgin Mobile? - Galaxy S5 Mini Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

You'll have to forgive me, I'm a bit new to the Android rooting/hacking game. I have rooted several phones in the past but never tried to switch carriers before. Anyhow, I switched to VM years ago and have really good luck with them. It's come time to upgrade my personal device and I've decided on the S5 mini. The problem is I keep hearing completely different things from "all you would need to do is re-rom and have a VM SIM" to "It can't be done bc the device doesn't have the right hardware". So which is it? Has anybody gotten an S5 mini to work on VM? If not, what carriers are my choices?
Update: forgot to specify, I am in USA so the VM carrier in question would be VM USA. Or suggestions as to what carriers I could use with this phone are welcomed

Anyone?

bump for answers

will work for answers

Virgin Media UK? Or... ?

oops nope sorry VM USA

My understanding of Virgin Mobile USA is that you can only use a phone sold to you by them. A ROM change wouldn't work, and a SIM wouldn't cut it either.
You may be able to call and have them allow the device onto the network, but there's no guarantees.
Certain other workarounds are prohibited by federal law.
In my opinion, the S5 Mini is not an amazing phone. Official updates have been slow, and unofficial are still a work in progress. The phone has suited me fine, but I wouldn't get excited about acquiring one at this stage in its life. You might be better looking elsewhere.
As for alternate carriers, I'm not familiar with USA carriers enough to advise.
Good luck!

Related

8925 Identity

Hi all this is my first post, great site btw
Anyways I have an ATT Tilt that I have flashed to the latest official HTC TyTn II Rom.
I just found out that ATT can charge me more if they know I'm using a pda phone, but since I have a cheaper MediaNet plan for non QWERTY phones it works fine.
I was wondering if there is a way to hide the Identity of the phone. To show up as a Sony Ericsson or something to ATT. So they couldnt see that it was a tilt.
Also Using the phone as a modem (tethering) is a big no-no on ATT. Was wondering if there is a way to mask that too.
I have read of very serious fees... up to $700 for tethering and connecting through the phones plan. I wish to know all information if anyone has any knowledge into this subject please tell me all you know.
Your attempts sound a bit to far away from the legal path if you ask me! Your IMEI number is already enough to identify what kind of handset you have, further every server can easily determine what kind of device is knocking while analyzing the referrer information.
If you are unhappy with the data plan politics of AT&T then you should consider a provider change! I am with T-Mobile for over 8 years now, tried twice AT%T but their hidden fees and sneaky contract terms and conditions made me cancel both times!

[Q] No love for the SPH-P100?!

I've asked a few questions here, on different threads regarding the Galaxy Tab from Sprint, and no one seems to want to address the thing. Is my version of the Tab cursed, or infected or something? Every thread I've read tip toes around whether or not something will work on the SPH-P100, and for the most part states that their super special something or other will not work on the Sprint Tab. I'm just wondering first, why are there SOOO many different versions of the Tab, and second, why will nothing work on the Sprint Galaxy Tab (SPH-P100)?
Any insight would greatly comfort me...lol
yes! I see this too! I keep wondering if I should go return it or something. to be honest I would have gotten the Verizon version if they had it in stock but after reading these forums I feel like I should've went with the t-mo version!
+1 here ive had mine 2 days i may just do that.
Sent from my SPH-P100 using XDA App
The lack of ROM's and support for the Sprint version of the tab has kept me from rooting.....no point right now. Needless to say its very frustrating right now, but I haver faith in the Dev's. They always seem to come through
Sent from my SPH-P100 using XDA App
Honestly even for AT&T or T-Mobile contributions are still poor compared with many other phones on xda. At least the ones I used to own. But yeah way worse for Sprint/Verizon
That said it makes sense: he tab has been out only for a small period of time, it's expensive and not many devs have it... Hopefully with time you will get more support. If the tab is not left in the shadow too quickly by the new Tegra 2 tablets (Hipefully they wont't be out before May/June in which case more people will go for the SGT)
Think Im gonna sell mine soon. The lack of input and hacking compared to lets say the HTC Desire which is what I used to have is unreal.
People keep saying wait and Dev's will jump on but the Desire modding and roms started straight away..
On a side not the tab will not be able to run Honeycomb which is a real downer
Look at how good honeycomb looks....
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/google-shows-off-android-3-0-the-entirely-for-tablet-honeycom/
mklass said:
On a side not the tab will not be able to run Honeycomb which is a real downer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Says who?
Sent from my 7 inch monster.
thank Andy, it's more than just me!
I still love my Tab, it's great, but everyone's right. I too have kept from rooting mine just because of the lack of (I won't say support, since it's no one's "job" to hack) access to more info.
I've been an XDA member since I got my EVO when that bad boy first came out, and I LOVE all of the devs, and their "products" for that. I guess when I got my Tab for (a couple weeks before) Christmas, I expected to see a huge list of ROMS, custom made apps, and themes, but as it was said before, they ARE pretty expensive (don't know, or wanna' know how my GF got it for me....lol) and as far as I can see, they're really only popular in countries OTHER than the US... I guess I'm being impatient, but I WANNIT I WANNIT I WANNIT (and by "IT" I mean what I want...lol)
Thanks for the support, guys! I'll toss it out that I have and am always willing to donate to a dev who does the job right, whether it be Alpha, or RC I never mooch! Hard work is hard work, and I try to make it as worth a dev's time as I can. That being said, if ANY DEV is looking for a tester, hit me up!
Thanks again guys, this is the first thread I've posted to get a REAL response!
Perhaps you all should start a bounty fund?
IP IHI II IL said:
I'm just wondering first, why are there SOOO many different versions of the Tab, and second, why will nothing work on the Sprint Galaxy Tab (SPH-P100)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once you get outside of North America, you'll find there's really only one Tab.
The problem you have is three fold:
1. Outside of North America, pretty much all Tabs are GSM. That isn't a hard and fast rule, but it's close enough to make no difference. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA networks, so require different treatment to GSM Tabs. Almost all of the newer ROMs we are seeing for the Tab are GSM ROMs.
2. Most GSM networks outside of North America operate their 3G networks at 2100MHz, which is uncommon in North America. In the US, AT&T and T-Mobile both use frequencies that are completely incompatible with one another, so you can't take a TMo Tab and use it with 3G on AT&T and vice versa. Ironically though, you could bring either to Europe and they'd work fine as both support 2100MHz even if their respective networks do not.
3. It seems that pretty much all the US carriers can't just ship a device as standard and have to screw around with it in some way, almost always to the detriment of the consumer. Verizon Tabs have less internal memory than all other Tabs, and no US Tabs ship with voice functionality out of the box.
From an outsiders perspective, the cellular market in the US is deeply insular, and very uncompetitive. You can't easily take a phone from one network and run it on another due to incompatible technologies and/or frequencies making switching networks that much harder. Costs seem very high too when compared to the UK.
I'm heading over to FL for 6.5 weeks tomorrow, and to serve my needs I'm going to get a Virgin Mobile MiFi out there with prepaid data for use with my Desire HD and Tab, and use my existing Tracfone for calls. When I travel to Europe, I can usually pick up a cheap prepaid SIM with decent voice and data allowances, but this doesn't seem to be much of an option in the US - best I can find is Simple Mobile, but I'd need a phone with TMo US frequencies!
Regards,
Dave
EDIT: Sorry, went a way off topic there!
Readers can look at the map themselves
http://www.cdg.org/worldwide/index.asp
The two major PCS can share devices in the US
I would love to find out what kind of hacking the Koreans are doing with their CDMA tabs.
foxmeister said:
Once you get outside of North America, you'll find there's really only one Tab.
The problem you have is three fold:
1. Outside of North America, pretty much all Tabs are GSM. That isn't a hard and fast rule, but it's close enough to make no difference. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA networks, so require different treatment to GSM Tabs. Almost all of the newer ROMs we are seeing for the Tab are GSM ROMs.
2. Most GSM networks outside of North America operate their 3G networks at 2100MHz, which is uncommon in North America. In the US, AT&T and T-Mobile both use frequencies that are completely incompatible with one another, so you can't take a TMo Tab and use it with 3G on AT&T and vice versa. Ironically though, you could bring either to Europe and they'd work fine as both support 2100MHz even if their respective networks do not.
3. It seems that pretty much all the US carriers can't just ship a device as standard and have to screw around with it in some way, almost always to the detriment of the consumer. Verizon Tabs have less internal memory than all other Tabs, and no US Tabs ship with voice functionality out of the box.
From an outsiders perspective, the cellular market in the US is deeply insular, and very uncompetitive. You can't easily take a phone from one network and run it on another due to incompatible technologies and/or frequencies making switching networks that much harder. Costs seem very high too when compared to the UK.
I'm heading over to FL for 6.5 weeks tomorrow, and to serve my needs I'm going to get a Virgin Mobile MiFi out there with prepaid data for use with my Desire HD and Tab, and use my existing Tracfone for calls. When I travel to Europe, I can usually pick up a cheap prepaid SIM with decent voice and data allowances, but this doesn't seem to be much of an option in the US - best I can find is Simple Mobile, but I'd need a phone with TMo US frequencies!
Regards,
Dave
EDIT: Sorry, went a way off topic there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LargePrime said:
Readers can look at the map themselves
http://www.cdg.org/worldwide/index.asp
The two major PCS can share devices in the US
I would love to find out what kind of hacking the Koreans are doing with their CDMA tabs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll see your 550 million CDMA subscribers, and raise you 4.5 billion GSM subscribers!
http://www.gsacom.com/news/statistics.php4
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
Once you get outside of North America, you'll find there's really only one Tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you are in Aisa, Russia, Nothern Europe, Africa, Or South America.
Really there is one tab in western Europe.
foxmeister said:
1. Outside of North America, pretty much all Tabs are GSM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except, see above. I have not seen a sales breakdown, but (VERY IMPLIED) SAMSUNG sais it sold 6000K units before Sprint/Verizon launched, and 1M after (supposedly as of early December figures.)
http://iphoneappstoday.com/2010/11/samsungs-global-galaxy-tab-sales-lag-behind-apple-ipad-at-600k/
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...sg=AFQjCNGyNxBY3ZxLqBRcIyopOY7t9pyoUw&cad=rja
foxmeister said:
That isn't a hard and fast rule, but it's close enough to make no difference. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA networks, so require different treatment to GSM Tabs. Almost all of the newer ROMs we are seeing for the Tab are GSM ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the most serious concern. It cannot be overstated how important it is to get PCS devices into Devs hands. But note that the GSM devices had a two month jump on the CDMA devices. So devs bought them first. The ROM work we are seeing now is directly a result of that early jump.
Now weather there are 10 times as many GSM users is irrelevant.
A relevant question is ;
where are you located?
is the extra cost of the GSM devices is worth the extra storage you get?
are you going to travel with the device?
Are you willing to wait for a few months for the development to catch up to the GSM versions, or will that really bug you?
Are you willing to contribute to a bounty to accelerate PCS development?
LargePrime said:
Unless you are in Aisa, Russia, Nothern Europe, Africa, Or South America.
Really there is one tab in western Europe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, just because there are CDMA networks in those regions, you infer that there must be CDMA Tabs available on those networks? That's a giant leap!
You'll notice that I said "That isn't a hard and fast rule" straight after I said " Outside of North America, pretty much all Tabs are GSM". On these boards and others I follow, I've not seen a *single* mention of a CDMA Tab that isn't a North American unit. Of course, there will almost certainly be an SK Telecom CDMA Tab in South Korea, and I guess it's not posted about here due to the language barrier.
What I have seen though is people posting from Russia, the Middle East, and other regions that they've bought a Verizon or Sprint Tab from the states only o find there is no network they can use them on in their home country.
Except, see above. I have not seen a sales breakdown, but (VERY IMPLIED) SAMSUNG sais it sold 6000K units before Sprint/Verizon launched, and 1M after (supposedly as of early December figures.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what you are saying is implied here, but it seems to me that your saying that the Tab saw a massive jump in sales once the Tab launched on Verizon and Sprint. There seems to be no evidence whatsoever in either of those links that would indicate that IMO.
First of all, the Tab didn't launch in most of the rest of the world (UK included), until November same as the US. Secondly whilst those figures talk about worldwide sales, in relation to the US those articles talk about all 4 major US carriers, not just Sprint/Verizon , which obviously includes the two US GSM carriers.
Without firm sales figures region by region, and by device type (CDMA or GSM) it is not possible to draw any firm conclusions about Tab sales beyond simple units sold
All I am saying is that the focus is likely to be on GSM Tabs because it is a larger market, and there are *likely* to be many more of them in circulation that CDMA units.
In my experience on XDA, bounties tend not to work. If anything they further fragment an already fragmented development community. If you want to raise money for a development effort, a far better idea (IMO) would be to identify a leading developer(s) for CDMA Galaxy S devices, and offer to supply them with a Tab.
Regards,
Dave
Its because there's a lot more of us than there are of you. Simple. Also, the tab is very expensive across the globe, and the majority of those that buy it get it unlocked and unsubsidized.
Surley someone could make a rom that would not mess with the baseband of the phone and would support all of the tabs since they have the same cpu and ram exept the new 4g verizon one which is a bit faster
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
I feel like we're going to see more dev once the wifi-only version of the Tab is released. At CES a few days ago, while everyone was talking Tegra 2, Samsung announced the wifi-ony Tab and a few minor upgrades to the current Tab. That, along with their keynote where they heavily featured the Tab, and the multiple assertions from Google that Honeycomb would be backwards compatible for "a wide range of existing devices" makes me think that Samsung is committed to its device which has, (considering the price), sold like wildfire around the world.
As I was saying, once the wifi-only version comes out, the carriers will drop their prices for the Tab, and then more devs will probably snap them up and begin developing in earnest. Right now, the tab is at least $200 more expensive than the highest end phone, even when bought on contract, so the lull in dev activity when compared to those phones makes sense. I would say, just hang on to your Tab, great things are coming, both from the devs and Samsung.
rkmj said:
I feel like we're going to see more dev once the wifi-only version of the Tab is released. At CES a few days ago, while everyone was talking Tegra 2, Samsung announced the wifi-ony Tab and a few minor upgrades to the current Tab. That, along with their keynote where they heavily featured the Tab, and the multiple assertions from Google that Honeycomb would be backwards compatible for "a wide range of existing devices" makes me think that Samsung is committed to its device which has, (considering the price), sold like wildfire around the world.
As I was saying, once the wifi-only version comes out, the carriers will drop their prices for the Tab, and then more devs will probably snap them up and begin developing in earnest. Right now, the tab is at least $200 more expensive than the highest end phone, even when bought on contract, so the lull in dev activity when compared to those phones makes sense. I would say, just hang on to your Tab, great things are coming, both from the devs and Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exept to get the stuff from samsung you will have to mess with KIES (grrrrr - i own a mac and hate having to boot it into windows just to update the tab)
can't the galaxy tab from sprint be rooted? I didn't understand that point.
I bought the sprint version of the SGT just because I wanted to use it wifi only.
I can see differences on this tab compared to others like I cannot see megavideos videos directly from the webpage, it will redirect me to another page, and I have to do some tweak to get it work, I think the other versions of tabs doesn't have this issue.
and btw, my sprint galaxy tab is rooted
ellokomen said:
can't the galaxy tab from sprint be rooted? I didn't understand that point.
I bought the sprint version of the SGT just because I wanted to use it wifi only.
I can see differences on this tab compared to others like I cannot see megavideos videos directly from the webpage, it will redirect me to another page, and I have to do some tweak to get it work, I think the other versions of tabs doesn't have this issue.
and btw, my sprint galaxy tab is rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I watch Hulu from my tablet without s problem, I watch medavideos. My tablet no redirection, the page opening when you click play is due to megavideos they have a popup when you click play the first time. I have the sprint version as well
Sent from my SPH-P100 using XDA App

T-Mobile Galaxy Tab Modem

Using TMO Tab with OC Kernel 2.1.6 (and bought a few six-packs for Alter to say TY for the great job!) and have been actively following the threads on the T-Mobile Modem.
Can't post in Dev section yet, so I am dropping this here in the hopes I can get an answer. There is a "bounty" offered on one thread for a modem.bin that will work with the T-Mo Tab, but so far no solution:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=951930
For what it is worth, I am in for $50.00 on this, too, but I won't post for the sake of getting up to the required number to get on the Dev boards, so I am hoping the OP on this thread sees this and can add me.
Triplex76, at the end of the thread says he got this working:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13585472&postcount=182
I have downloaded the t959 (galaxy s tmobile) modem.bin Triplex recommended, but I get the same poor result Roto reported in numerous threads - seems the signal comes and goes and this is too unstable to use.
Triplex indicated you have to have the corrrect email.apk to make this work, and I figure I do, with OC's ROM.
Can anyone else who has tried this yet weigh in? Keeping fingers crossed.
I scolded him for putting that stuff up without a complete explanation. Outside of the US some members can use a T959 vibrant modem and get voice, data, and 3g speed. But in the US it is not possible, so the bounty is out there to encourage someone to work around the T-Mo restriction. In the US we can use the Roto Switch to get those features, as two separate modem flashes. Sorry.
Thank you for the insight. Near as I can tell the modem will work well in Europe (3G and Voice there vs 2G and Voice or 3G only here). I am on an upcoming working vacation in Europe in September and need data there for maps, nav, contact with tour providers, hotels, rail, etc. Net-net very data intensive. Appreciate your clarifying the distinction. Seems ironic that my only.optimal experience will be over there unless a fix for Tmous modem comes sooner.
Now I have to find a reasonable global SIM card. Or switch my eoc Verizon to a new AT&T phone and use that SIM.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
You can get T-Mobile prepaid sims in a lot of Europe. You are better off that way, to get the 3g on their unique frequency.
Question about SIM cards
Ranger -
Thanks for the advice. I just saw the latest Overcome ROM so I will be downloading and running the full install before I wrap up the night.
Meantime, I am still struggling with the SIM thing - I have a VZ phone coming off contract next month, and I am thinking of switching to an AT&T. Do you know if I can use that SIM for voice and data in the T-Mo Tab overseas (or here with the 2G Data until someone comes up with a modem )? I can get a local SIM once I am on the ground there, but I have to have access once the plane lands as I have a group of 4 of us I am responsible for managing travel for.
On an aside, I was hoping the Gingerbread release would offer some better modem options but it now seems there may never be a fix, which is too bad, because I would infinitely rather have just one device (my Tab!).
Thanks infinitely for your help and enjoy the new ROM!
@Ranger - Can you help me out again please?
rangercaptain said:
You can get T-Mobile prepaid sims in a lot of Europe. You are better off that way, to get the 3g on their unique frequency.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed Hermes, then Icarus, and the Tab Experience gets better each time! I am now able to use the modem switcher (and by changing the line to "reboot normal" in gscript, it still reboots - not bad for a noob, huh? ), but I want to use this as my primary phone, so T-Mo seems to be out.
Can I buy either the AT&T or the International TAB if I want 3G+Data and am willing to get a 3rd Party pay-go SIM (like Tru)? Thank you again for all your help!
rich_cathyrock said:
I flashed Hermes, then Icarus, and the Tab Experience gets better each time! I am now able to use the modem switcher (and by changing the line to "reboot normal" in gscript, it still reboots - not bad for a noob, huh? ), but I want to use this as my primary phone, so T-Mo seems to be out.
Can I buy either the AT&T or the International TAB if I want 3G+Data and am willing to get a 3rd Party pay-go SIM (like Tru)? Thank you again for all your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the US, the at&t tab is the best "everything" experience. Friends in Spain and Isreal have done what you thought - they bought a local sim equivelent to t-mobile (2100 band, without the 1700 band) and the Roto 2g modem gave them voice and 3g data with their t-mobile tab! I have not verified this, so perhaps a few members can confirm this for you.
Bottom line -- at&t tab will do everything everywhere you are traveling. T-mobile, with the switch, -- might do most of what you want. The international tab is mostly like at&t tab, it will work voice and 3g everywhere.

[Q] Which one do I want? D:

Upgrading from a very buggy Galaxy S4 here. (The bugs are my fault and I'm not savvy enough to fix them, so I just deal with them.) Have a few questions about which version of the S6 I should get because I'm seeing a lot of info and I'm not really sure what all of it means, so hopefully you guys can give me straight and simple answers.
1. I'm currently on Straight Talk using AT&T. However, Verizon is overall the best in my area, so if I get switched to a new client where AT&T doesn't work I may need to change back to Page Plus quickly. I'm seeing conflicting information on the unlocked versions of these phones, but there does seem to be hope out there that it's possible for some versions to be able to switch between the two easily. Which version do I want if I want to be able to switch between AT&T and Verizon? If you're bored and want to look or know of a handy link where I can buy one of these phones, please feel free to toss it at me. eBay sellers 75% of the time don't seem to know what they're selling when it comes to unlocked phones.
2. An out-of-the-box, working mobile hotspot feature is extremely important to me. My S4 is messed up primarily because my attempt at making the hotspot work didn't go as easily as it was supposed to. I've seen on these forums that some users are saying that at least the Verizon version will work if you use FoxFi, no rooting or tether file hacking required (so no risk of me breaking my phone, yay). I have the paid version of FoxFi already, so that's good news if it's true. Confirm/deny and is the same true for the AT&T version if I had to get that instead?
In case it makes any difference: I'm not really set on getting the Edge if I have to get the regular S6 for the above features, I just couldn't decide which forum to post this in.
Thanks all!

SM-G973F/DS in USA? Waste of time?

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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