Yes, you can unlock the bootloader but you do have to do the same trick to unlock the bootloaders on the OG Pixels by blowing through the setup and not inserting your until after the bootloader is unlocked.
Yes, carrier services work, not sure about video calling, but I am sure it will come on in time. VoLTE/Vo5G ( the tech that allows for you to use the internet while on a call) and WiFi calling does work; My Best Buy rep said carrier services would not work, but here we are.
Yes, 5G does still work.
I couldn't find a straight answer for those questions; so here we are.
How I found out:
After my beloved Pixel 3a XL started to give up the ghost, I began my search for a new phone. I wanted it to work on 5G and be able to unlock the bootloader. Verizon as my carrier (it's paid for) and as I did some more research, I found out that only Verizon created phones would work with their 5G network; ultra wide band. I know they love to lock down their phones from consumers in the name of security, so it seemed like every device I looked at either had an non-unlockable bootloader or it would not work on Verizon's 5G. However, after attempting to order a 4a 5G, I accidentally clicked on the Pixel 5 listing and then I noticed in the print of the carrier selection, it doesn't state that the Pixel 5 unlocked won't work with Verizon's 5G, unlike the unlocked Pixel 4a's note saying it will not work on Verizon 5G. So I bit a bullet and spent $726 at Best Buy to test a theory. After picking up the phone, I blew through the setup, not putting in my sim nor entering in any google account info and went straight into enabling OEM unlocking. I did have to connect to WiFi and then reboot. After the reboot and a few minutes, I was able to turn the OEM unlocking switch to on. I unlocked the boot loader and was able to proceed to setting up the phone normally. After setting up the phone, I drove over to a part of town that I knew had 5G, and low and behold, everything worked. Even VoLTE (or Vo5G now?) and WiFi calling works. I am unsure about video carrier calling however, I know that can take some time to pop up. I believe this is the only 5G compatible phone on Verizon that can unlock the bootloader at this time, however, this price tag is not worth it for me. I am going to wait until 5G is more wide spread, then I will consider upgrading.
Every single Pixel 5 sold in the US will connect to Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband. When you say unlocked do you mean bootloader unlocked or carrier unlocked? If you bought a Verizon or carrier locked P5 at BB then no matter what you do you cannot bootloader unlock. So you probably got an unlocked device (as per the price you paid) and you can both bl unlock and connect to any network. There was no need to so the wifi thing you did because you could always bl unlock a carrier unlocked device.
Of course the 4a will not work with 5G. It's not a 5G compatible phone. Once again, any 5G Pixel phone sold in the US, the P5 or the P4a 5G, will connect to UW Band Verizon network if you use them as your carrier.
Can I use both T-Mobile and verizon 5G at the same time , as I presently do on my Iphone on an unlocked pixel 5
themarinesurveyor said:
Can I use both T-Mobile and verizon 5G at the same time , as I presently do on my Iphone on an unlocked pixel 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
Can y
reagan1998 said:
Yes, you can unlock the bootloader but you do have to do the same trick to unlock the bootloaders on the OG Pixels by blowing through the setup and not inserting your until after the bootloader is unlocked.
Yes, carrier services work, not sure about video calling, but I am sure it will come on in time. VoLTE/Vo5G ( the tech that allows for you to use the internet while on a call) and WiFi calling does work; My Best Buy rep said carrier services would not work, but here we are.
Yes, 5G does still work.
I couldn't find a straight answer for those questions; so here we are.
How I found out:
After my beloved Pixel 3a XL started to give up the ghost, I began my search for a new phone. I wanted it to work on 5G and be able to unlock the bootloader. Verizon as my carrier (it's paid for) and as I did some more research, I found out that only Verizon created phones would work with their 5G network; ultra wide band. I know they love to lock down their phones from consumers in the name of security, so it seemed like every device I looked at either had an non-unlockable bootloader or it would not work on Verizon's 5G. However, after attempting to order a 4a 5G, I accidentally clicked on the Pixel 5 listing and then I noticed in the print of the carrier selection, it doesn't state that the Pixel 5 unlocked won't work with Verizon's 5G, unlike the unlocked Pixel 4a's note saying it will not work on Verizon 5G. So I bit a bullet and spent $726 at Best Buy to test a theory. After picking up the phone, I blew through the setup, not putting in my sim nor entering in any google account info and went straight into enabling OEM unlocking. I did have to connect to WiFi and then reboot. After the reboot and a few minutes, I was able to turn the OEM unlocking switch to on. I unlocked the boot loader and was able to proceed to setting up the phone normally. After setting up the phone, I drove over to a part of town that I knew had 5G, and low and behold, everything worked. Even VoLTE (or Vo5G now?) and WiFi calling works. I am unsure about video carrier calling however, I know that can take some time to pop up. I believe this is the only 5G compatible phone on Verizon that can unlock the bootloader at this time, however, this price tag is not worth it for me. I am going to wait until 5G is more wide spread, then I will consider upgrading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you kindly provide the instructions to unlock the bootloader for verizon phone?
hamooz92 said:
Can y
Can you kindly provide the instructions to unlock the bootloader for verizon phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't unlock the bootloader on any Verizon branded device since the Pixel 3
I have consistently used unlocked devices on the AT&T network OR used U1 firmware on a U-original based carrier device. In the past I have had to flash additional things to the U1 firmware to get VoLTE or WiFi Calling on AT&T. To do that I would flash the U1 firmware and then flash the U Home CSC
BUT -- good news (this is the first Samsung device to do this for me) the ATT calling features (VoLTE and WiFi Calling) work right out of the box for my Unlocked Ultra !!
Wow.! Great to hear. I was going to get the ATT S21 Ultra in 512GB but they were sold out at Samsung, so I got the unlocked version. I am glad to know I won't have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get those features. Now on to get a working Gcam and debloat things I don't need
jcrompton said:
I have consistently used unlocked devices on the AT&T network OR used U1 firmware on a U-original based carrier device. In the past I have had to flash additional things to the U1 firmware to get VoLTE or WiFi Calling on AT&T. To do that I would flash the U1 firmware and then flash the U Home CSC
BUT -- good news (this is the first Samsung device to do this for me) the ATT calling features (VoLTE and WiFi Calling) work right out of the box for my Unlocked Ultra !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does 5g work? my wifi calling works, but no 5g I had Tmobile and I had 5g with my S21 ultra, I have ATT`s best prepaid plan to have 5g access and have nothing, I contacted ATT and they had to make a service ticket and send it to there Network team he said and they would have to provision it for 5g, I did find a ATT document and shows I should get 5G, see link
https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/consumer/help/pdf/Service-Capabilities-Unlocked-Devices-ATT-Network.pdf
2003vstrom said:
does 5g work? my wifi calling works, but no 5g I had Tmobile and I had 5g with my S21 ultra, I have ATT`s best prepaid plan to have 5g access and have nothing, I contacted ATT and they had to make a service ticket and send it to there Network team he said and they would have to provision it for 5g, I did find a ATT document and shows I should get 5G, see link
https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/consumer/help/pdf/Service-Capabilities-Unlocked-Devices-ATT-Network.pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 5g works. When I got the Note last year my 5g didn't work. The problem was that ATT had to put me on a 5g plan to actual provision it. Were you for sure on a 5g plan?
It works on my U1 S21 Ultra for sure
jcrompton said:
My 5g works. When I got the Note last year my 5g didn't work. The problem was that ATT had to put me on a 5g plan to actual provision it. Were you for sure on a 5g plan?
It works on my U1 S21 Ultra for sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have the factory unlocked s21 ultra right from Samsung.com? I`m on the highest cost prepaid plan for 75.00 one that's the only prepaid plan that offers 5g service, so they have started service ticket to get it fixed, so we`ll see, I just switched from tmobile to ATT yesterday.
2003vstrom said:
you have the factory unlocked s21 ultra right from Samsung.com? I`m on the highest cost prepaid plan for 75.00 one that's the only prepaid plan that offers 5g service, so they have started service ticket to get it fixed, so we`ll see, I just switched from tmobile to ATT yesterday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Send me a pic of your APN info
jcrompton said:
Send me a pic of your APN info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah I had forgotten about the APN, I use to change this before on other phones I had with ATT, my is Nextgenphone APN, I tired the enhanced one and it will not allow me to add it, so it must be something on the end of ATT network, I still haven't heard about my open service ticket to get this fixed, I`ll post up my APN in a while.
2003vstrom said:
yeah I had forgotten about the APN, I use to change this before on other phones I had with ATT, my is Nextgenphone APN, I tired the enhanced one and it will not allow me to add it, so it must be something on the end of ATT network, I still haven't heard about my open service ticket to get this fixed, I`ll post up my APN in a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So here's what I know from prior experience. You are on the wrong plan. As so as ATT puts you on the right plan your APN will immediately automatically change and 5g will work if it's available. Check out a thread in the Note 20 forum. It happened to me and a couple others as 5g was rolling out esp to us looking term ATT users
yeah I`m on the correct plan, I think they never finished setting my service up correctly, I had just called ATT again, then he said we would
jcrompton said:
So here's what I know from prior experience. You are on the wrong plan. As so as ATT puts you on the right plan your APN will immediately automatically change and 5g will work if it's available. Check out a thread in the Note 20 forum. It happened to me and a couple others as 5g was rolling out esp to us looking term ATT users
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well I called ATT like 10 mins ago to find out why I`m still not getting 5G, I told him I try to enter the ATT enhancedphone APN and it wouldn`t save in my phone, so goes well lets go to the APN settings, so I went to the APN settings, low behold the the APN had automatically changed to the ATT enhancedphone APN, so as soon I saw that, I turned off my wifi and boom I had 5G, I know I had the unlimited plus prepaid plan that`s the only plan that allows 5g access, I`m thinking my plan wasn`t fully set up correctly on ATT end, but its fixed now Thanks for the info.
Do you guys actually have VoLTE working on the S21 Ultra unlocked? I don't have any options for VoLTE on mine.
WiFi calling showed up for me when I got the phone but not VoLTE. I went to the AT&T store and got a new SIM card because the WiFi calling wouldn't actually operate. This fixed WiFi calling but still no dice on the VoLTE. I also switched to a 5G plan which works as well, but that didn't resolve VoLTE either.
pantsoftime said:
Do you guys actually have VoLTE working on the S21 Ultra unlocked? I don't have any options for VoLTE on mine.
WiFi calling showed up for me when I got the phone but not VoLTE. I went to the AT&T store and got a new SIM card because the WiFi calling wouldn't actually operate. This fixed WiFi calling but still no dice on the VoLTE. I also switched to a 5G plan which works as well, but that didn't resolve VoLTE either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that I didn't see the volte setting but I'm assuming since all calls will be digital in the future the setting well be superfluous
But anyway here is a call with internet usage in the background and a internet check without call. The speed and LTE indication remains the same demonstrating volte is working
jcrompton said:
My 5g works. When I got the Note last year my 5g didn't work. The problem was that ATT had to put me on a 5g plan to actual provision it. Were you for sure on a 5g plan?
It works on my U1 S21 Ultra for sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the exact same experience. They had to change my plan to a 5g one, and suddenly I had everything 5g.
jcrompton said:
I agree that I didn't see the volte setting but I'm assuming since all calls will be digital in the future the setting well be superfluous
But anyway here is a call with internet usage in the background and a internet check without call. The speed and LTE indication remains the same demonstrating volte is workingView attachment 5221945View attachment 5221947
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I don't have a volte setting, but volte works. Considering there's no reason for me to ever turn it off, it doesn't bother me that the option isn't there.
I bought an unlocked S21 Ultra last fall that was originally sold by T-Mobile, and I initially used it with H2o (AT&T) and it always worked fine, though it never got 5g service, though I'm not sure that 5g has been implemented yet by AT&T in the Phoenix market, at least not the C-band
On Jan 21, it automatically updated the software so that it now shows SM-G998U_OYN_ATT_12_0018 ATT/XAA,TMB/TMB as the Service provider software version, so it seemingly has both AT&T and T-Mobile software at this time. At that time, it also switched from showing the T-Mobile logo on bootup to showing the AT&T logo, and I think it added, NR B66 as an additional radio band (in addition to NR B41, B71 and the UW bands of B260 and B261). Earlier this week I switched to Visible and while it works fine on 4g LTE, I'm not getting any 5g connectivity. In researching bands, the only one that I have that Verizon uses is the NR B66, while I probably really need NR B2, B5 and in particular B77 to get the new C-band.
The question is, will the phone at some point automatically update to VZW software, and at that point enable additional bands that I need to get 5g? Or is there a way of forcing this? Or what is the best option to enable 5g on this phone? I really don't want to switch to the U1 software as that seems to require a factory reset, and I'm not keen on going through reconfiguring everything again and getting all my icons back where I want them.
Or will this phone not support these bands unless the U1 software is first installed?
Thanks!
Anyone?
Have you tried switching to a Verizon compatible firmware?
With ODIN, you can switch firmwares without losing data.
I suggest trying that, US carrier optimization is known to be the worst
No, I have not tried that. Sorry to ask a dumb question, but what firmware should I use, and where do I find it? I ask because the "official" firmware seems to be from Jan 2021, and it seems to be the U1 option, not carrier specific firmware. I've done some searching, but I haven't been able to find the Verizon version so far. Thanks.
I'm on an European 21U, for the USA version, you need to check this guide
G998U and G998U1 Firmware Links and Flashing Discussion Here
For those who aren't already aware, G998U is the model number of all of the US carrier versions of the S21 Ultra. The G998U1 is the model number of the same device, but sold by Samsung SIM unlocked and with no carrier bloatware. Firmware is 100%...
forum.xda-developers.com
RedWave31 said:
I'm on an European 21U, for the USA version, you need to check this guide
G998U and G998U1 Firmware Links and Flashing Discussion Here
For those who aren't already aware, G998U is the model number of all of the US carrier versions of the S21 Ultra. The G998U1 is the model number of the same device, but sold by Samsung SIM unlocked and with no carrier bloatware. Firmware is 100%...
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you need to go from U1 to U (VZW) to see if that solves it.
Can't help on anything else, since on Exynos (European) devices, flashing is much easier than on Snapdragon devices.
I read the link above in detail, and it says that the only difference in the 5 files is the "USERDATA", otherwise the other 4 files are identical between vendors. So USERDATA seems to be a critical file in regards to switching from T-Mobile to Verizon. My concern is that further down in the first article it says that flashing the USERDATA file will wipe the existing data.
- HOME CSC file keeps data intact; using the other CSC will wipe data. Flashing USERDATA will also wipe data.
If this is true, and the only way to manually get the VZW info that I'm looking for without flashing to U1, there doesn't seem to be any advantage to flashing this using Odin, as it'll also wipe my user data. In other words, if I go that route, I'd be better off just flashing to U1, and try that. Theoretically, this should give me everything that I need without first flashing to VZW, and if it'll work with Verizon/Visible without the VZW bloatware, then that would definitely be preferred.
My entire reason for trying all this is to try to get the additional NR radio bands, specifically N2, N5 and N77, which I don't have with the T-Mobile software.
As for backing up the phone and then restoring it, does Odin provide this capability? Or is Samsung Kies a much better option? The Kies software seems to be made for this, so if this is the case and it'll exactly restore the phone like it was before, then it wouldn't actually be a big deal to backup, flash and then restore the phone.
it's a problem with the T-Mobile S21 series, you need to flash U1 software.
Not really what I wanted to hear, but sounds like you have experience with this. I take it that the factory T-.Mobile software (or is it firmware?) essentially locks out the NR bands that they don't have, even if other software is installed on top of it. Thx
Last night I broke down and flashed it with the U1 XAA firmware, using the CSC (not Home) file. It went well, finishing the flash in <4 minutes. Then spent the next 4+ hours reconfiguring things that aren't automatically restored by using SmartSwitch to restore. I'm not sure how that works, but it seems that it doesn't actually back up the apps, rather it just backs up the name and placeholder, so when it's restored it has to redownload every single stinking app again. Plus, I had to go through and relog into every app where this is an issue, plus because it's now called SM-G998U1, I had to delete all the old G998U devices in various places, particularly Google. What a pain... Kind of wish I'd tried the Home CSC, particularly after what I see below.
What's interesting is that I know have the N2, N5, N66, plus the N77 and N78 C-bands, (as well as N260) but I lost the T-Mobile specific bands of N41 & N71, in addition, I also lost N261. I don't care about these as I'm not in an area where the Ka millimeter wave bands matter. However, I do find it interesting that the U1 firmware removed the TMB specific 5g bands. I would have thought that the Factory U1 firmware would automatically support all US carrier bands, but I guess not.
I'm using Visible (Verizon MVNO), and while it worked "decently" before, it's now orders of magnitude better than it was previously as a U device. I debated installing the VZW firmware, but decided not to, and I most definitely don't want to go through setting everything up again. However, I know have a MUCH better signal at my house, a consistent 5 bars, and a signal right around a 89-90 dB, while previously it hovered around 105-109 dB, which is pretty marginal, particularly when the antenna is only about 1/3 mile away. It also now tells me that I'm on LTE+ (rather than LTE 4g like before), so apparently this particularly tower isn't 5g yet, and I haven't left the house yet to see what I get at other locations from other towers.
However, what's really astounding is the speeds that I know get. Previously, download speeds would always start off slow at around 10 - 15 Mbs, and eventually get up to around 60 - 70 on the average, with upload speeds typically maxing out around 15 Mbs. However, now, I'm getting consistent download speeds of right at 240 Mbs (Visible limits max speed to around 250 Mbs on 5g), and upload speeds of ~70 Mbs. It's an incredible difference, so my suspicion is that I may be getting some 5g speeds, even though both Network Cell Info and LTE Discovery apps tell me that I'm generally only connected to the B2 and B5 LTE bands. Or maybe it's possible to get that kinds of speeds out of LTE with the new technology (forget what it's called) that shares bands at the same time, hence the LTE+ moniker.
Also, even though I installed the CSC file, the Service Provider Software is still ATT/TMB. To be specific, it's SAOMC_SM-G998U1_OYM_ATT_12_0026 ATT/ATT,ATT/TMB, and there isn't VZW anywhere. Maybe this will eventually update I don't know. However, it did remove the ATT startup splash screen that I had previously, so that's changed.
It also automatically downloaded and installed One UI 4.1 afterwards, so that seems to be working properly. Any thoughts on any of the above?
Thanks for the help that was provided previously.
kmdigital said:
Last night I broke down and flashed it with the U1 XAA firmware, using the CSC (not Home) file. It went well, finishing the flash in <4 minutes. Then spent the next 4+ hours reconfiguring things that aren't automatically restored by using SmartSwitch to restore. I'm not sure how that works, but it seems that it doesn't actually back up the apps, rather it just backs up the name and placeholder, so when it's restored it has to redownload every single stinking app again. Plus, I had to go through and relog into every app where this is an issue, plus because it's now called SM-G998U1, I had to delete all the old G998U devices in various places, particularly Google. What a pain... Kind of wish I'd tried the Home CSC, particularly after what I see below.
What's interesting is that I know have the N2, N5, N66, plus the N77 and N78 C-bands, (as well as N260) but I lost the T-Mobile specific bands of N41 & N71, in addition, I also lost N261. I don't care about these as I'm not in an area where the Ka millimeter wave bands matter. However, I do find it interesting that the U1 firmware removed the TMB specific 5g bands. I would have thought that the Factory U1 firmware would automatically support all US carrier bands, but I guess not.
I'm using Visible (Verizon MVNO), and while it worked "decently" before, it's now orders of magnitude better than it was previously as a U device. I debated installing the VZW firmware, but decided not to, and I most definitely don't want to go through setting everything up again. However, I know have a MUCH better signal at my house, a consistent 5 bars, and a signal right around a 89-90 dB, while previously it hovered around 105-109 dB, which is pretty marginal, particularly when the antenna is only about 1/3 mile away. It also now tells me that I'm on LTE+ (rather than LTE 4g like before), so apparently this particularly tower isn't 5g yet, and I haven't left the house yet to see what I get at other locations from other towers.
However, what's really astounding is the speeds that I know get. Previously, download speeds would always start off slow at around 10 - 15 Mbs, and eventually get up to around 60 - 70 on the average, with upload speeds typically maxing out around 15 Mbs. However, now, I'm getting consistent download speeds of right at 240 Mbs (Visible limits max speed to around 250 Mbs on 5g), and upload speeds of ~70 Mbs. It's an incredible difference, so my suspicion is that I may be getting some 5g speeds, even though both Network Cell Info and LTE Discovery apps tell me that I'm generally only connected to the B2 and B5 LTE bands. Or maybe it's possible to get that kinds of speeds out of LTE with the new technology (forget what it's called) that shares bands at the same time, hence the LTE+ moniker.
Also, even though I installed the CSC file, the Service Provider Software is still ATT/TMB. To be specific, it's SAOMC_SM-G998U1_OYM_ATT_12_0026 ATT/ATT,ATT/TMB, and there isn't VZW anywhere. Maybe this will eventually update I don't know. However, it did remove the ATT startup splash screen that I had previously, so that's changed.
It also automatically downloaded and installed One UI 4.1 afterwards, so that seems to be working properly. Any thoughts on any of the above?
Thanks for the help that was provided previously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a UK user of Snapdragon that's very interesting that you get n78 c band. I am on
the G998w version and here is my dialler code *#2263# result. As you can see it has no n78 which is important in the UK. Could I see your result just to check all the bands?
Ptuk said:
As a UK user of Snapdragon that's very interesting that you get n78 c band. I am on
the G998w version and here is my dialler code *#2263# result. As you can see it has no n78 which is important in the UK. Could I see your result just to check all the bands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go. As you can see I have both N77 and N78 bands. What I find interesting is that it says Sim 1 is ATT, which isn't what I'm using.
Ptuk said:
As a UK user of Snapdragon that's very interesting that you get n78 c band. I am on
the G998w version and here is my dialler code *#2263# result. As you can see it has no n78 which is important in the UK. Could I see your result just to check all the bands?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go. What's interesting is that it says Sim 1 is ATT, which isn't what I'm using.
Thank you. Yes weird the att thing. I think I will give it a crack to move to u1. Seems that the differentiation between exynos and snapdragon has fallen and that channels are no longer an impediment to using snapdragon in Europe. I also got ota update of my w phone in UK which I wasn't sure would happen.
Ptuk said:
Thank you. Yes weird the att thing. I think I will give it a crack to move to u1. Seems that the differentiation between exynos and snapdragon has fallen and that channels are no longer an impediment to using snapdragon in Europe. I also got ota update of my w phone in UK which I wasn't sure would happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I see that you don't have any C-bands, plus you have the TMB N41 and N71 bands, which is very similar to what I had prior to the U1 flash, but lost for some reason with U1, possibly because it seems to think that it's ATT for some reason. I'd be very interested in knowing what bands you have after a U1 flash.
I'll tell you as soon as I've got the nerve to do another flash!
@Ptuk and @kmdigital , will follow your conversation as I'm needing the N78 5g band. I flashed G998W last night but no luck. Weird is that I was from U then U1 but did not have get to see the N78 band appear.
@kmdigital , can you point me out on which firmware you have installed so I can try and how you actually flashed it. Thanks. Badly needing n78.
mapl.ph said:
@Ptuk and @kmdigital , will follow your conversation as I'm needing the N78 5g band. I flashed G998W last night but no luck. Weird is that I was from U then U1 but did not have get to see the N78 band appear.
@kmdigital , can you point me out on which firmware you have installed so I can try and how you actually flashed it. Thanks. Badly needing n78.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to clarify....you flashed from G998w to u then u1? If so can you tell me which u1 you used...I'm wondering whether kmdigitals success is Verizon related or not
Ptuk said:
Sorry to clarify....you flashed from G998w to u then u1? If so can you tell me which u1 you used...I'm wondering whether kmdigitals success is Verizon related or not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was originally on G998U then flashed to G998U1 and nothing was changed. Hoping using an universal U1 firmware I would get the N78 band but no luck.
Then, last night I flashed to G998W and lost 260 and 261. Same result no n78 band. I would like to know how @kmdigital was able to get the N78 which I badly need. On download mode my s21 ultra shows ATT at the upper part.
From G998U1UES5BVC1 to G998WVLS5BVAB. I cant recall which G998U I had prior to U1
mapl.ph said:
@Ptuk and @kmdigital , will follow your conversation as I'm needing the N78 5g band. I flashed G998W last night but no luck. Weird is that I was from U then U1 but did not have get to see the N78 band appear.
@kmdigital , can you point me out on which firmware you have installed so I can try and how you actually flashed it. Thanks. Badly needing n78.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I downloaded it from SamFw.com, file name Samfw.com_SM-G998U1_XAA_G998U1UES5BVC1_fac
kmdigital said:
Last night I broke down and flashed it with the U1 XAA firmware, using the CSC (not Home) file. It went well, finishing the flash in <4 minutes. Then spent the next 4+ hours reconfiguring things that aren't automatically restored by using SmartSwitch to restore. I'm not sure how that works, but it seems that it doesn't actually back up the apps, rather it just backs up the name and placeholder, so when it's restored it has to redownload every single stinking app again. Plus, I had to go through and relog into every app where this is an issue, plus because it's now called SM-G998U1, I had to delete all the old G998U devices in various places, particularly Google. What a pain... Kind of wish I'd tried the Home CSC, particularly after what I see below.
What's interesting is that I know have the N2, N5, N66, plus the N77 and N78 C-bands, (as well as N260) but I lost the T-Mobile specific bands of N41 & N71, in addition, I also lost N261. I don't care about these as I'm not in an area where the Ka millimeter wave bands matter. However, I do find it interesting that the U1 firmware removed the TMB specific 5g bands. I would have thought that the Factory U1 firmware would automatically support all US carrier bands, but I guess not.
I'm using Visible (Verizon MVNO), and while it worked "decently" before, it's now orders of magnitude better than it was previously as a U device. I debated installing the VZW firmware, but decided not to, and I most definitely don't want to go through setting everything up again. However, I know have a MUCH better signal at my house, a consistent 5 bars, and a signal right around a 89-90 dB, while previously it hovered around 105-109 dB, which is pretty marginal, particularly when the antenna is only about 1/3 mile away. It also now tells me that I'm on LTE+ (rather than LTE 4g like before), so apparently this particularly tower isn't 5g yet, and I haven't left the house yet to see what I get at other locations from other towers.
However, what's really astounding is the speeds that I know get. Previously, download speeds would always start off slow at around 10 - 15 Mbs, and eventually get up to around 60 - 70 on the average, with upload speeds typically maxing out around 15 Mbs. However, now, I'm getting consistent download speeds of right at 240 Mbs (Visible limits max speed to around 250 Mbs on 5g), and upload speeds of ~70 Mbs. It's an incredible difference, so my suspicion is that I may be getting some 5g speeds, even though both Network Cell Info and LTE Discovery apps tell me that I'm generally only connected to the B2 and B5 LTE bands. Or maybe it's possible to get that kinds of speeds out of LTE with the new technology (forget what it's called) that shares bands at the same time, hence the LTE+ moniker.
Also, even though I installed the CSC file, the Service Provider Software is still ATT/TMB. To be specific, it's SAOMC_SM-G998U1_OYM_ATT_12_0026 ATT/ATT,ATT/TMB, and there isn't VZW anywhere. Maybe this will eventually update I don't know. However, it did remove the ATT startup splash screen that I had previously, so that's changed.
It also automatically downloaded and installed One UI 4.1 afterwards, so that seems to be working properly. Any thoughts on any of the above?
Thanks for the help that was provided previously.
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When on U1 firmware, the device will restart upon a SIM card being inserted and load the bands needed for that provider. However, I have seen with certain MVNO's it doesn't act the same as a major Carrier when on U1, meaning that it will not register properly (why it still shows ATT for csc and not VZW). It seems that the csc is ATT because it doesn't register your SIM as VZW. Try to find a VZW SIM (doesn't need service) and allow the restart, then put back in your Visible SIM. My guess is the phone will not ask for a restart and will have the Verizon bands loaded from the restart when you inserted the VZW SIM.