Hello...
I've been searching for a while now and can't find the answer to a simple question:
Are there differences in the Nexus S sold by AT&T, Sprint and the Unlocked versions you can purchase online? Basically, I'm asking if the Unlocked Nexus S online, which has a GSM card, can be used on the Sprint network.
We have a Google Nexus S here at work for NFC testing. It currently has an AT&T SIM card in it. But, I see it has an IMEI number under the battery.
Can I take this IMEI number and register it on Sprint?!?!
Or, are there special CDMA models sold with no GSM sockets?
Thank you!
No you can't use att or tmobile phones on sprint networks. They are a different technology. Sprint and verizon are cdma networks which don't use SIM cards where as tmobile and at are GSM networks which use sim cards. They operate in different radio frequencies. And even than its unlikely sprint would allow a different networks phone to be used in there network.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
You would think that is the case, yes. CDMA and GSM (which I mentioned in my post as well). I'm very fimiliar with the differences in them.
But, someone at work broke out his Verizon Blackberry (don't know the model number) and shows his IMEI number under the battery. As well as his SIM socket with a Canada SIM card in it. "I use this carrier in Canada as they are cheap roaming."
THat's what left me baffled - a phone that was both on the CDMA network, and the GSM network in other countries.
Also, your post sounds like you are just guessing - since they are known different technologies. Do you know for a fact that the phone does not have both a CDMA radio, as well as the GSM radios (yep, two with them). THere are Japanese and Europe phones that has the combinations in a single phone, running Android.
Yes he is sure.
World phone by blackberry? Lol
Sent From In between Your Moms Boobies
Some phones can do both. Nexus S cannot.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Related
So this may be a dumb question, but I can't help but to wonder. Is there a way to use different carrier's networks? I know each operate on their own frequencies or ranges, but it seems with all the things you can do with this phone it could be possible. I think it would be amazing if I could use T-Mobile's or Verizon's 4g network, or just switch carriers whenever one had better service/reception. Is there an app for this maybe? Would it require installation of different modems every time you switch networks? Would you have to modify sim card somehow? Is there any kind of information I can read on this somewhere? Any info is appreciated.
You can only connect to the carriers network for whom you have a sim card for.
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I know that. I'm wondering if there is a way around that. Verizon doesn't have sim cards right? At least not removable like ATT. Maybe it's just a matter of programming/software on your simcard. I'm just wondering if doing this would be possible. I know how the game goes now, just wondering what stops us from doing this? Aside from the morality issues of stealing.
4got2g0 said:
I know that. I'm wondering if there is a way around that. Verizon doesn't have sim cards right? At least not removable like ATT. Maybe it's just a matter of programming/software on your simcard. I'm just wondering if doing this would be possible. I know how the game goes now, just wondering what stops us from doing this? Aside from the morality issues of stealing.
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Verizon gives u a SIM card if u say u are traveling abroad, and want to use their service abroad.
AT&T and T-Mobile along with some others are aa GSM style of network. Verizon, sprint and others.are based on a CDMA network. They are completely different. The only it could be possible if is all the companies 4G networks were the same, such as LTE. Which is extremely doubtful that it will work that way seeing that Sprint is already going Wimax and T-Mobile HSPA+
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diablo009 said:
Verizon gives u a SIM card if u say u are traveling abroad, and want to use their service abroad.
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Didn't know that. I guess I could pay $80 a month to each company. I'm wondering if it's possible to not do that and still get it using only one sim card.
Yes their is. If you have AT&T you can add T-Mobile's APNs along with any other carrier that is GSM that supports your frequency. However, if you switch to that other carriers APN you will be bill astronomical roaming charges.
bptba93 said:
AT&T and T-Mobile along with some others are aa GSM style of network. Verizon, sprint and others.are based on a CDMA network. They are completely different. The only it could be possible if is all the companies 4G networks were the same, such as LTE. Which is extremely doubtful that it will work that way seeing that Sprint is already going Wimax and T-Mobile HSPA+
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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AT&T is switching to UMTS for their 3G. Same 850 and 1900 bands though. And will be upgrading to LTS for 4g sometime in the near future. I actually install the UMTS cabinets, 850&1900 radios, and coax at towers around here. So there's no possible way to take whatever it is on a sim card that works for a CDMA network and throw it on an AT&T simcard somehow(maybe like a stored contact) and use that programming selectively?
nbs11 said:
Yes their is. If you have AT&T you can add T-Mobile's APNs along with any other carrier that is GSM that supports your frequency. However, if you switch to that other carriers APN you will be bill astronomical roaming charges.
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Oh so it is possible, but it's considered roaming? I guess that makes sense. Pretty much what roaming is, using something outside of your carrier.
4got2g0 said:
Oh so it is possible, but it's considered roaming? I guess that makes sense. Pretty much what roaming is, using something outside of your carrier.
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The sim card ties a phone to a carrier. There is no software to bypass this. Some phones support 2 sims via 2 slots. As for vzw, there sim is a vodaphone sim and only works in other countries as there is no vodaphone service in the us.
If you want multiple gsm carriers you need multiple sims. EU has a hundred different sim cards to support all the carriers.
Sent from my MB520 using XDA App
alphadog00 said:
The sim card ties a phone to a carrier. There is no software to bypass this. Some phones support 2 sims via 2 slots. As for vzw, there sim is a vodaphone sim and only works in other countries as there is no vodaphone service in the us.
If you want multiple gsm carriers you need multiple sims. EU has a hundred different sim cards to support all the carriers.
Sent from my MB520 using XDA App
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I have personally use T-Mobile with an AT&T sim card but the bill is not pretty.
I am currently using the phone as a pure wiiFi item. I will be coming out of contract with them and do not plain to get a nother contract. I know that att has a pay as you go for $.10/min with a $15 for 100mb. Belive it or noth that is enough for me for data as I normly only us the phone for about 20 min and 10-15 mb a mounth.
What I was woundering is if I unlock the phone are there other carriers I can go to with this phone so that I can compair? Thank for any help on this.
Yes, when you unlock you can choose any carrier of your choice
Big Dog Infuse I997 ICS CatyRom
Which country are you in? You basically need to check what bands the carrier you want to switch from uses. They need to match what your infuse can use otherwise it won't work.
The phone supports: UMTS 850/1900/2100 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900. I think T-mobile runs on a different band but I don't know for sure as I live in Canada. Here in Canada you can use this phone on Rogers (the carrier that sells it), Bell, Virgin, Fido but I don't think it will work on WIND. If memory serves me correctly it might not work on T-mo, Verizon or Sprint (because Sprint and Verizon are on CDMA). If you are in the US you might want advice from someone other than me though.
It works on t mobile because mine is unlocked and my daughter has used it with her T-Mobile sim
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dman3285 said:
It works on t mobile because mine is unlocked and my daughter has used it with her T-Mobile sim
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yeah but umts bands are incompatible so you still only get 2g.
Isn't it possible to band unlock the infuse, but it requires more than the typical efforts. wasn't some group offering to do it for $50 if you send your phone to them?
Straight Talk. Uses AT&T's networks. But you have to buy a phone off of them with a sim.
Sent from my SGH-I997
There are different types of carriers in America and there are many things scarier can,do to lock certain devices to the network. Tmobile and att are gsm carriers and have some compatibility But they use different bands. The talk works and edge works. No 3g.
Sprint and Verizon are cdma and are not compatible. However Verizon,has phones that are both gsm and cdma and can,work on att. Nextel has Sim cards but are iden. Boost is also half cdma and half iden. And begin is basically sprint.
Then there are the no contract deals like strait talk. Problem is the Sim may be locked to the phone and even if you know the phone has a Sim and is working off atts network it may not work. The strait talk thing is only known to work if you buy a $200 Nokia smartphone and many of those have Tmobile Sims that are locked to the phone. I'm not sure how to tell the tmo version from the att version without looking at the Sim itself. Strait talk seems to just buy rights to use other networks, I've seen phones at Walmart with gsm on the box and others with cdma on the box. I think they use all the major networks depending on the phone.
I also saw an ad for simple mobile. Seems promising but appears to be Tmobile
So no 3g.
In Canada almost all carriers are 100% compatible with att phones. All but one but I forgot the name. So if you're Canadian you have options.
Do not know if you know about this- New T-Mobile Monthly4G $30 Unlimited Web & Text with 100 min of talk
email delivery or purchase monthly cards at Super Walmart.
Can not post link but go to Walmart dot com and search for the card I listed above.. sorry
Consumer Cellular is an AT&T reseller - in fact AT&T phones treat their SIMs as an AT&T SIM, don't even need to unlock.
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Entropy512 said:
Consumer Cellular is an AT&T reseller - in fact AT&T phones treat their SIMs as an AT&T SIM, don't even need to unlock.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
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Thanks, good to know. Might have to look into a consumer cellular Sim and an i777. I wonder if it will work with lte in the future (the Sim that is. not the phone) but I can,worry about that when my area gets lte and the next generation,phone comes out.
Ok, so I've searched all over and haven't had much luck. I have no experience with cdma phones, as t mobile is all I've ever had.
I was given a new US Cellular HTC Hero s. I opened it up and saw the sim slot and though, sweet I can replace my sensation with it (I smashed the screen pretty bad). Well, that was a no go, as the phone is cdma. Looking online though, I see it can run in gsm (options global mode, cdma mode, gsm / umts mode. I unlocked the bootloader using the htc site (not sure it matters) and popped in my sim card again, and tried both global and gsm mode, though neither got signal or would dial out. (under networks, it had the tmo apn info.)
So, is the GSM mode offered on this phone only for non US bands? Would a custom rom (now or down the road) allow it to work on tmo? I read something about the HTC Merge and someone being able to switch out the modem in the rom that allowed it to work in the US, but that is well beyond me. I can follow instructions, work ADB and flash roms.. but thats about it.
Is it possible, or will it soon be, to have this phone work on GSM or am I just stuck trying to sell it as a us cellular phone (or perhaps another cdma carrier.. like I said, I don't know anything about cdma)
As a Canadian I'm not sure about who owns US cellular or if they are their own company but I'm guessing they work like Verizon world phones. They have sim card slots but will work only outside of the US. If those verizon phones are used within the States, they will only pick up Verizon's frequency, as opposed to T-Mobile or AT&T where you can unlock them and use them with any GSM carrier within the States. But yeah, you can unlock it and it will work with any GSM carrier outside the States but within the States I think it will only work under US Cellular CDMA network...please correct me if I'm wrong.
That's right, u.s. cdma "world phones" have gsm radios but are locked down from connecting to gsm networks in the u.s. This is not just the normal sim lock found on gsm phones but they are hard coded to ignore u.s. gsm networks.
Some have been unlocked to work on any network through various methods including flashing a modem from a non-us varient of the same phone and other hacks. I can't comment specifically on this phone however.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Well, that points me in the right direction, and confirms what I read about swapping modems (on the other phone mentioned).
So basically it's software telling it not use a certain frequency, and not that the phone itself is incapable of picking it up (had my doubts about that)
Pretty shady the way phone companies are allowed to operate (don't get me started on my unlimited internet in my contract [pre data caps in tmo]. "Hey! check it out, this phone uses data 5 times faster than your old one, oh, and you get half as much too) sorry, end of rant.
I'll keep searching, and post if I find something..
On a side note, can cdma phones be flashed to another cdma carrier like verizon or sprint, or is it the same deal, coded to only use a certain frequency range?
only thing I've heard of is flashing sprint and verizon phones to cricket, metro pcs and boost.
Hi guys I have a question hopefully someone can help me with. I have the myTouch 4G Slide from T-Mobile but I want to use it on Verizons network. I know how to root and unlock the boot-loader but are there any other steps I need to take before this is functional? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Version uses sim cards right? If so just search the threads here on how to sim unlock your phone, I believe I read one or two here before. You can also have it unlocked by tmo if your on contract with them or you can buy sim unlock codes
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Verizon uses CDMA. The MT4GS is a GSM phone, so there is no way to use it on Verizon's service. It doesn't have a radio that is compatible with Verizon's towers.
HappyKhicken said:
Verizon uses CDMA. The MT4GS is a GSM phone, so there is no way to use it on Verizon's service. It doesn't have a radio that is compatible with Verizon's towers.
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Exactly! There is absolutely no way to get this phone, or any GSM phone that I know of, to work on Verizon's system. Even T-Mobile's new LTE service is different than the LTE from Verizon (not that this phone can work on either of those, either).
Haha, couldn't remember myself, hence the foggy reply! CDMA is such a pain, makes me wonder why anyone uses a carrier with it, I mean unless you never travel or want your phone to only ever work with one carrier....
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demkantor said:
Haha, couldn't remember myself, hence the foggy reply! CDMA is such a pain, makes me wonder why anyone uses a carrier with it, I mean unless you never travel or want your phone to only ever work with one carrier....
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There are a few Verizon and Sprint (both CDMA carriers) that have GSM backup. They market them as their "World Phones". The iPhone5 is one of them. If the phones have the GSM portion unlocked (Verizon automatically unlocks theirs, Sprint will unlock on request after a certain amount of time), you can use a foreign SIM and the GSM radio of those phones. But, you have to be careful, the phones default to the CDMA and if you have roaming turned on, in some countries that could be a VERY expensive oversight with roaming charges.
guys
just a general question on how cdma networks and phones work. Today, verizon 4g phones come with a sim card. If that's the case, why are there two editions of most phones - one for verizon and another for sprint? Are the two carriers still using cdma?
Thx
GSM & CDMA Explanation
sam008 said:
guys
just a general question on how cdma networks and phones work. Today, verizon 4g phones come with a sim card. If that's the case, why are there two editions of most phones - one for verizon and another for sprint? Are the two carriers still using cdma?
Thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two types of mobile cell phone communication technology, GSM and CDMA. CDMA phones cannot run on GSM networks and visa versa. While there are few advantages, GSM is considered to be better because it has LTE support, and used internationally.
Carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM, while Verizon and Sprint use CDMA. GSM uses SIM cards, and CDMA phones have a programmable radio inside of the phone.
But, Verizon and Sprint use SIM cards in there newer phones. They use GSM IN ADDITION to CDMA. The SIM card only gives the phone LTE though, because CDMA does not support it.
So, yes Verizon and Sprint use CDMA, for call, text, data, internet, 4G and they use GSM for LTE only.
GSM carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile), use only a SIM card, and the GSM technology for call, text, data, internet, 4G, AND LTE.
I hope this answered your question and heightened your knowledge!
can a nexus 6 purchased from verizon be used on the sprint network - thx
Yes, if unlocked
Yes, they will usually work but only if they are unlocked. Different carriers have different policies and requirements that you must meet before they give you the unlock code to bring the phone to another carrier.
You're at an advantage using the Nexus 6, unlocking solutions are plentiful. Go to the N6 forum for more. If you plan on going from CDMA to CDMA you should be gold (per the carriers you mentioned).