so i got the SGS3, and I'm on Metro PCS, so I'm not about to switch carriers just to activate this phone, can anyone help or point me in the right direction to get this phone working without a SIM card?
without the sim card, it will only be a wifi phone.
it is like saying," i have this car without a motor, how can i drive it work."
archangeles said:
so i got the SGS3, and I'm on Metro PCS, so I'm not about to switch carriers just to activate this phone, can anyone help or point me in the right direction to get this phone working without a SIM card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean metro pcs does not offer the gs3 but you have one and want to use it on their network?
Where did you get it? Is it the GSM model or Verizon/sprint model.
Metro PCS works on a CDMA network (just like verizon and print) and cdma networks usually do not require a sim card but they can't use a gsm phone either. Verizon's LTE has a sim card that can be accessed (sprint's is hidden) and, according to a thread here, be unlocked to be used with GSM networks.
The easiest way imho is to sell the phone as long as it is not a lost or stolen one. Too difficult to get it to work with the carrier it wasn't made for.
loveubuntu said:
You mean metro pcs does not offer the gs3 but you have one and want to use it on their network?
Where did you get it? Is it the GSM model or Verizon/sprint model.
Metro PCS works on a CDMA network (just like verizon and print) and cdma networks usually do not require a sim card but they can't use a gsm phone either. Verizon's LTE has a sim card that can be accessed (sprint's is hidden) and, according to a thread here, be unlocked to be used with GSM networks.
The easiest way imho is to sell the phone as long as it is not a lost or stolen one. Too difficult to get it to work with the carrier it wasn't made for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's from Verizon, i got it new from a guy on Craigslist, i usually use my LG esteem and it uses a SIM card and is on metro PCS, so i assumed with unlocking, i could simply put the SIM in the GS3 and have it working too, but in the mean time i would like to play with it as a WiFi only phone and see what i can do with it.
scarrmrcc said:
without the sim card, it will only be a wifi phone.
it is like saying," i have this car without a motor, how can i drive it work."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
androids are way more than just phones, i believe your analogy is more like the processor is the the phone as the motor is to a car, the ability to make phone calls is just one of the functions, its more like a car that short-circuits while your driving, the engine wont turn off because its mechanical but you don't have the use of anything electrical , unless you use jumper cables which is what i do by activating the WiFi on my LG to use on my GS3.
archangeles said:
androids are way more than just phones, i believe your analogy is more like the processor is the the phone as the motor is to a car, the ability to make phone calls is just one of the functions, its more like a car that short-circuits while your driving, the engine wont turn off because its mechanical but you don't have the use of anything electrical , unless you use jumper cables which is what i do by activating the WiFi on my LG to use on my GS3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The word you're looking for is......anyways.......
Wifi only, that's it. No calls.
I think what many are wondering (after your last post) is why you would buy a VZW phone with absolutely no intention of having it activated or switching carriers just for use on wifi. You thought that "unlocked" meant you could use it on any network?
TechSavvy2 said:
The word you're looking for is......anyways.......
Wifi only, that's it. No calls.
I think what many are wondering (after your last post) is why you would buy a VZW phone with absolutely no intention of having it activated or switching carriers just for use on wifi. You thought that "unlocked" meant you could use it on any network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have full intentions of using this phone on Metro service, is that so hard to grasp?
You could set up Google Voice and use it as a wifi-only phone...
archangeles said:
i have full intentions of using this phone on Metro service, is that so hard to grasp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard to grasp because you aren't very clear.
SiXandSeven8ths said:
Hard to grasp because you aren't very clear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, just tell me what you need to know, i will not hesitate to answer.
Related
If I buy one of the Sprint's (CDMA network) smartphone from craigslist and try to add a line on it without the data plan, how would that work? The phone will be Sprint's phone so will it need to be unlocked?
I know on GSM phones, you just put the sim card with a line on the phone but not sure how it'd work on CDMA phones.
With CDMA phones, you have to activate them with customer service on the phone or go to your carrier's store in order for them to work. They aren't like GSM phones where you just just put a sim card in and it will work.
PakAttack1994 said:
With CDMA phones, you have to activate them with customer service on the phone or go to your carrier's store in order for them to work. They aren't like GSM phones where you just just put a sim card in and it will work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know if they will require me to add data plan also in order to activate it or not? It'd be my phone that I bought from somewhere else, not from them.
I think it would depend on the phone, but odds are they probably will add some sort of data plan to the phone in order to get activated. Best bet would be to call Sprint and see what exactly is involved as I could be wrong..
OK, so I am not an expert here but I know enough to give information that should help answer my question.
I have a Verizon (CDMA) Samsung Galaxy S3 (SCH-I535). I'd like to use this phone with a NET10 BYOD SIM card, but I'm not sure it will work. By all indications, my phone is a world phone that includes a GSM band. I say that because I can scan and attempt to connect to both AT&T and a local cell company that are both GSM services. In other words, I can select GSM/UMTS as a network option and it appears to work.
Trouble is, I don't have access to a GSM SIM, so there isn't any way for me to test this without spending money on the SIM card. SO in a round about way, I want to know if this will work. Can I buy a NET10 BYOD SIM, select GSM/UMTS under "Mobile Networks" in teh settings, and expect phone, text, and data to work?
I'm especially hoping to hear from people with the SCH-I535 Verizon GS3 if you've ever done this.
If this is not possible, is there any other BYOD SIM program that will allow for phone, text, and data in a CDMA Verizon phone? If so, what is it?
Thanks everyone.
If Verizon has not unlocked the phone off their carrier, then it will not work. (If you have the Jelly Bean Update, then its unlocked) If it is unlocked, then your in luck.
Mind you that I dont have this phone. But your phone is capable of ATT networks. Just avoid T-Mobile networks unless you want to be on EDGE.
Clarification
StatusQuo209 said:
If Verizon has not unlocked the phone off their carrier, then it will not work. (If you have the Jelly Bean Update, then its unlocked) If it is unlocked, then your in luck.
Mind you that I dont have this phone. But your phone is capable of ATT networks. Just avoid T-Mobile networks unless you want to be on EDGE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to make sure I understand, if my phone is Android 4.1.2, then my phone is automatically unlocked and capable of use with an AT&T compatible SIM? And I suppose that includes the NET10 BYOD SIM, or the Straight Talk BYOD SIM for that matter?
How i Just do it con net 10 And is working but just edge .any suggestions settings to enable 4g ???
Sent from my XT910 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
bump
Hi - I am trying to do the same thing, did you have any success? If so, can I get the details of how you did it?
Thanks!!
amusso18 said:
Just to make sure I understand, if my phone is Android 4.1.2, then my phone is automatically unlocked and capable of use with an AT&T compatible SIM? And I suppose that includes the NET10 BYOD SIM, or the Straight Talk BYOD SIM for that matter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying to do the same can anyone help me out?
Datdurtyboi said:
Trying to do the same can anyone help me out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you check your song settings? Make sure you have your phone on global mode as well.
With GSM it's easy - you take out your SIM card, and you are off that SIM's network.
Presumably the Nexus 5 will work for voice and 3G without the SIM card. Is there some way to turn off CDMA (yes, I know that if there is no SIM I can just turn off all cellular data. But that's not my question.)
If you mean temporarily, you can always do the old standby of airplane mode. Enable airplane mode, then enable whatever wireless services you want (Wifi, Bluetooth). The airplane mode will keep the cellular modem completely off.
ronwi2 said:
With GSM it's easy - you take out your SIM card, and you are off that SIM's network.
Presumably the Nexus 5 will work for voice and 3G without the SIM card. Is there some way to turn off CDMA (yes, I know that if there is no SIM I can just turn off all cellular data. But that's not my question.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should be options under networks to select cdma or gsm. Will find out tomorrow
lafester said:
There should be options under networks to select cdma or gsm. Will find out tomorrow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that the phone has been out in the wild for a while does anyone know the answer to this question?
The N5 does not allow voice or 3g without a sim for some reason. Perhaps someone will figure out a way to bypass this check at some point.
You can also pick and choose between gsm only, cdma only, lte only etc no problem.
lafester said:
The N5 does not allow voice or 3g without a sim for some reason. Perhaps someone will figure out a way to bypass this check at some point.
You can also pick and choose between gsm only, cdma only, lte only etc no problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if you take out the SIM, and you are on Sprint, you can't make phone calls or use 3G data?
I know the Sprint LTE Iphones will work if the SIM is removed, just without LTE.
Maybe that's just a way of keeping things clear to the user - your phone has the identity of whatever SIM you have in at any given time.
lafester said:
The N5 does not allow voice or 3g without a sim for some reason. Perhaps someone will figure out a way to bypass this check at some point.
You can also pick and choose between gsm only, cdma only, lte only etc no problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's kinda crappy. What if you want to use another CDMA only provider?
pclov3r said:
That's kinda crappy. What if you want to use another CDMA only provider?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it is compatible with any other CDMA only provider - certainly not with Verizon. Who else is there? Metro is going GSM/LTE.
Or perhaps the SIM is necessary to pick the CDMA provider - most CDMA phones are carreir specific, and they just default to the carrier associated with the phone. In other words, if you turn on an unactivated Sprint or Verizon phone, it automatically goes to the correct carrier. If the Nexus 5 has access to more than one CDMA carrier, perhaps the SIM is the method of selecting the carrier.
I
ronwi2 said:
I don't think it is compatible with any other CDMA only provider - certainly not with Verizon. Who else is there? Metro is going GSM/LTE.
Or perhaps the SIM is necessary to pick the CDMA provider - most CDMA phones are carreir specific, and they just default to the carrier associated with the phone. In other words, if you turn on an unactivated Sprint or Verizon phone, it automatically goes to the correct carrier. If the Nexus 5 has access to more than one CDMA carrier, perhaps the SIM is the method of selecting the carrier.
I
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PagePlus is one who runs on Verizon and allows any phone. No LTE tho with them.
Also, The carrier on most CDMA phone is determined by the PRL file. This tells the phone which towers to communicate with and it can be changed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_Roaming_List
pclov3r said:
PagePlus is one who runs on Verizon and allows any phone. No LTE tho with them.
Also, The carrier on most CDMA phone is determined by the PRL file. This tells the phone which towers to communicate with and it can be changed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_Roaming_List
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Presumably then the PRL is preloaded on the Nexus 5 - hence it knows to look for Sprint.
I believe Page Plus as a Verizon MVNO and will only activate Verizon phones, or their own (Page Plus) phones.
ronwi2 said:
I believe Page Plus as a Verizon MVNO and will only activate Verizon phones, or their own (Page Plus) phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will activate any CDM phone for a except few exceptions such as if the phone is ESN banned on Verizon, PrePaid Verizon phones, Verizon iphones and Verizon blackberry devices. It's a well known unofficial policy.
To add backing of this you can see my signature
Due to hearing that problem I might look at a S4 or something. I generally like the build quality of Samsung much better than LG.
ronwi2 said:
So if you take out the SIM, and you are on Sprint, you can't make phone calls or use 3G data?
I know the Sprint LTE Iphones will work if the SIM is removed, just without LTE.
Maybe that's just a way of keeping things clear to the user - your phone has the identity of whatever SIM you have in at any given time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just checked again... you CAN make calls however data is unavailable.
lafester said:
Just checked again... you CAN make calls however data is unavailable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, but doesn't really make sense that 3G data is unavailable. If you put a GSM LTE SIM in and select CDMA only, will it make calls on Sprint? (Don't mean to tell you what to do, but I think it would be an interesting thing to find out if you were so inclined.)
pclov3r said:
They will activate any CDM phone for a except few exceptions such as if the phone is ESN banned on Verizon, PrePaid Verizon phones, Verizon iphones and Verizon blackberry devices. It's a well known unofficial policy.
To add backing of this you can see my signature
Due to hearing that problem I might look at a S4 or something. I generally like the build quality of Samsung much better than LG.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that might be an interesting back door into Verizon. I wonder if there is some way that the Nexus 5 can be flashed or otherwise work on Page Plus. I get there would be no LTE, however.
ronwi2 said:
Well, that might be an interesting back door into Verizon. I wonder if there is some way that the Nexus 5 can be flashed or otherwise work on Page Plus. I get there would be no LTE, however.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope so but i'm thinking it's going to require some software modification.
pclov3r said:
I hope so but i'm hearing it's going to require some software modification it appears.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I really don't understand how CDMA works. With GSM, if the phone is unlocked, it works on any network. CDMA always seems to involve flashing. Although I believe there is so me sort of lock on CDMA phones as well (after all, MSL = Master Subsidy Lock.) I wonder if the CDMA side of the phone is locked to Sprint (we know from other posts there is an MSL code for these phones.)
ronwi2 said:
I guess I really don't understand how CDMA works. With GSM, if the phone is unlocked, it works on any network. CDMA always seems to involve flashing. Although I believe there is so me sort of lock on CDMA phones as well (after all, MSL = Master Subsidy Lock.) I wonder if the CDMA side of the phone is locked to Sprint (we know from other posts there is an MSL code for these phones.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, And you can obtain and change that.
pclov3r said:
Sure, And you can obtain and change that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a way to check the MSL settings without a Sprint SIM?
The #.#.3282#.#. dialer menu doesn't work with a T-Mobile sim...
satadru said:
Is there a way to check the MSL settings without a Sprint SIM?
The #.#.3282#.#. dialer menu doesn't work with a T-Mobile sim...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience, none of the *#*#xxxxx#*#* codes work without the SIM inserted. You might even need to be activated on Sprint at the time.
Just to clarify, CDMA in this thread includes WCDMA(3g) too?
So the phone will either go GSM or LTE only, which 3g or HSDPA/HSPA are not available by options?
Hey all! Long time lurker, first time poster. Is anyone working on running the Nexus 5 on multiple networks? Specifically, Sprint and Tmobile?
I don't see why this wouldn't work right off the bat. In my head, the radios are present and sprint uses the imei number instead of a Sim card. So shouldn't it work similar to a dual Sim phone?
My hope is to keep my $30 T-Mobile plan and add FreedomPop as my source for free minutes when in a sprint area.
I'd love to hear from everyone, my searching couldn't find anything but if your googlefu is better than mine please help!
Thanks,
Matt
TerkyTime said:
Hey all! Long time lurker, first time poster. Is anyone working on running the Nexus 5 on multiple networks? Specifically, Sprint and Tmobile?
I don't see why this wouldn't work right off the bat. In my head, the radios are present and sprint uses the imei number instead of a Sim card. So shouldn't it work similar to a dual Sim phone?
My hope is to keep my $30 T-Mobile plan and add FreedomPop as my source for free minutes when in a sprint area.
I'd love to hear from everyone, my searching couldn't find anything but if your googlefu is better than mine please help!
Thanks,
Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never thought about this before but now that you mention it, it could be pretty cool to have access to two LTE networks if one of them is being slow. Sprint want a ICC security SIM card in the phone though, not sure if you could bypass this or use the phone without it anyway.
You need a sim card for spring LTE and voice/data on T-Mobile, and there is only one sim slot.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the quick replies guys! I'm still very interested in it, perhaps you are right that the security Sim could be bypassed. I'd love this to gain some traction, this would be an incredibly unique feature to boast!
The phone doesn't have dual radios to even accommodate this anyway. So even if you were somehow able to activate it with a TMO SIM and on Sprint (which alone would take a ton of ROM hacking), you still physically couldn't talk to both networks. The radio would need to pick one or the other. It can't just flip flop at will, it has to set up the connection with the tower and maintain it.
I disagree. If you were to activate it on sprint, you could use it without the sprint Sim... You just would not get LTE. So technically you could activate it on Sprint (as you don't activate the phone on T-Mobile just the sim).
It would be cool if we could bypass the sprint Sim necessity.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
This won't work because when connected to LTE on Sprint it uses eCSFB to fall back to 1x to accept the call. This happens over the LTE connection. If you're connected to tmobile LTE, there's no way for it to tell you you have a call incoming from Sprint's network.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
afazel said:
This won't work because when connected to LTE on Sprint it uses eCSFB to fall back to 1x to accept the call. This happens over the LTE connection. If you're connected to tmobile LTE, there's no way for it to tell you you have a call incoming from Sprint's network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So do you think it could feasibly work as a simple menu option choice, or a widget to switch networks? I personally use Google Voice so receiving calls would happen in whichever network happens to be connected
TerkyTime said:
So do you think it could feasibly work as a simple menu option choice, or a widget to switch networks? I personally use Google Voice so receiving calls would happen in whichever network happens to be connected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you actually have to switch the SIM. Once it's registered to Sprint with a SIM, then swapping that SIM for another carrier's SIM completely switches it over. Then, when you want to use Sprint again, you put your Sprint SIM back.
afazel said:
No, you actually have to switch the SIM. Once it's registered to Sprint with a SIM, then swapping that SIM for another carrier's SIM completely switches it over. Then, when you want to use Sprint again, you put your Sprint SIM back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TerkyTime said:
So do you think it could feasibly work as a simple menu option choice, or a widget to switch networks? I personally use Google Voice so receiving calls would happen in whichever network happens to be connected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess what terky meant is he will forward calls to two numbers in Google voice settings ( let's say T-Mobile and freedompop) and then whichever network will be active will receive the call. So you will still be receiving the call.
Sounds logical but it has to be tried.
I see freedompop's website now accepts meid numbers. But my concern is; will activating the nexus 5's meid number on freedompop block using the gsm functionality of the phone??
If not, it would be just terrific!!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
h20wakebum said:
I disagree. If you were to activate it on sprint, you could use it without the sprint Sim... You just would not get LTE. So technically you could activate it on Sprint (as you don't activate the phone on T-Mobile just the sim).
It would be cool if we could bypass the sprint Sim necessity.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
afazel said:
This won't work because when connected to LTE on Sprint it uses eCSFB to fall back to 1x to accept the call. This happens over the LTE connection. If you're connected to tmobile LTE, there's no way for it to tell you you have a call incoming from Sprint's network.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vincent Law said:
The phone doesn't have dual radios to even accommodate this anyway. So even if you were somehow able to activate it with a TMO SIM and on Sprint (which alone would take a ton of ROM hacking), you still physically couldn't talk to both networks. The radio would need to pick one or the other. It can't just flip flop at will, it has to set up the connection with the tower and maintain it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TerkyTime said:
So do you think it could feasibly work as a simple menu option choice, or a widget to switch networks? I personally use Google Voice so receiving calls would happen in whichever network happens to be connected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So with the new Android 5.1 update, which now supports dual sim, (I know guys N5 only has one sim card slot) do you think it would be easier to do this?
My idea is to get a freedompop service with the imei number, just registering the phone online and you dont physically need a sim card from them. And lets say we use another sim card ( Att, tmob, etc) to use. So basically we would have two service providers.
And from my point of view; i wouldnt need both of their services at the same time. Lets say i want to use freedompop first, and whenever it expires, I can switch to my other carrier manually.
Any thoughts on this?
Brainstorming?!?!?!
So, I've the Verizon 4g LTE edition of the galaxy s3 for a while now and a few months ago I really needed to unlock this phone for use on gsm networks such as AT&T and T-Mobile. At first I was okay with having Voice, Text, and Edge for data.
Later on, I switched to T-Mobile from AT&T and got an iPhone. Now I want to go back to my SCH-i535. There is only one issue: I broke the sim/sd card reader. Now this lead me to think about a possible way to allow for this phone to be able to be used on gsm networks:
Use the other carriers sim/sd reader.
So instead of replacing it with the standard i535 reader, I'll install T-Mobiles SGH T99 reader.
I want to bring this up to see if anyone already knows the outcome or if they can instantly prove my theory wrong before I buy these things.
All answers are appreciated. Thanks
A/\/droid said:
So, I've the Verizon 4g LTE edition of the galaxy s3 for a while now and a few months ago I really needed to unlock this phone for use on gsm networks such as AT&T and T-Mobile. At first I was okay with having Voice, Text, and Edge for data.
Later on, I switched to T-Mobile from AT&T and got an iPhone. Now I want to go back to my SCH-i535. There is only one issue: I broke the sim/sd card reader. Now this lead me to think about a possible way to allow for this phone to be able to be used on gsm networks:
Use the other carriers sim/sd reader.
So instead of replacing it with the standard i535 reader, I'll install T-Mobiles SGH T99 reader.
I want to bring this up to see if anyone already knows the outcome or if they can instantly prove my theory wrong before I buy these things.
All answers are appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really don't think it would matter, as long as it's any sgs3 reader you'd have the same result.
It's just a part, and it should be universal. It wouldn't be able to change the band frequencies or anything. All that is regulated in the radio chip on the main circuit board. You'd have to swap out everything.
You should have a phone still capable of edge data only on a gsm network.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
What BadUsername said is true, the parts are somewhat interchangeable. I work in a phone repair business and the sim trays are the same as with the charge ports. I do believe it is firmware side and possibly chipset.When i get back to work Monday i will look at the parts closer.