Hi,
I currently have an unlocked, out-of-contract Verizon Galaxy Nexus, and I'm considering switching to Ting, a MVNO that uses Sprint's network. However, Ting says this isn't supported, and I was hoping someone here could help me understand why.
As I understand it, both Sprint and Verizon use CDMA, so I already have the hardware I need to communicate with Sprint's network. However, the ESN on my phone is not currently whitelisted on the Sprint network, therefore it won't work.
Ting has a bring your own device program. If your phone is on their whitelist, and it is Sprint branded, you can use it with their network. So I guess what I'm struggling to understand is why Sprint branded phones will work, but non-Sprint branded phones will not.
Is the fundamental issue simply here that Sprint refuses to whitelist my ESN because it is a Verizon phone? Or is there a technical reason why I can't use my Verizon Galaxy Nexus with Sprint? Is there anything I can do get my existing phone to work with Ting?
Thanks,
John
there's pseudo-technical reason, and it boils down to the big V is a stupid way, the reason is that Verizon uses a weird (read: f***ed up) way of authenticating devices on their "CDMA" network, Verizon uses WCDMA/CDMA2000 style authentication even for the 4g towers, and the hybrid AAA/HA keys they use were developed by them for use only on their network, this is why, primarily, that sprint phones are incompatible on verizon and vis-versa (Also, anecdotaly why Verizon 4G phones are a pain to put on Verizon MVNOs though with the GNex it is possible, I have mine on page plus using Sprint's CDMA radio firmware, and YES everything, even 3G data works fine, and no, no ESN swap was needed). Basically it's a ploy to keep Verizon phones, well, on Verizon..
Related
Ok, so a little background...
I have a Motorola Atrix 4g (Live in the US). It is on AT&T.
I have a Verizon Wireless 4G Sim Card (I want to use this instead, as I don't pay for this one).
What I've done so far:
Unlocked the phone with a 3rd party code (it said successful)
Rooted Atrix 4G
Installed an unknown sources fix (to add the ability to install unknown sources)
Installed GingerBlur Rom
Basically what is happening is this:
I put the AT&T Sim in and everything works fine.
I put the Verizon Sim in and I get no signal for 3g/4g/edge/whatever or phone.
I'm assuming I have to change the APN (but I have no idea how to do this, what screen it's on, etc...)
I'm assuming the reason I can't get connected is I can't access a temp network to do a *228 and activate the verizon service on the phone.
Any suggestions or pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Thank yoU!
casca_the_immortal said:
Ok, so a little background...
I have a Motorola Atrix 4g (Live in the US). It is on AT&T.
I have a Verizon Wireless 4G Sim Card (I want to use this instead, as I don't pay for this one).
....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I understand, you have a phone which is supposed to work with GSM (AT&t), whereas you are trying to use it on CDMA (Verizion).
These two service providers use two different technologies to deliver their services, and these technologies require different types of handsets(GSM receiver for AT&T, CDMA receiver for Verizon).
So this is the reason you are not getting the signals for Verizon in an AT&T phone!!
crack.mech said:
As far as I understand, you have a phone which is supposed to work with GSM (AT&t), whereas you are trying to use it on CDMA (Verizion).
These two service providers use two different technologies to deliver their services, and these technologies require different types of handsets(GSM receiver for AT&T, CDMA receiver for Verizon).
So this is the reason you are not getting the signals for Verizon in an AT&T phone!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that blows I was under the impression that the new Verizon Wireless 4G SIMS were GSM? Also the Atrix is supposed to be quad band, doesn't that mean it does it all?
Well that does shine some light on it for sure, I was getting two companies when I did a search for networks (Tmobile and AT&T).
Thank you very much for the response
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.
Starting to do my research on taking my Photon Q LTE from Sprint over to FreedomPop.
Has anyone done this yet?
How did you do it and what is your opinion of the entire experience?
Is it Officially Supported by Freedom pop? If not, when?
If not supported, how to get a Photon Q LTE on FreedomPop now?
If you have any experience with FreedomPop service, please give the geographic service area you've tried and your impression of the FreedomPop service.
Thank you.
No LTE for all "SIM-cards" except the buit-in one.
There is afaik no chance to get LTE working with another carrier than the original one (sprint).
Loader009 said:
No LTE for all "SIM-cards" except the buit-in one.
There is afaik no chance to get LTE working with another carrier than the original one (sprint).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But FreedomPop is a Sprint MVNO...
I'm not saying this will guarantee it'll work, but I'd say there's a much better chance it will.
I'm kind of curious, but not sure I'm ready to switch my phone to FreedomPop. Maybe I'll try it out on my roomie's phone first...
4g LTE works for the photonQ on Voyager Mobile and Ringplus, those are the best sprint mvno's imo...
Then it have to work without hardware modding, right?
If I'm wrong and it works with a hardwaremod, then other carrier with the same LTE frequency should also work.
I'm kind of confused, how LTE is working in our Q.
Loader009 said:
Then it have to work without hardware modding, right?
If I'm wrong and it works with a hardwaremod, then other carrier with the same LTE frequency should also work.
I'm kind of confused, how LTE is working in our Q.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What we mean by Sprint MVNO is they basically resell Sprint service. So you aren't paying Sprint directly, but you are using their towers/network. The MVNO leases the network space from Sprint... Pretty much all the big providers lease space on their network to gain another revenue stream.
Yes, I know what a MVNO is.
But in my country you need for each MVNO an own SIM-card.
I assumed that something similiar is done in the US.
If you can change to another Sprint reseller without the need of change something in hardware, then it might work.
I'm probably unaware of the typical US mobiles and the carriers technology.
Loader009 said:
Yes, I know what a MVNO is.
But in my country you need for each MVNO an own SIM-card.
I assumed that something similiar is done in the US.
If you can change to another Sprint reseller without the need of change something in hardware, then it might work.
I'm probably unaware of the typical US mobiles and the carriers technology.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typically MVNOs that operate on GSM networks have their own SIM cards, however CDMA carriers (such as those running on Sprint) identify the phone by its internal ESN. Since there is no SIM to swap, the ESN has to be reassigned from Sprint to their MVNO.
And FYI, the Q works beautifully on Ting as well, LTE and all.
BAMF said:
Typically MVNOs that operate on GSM networks have their own SIM cards, however CDMA carriers (such as those running on Sprint) identify the phone by its internal ESN. Since there is no SIM to swap, the ESN has to be reassigned from Sprint to their MVNO.
And FYI, the Q works beautifully on Ting as well, LTE and all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, thanks for the explanation.
Now, is Ting a GSM or CDMA carrier/MVNO?
I assume it's a CDMA MVNO, which works inside the sprint network and is (because of sprint) able to operate in the LTE network.
Freedom Pop is a rip off I set up a free data account and they tried to charge me. The only customer service is through there forums.
I use Ting they are great.
They resell Sprint.
Sent from my PHOTON Q using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Here is confirmation for anyone wonder if the Galaxy S6 unlocked from ATT or Tmoibile will work on Verizon just like the iPhones 6 6+ or Nexus 6
I have both ATT and Tmobile Galaxy S6 in hands, unlocked, inserted Verizon sim card in and there is no signal
However, when I check "About Device" it shows my phone number
Mobile Network Type: LTE
Service State: Out of Service
and LTE came up for a second and never came back on
I think they blocked the LTE bands or so to stop people unlock their phones using on another carrier
T33H00 said:
Here is confirmation for anyone wonder if the Galaxy S6 unlocked from ATT or Tmoibile will work on Verizon just like the iPhones 6 6+ or Nexus 6
I have both ATT and Tmobile Galaxy S6 in hands, unlocked, inserted Verizon sim card in and there is no signal
However, when I check "About Device" it shows my phone number
Mobile Network Type: LTE
Service State: Out of Service
and LTE came up for a second and never came back on
I think they blocked the LTE bands or so to stop people unlock their phones using on another carrier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is the AT&T and T-Mobile variants don't have CDMA radios.
T33H00 said:
Here is confirmation for anyone wonder if the Galaxy S6 unlocked from ATT or Tmoibile will work on Verizon just like the iPhones 6 6+ or Nexus 6
I have both ATT and Tmobile Galaxy S6 in hands, unlocked, inserted Verizon sim card in and there is no signal
However, when I check "About Device" it shows my phone number
Mobile Network Type: LTE
Service State: Out of Service
and LTE came up for a second and never came back on
I think they blocked the LTE bands or so to stop people unlock their phones using on another carrier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They didn't block the bands. According to pdadb, the 920A and 920T don't have CDMA.
Unlocking att s6
Hi was it easy to get the att version unlocked from a 3rd party website or did you get it unlocked from ATT?
thats why i prefer buying unlocked phones from Amazon and use on any network on my choice. i wonder if this locking phones is cant be investigated for being anti competitive or messing with our rights somehow
zboy2 said:
Hi was it easy to get the att version unlocked from a 3rd party website or did you get it unlocked from ATT?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
musakilimanjaro said:
thats why i prefer buying unlocked phones from Amazon and use on any network on my choice. i wonder if this locking phones is cant be investigated for being anti competitive or messing with our rights somehow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guys are confusing "unlocked" terms. There's a carrier unlock and a bootloader unlock. VZW phones are carrier unlocked and work on any network as long as the radio has the proper frequency support. But VZW phones are bootloader locked, meaning you can't flash unsigned packages to the device i..e. no root yet.
S6 att unlock
hi was it easy to get the att s6 unlocked. Thanks.
Mostly correct except root does not necessarily depend on unlocked bootloader, which you somewhat implied by the end of your statement.
I'm thinking about purchasing a unlocked Sprint Galaxy S6 on craigslist and bringing it to Verizon. Does anyone know if this will work?
Thanks
~Tom
I want the S6 but not if the bootloader is locked. I know that Verizon and ATT are the two carriers who will lock the bootloader. I'm not sure if a T-Mobile line would work due to their using GSM rather than CDMA, but doesn't Sprint use CDMA? Would we be able to purchase a Sprint variant that doesn't have a locked bootloader and then use that phone on Verizon?
Would a Vzw version work on GSM carriers including LTE? I am thinking of buying one off contract for the wife, but want it to be able to go to a cheaper prepaid service later once our contract expires.
t mobile phone on Verizon network
Would the T mobile S6 work with Verizon LTE data only? Did you try to surf the Internet?
Will a Verizon S6 work on T-Mobile? LTE as well?
It should work fine but be aware that VZW uses different LTE bands than TMO. VZW uses Bands 13/4 with 13 as Primary and TMO uses primarily Band 4 but will enable band 12 soon.
geoff5093 said:
My guess is the AT&T and T-Mobile variants don't have CDMA radios.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, when carriers started putting up powers that supported LTE, the phone manufacturers were releasing phones that supported CDMA and LTE because LTE wasn't widespread enough to get an LTE signal. CDMA technology will eventually be replaced by LTE. Qualcomm owns all the parents for CDMA, so whenever anyone makes a call using CDMA, QCOM collects their revenue checks, which used to represent 51% of total revenues. It's cheaper for the carriers to run LTE because QCOM doesn't own the entire technology and they won't have to pay the royalties to QCOM for using their technology (kind of like using H.265 vs VP9 for 4K video compression. Royalties using the older H.265 compression maxed out at $5 million a year. H. 265 maxes out at $25 million vs Google's VP9 free open-source technology for video compression.
Once enough towers are up that support LTE, handsets won't come with the availability to use CDMA technology anymore. Next thing we'll see are cable providers putting up hotspot all around the city (I've already seen it with Comcast, but this could really hurt the phone companies since people won't even be using LTE anymore, just like when people had to use much slower data connections in rural areas on their cell phones because they didn't have towers. VOIP will also hurt the carriers.
So, to answer that, I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't built to support CDMA anymore. These balloons that just started being launched by Google to provide Internet access to everyone in the world will be interesting to see how functional it is. It would be nice top have a high speed connection anywhere in the world.
Sprint and Verizon uses CDMA while AT&T and T-Mobile uses GSM. So trying to use an unlocked S6 for Verizon won't work since unlocked versions are usually GSM. So nope.
T33H00 said:
Here is confirmation for anyone wonder if the Galaxy S6 unlocked from ATT or Tmoibile will work on Verizon just like the iPhones 6 6+ or Nexus 6
I have both ATT and Tmobile Galaxy S6 in hands, unlocked, inserted Verizon sim card in and there is no signal
However, when I check "About Device" it shows my phone number
Mobile Network Type: LTE
Service State: Out of Service
and LTE came up for a second and never came back on
I think they blocked the LTE bands or so to stop people unlock their phones using on another carrier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the exact same problem with my one plus one. I'm 99% certain it's not about the bands being blocked in the phone but about verizon network non-verizon phones. The fact that you can select verizon if you search for a network means the bands are compatible.
Verizon is being evil by blocking the phones. I'm just not sure how (could be that any phone not wishlisted cannot be activated i.e. s13 interface )
---------- Post added at 11:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 PM ----------
T33H00 said:
Here is confirmation for anyone wonder if the Galaxy S6 unlocked from ATT or Tmoibile will work on Verizon just like the iPhones 6 6+ or Nexus 6
I have both ATT and Tmobile Galaxy S6 in hands, unlocked, inserted Verizon sim card in and there is no signal
However, when I check "About Device" it shows my phone number
Mobile Network Type: LTE
Service State: Out of Service
and LTE came up for a second and never came back on
I think they blocked the LTE bands or so to stop people unlock their phones using on another carrier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pembertj said:
I'm thinking about purchasing a unlocked Sprint Galaxy S6 on craigslist and bringing it to Verizon. Does anyone know if this will work?
Thanks
~Tom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
99% sure it wont work, see my post above
---------- Post added at 11:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 PM ----------
Droid_Evo_8 said:
Sprint and Verizon uses CDMA while AT&T and T-Mobile uses GSM. So trying to use an unlocked S6 for Verizon won't work since unlocked versions are usually GSM. So nope.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to 2007 or 08...
phone has lte and is trying to connect to an lte network
SDRebel said:
I had the exact same problem with my one plus one. I'm 99% certain it's not about the bands being blocked in the phone but about verizon network non-verizon phones. The fact that you can select verizon if you search for a network means the bands are compatible.
Verizon is being evil by blocking the phones. I'm just not sure how (could be that any phone not wishlisted cannot be activated i.e. s13 interface )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem is Verizon whitelists all IMEIs for phones that they'll "support." Even if you get it working, it 1) doesn't have CDMA, so you can't make calls unless you're strictly in VoLTE areas, and 2) you won't be able to make any plan changes or get a M2M discount since the phone would be a "Non-VZW Device."
SDRebel said:
Welcome to 2007 or 08...
phone has lte and is trying to connect to an lte network
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah? Well then, how do you explain how come my Verizon S5 didn't work on T-Mobile when we tried it, huh?
Droid_Evo_8 said:
Sprint and Verizon uses CDMA while AT&T and T-Mobile uses GSM. So trying to use an unlocked S6 for Verizon won't work since unlocked versions are usually GSM. So nope.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Berzerker7 said:
Problem is Verizon whitelists all IMEIs for phones that they'll "support." Even if you get it working, it 1) doesn't have CDMA, so you can't make calls unless you're strictly in VoLTE areas, and 2) you won't be able to make any plan changes or get a M2M discount since the phone would be a "Non-VZW Device."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, that's been my speculation for a while, but i have no inside info. Whitelisting every device would be a major PITA though...unless they bulk-whitelist then using data from the manufacturers. ..that also doesnt explain why people report being able to bring an iphone 6 or a nexus 6 over from other nwtworks (not sure if rhey have only gotten lte working and not the cdma part)
I do know the cdma functionality wouldn't be available, but tthe discussion was more along the lines of why it attached to lte ans then nothing.
The strange part is that both OP and I saw LTE eveb if for a split second. ..i would expect N attach reject if it's due to the Whitelisting.
---------- Post added at 07:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 AM ----------
Droid_Evo_8 said:
Oh yeah? Well then, how do you explain how come my Verizon S5 didn't work on T-Mobile when we tried it, huh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most likely reason is that you did something wrong. I have personally used verizon s3, verizon s4 and htc rezound in tmobile and other gsm networks. (I will test my s6 soon for t-mobile and cricket)
it's well known that most verizon lte phones are unlocked and have gsm functionality.
My most logical guess is that you didn't set up something like the APN.
Your anecdotal experience does not a rule make. (most common fallacy i see in real life: it didnt work for me so it doesnt work!)
At work today, in a Walmart Connection Center, I tried out an AT&T sim and a Verizon branded sim in one of the LTE compatible Straight Talk devices (Galaxy Core Prime) that uses Verizon's towers. I thought it was interesting to know that the requirement for Verizon LTE phones to be carrier unlocked also applies to MVNOs. I have yet to try and activation of such devices with another carrier, but the cards worked just fine. I suspect that Verizon will have the IMEIs blacklisted, but that's just speculation. If anyone has tried this, I am curious now if they would activate them.
I'm using a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge on Cricket that uses ATT network