Database Info

(Q)Bell or Virgin N5 locked?

I found a good deal for a new n5 on craigslist but the guy thats selling it says they told him its locked to his carrier. I went online and almost everyone says you cant lock a nexus phone to a carrier.
As far as i recall sprint had the nexus locked. He got his directly from bell canada. Does anyone know anything about this?
Thanks!
Sent from SGH-T889v Canadian Wind Mobile

All Nexus 5 phones are factory unlocked some one at Bell probably gave him wrong info as they normally only sell fully locked phones from the other manufactures.

I'm not entirely sure that all Nexus 5's come unlocked - - A lot of folks said that about all previous Nexus devices, i.e., they all come unlocked, but there were one's that came locked (although none of them were from Canada). That said, every Nexus device prior to the Nexus 5 sold by Canadian carriers has come unlocked, if that is any indication.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

sometimes the carrier locks their own phones. I'm not sure if this was the case though

The carrier probably lied. My dad had a nexus 4 and the fido CSR told him it was locked too.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Well I decided to pass. Not because it might be locked which i really doubt it would be. But because
I would only save about $50 but if something was to go wrong when i get it home or a week down the line
I would be SOL as google wouldnt cover the warranty. It seems that they match the IMEI with the account it
was purchased under to do any returns or fixes. Save 50 bucks or risk 350 ..go figure

Tmobile nexus 5

Are the sprint, tmobile nexus 5 locked to the networks or are they like the google play store versions
unlocked for any carrier?
Can I take my sprint nexus 5 and put in a ATT sim card?
same goes for the tmobile version.

As below

FrankJL_ said:
Are the sprint, tmobile nexus 5 locked to the networks or are they like the google play store versions
unlocked for any carrier?
Can I take my sprint nexus 5 and put in a ATT sim card?
same goes for the tmobile version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The box for the one sold through Sprint says it has a sim software lock and can be used on the Sprint network only (I forget exact wording) but there have been plenty of reports of people swapping sims and it working just fine.

I believe that TMOs policy is that any phone it sells is unlocked. The exception is that if you finance the phone through them, it will be locked until the phone is paid off.

tmobiles nexus 5 is completely unlocked, whether you pay in full or payments. same with the nexus 4. at any moment you can insert a sim from another provider and itll work.

FrankJL_ said:
Are the sprint, tmobile nexus 5 locked to the networks or are they like the google play store versions
unlocked for any carrier?
Can I take my sprint nexus 5 and put in a ATT sim card?
same goes for the tmobile version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jasonamd said:
The box for the one sold through Sprint says it has a sim software lock and can be used on the Sprint network only (I forget exact wording) but there have been plenty of reports of people swapping sims and it working just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LG/Google sells the Nexus 5 as a factory device - regardless of branding, the device is unlocked and available to use. There isn't yet any kind of blocking or locking of the device in this nature.

FourPointedFreak said:
LG/Google sells the Nexus 5 as a factory device - regardless of branding, the device is unlocked and available to use. There isn't yet any kind of blocking or locking of the device in this nature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can you be sure about this? While it may be true in North America, it may not be true in other parts of the world. People have said the same thing about every Nexus phone since the Nexus One, but evidence has shown that there has been locked versions of every Nexus phone prior to the N5.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

efrant said:
How can you be sure about this? While it may be true in North America, it may not be true in other parts of the world. People have said the same thing about every Nexus phone since the Nexus One, but evidence has shown that there has been locked versions of every Nexus phone prior to the N5.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well all above carriers had been north american based carriers, that's what I was referring to. Clearly I can't be sure for every model of the device outside of the U.S.

T-Mobile Nexus 5 won't work on Sprint

So I sold a Nexus 5 to someone my dad knows and for some reason it won't connect to sprint! They already paid me for the device.
I thought this device can work on all three major carriers and are all one model? Tried going to the store and they still couldn't activate it.
It does however detect the network but it just doesn't want to to connect at all. My T-mo card works on it and it has been factory reseted.
It's 16GB unlocked boot loader and not rooted with a stock recovery. Any ideas?
Edit: please don't tell me to tell them to switch carriers. It's their choice to be with sprint. I've read other threads with people jumping straight to that. :/
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
So I sold a Nexus 5 to someone my dad knows and for some reason it won't connect to sprint! They already paid me for the device.
I thought this device can work on all three major carriers and are all one model? Tried going to the store and they still couldn't activate it.
It does however detect the network but it just doesn't want to to connect at all. My T-mo card works on it and it has been factory reseted.
It's 16GB unlocked boot loader and not rooted with a stock recovery. Any ideas?
Edit: please don't tell me to tell them to switch carriers. It's their choice to be with sprint. I've read other threads with people jumping straight to that. :/
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it is carrier locked when bought from a carrier. Only unlocked is from Google, but I am not 100% on this.

RIPng said:
I think it is carrier locked when bought from a carrier. Only unlocked is from Google, but I am not 100% on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All Nexus 5s are unlocked!

vin4yak said:
All Nexus 5s are unlocked!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Factory unlocked and carrier unlocked are two different things.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

RIPng said:
Factory unlocked and carrier unlocked are two different things.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. I'll make myself clear.. All Nexus 5s are Factory and Carrier unlocked!

RIPng said:
Factory unlocked and carrier unlocked are two different things.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No all nexus 5's are carrier unlocked. My device wouldn't work on Sprint period and that one is FROM Google themselves. The one I sold actually detects their networks.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

vin4yak said:
Okay. I'll make myself clear.. All Nexus 5s are Factory and Carrier unlocked!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Until the carrier locks it down because it's subsidized.
Dragn4rce said:
No all nexus 5's are carrier unlocked. My device wouldn't work on Sprint period and that one is FROM Google themselves. The one I sold actually detects their networks.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is like what Apple says about iPhones until the carrier locks them. You have a device issue then.
Have you tried with other carriers or than the two mentioned?

All nexus devices have never been carrier locked and would never be locked. That's why it's called a Nexus device. Carriers don't lock/alter the phone in any way after it's been already made clear that it will be Unlocked at the time of release.
@Dragn4rce: have you tried using a different Sprint Card on that device? Does it work? I've seen many issues with Nexus users who are on Sprint all over xda

Dragn4rce said:
No all nexus 5's are carrier unlocked. My device wouldn't work on Sprint period and that one is FROM Google themselves. The one I sold actually detects their networks.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it works on sprint fine if you buy it from google play. my friend's wife has one on sprint fine.
you need to put the sprint sim LTE sim in, factory reset and go through the setup process again.

Zepius said:
it works on sprint fine if you buy it from google play. my friend's wife has one on sprint fine.
you need to put the sprint sim LTE sim in, factory reset and go through the setup process again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here. on sprint, got my n5 from google play

RIPng said:
Until the carrier locks it down because it's subsidized.
That is like what Apple says about iPhones until the carrier locks them. You have a device issue then.
Have you tried with other carriers or than the two mentioned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Att works too.
vin4yak said:
All nexus devices have never been carrier locked and would never be locked. That's why it's called a Nexus device. Carriers don't lock/alter the phone in any way after it's been already made clear that it will be Unlocked at the time of release.
@Dragn4rce: have you tried using a different Sprint Card on that device? Does it work? I've seen many issues with Nexus users who are on Sprint all over xda
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We used the old and they got a new. Still doesn't work they say.
Zepius said:
it works on sprint fine if you buy it from google play. my friend's wife has one on sprint fine.
you need to put the sprint sim LTE sim in, factory reset and go through the setup process again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We'll try a factory reset. Hoping that does it. My device is Google play and won't even work on our detect sprint So far.
The Tmo does detects it at least a d actually did say please wait for connection to be completed or somthing along those lines.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
We'll try a factory reset. Hoping that does it. My device is Google play and won't even work on our detect sprint So far.
The Tmo does detects it at least a d actually did say please wait for connection to be completed or somthing along those lines.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you cant swap between them without the reset. there's something that gets stored for the CDMA network to be a priority, just dont remember what it is.
make sure the sprint LTE SIM is in the phone, and factory reset/flash factory images.

If the device was purchased from Google Play or from Sprint, it should work fine on the 3 major carriers in the US (just not Verizon).
But if the device was purchased from T-Mo, there is a possibility that it won't work on Sprint.
This has nothing to do with the device not being carrier unlocked or anything like that. It is simply because Sprint may not have that IMEI in their databases, and Sprint will not permit such a device (for which they don't have the IMEI in their databases) on their network.
I see that op indicated that the device was from Google Play. Can you ask Sprint why it is not working? (ask to check if device is blacklisted, or if IMEI is missing, or something else)

jj14 said:
If the device was purchased from Google Play or from Sprint, it should work fine on the 3 major carriers in the US (just not Verizon).
But if the device was purchased from T-Mo, there is a possibility that it won't work on Sprint.
This has nothing to do with the device not being carrier unlocked or anything like that. It is simply because Sprint may not have that IMEI in their databases, and Sprint will not permit such a device (for which they don't have the IMEI in their databases) on their network.
I see that op indicated that the device was from Google Play. Can you ask Sprint why it is not working? (ask to check if device is blacklisted, or if IMEI is missing, or something else)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's two devices I'm talking about. Mine is GP the one I sold is TMO. and that's what I'm really worried about. It not being in the system.
PS. Tmo device detects sprint. Mine doesn't
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
There's two devices I'm talking about. Mine is GP the one I sold is TMO. and that's what I'm really worried about. It not being in the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the device causing the problem was purchased from T-Mo, then it is very likely that Sprint may not have the IMEI in their system, which is causing the activation issue. Ask the store rep to verify that. If they confirm that is the issue, ask if they can add it (I doubt they can). If they can't, try Sprint phone support (again, I don't know if they will).

jj14 said:
If the device causing the problem was purchased from T-Mo, then it is very likely that Sprint may not have the IMEI in their system, which is causing the activation issue. Ask the store rep to verify that. If they confirm that is the issue, ask if they can add it (I doubt they can). If they can't, try Sprint phone support (again, I don't know if they will).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do Google play devices work then. Their IMEI didn't get added to sprint most likely.
Which BTW mine, the Google play version, didn't work with sprint at all. But the TMO version did actually detect sprint and offer an option to establish a connection (it failed after a few minutes).
Mine, the Google play, didn't offer monkey doodles about establishing a connection.
I hate CDMA carriers. Sooooo much. *sigh*
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Did the factory reset and that didn't work.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
Why do Google play devices work then. Their IMEI didn't get added to sprint most likely.
Which BTW mine, the Google play version, didn't work with sprint at all. But the TMO version did actually detect sprint and offer an option to establish a connection (it failed after a few minutes).
Mine, the Google play, didn't offer monkey doodles about establishing a connection.
I hate CDMA carriers. Sooooo much. *sigh*
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the ones purchased directly from Google Play do have their IMEI added to Sprint (funny thing - for the first few days after the Nexus 5 was made available from Google Play, the IMEI for the 32GB ones were not in Sprint's database, and those didn't get activated. Several escalations later, and about 1-2 days later, those got added, and users were finally able to get it activated on Sprint - read more here).
If your Google play one is not working with Sprint, you should get Google to look into it. That should not be an IMEI issue.

jj14 said:
Actually, the ones purchased directly from Google Play do have their IMEI added to Sprint (funny thing - for the first few days after the Nexus 5 was made available from Google Play, the IMEI for the 32GB ones were not in Sprint's database, and those didn't get activated. Several escalations later, and about 1-2 days later, those got added, and users were finally able to get it activated on Sprint - read more here).
If your Google play one is not working with Sprint, you should get Google to look into it. That should not be an IMEI issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont really care about mine, the fine
Google play version. I'm sticking to TMO no matter what.
But the one I sold, the TMO version, I need to get it to work. did the factory reset and still nothing.
But don't the TMO devices come from Google. I'm pretty sure they get added too once they're made sitting in Google's warehouse and then TMO orders them and ships it to the stores.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
I dont really care about mine, the fine
Google play version. I'm sticking to TMO no matter what.
But the one I sold, the TMO version, I need to get it to work. did the factory reset and still nothing.
But don't the TMO devices come from Google. I'm pretty sure they get added too once they're made sitting in Google's warehouse and then TMO orders them and ships it to the stores.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-mo devices likely do come from Google. That doesn't however mean that Sprint will have their IMEIs.
Do note that I neither work for Sprint, nor for Google (and not for T-Mo). I remember reading about this issue at s4gru and at some other sites. I don't know if that issue is still there, but you can check that by asking Sprint if the IMEI on your T-Mo nexus 5 is in their system or not.

OnePlus One on At&T

Anyone using one on att ??
does att see it as a smartphone? if someone could check by looking at their OLAM if they are using a OnePlus One,id appreciate that. Id like to use one without having to use a dataplan,

Very few people have it, so I don't think anyone is going to know the answer. When I get it, I'll put my SIM in there so AT&T will see it as a HTC One.
Sent from my One using Tapatalk

tiny4579 said:
Very few people have it, so I don't think anyone is going to know the answer. When I get it, I'll put my SIM in there so AT&T will see it as a HTC One.
Sent from my One using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey,thanks for the response. when you get it,could you possibly check with the att OLAM(online account manager) if it shows as a oneplus,im using a droid 3 that was flashed with a gsm radio and it just shows as a generic flip-phone but the other lines on our plan show their respective phones(everyone else has an iphone lol ).

att only knows what type of device you have based on a list of imei's. non att carrier branded devices just show up as "unknown device". i know the nexus 5 shows up this way. and because of that im pretty much 100% sure the oneplus will also be an unknown device. as far as they know, you bought a $5 10 year old nokia flip phone from the mall.

The Jack of Clubs said:
att only knows what type of device you have based on a list of imei's. non att carrier branded devices just show up as "unknown device". i know the nexus 5 shows up this way. and because of that im pretty much 100% sure the oneplus will also be an unknown device. as far as they know, you bought a $5 10 year old nokia flip phone from the mall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply. yes,this is what im hoping for. they have the nexus 5 IMEIs tho sadly. they also have recent verizon phone IMEIs as well,my Droid dna was flagged and had a mandatory $30 data plan added to the line i was using it with.

Project Fi Not Working with Root

Hello!
I used to have a rooted Nexus 6 (Android 6.something, sorry don't remember exactly, 32gb version bought from Verizon) which worked perfectly with Google's Project Fi. I had to replace the phone, and I replaced it with a 64gb Nexus 6 I bought off Amazon (currently stock rooted, running Android 6.0.1 build MOB31T). This phone does not work correctly with Fi; whenever it tries to switch to T-Mobile, it tries for 10-20 mins (and I have no signal during that time), and then eventually it will switch back to Sprint, which is what it is usually on. The same thing happens if I try to switch to T-Mobile manually. I've been getting "help" from Fi support for 3 months now. They can't figure out the problem and they are now saying they can't support a rooted phone. So as my last resort, I'm seeing if anyone here has had such an issue, or may know what the problem is. Thanks so much!
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

jsk108 said:
Hello!
I used to have a rooted Nexus 6 (Android 6.something, sorry don't remember exactly, 32gb version bought from Verizon) which worked perfectly with Google's Project Fi. I had to replace the phone, and I replaced it with a 64gb Nexus 6 I bought off Amazon (currently stock rooted, running Android 6.0.1 build MOB31T). This phone does not work correctly with Fi; whenever it tries to switch to T-Mobile, it tries for 10-20 mins (and I have no signal during that time), and then eventually it will switch back to Sprint, which is what it is usually on. The same thing happens if I try to switch to T-Mobile manually. I've been getting "help" from Fi support for 3 months now. They can't figure out the problem and they are now saying they can't support a rooted phone. So as my last resort, I'm seeing if anyone here has had such an issue, or may know what the problem is. Thanks so much!
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you need to flash a T Mobile modem for Nexus 6.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/ref-nexus-6-modem-collection-t2969380
DO NOT CONTACT ME VIA PM TO RECEIVE HELP, YOU WILL BE IGNORED. KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE

Droidriven said:
Sounds like you need to flash a T Mobile modem for Nexus 6.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/general/ref-nexus-6-modem-collection-t2969380
DO NOT CONTACT ME VIA PM TO RECEIVE HELP, YOU WILL BE IGNORED. KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! So after I posted my question, I did some research and found that my phone's IMEI is blocked by T-Mobile. I had bought it off Amazon and it was listed as new, but apparently that was a lie (not by Amazon, but by the 3rd-party seller) and a previous owner owes money on the phone to T-Mobile, so they blocked the phone. Would your solution solve this? Thanks again.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

jsk108 said:
Thanks! So after I posted my question, I did some research and found that my phone's IMEI is blocked by T-Mobile. I had bought it off Amazon and it was listed as new, but apparently that was a lie (not by Amazon, but by the 3rd-party seller) and a previous owner owes money on the phone to T-Mobile, so they blocked the phone. Would your solution solve this? Thanks again.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, the only "legal" way is to pay the bill and get them to remove the block.
The "illegal" ways are against the rules here, it can't be discussed.
Don't buy used devices from Amazon or eBay, buy from Swappa where you're protected from scams like this.
DO NOT CONTACT ME VIA PM TO RECEIVE HELP, YOU WILL BE IGNORED. KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE