Question about Selectel Flash. Selectel Sims etc. I apologize up front if this is the wrong section for this thread. I posted as a reply in the General Section Thread about MVNO's but I believe that thread is dead or closed. If this breaks any rules of XDA please let me know and delete this thread. If is is forbidden I apologize up front. And I know this is a TLDR post, but please if you know anything about these matters, please read this post if you might be able to help. And if you just need some info about someone's experience trying to get cheap android phone service keep reading. Maybe you'll learn something from me.
I let a local selectel "dealer" flash my phone to Selectel a while back in Jan sometime. About a month or so later he had to re-flash the phone. Because I couldn't make calls at all. He said this was because the guy working for him did the flash incorrectly and so he fixed it. After reading up on Flashing a bit but still not knowing enough about it, I decided to start using a partition backup tool from the store to backup a slew of partitions including EFS, and all the Modem* partitions. I backed up a bunch of others as well, just not data, system, or cache. He left the VZW sim in.
Now since then, I've flashed a number of roms. And sometimes I'd have an issue where my number and other info in status would be gone. At this point I restore EFS, usually just this one partition and everything would be back to normal. Selectel Number and everything else would work. Now I'm having this issue again but my info is in there. This time, I can't make or receive calls or texts in my home "roaming on a regional tower" area. This always worked fine before. Now at home it says Voice out of service / Data in service. This is at home. When I drive 20 minutes up the road to some different but still not verizon towers I believe, I can make and receive calls just fine. Also in the guys shop using his extender, I can make and receive calls fine. He gave me a T-mobile sim, for what I don't know, but this didn't fix anything. Now he's expecting to receive his selectel SIMS and says that might fix my issue. If not I'll have to do another flash. I can't afford to pay for another flash, being laid off work and unemployed I can barely afford the 15 dollar plan for selectel.
Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone else has came across this issue, and if so do I need to reflash? Is there a way I can fix it myself? I have downloaded a bunch of tools for windows mostly (I use linux mainly, but dual boot into windows for AutoCAD and other things that just don't work well in Linux). I've seen a ton of flashing tools online as well many of which seem to do the job automagically almost. Any suggestions? I was thinking PRL.. Of course, but after reading the first few posts of this thread, i saw the don't try to OTA program information. One guy at the store actually recommended doing that but I didn't. he said *22891 to update roaming which I think is the PRL.
Any Help will be appreciated as always. If anyone here can fix it remotely cheap, let me know. Also, he's blaming my Kitkat rom. I've used this KitKat and others in the past with no Issue at all. But for ****s and giggles, I restored a TW 4.3, the latest Alliance Rom, to no avail. it does the exact same thing. I can use the phone in town or near an extender but not anywhere that I might roam.
Thanks a bunch.
griz
Update since my original post:
I've talked to both selectel and the local selectel dealer, the dealer said his selectel sims are in but won't be ready for a few more days. I'm guessing but don't know for sure, that this could fix my isssues. I doubt it.
I restored a nandroid of a stock based rom (alliance), to try to update the PRL over the air a while back while I was in an area where I knew there would be Verizon towers. It wouldn't update because I didn't have a sim inserted. The dealer took my Verizon SIM and gave me a t-mo sim which didn't help anything at all. I stopped by there Sat 05-23-15 and he gave me a verizon sim to see if it would update using his network extender. I do know he does activation over the extender because I've been there when he's done this. He activated a dumb phone in this manner. I'm very frustrated at this because I need a permanent number to use for job contacts and my home based business doing freelance IT work. I'm not 100& sure the PRL is the issue but it seems that way because I can make calls and receive texts as soon as I get near a VZW tower or extender. At home however where there's only a regional carrier called Appalachian Wireless, it just roams, and says Voice out of service / Data in Service. And as soon as I get away from a Verizon Tower the phone will say this in About Phone / Status.
All my original data should be there because everything show's up correctly in About Phone, My IMEI, MEID, MIN, and Number are correct. He did have to flash the phone to get it to have 3g, so the MEID that shows up isn't for an S3. My IMEI is the one that came with the phone. I asked him and selectel about the legality of flashing the phone and having a donar MEID number or whatever and both said that's fine. They acted like it was completely legal, I'm not so sure. But again, both Selectel and the Dealer told me it was Okay to do that.
I've found some software on here that I can use to update my PRL with a downloaded one but I didn't know what SPC to put in for Selectel I know that with VZW it's all zeros's. Selectel customer service couldn't tell me this and told me to ask the dealer, I did and he said I could use all zero's as well.
I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions at all, and if you think that once I get a Selectel SIM if it will work. The local dealer told me after I asked, that it would contain all my information, like those numbers I mentioned before and that it could fix it, but of course he says I've messed it up by flashing my phone. The thing is. I have lost all my info after flashing a rom in the past. However, I use a partition tool to backup EFS and other partitions and when I restore the EFS, (from when it was working and roaming), everything worked fine. Also, I know that I've used the rom he questioned in the past with success. I've tried Nameless, Slimroms, Liquid, and a few Lollipop roms with success as long as I restore the aforementioned data when necessary. Doing nvrestore (I had already done nvbackup long ago), doesn't help,. in fact it wipes everything out and I have to manually restore the EFS partition.
I understand that the PRL isn't the answer to everything but it's the only thing I can think of that would affect roaming. I have read that you shouldn't do any kind of OTA activation using *22890 *228 and so on but that I can use *22891 according to both Selectel and the dealer. The dealer wants to reflash the phone for 35 dollars which I can't afford at the moment. I can barely scrape up the 15 dollars for the cheap selectel plan.
On antoher note: I tried using an X2 with tracfone which worked great but wouldn't roam either. Kinda like what i'm experiencing right now. After calling Tracfone, I was told that none of the BYOP Android phones would roam. And one of their reps said their android phones like the Moto E wouldn't roam on non vzw towers either, because before I had my sgs3 flashed to seletel, I was going to get a Moto E Tracfone from Ebay with 2000 minutes and a year of service for 89.99 when they first came out. I didn't want to spend the money on it if it wouldn't roam. Does anyone know if this is in fact true, I can't see tracfone selling android's that won't roam. But I suppose they do. I was then told when I got a partial refund from Tracfone that only their Dumb phones would roam on non-vzw towers but again, this doesn't make good business sense nor does it make asnse at all. I've found a decent Net10 android at a dollar store (Moto E) I believe, for 79 on sale, but again, if it won't roam then it's worthless to me. Any Experience with this? I've searched and searched the internet for information on this subject to no avail. Especially the "Voice out of Service / Data in Service" message in Status.
Again, if I'm not in the correct section please let me know. Finally, I'm very sorry I'm so long winded. but those that know me know I'm long winded in every post I put up here. Sorry about that. I know I know TLDR, but I hope someone reads this and knows a thing or two about this.
Thanks once more.
griz
Related
Alright not too long ago, I called verizon to notify them about my travels to Japan, 2 weeks prior my trip (i got back less than 24 hours ago). They did some over the phone stuff, added that 100mb plan. And told me to dial *228, I've been warned about dialing *228 on 4G phones before... But this is a Verizon REP telling me this. So i did it, and i was supposed to dial it again when i reached Japan, to update my roaming with their cell towers.
I did so as well... thought little did i know the message i got when i was in japan said my phone did not work over there (didn't know it at the time had my friend translate the message for me days after i already dialed)
Long story short, I've noticed after my initial dial of *228, I somewhat noticed my phone never connected to 4G again. It bugged me, but i was still able to FORCE LTE Only in Phone Info. But when i had that setting in, i couldnt recieve or send calls, or texts... just blazing fast internet.
In my area since I live relatively close to Los Angeles 4G is pretty much everywhere here. What i dont understand why my phone hasn't connected to 4G ever since i called.
USMC-Delta said:
Alright not too long ago, I called verizon to notify them about my travels to Japan, 2 weeks prior my trip (i got back less than 24 hours ago). They did some over the phone stuff, added that 100mb plan. And told me to dial *228, I've been warned about dialing *228 on 4G phones before... But this is a Verizon REP telling me this. So i did it, and i was supposed to dial it again when i reached Japan, to update my roaming with their cell towers.
I did so as well... thought little did i know the message i got when i was in japan said my phone did not work over there (didn't know it at the time had my friend translate the message for me days after i already dialed)
Long story short, I've noticed after my initial dial of *228, I somewhat noticed my phone never connected to 4G again. It bugged me, but i was still able to FORCE LTE Only in Phone Info. But when i had that setting in, i couldnt recieve or send calls, or texts... just blazing fast internet.
In my area since I live relatively close to Los Angeles 4G is pretty much everywhere here. What i dont understand why my phone hasn't connected to 4G ever since i called.
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Click to collapse
I'd pull the sim, reinsert and reboot. You may need to reactivate. Sounds like the rep you talked to was a complete waste of space.
preusstang said:
I'd pull the sim, reinsert and reboot. You may need to reactivate. Sounds like the rep you talked to was a complete waste of space.
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I've tried a SIM pull, no luck. I read somewhere dialing *228 could fry to SIM card? Maybe thats what happened, and i'd need to get a replacement...
What do you mean by re-activate?
I've done factory resets quite a few times already today, as well as the IMEI push/fix just in case... still to no luck
USMC-Delta said:
I've tried a SIM pull, no luck. I read somewhere dialing *228 could fry to SIM card? Maybe thats what happened, and i'd need to get a replacement...
What do you mean by re-activate?
I've done factory resets quite a few times already today, as well as the IMEI push/fix just in case... still to no luck
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Click to collapse
There's another command using the keypad you can use to factory reset your phone...i just can't remember it. Something like *#4342..etc. I remember seeing it posted on here somewhere but I would search for "factory reset" and see what you can come up with.
This is what people did when they flashed an AOSP rom and were unable to get 4G...it could likely work for you also. It's worth a shot!
Here is the thread and the command: Back up all your info because your phone will be wiped and make sure you are on a stock based TouchWiz rom...go into dialer and hit *2767*3855#. Allow it to reboot and hopefully you will have full use of your phone. If not, go and get yourself a new sim card at the local VZW.
Marcismo55 said:
There's another command using the keypad you can use to factory reset your phone...i just can't remember it. Something like *#4342..etc. I remember seeing it posted on here somewhere but I would search for "factory reset" and see what you can come up with.
This is what people did when they flashed an AOSP rom and were unable to get 4G...it could likely work for you also. It's worth a shot!
Here is the thread and the command: Back up all your info because your phone will be wiped and make sure you are on a stock based TouchWiz rom...go into dialer and hit *2767*3855#. Allow it to reboot and hopefully you will have full use of your phone. If not, go and get yourself a new sim card at the local VZW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that twice during the IMEI push. Still to no avail. I'm going to assume the SIM card got bugged during the *228 process... And would probably need a new simcard. My dad also has the S3, and his connects to 4g just fine in my area... THe things i go through with this phone man... I prefer my bionic if the galaxy's camera wasnt so good.
Sorry about the phone woes but once you're up and running again you will see how this device runs circles around your Bionic.
Getting a new SIM card is easy. Verizon gives them away for free and you can just walk in there. Hopefully you get this taken care of.
Marcismo55 said:
Sorry about the phone woes but once you're up and running again you will see how this device runs circles around your Bionic.
Getting a new SIM card is easy. Verizon gives them away for free and you can just walk in there. Hopefully you get this taken care of.
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Click to collapse
Got a new SIM card from the Vz store, fixed my problems, got 4G connectivity back...
Mods can close this.
Hi,
I have a verizon lg Spectrum vs920 that I would like to use on android $55.00 cricket plan. I just recently got it flashed by a professional via remote flash. Everything seems fine on the phone. Checked the settings a million time. I am not a complete noob at flashing as I have done a lot of phones before. But my experience stops at Motorola Razr days. I haven't been in touch with the flashing market since than. I tried to do the phone myself but realized how far those phones has come.
Anyway, I tried to do a esn change but the phone itself has only IMEI number and cricket has to have MEID number. I tried to do a conversion using a ESN converter but initially I didn't get any result. So, I did the conversion with out the last number of the IMEI (read it somewhere, don't remember right now). I gave the Cricket rep the conversion result, they put it in to the system but the phone didn't work. So, I called back and talk to their tech support. According to them, phone won't work because it has a Sim card in it.
My questions to you guys is,
Has anyone actually ever used this phone with cricket service?
Can it be used with the Sim card in it?
As this phone won't dial *228 and you can not access the service menu, how do you activate this phone?
What exactly should I give the cricket rep when I call the next time.
I noticed the flash didn't set any sid,Nid number, could that be the problem?
I hate to spend another 15.00 and not get the phone going. Please let me know as much as you can about the activation process while I do a little more checking on the settings to see the problem could have been with the phone and not the activation process.
Thanks in advance.
My husband finally let me root and rom his S3 (I have a Gnex). Unlocking the bootloader and rooting (using Odin) went well. When I installed SlimBean+GApps, however, we started having an issue. He kept losing 3 & 4G signal. We didn't know about the roaming issue, so I had not backed up the IMEI. I flashed Clean Rom, and the issue is partially fixed.
The phone's signal is fine now, 3-4 bars 4G most of the time. The trouble is, we can't dial out to any numbers, and any calls to the phone go straight to voicemail. We've pulled the sim card and let it sit for a bit, but that didn't help. Dialing *228 (as Verizon tech support had him do about 4,583 times) just brings up a message about the phone being activated by the sim card, and roaming capabilities being updated. All tech support had to say was that Google Voice was probably the problem, even though we've both had it for ages with zero issues. :/
Any ideas? I don't really want to unroot and take it in to the Verizon store, but I will if there is no alternative.
EDIT: Just discovered that 4G is only working when "Preferred network mode" is set to Global, rather than LTE/CDMA.
*228 is for 3g phones only, it does absolutely nothing for LTE sim phones. Here's your solution btw.
I knew it! I kept telling them I didn't think that was supposed to do anything when I have a sim card. Crazy first string tech support. They also didn't know my battery was removable.
Will try the things listed in that link, thanks.
Falconfree said:
I knew it! I kept telling them I didn't think that was supposed to do anything when I have a sim card. Crazy first string tech support. They also didn't know my battery was removable.
Will try the things listed in that link, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha Verizon lost credibility with me when I rented their global phone for travel last summer and when I got back to the US the instructions to get my GSIII working began with dialing *228. There wasn't even a warning about it being unnecessary for LTE sim phones.
Good luck and let me know how that goes.
Yesterday, I received a new StraightTalk MicroSIM (ATT compatible) for my new Nexus 5. I have been using a StraightTalk T-Mobile compatible one that I used in my old phone. I activated the new SIM, using the automated phone system. This morning I saw that my phone still had no service. That is, zero bars, I cannot make calls or text. Of course data doesn't work either. I logged into my account and it said that the transfer to the new SIM is complete. So I called StraightTalk and was transferred 5 times to people who did the same trouble shooting with me every time. Their trouble shooting: power off your phone, take out your SIM and then start it back up. Then they said they need to send me a new SIM card.... Here is my issue, I feel like they don't know what they are doing so their answer is just to send me another SIM.
My question: Did anyone else have this experience or ideas on getting the phone to work? I've tried different APNs with no different results.
Okay, this is odd. I figured, since I won't have phone service for a while, I would root my phone. After I rooted my phone, everything works. I can make calls and data works. Not sure what changed but when the device was rooted, it also did a factory reset. After 50 minutes of crappy customer service, I think I'll just take the new SIM card they are sending.
Takes a while for them to activate it sometimes. I was with customer services for 2 hours trying to activate my Sim card because it wouldn't let me online.
Their customer service, signal penetration might suck, but it's way cheaper, which I'm good with.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
I wonder if maybe that is what happened but I think it probably had to do with the factory reset.
I do want to post one final thing since everything has played out today... On the phone I asked them to expedite the package since this is my work phone and ONLY phone. Today, FedEx delivered a new SIM card... it was the card only. No other packaging or information. It was the wrong SIM... I needed a micro and they sent a regular SIM... but at least they tried. After receiving the SIM today, I don't feel so bad about the situation. Things may have been different if my phone didn't miraculously start working. I would have had to cut down the regular sized SIM... to find out if it is an ATT or Tmobile version... it's probably the Tmobile versions, since I ordered the ATT version. Thats how things go... have a good day!
READ THE NEXT POST FOR CONTINUED ISSUES
*** I'm going to keep posting my experience, in case anyone else can find the information useful. ***
My service should have Auto-Refilled today. However, when I went to make a call, I found out my service was deactivated. I thought maybe Auto-Refill was disabled when I transferred to the new microSIM. Unfortunately, after spending another 45 minutes on the phone with customer service, I found out that they activated the replacement SIM that they sent me... the one that doesn't fit my phone and appears to be a Tmobile SIM. So, instead of just re-activating the microSIM that was working yesterday, they have to send me another one. I confirmed with them that they will be sending an AT&T compatible microSIM. We will see what I receive.
So, I have an S10e (SM-G970U) that was bought from Verizon a while back. The phone was set up on a Verizon post-paid plan, but was later switched to prepaid. The phone worked fine for months, but about a week ago, the phone randomly stopped making and receiving calls, texts, and the ability to use mobile data. It was taken to Verizon, and they tried "all they could" in their words, which included a new SIM card, resetting network settings, and eventually a factory reset from settings. Nothing seemed to work, and they gave up, claiming it "seemed like a bad antenna." They did call their "tech support" who claimed the most recent Android 11 update supposedly caused an issue with mobile network connection with the Verizon S10e devices, which I haven't heard of, but didn't know. He claimed a reset would fix it.
Since none of that fixed it, it was taken to a shop to be inspected. They claim the phone has nothing wrong with it. So, that, in theory, rules hardware issues out. Their only claim was that when an AT&T SIM was inserted, it was able to connect to the network, but never tried to make any calls due to the SIM not being activated. I assume this is due to someone trying to "help" inserting an activated AT&T SIM into the slot when testing, which I assume ended up installing the carrier branded version of the firmware. They gave a couple possible reasons, but neither seemed to make sense.
Since it had the AT&T bloatware and was working with only AT&T SIMs, I decided to flash both the VZW G970U firmware (the earliest version I could to ensure the supposed "issue" from Verizon support wasn't a problem) and the G970U1 firmware. Both firmware flashes have seemed to have done nothing, as the phone is still having the issue. Most times, it will connect to the Verizon network, but the signal seems to rise and fall quickly (like the bars going from 5 to 1 to 3).. Still no calls, texts, or data, though. I have no idea what's going on, at this point, honestly. Any ideas?
Hardware problem
iBowToAndroid said:
Hardware problem
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Click to collapse
LanGar21 said:
Since none of that fixed it, it was taken to a shop to be inspected. They claim the phone has nothing wrong with it. So, that, in theory, rules hardware issues out.
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Click to collapse
If the people it was taken to were competent and did their jobs correctly (one of the best around, according to reviews and carrier recommendation), their diagnostic results show no hardware damage to the phone. Then again, their explanation for the problem was that it had been locked to ATT network (a Verizon bought phone that never had any affiliation with another carrier, aside from Verizon and a month-long stint with Straight Talk). Some idiot she knows that used to work for a Verizon retailer popped his ATT SIM in there, and it flashed ATT firmware.. Their POSSIBLE solution was to try and have it network unlocked from ATT. As we know, though, the IMEI obviously did not change, and the process of confirming the identifier is done on the mobile network level. Therefore, flashing a different carrier's firmware won't do much (permanently), aside from changing the boot screen and bloatware apps. We even tried to explain to the guy that the ATT SIM had never been popped in until after the problem began, as there was no reason to beforehand. I also mentioned I had flashed firmware multiple times before I ever came to him, to no avail. I should've pushed harder, but I had been out all day, frustrated and ready to go home.
It's been over a month since that issue began, and I haven't thought much of it lately.. We've since found her a new phone (and stowed the other one in a drawer). Those guys did blurt some moronic statements.. In hindsight, I'm not too sure I should trust their judgement after hearing what I did. Maybe it was an antenna issue or otherwise hardware, but I sort of assumed if anyone can happen to keep a repair shop open, they'd at least be able to complete the simple tasks fairly easy. I don't know. I'm not paying another repair shop to find out, though.
I had a very similar problem where my phone would just randomly lose all connection for about a minute, then it would reconnect I would start doing whatever I was and it would do it again and this one on for months. I took it to AT&t and they told me to replace the SIM which I did and it didn't work. after a couple updates it fixed itself.