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[Q] How do I add APNs on Verizon Galaxy S3 running 4.1.1?

I have a Verizon Galaxy S3 (SCH-I535) running Android 4.1.1. I was told by Verizon prior to moving to England that, with this version of Android which unlocked the "world phone" capabilities (GSM), that I would be able to use my phone abroad with a new sim on a local network.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I am in England with an Orange sim in my phone. I have no problems with voice, but I cannot access any data services (I have no trouble receiving texts, but cannot send them - I think this is a problem with the sim though). After searching around the internet for a while, it seems that the solution to my problem would be to add the Orange APN settings to my phone.
HOWEVER, Verizon's version of 4.1.1 does not allow you to edit APN settings! When you go to the APN menu, there is nothing displayed and the only settings option is to Reset to Default.
The closest thing I've found to a solution is here, but it's a bit out of date as the method isn't for 4.1.1. I'm a bit wary of rooting my phone and installing a rom, as I've never done anything like that before.
Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing that might be able to offer a solution? I would be willing to root my phone if necessary, but I'd need to be directed to a pretty explicit noob guide for doing that :silly:
Thanks!

Getting root is easy with the toolkit linked. Should you have any questions you can read the thread or search galaxy s3 toolkit on YouTube. Just keep in mind some videos are outdated and that you have a Verizon cdma galaxy S3 running 4.1.1.
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2092244
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Search this same thread and the APN fixes are here. There is also an APN fix in Note 2 forum that should work. Once you change APN should be good to go with Orange. Say hi to my Uncle in Birmingham. He on Orange also. Cheers. :laugh:

What ended up being your solution?
I'm going to Italy tomorrow with a Verizon S3 and APN settings are locked. The phone is rooted and I would love to be able to use a local SIM on data!
Thanks in advance.

sundayradio said:
What ended up being your solution?
I'm going to Italy tomorrow with a Verizon S3 and APN settings are locked. The phone is rooted and I would love to be able to use a local SIM on data!
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No solution yet. I'm going to look at the link above when I can get some time to sit down and focus on it. Hopefully it fixes it.
BTW, although it's billed as a CDMA phone, it is able to operate on GSM as well. That's the whole "world phone" thing that Verizon has been talking about.

expatabroad said:
BTW, although it's billed as a CDMA phone, it is able to operate on GSM as well. That's the whole "world phone" thing that Verizon has been talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand it's a world phone, but I wanted to drop that in because I wasn't sure if the Toolkit states "CDMA" under the device selection screen. I know the Galaxy Nexus or Razr Toolkit specifically stated CDMA. I just didn't want you to accidentally pick the wrong one. After looking at screen shots of the Toolkit you shouldn't have a problem it doesn't mention CDMA only Verizon is stated.

Unable to add APN.
prdog1 said:
Search this same thread and the APN fixes are here. There is also an APN fix in Note 2 forum that should work. Once you change APN should be good to go with Orange. Say hi to my Uncle in Birmingham. He on Orange also. Cheers. :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there,
Sorry for going there, but I have not been able to find a fix for adding in the APN on a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III. I have it on Cincinnati Bell at the moment, and have it rooted. I have voice and text, but not data. I have used the APN Manager Pro to see the APN that I need to use, but for some reason it will not use it or be able to edit it? Any thoughts?

deca2499 said:
Hey there,
Sorry for going there, but I have not been able to find a fix for adding in the APN on a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III. I have it on Cincinnati Bell at the moment, and have it rooted. I have voice and text, but not data. I have used the APN Manager Pro to see the APN that I need to use, but for some reason it will not use it or be able to edit it? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
Get titanium backup pro and make apn mgr pro a system app.
You should be good after that.
This is confirmed working on Vodafone Italy and ill post results from China and hk in about a month

And please spread the word on this.
Spiting Verizon is my new favorite hobby.

I have a very similar problem. I have a Samsung S3, not rooted, but unlocked from Verizon. I have been in Kandahar for a month or so. My SGS3 with a local provider will make and receive calls great when coverage is there. My problem is, I can only seem to text local here not back to the US, or get email and no Google Talk. I went to the shop where I got my card here, they told me that Verizon needed to unlock my phone. I know it is unlocked but I made the call home, Verizon told me what I already knew. I went back into the store, once again, next they said Verizon needed to unlock my APN? I called again, finally I got a response from Verizon saying that Samsung needs to release the patch so Verizon can unlock it. If anyone knows of such a APN patch I would greatly appreciate it. My lap top screen got cracked during a patrol so doing all of this and email is quite the B!tch! I have always had success with this forum and hope it will continue. Once I send my lap top back home to be warrantied, I will not have any way of getting the usual business done for at least a month. I'm trying to hold off on the lap top until I can get my phone fully functional. I do not have internet connection on my phone, just my computer, I guess that is the APN, that is still locked. I could do all of this if I had WiFi, but it is not allowed here by the company that provides internet. They do have WiFi in some areas, but it is always bogged down with everyone else trying to use it. Also, I am not too sure if I want to attempt to do a root, the internet service here is very slow. Thanks for your help. Please remember, I am atleast 8 1/2 hours ahead of you, so response time will be delayed.
A very helpful member of GalaxyS3forums sent me here.

[Q] OPO on T-Mobile - 2nd OPO, same problem - network connection issue

Hello all,
Back again.
I'm trying to get my "2nd" OPO to work on T-Mobile USA.
First of all, it is not a SIM issue. I have 2 microSIMs that can be used freely across all T-Mobile enabled devices.
Once I try to connect to T-Mobile, it gives me a "Your SIM card doesn't allow connection to this network".
I tried the 'unlock the basebands/LTE process', got as far as ADB talk, but I cannot execute the su command, so the setprop does not work.
And this is my 2nd phone, a replacement from OPO. 2nd month running already. The 1st one had the same issue, but at the time I did not do research on tinkering with it,
and was 'NAIVELY' believing in OPO's customer 'service'.
Took me 2 weeks just to get 2 basic replies of "tech support", which didn't help since they gave me rather weak tech suggestions - 1st suggestion was reset, 2nd suggestion
was to look at the T-Mobile thread (I cannot connect to network, so how do you expect me to connect to APN?!?) . Then took them 3 weeks to go through the RMA process,
and yet another 2 weeks to send me a replacement(not).
Any assistance appreciated.

Check your imei on the tmo compatibility site. It could be blocked. Dumber things have happened. Double check that the SIM is installed properly. Second replacement and multiple sims seems to point at something you are doing.

Coug76 said:
Check your imei on the tmo compatibility site. It could be blocked. Dumber things have happened. Double check that the SIM is installed properly. Second replacement and multiple sims seems to point at something you are doing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your response!
Yes, the IMEI is not recognized on t-mobile. Which is stupid since this is the second one (the 1st one had the same issue too).
Has anyone else gone through this frustrating experience? To have two OPOs whose IMEIs are not recognized is...... well.... $!%#!. :silly:
SIM installations are fine. I have done them multiple times, with the same results.

neov8 said:
Thank you for your response!
Yes, the IMEI is not recognized on t-mobile. Which is stupid since this is the second one (the 1st one had the same issue too).
Has anyone else gone through this frustrating experience? To have two OPOs whose IMEIs are not recognized is...... well.... $!%#!. :silly:
SIM installations are fine. I have done them multiple times, with the same results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Future reference no need to create a new thread to ask the same question as before. You should of just continued your first thread so others would know what you have been going through and what was done to try and fix it. Glad you got it sorted or did you....

playya said:
Future reference no need to create a new thread to ask the same question as before. You should of just continued your first thread so others would know what you have been going through and what was done to try and fix it. Glad you got it sorted or did you....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it.
Unfortunately no. Second OPO, same issues again. IMEI is not supported either. So, Groundhog Day here.

I'm with you man. I left vzw for T-Mobile and struggled like hell with getting the OPO working properly on it. From loaner phones to multiple sims, they/we tried everything. End result was to leave for at& . The signal is strong, but yet I keep missing calls daily. This beauty is going up on eBay. I just can't take it anymore. Sucks because Dev involvement is Huge here

Register and activate your phone with T-Mobile... I had the same issues for MetroPCS, and that fixed it.
Sent from my Rockin 1+1 on XDA Premium...

Jimmy Rudedog said:
Register and activate your phone with T-Mobile... I had the same issues for MetroPCS, and that fixed it.
Sent from my Rockin 1+1 on XDA Premium...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont have any issues with network on Tmo, but what do u mean by register and activate ?

What I am saying is, you need to contact your carrier and get your IMEI entered into their system in order for the phone to run all services correctly on your carrier... whether it be T-Mobile or anybody else.
My 1+1 ran most of the services and operated on my SIM card and phone number in my hometown area. But, when I went to another area or town, it would not register with or run on any carrier... NONE! not even roaming like it does at home. I had to go to MetroPCS (on T-Mo network) and get my phone activated onto their system for it to run data, and 4G LTE. By just inserting the SIM card does not automatically sign your phone into the system and you should call or go to a dealer store and get it turned onto your particular carrier to run the network correctly.
Hope this clarifies my statement.

I never had to register or the like with my OPO for t-mobile. Didn't have to with my wife's OPO either.

It's a common enough issue across carriers. Sometime you do have to register the phone, and make sure you have the correct APN settings.
I just gave my daughter my OPO, I had Consumer Cellular (ATT) SIM in it. She dropped in her T-Mobile SIM and off she went, working perfectly. She's been using the phone about 2 weeks now, and in response to your question, I just checked her aPN, since I knew it's been working perfectly for her, only to discover the phone pulled in a MetroPCS APN! It's been working so well, she doesn't want me to change it to the T-Mobile APNs that are in the list.
Here is her APN settings (Calif-San Diego area), MetroPCS
name MetroPCS LTE
apn fast.metropcs.com
MMSC http://metorpcs.mmsmvno.com/mms/wapenc
mcc 310
mnc 260
apn type default,mms,supl
apn protocol IPV4
apn roaming protocol IPV4
mvno type none

Coug76 said:
I never had to register or the like with my OPO for t-mobile. Didn't have to with my wife's OPO either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What APN is you OPO set to?

I had just popped in the SIM card and it did work in my local area. But when I went outta town, my phone wouldn't connect to any services, no roaming either. I use MetroPCS on T-Mobile network, and nothing would run without activation on their system and registering the IMEI. So, results may vary depending on the carrier or area.
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

registering
I am a frequent visitor to the USA from Canada. Usually with my original Samsung or Nexus rdware from Canadian carriers, but unlocked.
Each US carrier has insisted on registering my IMEI prior to activating a SIM. It seems to the user you can pull a SIM and place in any old device and most times, no problem. But that's not the carrier approved method.
T-MO was very insistent on this. To the point they would not activate a SIM for me with out the device and the IMEI first
Hopefully registering with your carrier solves this. It's a thing and may be the point of issue for you.

[Q] Switching from Sprint to AT&T?

Hey Folks,
I have a Nexus 5, which I bought from the Play store and have been using on Sprint for the past year. I'm switching carriers to AT&T and would like to know if my device will work on their network. I went to an AT&T store and tried swapping out my SIM for one of theres but the "AT&T" logo didn't show up on my phone and I wasn't able to use voice/text/data. Then, when I tried swapping my sprint SIM back in I had a ton of trouble, in the end, the sprint store had to factory reset my phone to get it to work again. I guess my question is, are there any specific settings that need to be changed or a specific manner in which i switch the SIM cards to get it to work on AT&T? A Sprint rep told me it work on AT&T but that can't be right, the phone is unlocked after all. Any and all input is welcomed!

A lot of people here use ATT me included. You'll have to change your APN to ATT. You also will have to give them your phones IMEI. After that you'll be all set.

theesotericone said:
A lot of people here use ATT me included. You'll have to change your APN to ATT. You also will have to give them your phones IMEI. After that you'll be all set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to switch sims between ting(sprint MVNO) and ATT since I work in areas sometimes that does not have att service, and I never had a problem going between the two. Did you try to reset the radio on the phone?

theesotericone said:
A lot of people here use ATT me included. You'll have to change your APN to ATT. You also will have to give them your phones IMEI. After that you'll be all set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chapelfreak said:
I used to switch sims between ting(sprint MVNO) and ATT since I work in areas sometimes that does not have att service, and I never had a problem going between the two. Did you try to reset the radio on the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys,
I looked for APN settings on my phone and googled it but I couldn't find those options. I tried updating the profile before, updating the PRL, restarting it multiple times and turning the radio on and off. Also tried switching the network type between Global and LTE options multiple times, which only worked < 1% of the time. Finally, I went to the sprint store where they did a factory reset and now it only works on 3G (no LTE). This is a family plan where we're switching to ATT permanently. My sister is sending me some sort of "customized" SIM card for my phone (they took all of my phones info) that should work on ATT. When I go into ATT again to test out my phone, are there any specific settings I need to change or a certain manner in which I switch the SIM cards to test my phone if it works? I wanna test it with a random ATT sim first and not my "customized" SIM card because our ATT line isn't activated as yet, only sprint is.

T-Mobile LTE problem in Canada (Solved)

Hey, thought id ask here. I have s8+ from Freedom Mobile (canada). I unlocked the phone and decided to go with Tmobile. Phone works fine in US but as soon as i went back to Canada DATA doesnt work. Ive had 3g few times but 99% of time its not working. 5 days in Canada already. I did what Tmobile recommenced. didnt help.
After I do a hard reset on the phone i have 3G (which works pretty quick) but it took 20 min for signal to disappear and i havent had it since. Phone calls work absolutely fine, its the data thats a problem. Yes i still have an account with freedom and phone does work fine on LTE there.
Any thoughts???
Im thinking may be I should push a tmobile firmware. May be that will fix it. I think i have tried everything else already.

Own31 said:
Hey, thought id ask here. I have s8+ from Freedom Mobile (canada). I unlocked the phone and decided to go with Tmobile. Phone works fine in US but as soon as i went back to Canada DATA doesnt work. Ive had 3g few times but 99% of time its not working. 5 days in Canada already. I did what Tmobile recommenced. didnt help.
After I do a hard reset on the phone i have 3G (which works pretty quick) but it took 20 min for signal to disappear and i havent had it since. Phone calls work absolutely fine, its the data thats a problem. Yes i still have an account with freedom and phone does work fine on LTE there.
Any thoughts???
Im thinking may be I should push a tmobile firmware. May be that will fix it. I think i have tried everything else already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What Canadian carrier are you connecting to? Try a different one if possible. I have connected to Rogers (LTE) and Telus 3g if I remember correctly.

sabresfan said:
What Canadian carrier are you connecting to? Try a different one if possible. I have connected to Rogers (LTE) and Telus 3g if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what mobile asked me to do. On its own the phone mostly chooses Telus.
I may be able to connect to bell not Rogers. Although phone does connect at times to both bell and Rogers on its own.
Whether I connect or phone does it on its own I still have no interest connection.

Own31 said:
That's what mobile asked me to do. On its own the phone mostly chooses Telus.
I may be able to connect to bell not Rogers. Although phone does connect at times to both bell and Rogers on its own.
Whether I connect or phone does it on its own I still have no interest connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly check your apn and see if it's correct. I had similar issues on my old note 2 like this. Good luck

sabresfan said:
Possibly check your apn and see if it's correct. I had similar issues on my old note 2 like this. Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help. I tried putting an apn for telus since that is the network which the phone is connected right now but nothing happened.
Will search more for a solution

Own31 said:
Thanks for the help. I tried putting an apn for telus since that is the network which the phone is connected right now but nothing happened.
Will search more for a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you enable Data Roaming in Settings?
Do you use T-Mo SIM card? If so, you need to use T-Mo apn.

sabresfan said:
Possibly check your apn and see if it's correct. I had similar issues on my old note 2 like this. Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Danny Noman said:
Did you enable Data Roaming in Settings?
Do you use T-Mo SIM card? If so, you need to use T-Mo apn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep you both are right. Solved it a few days ago. When Sabresfan mentioned it i was trying to get Apn for telus as thats the network S8 connected to in Canada. Then went on youtube and some guy had Apn video for tmobile. I put that in and everything works fine so far. Now even have LTE. Next week will go to states to test see if everything fine with the phone over there.

Problems with customized device and Sprint

I flashed the crDroid ROM onto my stock g7 Power, no problems. Flashed gApps and Magisk, everything ok. I did all of this while the device was unactivated and with the SIM card not in it. Everything works fine. But when I activated the device on the Sprint network and inserted the SIM card, I get no data. I know people have said you can manually edit the APNs in the Mobile Network settings, but the problem for me is, there is no APN option in that menu. However, when I remove the SIM card, I DO see the APN settings option there, but of course the whole menu is grayed out because the SIM card is removed. Has anyone else been able to customize and root one of these phones for use on the US Sprint network? Should I use a different ROM? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Tsuroshi said:
I flashed the crDroid ROM onto my stock g7 Power, no problems. Flashed gApps and Magisk, everything ok. I did all of this while the device was unactivated and with the SIM card not in it. Everything works fine. But when I activated the device on the Sprint network and inserted the SIM card, I get no data. I know people have said you can manually edit the APNs in the Mobile Network settings, but the problem for me is, there is no APN option in that menu. However, when I remove the SIM card, I DO see the APN settings option there, but of course the whole menu is grayed out because the SIM card is removed. Has anyone else been able to customize and root one of these phones for use on the US Sprint network? Should I use a different ROM? Any suggestions would be helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there... This is just a possibility...
A while back, I put my sister's CDMA sim into a custom Rom-ed phone. Couldn't add an APN for the life of me. And then, duh , it turns out it was because the phone radio was set on LTE/UMTS (auto)... Is your radio set for LTE/CDMA?

motolio said:
Hey there... This is just a possibility...
A while back, I put my sister's CDMA sim into a custom Rom-ed phone. Couldn't add an APN for the life of me. And then, duh , it turns out it was because the phone radio was set on LTE/UMTS (auto)... Is your radio set for LTE/CDMA?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turns out it was on "LTE/CDMA/UMTS auto (PRL)". I changed it to "LTE/CDMA auto (PRL)" which is what the Sprint network uses, I'm pretty sure. That did seem to change some things, but I still don't see any APN settings and I still don't have data, unfortunately.* I think this ROM is just not set up to work on the Sprint network? Maybe I'll try flashing a different one.

Tsuroshi said:
Turns out it was on "LTE/CDMA/UMTS auto (PRL)". I changed it to "LTE/CDMA auto (PRL)" which is what the Sprint network uses, I'm pretty sure. That did seem to change some things, but I still don't see any APN settings and I still don't have data, unfortunately.* I think this ROM is just not set up to work on the Sprint network? Maybe I'll try flashing a different one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's a how to video on getting a working apn in a device. Works perfectly on my end.

Tsuroshi said:
I flashed the crDroid ROM onto my stock g7 Power, no problems. Flashed gApps and Magisk, everything ok. I did all of this while the device was unactivated and with the SIM card not in it. Everything works fine. But when I activated the device on the Sprint network and inserted the SIM card, I get no data. I know people have said you can manually edit the APNs in the Mobile Network settings, but the problem for me is, there is no APN option in that menu. However, when I remove the SIM card, I DO see the APN settings option there, but of course the whole menu is grayed out because the SIM card is removed. Has anyone else been able to customize and root one of these phones for use on the US Sprint network? Should I use a different ROM? Any suggestions would be helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever get it going? When I install Pixel Experience + I have no apns at all. Not in system/product/etc or product/etc which is where they are supposed to be located. So I just paste apn.conf.xml in the system/product/etc and set 0644 then go to networks and internet/mobile networks/access point names and hit reset to default and data's on , reboot afterwards and it's all fine. What's your model # on your device? Also are you sure your sim card isn't damaged? When they crack sometimes it's impossible to see with the naked eye. And technically you're not on Sprint anymore you're on T-Mobile because they finally finished the deal and Tmo now owns Sprint. (Which is a really good thing imo) ;p if and when you do get your issue resolved be sure and save your apn.conf.xml and upload it to Google drive or something so you'll have it if you need it again. I noticed that the first APN xml files I linked you to I had apn.config.xml for the name and that's not correct supposed to be apn.conf.xml My bad on that. Sometimes I drink a lot of coffee. [emoji41]
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Is sprint already not cdma?

motolio said:
Is sprint already not cdma?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No nothing has changed at this time. Sprint's still CDMA
Sent from my moto g(7) power using XDA-Developers Legacy app

flash713 said:
No nothing has changed at this time. Sprint's still CDMA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All cdma phones go both ways since around 2015 cdma phones don't use sim card for calling or texting if u use the data then u use sim card aka gsm.Sprint is not going to change for at least 3 years on there current phone plans as for going to gsm only do not know as most companies are fashing out cdma cause it old tec .That is what I have found out from T-Mobile web sight

roadkill42 said:
All cdma phones go both ways since around 2015 cdma phones don't use sim card for calling or texting if u use the data then u use sim card aka gsm.Sprint is not going to change for at least 3 years on there current phone plans as for going to gsm only do not know as most companies are fashing out cdma cause it old tec .That is what I have found out from T-Mobile web sight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please tell me more about CDMA also using GSM because they are two different technologies.. CDMA was used by USA military back in ww2 to send messages safely and GSM is what most the world uses. CDMA has always been more of a USA tech while GSM has always been pretty much what everyone else uses. They both send information in different ways. They do not work the same or together far as I know.
If you want to be more compatible with development use a GSM carrier like Metro, T-Mobile because GSM is what still rules the world far as phone tech goes. And we here in the USA only make up a small piece of the world far as development goes.