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Note 3 N9005, keep or not?!

Made a boo boo and purchased the N9005 variant and I'm a straight talk user. I'm sure you can put two and two together and realize I'm only getting 3G service. Now I'm debating to keep the phone or purchase the N900A variant? Either be patient and wait for a tutorial release where At&t's LTE bands are readable or go purchase the N900A?!

PatienceWithin said:
Made a boo boo and purchased the N9005 variant and I'm a straight talk user. I'm sure you can put two and two together and realize I'm only getting 3G service. Now I'm debating to keep the phone or purchase the N900A variant? Either be patient and wait for a tutorial release where At&t's LTE bands are readable or go purchase the N900A?!
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Can't remember whether I said in your last thread or not about it, but I'll post again lol. Do you need/want 4G/LTE? - if you can live with 3G then keep it, Plus a few people testify that the Snapdragon model is the better one AND there's more in terms of development and ROMs.

radicalisto said:
Can't remember whether I said in your last thread or not about it, but I'll post again lol. Do you need/want 4G/LTE? - if you can live with 3G then keep it, Plus a few people testify that the Snapdragon model is the better one AND there's more in terms of development and ROMs.
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Yes actually I do need the 4G for the use I put into the N9005. Where I'm located. There is no data sent over 3G network. I went to send a text yesterday and I had to downsize it because of no data.

PatienceWithin said:
Yes actually I do need the 4G for the use I put into the N9005. Where I'm located. There is no data sent over 3G network. I went to send a text yesterday and I had to downsize it because of no data.
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In that case, you kinda answered your own question. Probably better to sell up and get that old N900(A) badboy :good:
You may get lucky and find someone who wants an N9005 and has an N900A, nothing is impossible these days.

radicalisto said:
In that case, you kinda answered your own question. Probably better to sell up and get that old N900(A) badboy :good:
You may get lucky and find someone who wants an N9005 and has an N900A, nothing is impossible these days.
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Selling it wouldn't be an issue. I'm just looking for an answer "If anyone is actually looking into tweeking the N9005 to read At&t's bands or not." Why I kind of posted this question if I should keep the phone or not. Hate to sell it, two weeks later. Someone found out how to add the two bands.

The bounty for changing the bands has been up a while, now the HW does support it, but there is a reason someone/people haven't changed them (yet) - plus there is a legal side to changing frequencies in countries etc

radicalisto said:
The bounty for changing the bands has been up a while, now the HW does support it, but there is a reason someone/people haven't changed them (yet) - plus there is a legal side to changing frequencies in countries etc
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Which is why I'm thinking with the whole legal spectrum of it. The tweek hasn't been released. :crying:
Could possibly just keep it for a rainy day and have both variants.

PatienceWithin said:
Which is why I'm thinking with the whole legal spectrum of it. The tweek hasn't been released. :crying:
Could possibly just keep it for a rainy day and have both variants.
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Indeed you could, if you can afford to have both then do so, you can play around on the 9005 variant with ROMs etc or use as a media player or a backup phone.

radicalisto said:
Indeed you could, if you can afford to have both then do so, you can play around on the 9005 variant with ROMs etc or use as a media player or a backup phone.
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Still have yet to break her in but noticed the N900 variant. Would that be classified as the unbranded version of the variants At&t and T-Mobile are running or?

PatienceWithin said:
Still have yet to break her in but noticed the N900 variant. Would that be classified as the unbranded version of the variants At&t and T-Mobile are running or?
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Yes would be similar/same as unbranded
The difference is the A and V variants have a locked bootloader - whereas the 900/9005 don't iirc

radicalisto said:
Yes would be similar/same as unbranded
The difference is the A and V variants have a locked bootloader - whereas the 900/9005 don't iirc
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Not to sound "stupid" but I am sounding stupid. Therefore that variant would read At&t 4G/LTE? Google isn't very friendly when trying to search this.

PatienceWithin said:
Not to sound "stupid" but I am sounding stupid. Therefore that variant would read At&t 4G/LTE? Google isn't very friendly when trying to search this.
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It should do yes, unless ATT have some stupid agreement with Samsung which I doubt.
Give ATT a ring, ask them if they support the N900 to be 100%

radicalisto said:
It should do yes, unless ATT have some stupid agreement with Samsung which I doubt.
Give ATT a ring, ask them if they support the N900 to be 100%
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To kill anyone's doubts. For future readers, it does support At&t 4G/LTE.
Thanks Rad for the help!

No problem

CDMA Galaxy s6 modem

So it seems the CDMA s6 uses the qualcomm MDM9635 modem instead of the shannon 333. This is surely because of the fact CDMA patents are largely owned by qualcomm (something along the lines of that) . What I want to speculate on is the fact that both the sprint and U. S. Cellular version have more lte bands listed than the Verizon model. Most notably 12 and 17. These would be great to have especially if someone ever wanted to jump ship to T-Mobile or AT&T (I'm sure for that exact reason verizon probably asked for them to be disabled). I'm wondering if we ever received root, and that's a big if, we could theoretically unlock those bands also. All in all it would make this phone more globally and domestically appealing. What are you guys thoughts on this? Hopefully we can have some devs jump aboard once we achieve root to make this happen.

jgeorge15 said:
So it seems the CDMA s6 uses the qualcomm MDM9635 modem instead of the shannon 333. This is surely because of the fact CDMA patents are largely owned by qualcomm (something along the lines of that) . What I want to speculate on is the fact that both the sprint and U. S. Cellular version have more lte bands listed than the Verizon model. Most notably 12 and 17. These would be great to have especially if someone ever wanted to jump ship to T-Mobile or AT&T (I'm sure for that exact reason verizon probably asked for them to be disabled). I'm wondering if we ever received root, and that's a big if, we could theoretically unlock those bands also. All in all it would make this phone more globally and domestically appealing. What are you guys thoughts on this? Hopefully we can have some devs jump aboard once we achieve root to make this happen.
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Just a guess but I don't think just having root would allow this as at bare minimum it sounds like you'd have to modify the RIL.

Just get a Canadian variant G920W8. No CDMA support, but full LTE interoperability with SHANNON333 modem supporting Band 12, 13, 17, 2, 4, 5, 29.

Hmmmm...try this maybe
jgeorge15 said:
So it seems the CDMA s6 uses the qualcomm MDM9635 modem instead of the shannon 333. This is surely because of the fact CDMA patents are largely owned by qualcomm (something along the lines of that) . What I want to speculate on is the fact that both the sprint and U. S. Cellular version have more lte bands listed than the Verizon model. Most notably 12 and 17. These would be great to have especially if someone ever wanted to jump ship to T-Mobile or AT&T (I'm sure for that exact reason verizon probably asked for them to be disabled). I'm wondering if we ever received root, and that's a big if, we could theoretically unlock those bands also. All in all it would make this phone more globally and domestically appealing. What are you guys thoughts on this? Hopefully we can have some devs jump aboard once we achieve root to make this happen.
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Click to collapse
Could try the Qualcom Unlocking Bands thread....http://forum.xda-developers.com/cro...ad-progress-please-leave-im-updating-t2871269

milan03 said:
Just get a Canadian variant G920W8. No CDMA support, but full LTE interoperability with SHANNON333 modem supporting Band 12, 13, 17, 2, 4, 5, 29.
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If CDMA wasn't an issue I would have got the international SM-G925F because that has plenty of LTE Band support. But at least for the next few years verizon still has a CDMA network and where I'm at that's the only provider I get good service with.

sd_N said:
Could try the Qualcom Unlocking Bands thread....http://forum.xda-developers.com/cro...ad-progress-please-leave-im-updating-t2871269
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I actually did this with the one plus I had but I don't know if I want to try this with my s6. Don't have time to really fix things if anything goes wrong unfortunately or I would have

jgeorge15 said:
I actually did this with the one plus I had but I don't know if I want to try this with my s6. Don't have time to really fix things if anything goes wrong unfortunately or I would have
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I tried on my rooted G920V. Can not connect to QPST or DFS. Are you sure there is a MDM9635?

lostvangel said:
I tried on my rooted G920V. Can not connect to QPST or DFS. Are you sure there is a MDM9635?
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Well in all honesty the sprint galaxy s6 uses the mdm9635 as per a sprint rdf file on the phone. I was just making the assumption that the Verizon one would use the same one.

I'd love to hear if anyone else succeeds w/ this. I need more LTE bands than the crap list that Verizon supports on this damn modem

BobbySteel said:
I'd love to hear if anyone else succeeds w/ this. I need more LTE bands than the crap list that Verizon supports on this damn modem
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The hardware is definitely capable. It's just a matter of someone more experienced tampering around. It should be on a software side that the bands are being disabled. Unfortunately if there is code within the kernel itself that's blocking these bands we may never be able to utilize them.

BobbySteel said:
I'd love to hear if anyone else succeeds w/ this. I need more LTE bands than the crap list that Verizon supports on this damn modem
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Verizon supports very few other LTE Bands for international users. Those in Asia do not have LTE coverage.

jgeorge15 said:
I actually did this with the one plus I had but I don't know if I want to try this with my s6. Don't have time to really fix things if anything goes wrong unfortunately or I would have
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Do you think this is possible on the verizon s6 galaxy? My phone has a custom rom but my kernel and bootloader are stock.

kmalh said:
Do you think this is possible on the verizon s6 galaxy? My phone has a custom rom but my kernel and bootloader are stock.
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The thing is its stated you might need a custom kernel for these changes to stick. Seeing as our bootloader is locked most likely we will never get anything more than a custom rom. I don't really think any devs are looking into this. Modem work isn't really my cup of tea. Hope eventually someone comes up with something.

U.S. Unlocked vs International Unlocked phone

Hello
I'm looking at replacing my S4 with an S7. My carrier in the US is AT&T and that won't be changing. I've been looking at different unlocked versions and can't find a solid representation of what the real world differences are. I know they have different processors. Some say a band is missing, but does that matter. I don't use android or samsung pay, but i know there is a difference here too. I found one comment about some kind of samsung 'coverage' plan, but what is that?
Best Buy has US unlocked phones for about $700. B&H Photo has an International phone for about $640. Its a lot of money either way. Is one phone really better or different than that other?
I am planning a trip through Canada and maybe to Europe. I assume either would take a SIM from those areas and I could avoid getting raped by international fees.
Here is a summary of question I can think of:
Does the US unlocked phone from BestBuy have a warranty or insurance or anything like that?
Can the US phone be rooted. I only do this to remove apps I don't use.
Is the hardware one vs the other really better or just different?
Does a dual SIM do anything useful?
Does a band being missing make a real world difference?
Is there a good comparison somewhere to that can decide on a phone to purchase?

It comes with a limited warranty as stated on their site:
"This device is not warrantied through the manufacturer. This device has a limited 1 year warranty provided by CCR Warranty. To obtain technical or warranty assistance, please contact CCR Warranty at 866-579-8436."
What I don't know is how useful/limited that warranty is. I'd like the HTC 10 but the unlocked S7 is my runner up, and the warranty issue is one of the major factors in my hesitation.
I do believe it can be rooted.
As far as I know, through research, the only major difference between the two is battery life.

Hello, I'll just go straight to the answers.
1. I'm going to assume that if you go through a carrier (att, t-mobile etc etc.) they will offer an insurance plan. You will have to go to third party insurance for the international version
2. As far I know, the US version does not have a root option yet. Because of the locked bootloader.
3. Hardware will depend on which version you choose. Both are very good.
4. Dual sim is as the name implies, you'll be able to use 2 separate sim cards with their respective #s. that's the only benefit really.
5. Missing radio bands is something you may have to do some research on depending your location.
6. I'm sure YouTube or some online site will have some reviews/comparison of both.

I just looked at the best buy website again and something is different. The S7 listed for $690 is definitely the international version and not the US version. When I looked last month I was positive that the phone was listed as a US phone ... huh

A little late
a little late to the thread but just wanted to share what I learned while researching the matter.
There is an US unlocked version of the S7 (g930u) and available through a few places (Best Buy, B&H, Ebay). It goes for $679.99 retail and I have not been able to find one that goes for less. Probably because it just came out end of June. The biggest benefit of it is that it has a bunch of bands and CDMA-compatible. Thus, you can get full connection with AT&T and TMobile. Downside is no wifi calling or VOLTE (as those seem to be locked by the carriers to their own phones).
The international versions (930f/930fd) are both available on Ebay/Swappa for about $500. Upside are that they have the Exnyos chip and no bloatware. You can also root and flash them with new ROM. Another thing is that you get updates earlier. I got Marshmallow on my s6 a month or so before AT&T released its update. Downsides are no Samsung Pay or WiFi Calling/VOLTE and the biggie...missing bands. I had a g920i and it was missing support for bands 29 and 30 on AT&T...this led to poor LTE and indoor reception at times. I would have to turn on/off the mobile data switch sometimes to get good connection.
Finally, we have carrier based versions, which loads you down with bloatware and has the Snapdragon chip. But, it does support all features of your carrier. Slower updates also an issue and lack of support of all bands internationally are additional drawbacks. Cost is also about $500.
Personally, I am going with an unlocked 930a. Bloatware sucks but I can delete or disable almost all of them. Snapdragon seems pretty powerful to me. Samsung Pay, Wifi Calling, and Band support are just too important for me. Note, make sure you ask the seller on Ebay/Swappa about whether the phone is unlocked.
Hope that helps.

I did a lot of research into this before buying my S7 but was kind of screwed since I'm on Verizon (CDMA)...
Since you're on AT&T you have more options.
There are two different processors in the two different models, Snapdragon 820 in the US CDMA capable and an Eyxnos in the International GSM ONLY phone.
After doing my research, I personally recommend the Eyxnos, which I couldn't get :/
If for nothing else, better battery life, by far. Do some research into the comparison between the two.
However! When buying from Best Buy be careful!
Last I checked, on their website, the black/onyx S7 was an unlocked US Snapdragon 820 phone.... while strangely enough the other two, gold and silver? were both unlocked US (actually international) Eyxnos phones.
Also, last I checked Samsung themselves only sell the CDMA snapdragon processor model to the US.
Unless Best Buy made a mistake listing the Eyxnos processor, it is the only way to get that model without buying an "internationally sourced" phone on ebay.

Just a few notes:
1) The G930u is fully compatible with all the US Carriers
2) VoLTE works on both T-Mobile and Verizon
3) Wi-Fi Calling works on T-Mobile and potentially Verizon (but I am not positive about Verizon).
The big downside to the G930u is that for whatever reason it is not receiving updates from Samsung when its branded siblings are.

S7 Snapdragon on AT&T? International Exynos Ulocked? Help please!

Hi - several months ago I read a lot about choosing between Exynos (intnl through Best Buy) and Snapdragon/AT&T.
It seemed there were a few tradeoffs to consider.
First and foremost people said the Exynos performance and battery life were better, but then once the Exynos phones received a software update around May they started exhibiting the battery drain issue that seemed to be plaguing Snapdragon phones. So much so that numerous people were recommending flashing back to a previous update version to avoid the battery drain bug. Reading through the forums I havent been able to figure out whether these problems have been sorted out and corrected on either phone?
I also recall that the international version did not have ability to use Samsung Pay in the US? I cant understand based on the threads I have read whether this is now in fact possible?
I Have also read varying things on the data performance on AT&T networks of the international version. It seems people have concluded that certain functions may not work but that generally 4G LTE speeds and network reception should be the same.
Is this a good summary? I would love any thoughts or advice on deciding between these two models.
Thanks.

Exynos International all the way, faster phone, unlockable bootloader with a couple of settings changes, more development support
I own that phone and there is no battery drain running the latest firmware

Thanks for the quick feedback. Do you run that phone on AT&T with no issues?
Is Samsung Pay usable yet on that phone?

I was in the same position and went with the AT&T version. International version (G930F/G930FD) does not have full band support for AT&T (no 29 or 30), no Samsung Pay, and no Wifi Calling/VoLTE.
I had an international S6 and would lose connection at times. The lack of Samsung Pay was also annoying. The lack of bloatware was nice but you can uninstall/disable most of them.

lirong said:
Thanks for the quick feedback. Do you run that phone on AT&T with no issues?
Is Samsung Pay usable yet on that phone?
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No, I'm in the UK, sorry didn't realise you wanted to use it on AT&T, just wondering between the two different models
If you can get full support for AT&T's services, the Exynos would be the best option

Exynos Note8 on AT&T?

Has anyone considered using the Global or the Korean version of this phone on ATT network? I don't buy a phone if I can't have bootloader unlock and root access. Right now it looks like only Exynos versions of this phone will have this. Just wanted to know if anyone is using one on ATT and what their experience has been.

Kul_dood said:
Has anyone considered using the Global or the Korean version of this phone on ATT network? I don't buy a phone if I can't have bootloader unlock and root access. Right now it looks like only Exynos versions of this phone will have this. Just wanted to know if anyone is using one on ATT and what their experience has been.
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There is a big discussion about this over on the S8+ forum. There are trade offs, but I think they have ironed out most of the big set backs.

ShrekOpher said:
There is a big discussion about this over on the S8+ forum. There are trade offs, but I think they have ironed out most of the big set backs.
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Would you mind linking to that thread please?
I did a comparison of the bands and it seems the Korean version (SM-N950N) has all the same bands as the ATT version. I figure I just pop in my SIM card and go. Am I misssing anything?

Kul_dood said:
Would you mind linking to that thread please?
I did a comparison of the bands and it seems the Korean version (SM-N950N) has all the same bands as the ATT version. I figure I just pop in my SIM card and go. Am I misssing anything?
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Some of AT&T's network features will not work.
WiFi calling, VoLTE, etc.
There are some workarounds out there, but the results vary.

Kul_dood said:
Would you mind linking to that thread please?
I did a comparison of the bands and it seems the Korean version (SM-N950N) has all the same bands as the ATT version. I figure I just pop in my SIM card and go. Am I misssing anything?
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I think Band like 28 or 29 is missing. It's the carrier aggregation band. So you won't miss it unless you live in a big city.
I know there were other issues as well, I ended up getting the AT&T S8+ and now the AT&T Note 8. Too many weird things to deal with on the international versions.
I think it's missing G things like Samsung pay as well.
Also root is a bit tricky now too. You can use magisk to hide your root from "Safety Net" checking apps (Netflix, Samsung pay, Android pay, Pokémon Go etc.) but every time Google updates Safety Net or any of those apps update your access to them will be broken until magisk gets updated. Can take weeks sometimes.

Kul_dood said:
Would you mind linking to that thread please?
I did a comparison of the bands and it seems the Korean version (SM-N950N) has all the same bands as the ATT version. I figure I just pop in my SIM card and go. Am I misssing anything?
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Here is a thread that is the Exynos on Tmobile related to the Note 8
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-8/help/slow-lte-n950f-uk-clove-t-mobile-usa-t3688437