I am thinking about buying an unlocked G930F due to it being the only GSM model with an unlocked bootloader compared to the G930T. I was wondering if anybody had experience using the G930F on T-Mobile (or possibly ATT). I currently use Straight Talk on T-mobile's towers (previously used ATT and could switch back to their towers in the future). My concerns include:
1. Are you able to connect to all T-mobile bands (including band 12)?
2. Are you getting VoLTE?
3. Are you able to perform wifi-calling and/or wifi-texting?
4. Did you need to flash any international T-mobile firmware (made for the G930F Exynos model as opposed to the G930T Qualcomm model) in order gain access to VoLTE and/or wifi calling?
5. Did you have any problems with buying a "region locked" device where you couldn't immediately activate it on t-mobile?
6. Would you still recommend going with the G930F as opposed to an unlocked G930T?
I am still rocking my Galaxy S5 G900T running CM, but what I'm gathering is that the newer TW ROM is not as clunky as prior iterations. Some of your posts are really winning me over on the camera quality and battery life.
Cheers!
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Hi everyone, I heard a rumor that the Galaxy S7 has identical internal hardware across all carrier models in the US, and that the antenna bands are simply switched on and off in the firmware. Thus, if I were to buy the AT&T Galaxy S7 (930A), could I flash the firmware to T-Mobile (930T) and have full 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE support with all of the necessary carrier bands? Or would I still be missing a few?
I'm assuming that I would be flashing the firmware from Samobile with Odin and that I need to carrier unlock the phone and the bootloader first.
For those wondering why I want to do this, there's a huge sale on the AT&T model on Samsung's store.
shanez1215 said:
Hi everyone, I heard a rumor that the Galaxy S7 has identical internal hardware across all carrier models in the US, and that the antenna bands are simply switched on and off in the firmware. Thus, if I were to buy the AT&T Galaxy S7 (930A), could I flash the firmware to T-Mobile (930T) and have full 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE support with all of the necessary carrier bands? Or would I still be missing a few?
I'm assuming that I would be flashing the firmware from Samobile with Odin and that I need to carrier unlock the phone and the bootloader first.
For those wondering why I want to do this, there's a huge sale on the AT&T model on Samsung's store.
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I think the only difference in terms of hardware is the processor. The international version seems to be better on battery too.
The big difference overall is that you probably can't root the US version since the bootloader is blocked.
Check these links out for the processor/battery comparison:
http://beebom.com/snapdragon-820-vs-exynos-8890/
charliebigpot said:
I think the only difference in terms of hardware is the processor. The international version seems to be better on battery too.
The big difference overall is that you probably can't root the US version since the bootloader is blocked.
<Can't include link in quote due to XDA's spam thing>]
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I meant between the versions in the US (T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, etc.). If there's no differences, then all I have to do is change the software.
I didn't know that the US S7 can't be rooted. Can you unlock the bootloader?
shanez1215 said:
I meant between the versions in the US (T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, etc.). If there's no differences, then all I have to do is change the software.
I didn't know that the US S7 can't be rooted. Can you unlock the bootloader?
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I have a us Cellular s7 edge, currently running the 935u firmware. The s7 carrier models in the united States are basically all the same. There is a root available just check out the other carriers forums. The bootloader cannot be unlocked at the moment.
thescorpion420 said:
I have a us Cellular s7 edge, currently running the 935u firmware. The s7 carrier models in the united States are basically all the same. There is a root available just check out the other carriers forums. The bootloader cannot be unlocked at the moment.
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That's interesting (and kind of scummy for samsung to do especially since they have carrier exclusive sales).
Is the hardware the same for the s6 too?
Question for those who know more than I do... If someone gets a sprint S8+ unlocked (A SPRINT DEVICE THAT HAS BEEN UNLOCKED NOT A FACTORY UNLOCKED DEVICE) to use on GSM (T-mobile, AT&T, etc) will it get all the GSM/LTE freqencies and bands for usa gsm services like T-mobile, AT&T, etc... Or are the SPRINT S8+ crippled on the GSM frequencies?
Araltd said:
Question for those who know more than I do... If someone gets a sprint S8+ unlocked (A SPRINT DEVICE THAT HAS BEEN UNLOCKED NOT A FACTORY UNLOCKED DEVICE) to use on GSM (T-mobile, AT&T, etc) will it get all the GSM/LTE freqencies and bands for usa gsm services like T-mobile, AT&T, etc... Or are the SPRINT S8+ crippled on the GSM frequencies?
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If you flash the U1 firmware that comes from the unlocked US phones, you should be good if the phone's already network/SIM unlocked-that firmware doesn't have the carrier bloat, but it detects the SIM card inserted and will adjust the network stuff accordingly so that it operates on the right bands, etc. If you'd prefer to have all the carrier apps/ bloat as well, there are several threads on carrier switching. Flashing the U1 firmware is fairly straightforward and easy, and most carrier features work; Switching from Sprint firmware to another carrier's firmware is a bit more involved but still totally doable. You're going to have to do one of the two though.
Edit: All of the US models have the exact same hardware, with all of the same radios...the unlocked model is the exact same as a variant from T-Mobile/Sprint/etc. It's just the CP & CSC firmware files that dictate the network stuff.
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I just got an unlocked Samsung Galaxy J3 (2017) J327A from Amazon. This is an unlocked version of an AT&T prepaid phone. My T-Mobile SIM works OK with it. But: (1) VoLTE is not enabled, meaning T-Mobile will not work on 700 MHz Band 12 (which is the whole reason I got this phone, we don't have coverage here on any other band) and (2) wifi calling is greyed out and unavailable.
I had not realized there is more to switching between carriers than just "locked" or "unlocked", because there are different features beyond the basics that are either supported or not supported, and it turns out that having either VoLTE and/or Wifi Calling is pretty much essential for me now.
I'm an utter newbie regarding firmware mods. Is there any hope of changing the firmware on this model to enable VoLTE on T-Mobile and/or wifi calling on T-Mobile? A quick search of this forum only found complaints about seeing a "Wierd VoLTE icon" when they rooted their J327T phone. Which to me actually seems hopeful. The update guides I've seen all warn that firmware must be loaded only into the exact model number called out. Not sure if that means just "J327" or for example "J327x"
My question is: can you change an Unlocked J327A (supporting AT&T features) to a J327T (supporting T-Mobile features) by software tools? Or are there hardware differences, or at least serial-number-based locks to prevent that?
Would like to do the same thing, any luck?
Phone A (mine): G930FD, Superman Android 7
CSC: UK-BTU multi-csc
SIM: StraightTalk T-Mobile towers
APN: StraightTalk
Phone B (friends): G930V, Stock Android 7
CSC: Verizon multi-csc
APN: MetroPCS
My friend got phone B for her MetroPCS sim (which uses T-Mobile towers I think), it didn't work at all. I tested phone B with my StraightTalk T-Mobile sim, it worked, speed test: 42mbps.
Then I decided to try the speed test with my phone A in the same location (a few hours later) and my StraightTalk T-Mobile sim, 12mbps
There are so many varying factors. Which are the ones that matter? My G930F supports more bands and has my proper APN settings, I would think it would be equivalent if not better... I'm guessing it's primarily the BTU CSC? I'd tried T-Mobile CSC but that caused issues. And that other phone is a Verizon CSC anyway. Should I flash to Verizons CSC? Also I'm using Superman ROM.
Also, why wouldn't her MetroPCS sim work in phone B? It worked with mine and they both use T-Mobile towers...
The most important factor here is the phones are completely different SoC with different modems.
The G930FD is Exynos and the international model, the modem is built to the international standard of carrier networks.
The G930V is Snapdragon and the modem specifically designed to make use of the USA network standards which differ to the rest of the world.
So even with the required band support, it's different technology. Outside of the USA, I would expect the G930V to perform worse than the G930FD, and vice versa for inside the USA.
As for why the SIM doesn't work, the G930V is the verizon variant, which is default carrier locked. Since your SIM works it may have been carrier unlocked, but it might not be.
So I bought a T-Mobile unlocked Galaxy S7 (SM-G930T) after reading that there was no difference between unlocked phones except for bloatware. It seems now like that was not entirely correct. My H2o Wireless sim uses the AT&T network, but in my new phone it gets little or no reception almost everywhere I go. It works great in the unlocked Nexus 5 that I'm trying to replace. I have found some scary instructions on these forums and elsewhere that would enable more frequency bands or convert my phone to a SM-G930U. Is that the right way to go, or is there a simpler way to get my old sim card working?
The different variants of the S7 come with carrier specific firmware, so the T-Mobile firmware may not use the modem in the same way as AT&T expects.
Flashing the G930U firmware is probably a good idea, and it's not too difficult http://updato.com/how-to/how-to-install-an-official-samsung-stock-firmware-using-odin
I was also under the impression the G930T was SIM locked by default, unless you got them to unlock it.
Beanvee7 said:
I was also under the impression the G930T was SIM locked by default, unless you got them to unlock it.
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This G930T was labeled "T-Mobile unlocked" on Ebay. I doubt that it got any special treatment. My H2o sim card works, just not very well.
Digging a little deeper, the app Network Cell Info Light tells me I'm using bands 2, 4, and 12. It also tells me I'm using band 5 if I run a USSD code. Bands 2, 4, and 12 are used by both T-Mobile and AT&T, so those make sense. Band 5 is used by AT&T but not T-Mobile, so I don't know why they have that one enabled (or maybe the list of bands I found is wrong). Unfortunately, the same app doesn't display which bands are in use by my Nexus 5 so I can't compare. If I could use AT&T's other bands (17 and 30) maybe things would work better.
Flashing the G930U firmware or even the G930A firmware (although I think the G930A is now the G930U) could change the bands. All of the USA models use the same modem, so if some bands are enabled on one and not the other, it would entirely be firmware.
Beanvee7 said:
Flashing the G930U firmware or even the G930A firmware (although I think the G930A is now the G930U) could change the bands. All of the USA models use the same modem, so if some bands are enabled on one and not the other, it would entirely be firmware.
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Thank you. I'll probably follow your firmware how-to once I can find a chunk of time to work on it. Why do you suppose the G930A and G930U are the same while the G930T is different? Maybe I bought the wrong one. I went with the G930T because I read a few places that it had the least bloatware.
From memory AT&T used to have their own specific branded model like T-mobile, but they eventually discontinued the G930A and just started offering the unbranded version.
Then I believe from that point onwards G930A's just got the G930U firmware updates. So they were once different but aren't any more.
G930U would have the least bloatware because it's the non carrier unbranded version of the phone, most people will flash it over their own phone to remove bloat. G930T may be the least bloated of carrier branded phones, but G930U is least bloated overall.
From a technical level the phones are all identical, it's just how the carrier has customised their firmware. You having the G930T isn't really a problem because you can just flash any other USA model firmware and get the same experience as if you bought it from them branded as theirs.
I flashed a SM-G930U firmware (SM-G930U_2_20181023083753_yako40hi3m_fac.zip) using Odin3 v3.13. That got rid of the T-Mobile bloatware, which is nice, but I still have the same signal problems I had before. Any other ideas? I wonder if this model has an antenna or some other piece of hardware that limits the frequency bands. I very briefly saw Network Cell Info Lite pick up a signal on Band 30, which I had never seen before. Maybe I'll see more of that if I get a chance to take the phone farther from home.