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.
Related
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!
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 have an SM-G935V phone. I have flashed the "G935U" Nougat on it to get rid of the VZW bloatware. Eventually I even got the Oreo OTA update. U version. The LTE bands remained unchanged after flash and upgrade to the "V" ones.
Now, I am using it on a VZW MVNO, so LTE bands where OK for me. Because I am curious, I have added all the LTE bands that the U version would have using the Qualcomm software, as described here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/general/how-to-add-rf-lte-frequency-bands-to-t2886059
The NV cell #06828 for my original V radio had the value 4190. That means LTE bands 2,3,4,5,7,13.
I have changed that cell value to 2062440470751. That means LTE bands 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,13,20,25,26,29,30,38,39,40,41 (like they are on the U hardware, plus band 13 that is not found on the U).
Didn't add B17 because presently it's just a subset of B12.
Well... when I have traveled in EU, band 20 didn't seem to work. But I admit I didn't do extensive testing.
Now, in US, I had the occasion to test an AT&T SIM. To my surprise, I found out that bands 12 and 30 seemed to have appeared, and I even had CA with band 2 (LTE+). So it seems that that worked... see the pics from service mode.
Band 2 with CA on 12, band 12 with CA on 2 and band 2 with CA on band 30.
I just received, on my SM-G935V hardware, the latest Oreo "U" update (G935UUES4CRG3). I have install it and... of course the LTE bands reverted to the "V" ones, like always.
I have changed them back to the more inclusive set like I did before, however I took a screenshoot of the original LTE band NV value - for whoever is interested. The number is 4190 and that translates into LTE bands 2,3,4,5,7,13. Most of the sites quote more bands for the G935V, but I guess nobody really took the time to actually verify that.
And no, as you can see, just flashing the "U" firmware over "V" won't add any of the missing bands. Those band settings are stored somewhere else, in the modem non-volatile memory.
Did more experimenting. Changing the SIM with another one triggers the re-flashing of the CSC with the new one. Well... surprise the AT&T SIM added the needed bands with CSC ATT.
Picture attached.
Putting back the Tracfone SIM, CSC code was re-flashed (TFN) and... NV was re-written with the 4190 one (LTE bands 2,3,4,5,7,13).
See attached the pic of the Service menu *#2263# from AT&T CSC listing the bands. I can't take screenshoots from the TFN one, because that SIM blocks the Service RIL menu.
So, modding the bands can be useless, because it gets re-written by the CSC settings at every SIM change.
I found out how to enable the Service Menu *#0011# on my Verizon SIM, in case that anyone is interested.
The dialer code for enabling is *#22745927 , followed by MSL "000000". If your phone is carrier locked, the MSL will be different.
I just came back from a visit to Spain, Vodafone SIM, and I saw LTE bands 3, 7 and 20 working on my S7Edge Verizon with the "U" firmware - I have used cellmapper to map the towers.
No modding was needed, maybe because those are also present in the underlying V hardware.
Very nice write-up. I'll have to try that!
I read that I can install the firmeware of sm-935U in my sm-935V, but when i enter in sammobile page ,there is a huge list of 935U firmeware, wich of those do i have to select to work fine in my phone
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.
I live in Australia and I know there's carrier firmware for Samsung phones Optus, Telstra, Vodaphone, and just XSA for Australia I would like to know if Optus, Telstra, Vodaphone specifically tune there modem files they provide in there firmware, so using Optus firmware with Optus sim card provides a better reception, battery life network speeds, then say using XSA with a modem that's for all Australia and no specific network intended.
I've also read someone suggesting sometimes carriers don't update there modem files they just stick with one that they found to work throughout a phones lifetime, uncertain how true untrue this statement was.
Thanks.
Alister. said:
I live in Australia and I know there's carrier firmware for Samsung phones Optus, Telstra, Vodaphone, and just XSA for Australia I would like to know if Optus, Telstra, Vodaphone specifically tune there modem files they provide in there firmware, so using Optus firmware with Optus sim card provides a better reception, battery life network speeds, then say using XSA with a modem that's for all Australia and no specific network intended.
I've also read someone suggesting sometimes carriers don't update there modem files they just stick with one that they found to work throughout a phones lifetime, uncertain how true untrue this statement was.
Thanks.
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Different carriers use different network/radio bands, the modem in their firmware is designed to work with the bands that their network supports. That is why a modem from one carrier's firmware won't work with another carrier's network if they support different radio bands. The XSA firmware uses bands that they all support, they just might not be the optimal bands supported by the various carriers, the "generic" bands instead of the "best" bands for "this" network or "that" network, it will work on those other networks, it just won't be as efficient as using the modem that comes in that carrier's firmware.
In other words, the modem in the XSA firmware might work on the Telstra network, it just won't work as well as the modem that comes in Telstra's firmware.
As for the question about whether a carrier updates their modem or not, depends on the network or the devices they offer. Usually, modems aren't updated unless improvements are made to the network itself that require the modem to be updated.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
Different carriers use different network/radio bands, the modem in their firmware is designed to work with the bands that their network supports. That is why a modem from one carrier's firmware won't work with another carrier's network if they support different radio bands. The XSA firmware uses bands that they all support, they just might not be the optimal bands supported by the various carriers, the "generic" bands instead of the "best" bands for "this" network or "that" network, it will work on those other networks, it just won't be as efficient as using the modem that comes in that carrier's firmware.
In other words, the modem in the XSA firmware might work on the Telstra network, it just won't work as well as the modem that comes in Telstra's firmware.
As for the question about whether a carrier updates their modem or not, depends on the network or the devices they offer. Usually, modems aren't updated unless improvements are made to the network itself that require the modem to be updated.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
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Yes i have extracted the modem file and flashed it before say Telstra and then got reception while using a Optus sim card, so your definitely sure in this case of Telstra, Vodaphone, and Optus providing modems optimised for there networks which XSA doesn't have?
The reason i ask is if that's true then i want to download, multiple firmwares for Optus for example extract the modem file from each, work out which one out of probably several Optus has released provides the best, reception, battery life, 4G data speeds is most reliable, i just hope it's not we assume XSA and telsta, vodaphone and optus are all different when in fact they are all the same.
Of course when it's LG vs Xiaomi or Oppo ect then definitely either the manufacture provided the modem files, or a carrier did if they market sell that phone on there network since they modify the firmware, hard to be sure they change the modem themselfs instead of sticking with the manufactures provided modem.
Hopefully that makes more sense.