My father recently lost his phone, and so I'm migrating his number to my t-mobile family plan. The only phone he has available is a Samsung Galaxy S7 that he purchased years ago to test with Freedom Pop. It's Sprint branded on boot up, but gives an invalid SIM with a t-mobile sim.
Model: SM-G930P
Software Version: G930PVPSBC TA1
Hardware version: Rev0.6
I've not had to be in the XDA scene for over 6 years since I'd started using Nexus / Pixel phones, so I've let alot of my knowledge slip; but I'm at least capable if pointed in the right direction.
Can someone please help provide me with a checklist of what I need to do to get this phone functional on T-Mobile? If I at least know what I have to do, I can figure out the rest...but given the time crunch of him without a phone and in need for medical reasons, I'm in a bit of a rush and can't study this model phone enough to know what all is necessary.
I'm assuming I need to unlock it, but I've never had to unlock a phone...they've all just worked between carriers for me. I tried contacting Sprint, but they wouldn't unlock it without an account. I tried some shady sites, but they seem expensive and don't understand why needed.
I'm hoping all I need to do is just figure out root access, get a recovery mode installed, flash a T-Mobile or other firmware, and bam...but I really am not sure. Any immediate help would be greatly appreciated!!
I tried contacting Sprint to unlock the phone, but they required I have a Sprint number with them. Seems odd, considering it's a federal law for unlocking now...
Well, I went ahead and just flashed the SM-G930T firmware on my Samsung Galaxy S7....and got an invalid SIM error.
Tried contacting T-Mobile, they went through a bunch and ended up saying Sprint would need to unlock it.
So now I'm stuck...and have no idea what to do next. Seems like I need to setup a Sprint account, get a Sprint number, unlock my phone, and cancel the service? That seems insane...
Was going to do a three way call with Sprint and T-Mobile, and hope somehow something could be sorted. Considering T-Mobile owns Sprint now...this just seems like hassle.
Any advice from anyone would be appreciated!
Related
Hi everyone and thanks for the time to read this.
So, recently I purchased a Galaxy S7 from a co-worker. After bringing it to my house I realized it was SIM locked to the T-Mobile carrier. He bought it already used and sold it to me, so I can't unlock trough the T-Mobile customer service.
After an extensive search on the web I found a few paid solutions (unlock sites, Chimera Tool, some android apps). But since I live in Brazil and not the US they end up costing three times their original value due to money conversion.
I found out that you can extract the unlock code from the phone itself through some softwares ( i.e Chimera Tool). So I ask you: there's a free way to do that? I appreciate any help, thx.
Tl;dr: Need a free way to unlock SIM without contact to carrier (T-Mobile)
HI.
I a having this same problem expect. I am however from the usa. I moved tmoblie has no service in new area. They refuse to unlock my model is sm-G930T. Please anyone with any odeals on this problem let me know...
After searching a lot I found a website that fixed the network lock for me. It was also cheaper than the competition. unblockmysamsung.com
It took only a couple days to fix and I did through Paypal so if it didn't worked I could have asked for a refund.
Unlock method
Hi, can you share how you/they unlocked your S7? I was suppose to avail or their service i dont want anyone to remotely access my computer. Did you root the phone or something? Is this something i can do for free or i really have to pay for their service? Thanks!
I purchased a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note5 from someone who isn't longer reachable on Craigslist, unfortunately they got one over on me, it's blacklisted however I contacted T-Mobile & it was due to non payment but there still isn't anything they can do nor I can do.
To my question, is there anything I can do to fix the issue so I can use it.
I currently have metro pcs, if I were to get it unlocked would it then work?
Help me please!
Thanks in advance,
Joanna
Msjoannalynn said:
I purchased a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note5 from someone who isn't longer reachable on Craigslist, unfortunately they got one over on me, it's blacklisted however I contacted T-Mobile & it was due to non payment but there still isn't anything they can do nor I can do.
To my question, is there anything I can do to fix the issue so I can use it.
I currently have metro pcs, if I were to get it unlocked would it then work?
Help me please!
Thanks in advance,
Joanna
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Click to collapse
If you were to use it on a non-tmobile network (att, straight talk on att,etc) yes. Just none that use tmo network.
I don't know why T-Mobile doesn't do it, but when I has Verizon and the same thing happened to me, they have me an option to pay the balance due on the device and use it. I didn't, they wanted way to much money. But the option was there.
diopskill said:
If you were to use it on a non-tmobile network (att, straight talk on att,etc) yes. Just none that use tmo network.
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Click to collapse
justin94 said:
I don't know why T-Mobile doesn't do it, but when I has Verizon and the same thing happened to me, they have me an option to pay the balance due on the device and use it. I didn't, they wanted way to much money. But the option was there.
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately the information that was provided to you was to the best of my knowledge incorrect. Due to the fact that T-mobile owns Metro PCS it would not be usable even if you unlocked the device. All of the GSM carriers in the U.S share blacklists now and a device cannot be unlocked and taken over to another carrier. I have had this happen to me previously before. A word of advice for all future craigslist transactions call customer care and ask if there is a remaining EIP or Lease balance on the device you are looking to purchase. The individual you are purchasing the device from will have to verify their account and get the information for you but this is the quickest and easiest way to avoid a scam.
If the phone is good and working without a confirmed balance make sure before you leave you make a phone call or two to register the device to your account to somewhat avoid a loss/theft claim as well. If you want to go a step further in ensuring that the device you just bought stays non-listed as lost or stolen complete the IMEI change during the same conversation as the balance inquiry and make sure the representative notates your account that the phone has been purchased from said individual. If they somehow manage to make a claim after that all they will have to do is look at the notes and they will see that both accounts were verified during the process and 9/10 times unlock the device again.
This has happened to me more times than I would like to admit and those are some of the things i have dont to really cover myself in the case of a scam.
I wish you the best of luck with future purchases and sorry for what happened!!
Hey guys
I have a S7 edge which came through a promotional sponsoring deal from Samsung. There is no balance due or anything to be paid off.
I spent the last 3 weeks on hotlines from both T-Mobile and Samsung, trying to unlock the device as right now it only works with T-Mobile US sim cards. To no success.
It clearly is a T-Mobile device, boots up with the t-mobile logo and has all the t-mobile software on it. The unlock app doesn't work at all, not even the temporary one. T-Mobile hotline keeps claiming it is not a t-mobile phone. Just now the supervisor of the tech support hotline tried to "escalate" the unlocking process by overriding something which should have solved the problem instantly. But he said it came back as not being able to be unlocked.
One hotline supervisor a couple days ago claimed she saw it as a t-mobile device "on the other system" after digging deeper but usually they say it's not even a t-mobile phone when i give them the IMEI. She also tried to "escalate" the unlocking process and told me it would take 72h. But now when i called back today, the guy just told me again it is not a t-mobile phone. And the "instnat escalation" his supervisor tried to do didn't go through.
At some point i also was on the Samsung hotline and they claimed it is a t-mobile phone and only t-mo can unlock it.
I am really close to giving up but that would render the device useless for me.
Is there any way to unlock it? I am pretty sure i wouldn't be able to buy an unlock code from one of these sites, i tried to go through the testing service on some of them and it came back as not being unlockable.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I would personally be capable to root the phone, did it before with some of my older phones, but right now i only have direct access to apple devices and from what i know you still need Windows to root a phone? (edit: read up more on this, is JODIN reliable and recommended?) Also i am not sure if rooting a phone would even take off the carrier lock?
Thanks in advance...
edit: please lmk if i posted this in the wrong section of the forum.
Well aside from the fact you're posting about an S7 Edge in the regular S7 forums I'm not sure what to tell you. Are there an T-Mobile stores close to you? If so try taking it to them and see if they can help. If you have any documentation from Samsung saying it's a T-Mobile phone take that with you.
oops yeah sorry please can some moderator please move this to the s7 edge section?
obvisouly t-mobile store won't be of any help. but thanks.
bingo500 said:
oops yeah sorry please can some moderator please move this to the s7 edge section?
obvisouly t-mobile store won't be of any help. but thanks.
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Click to collapse
I have the same question for S7.. have you been able to find a solution?
Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
I'm having the same problem I 've been trying to get my phone unlocked and neither tmobile or Samsung can get it unlocked for over a month now. Samsung refuse to take the phone back so is tmobile ( tmobile said that the phone is not a T-Mobile phone because the IMEI number is not in thier system)
So what I told T-Mobile is I used a link sent by T-Mobile to do the exchange so if something wrong with the phone that's their fault so then I got transferred to an account specialist and filed a warranty exchange . And today I got text message from T-Mobile that says my new phone ;Your order #xxxxxxxx for SAM G935T GS7 EDGE 32G GLD EXCH has shipped! We'll send you a notification when your device is ready for pickup.
bingo500 said:
Hey guys
I have a S7 edge which came through a promotional sponsoring deal from Samsung. There is no balance due or anything to be paid off.
I spent the last 3 weeks on hotlines from both T-Mobile and Samsung, trying to unlock the device as right now it only works with T-Mobile US sim cards. To no success.
It clearly is a T-Mobile device, boots up with the t-mobile logo and has all the t-mobile software on it. The unlock app doesn't work at all, not even the temporary one. T-Mobile hotline keeps claiming it is not a t-mobile phone. Just now the supervisor of the tech support hotline tried to "escalate" the unlocking process by overriding something which should have solved the problem instantly. But he said it came back as not being able to be unlocked.
One hotline supervisor a couple days ago claimed she saw it as a t-mobile device "on the other system" after digging deeper but usually they say it's not even a t-mobile phone when i give them the IMEI. She also tried to "escalate" the unlocking process and told me it would take 72h. But now when i called back today, the guy just told me again it is not a t-mobile phone. And the "instnat escalation" his supervisor tried to do didn't go through.
At some point i also was on the Samsung hotline and they claimed it is a t-mobile phone and only t-mo can unlock it.
I am really close to giving up but that would render the device useless for me.
Is there any way to unlock it? I am pretty sure i wouldn't be able to buy an unlock code from one of these sites, i tried to go through the testing service on some of them and it came back as not being unlockable.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I would personally be capable to root the phone, did it before with some of my older phones, but right now i only have direct access to apple devices and from what i know you still need Windows to root a phone? (edit: read up more on this, is JODIN reliable and recommended?) Also i am not sure if rooting a phone would even take off the carrier lock?
Thanks in advance...
edit: please lmk if i posted this in the wrong section of the forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks guys,
me personally i wasn't able to make any progress. t-mobile customer service is not helping at all.
i did get an OTA t-mobile update in the meantime though lol.
will try the warranty exchange trick. problem is i am not in the US right now.
For the warranty exchange tell them to send it to ur home address not the store. Coz mine got sent to the store I went to pick it up the store couldn't give it to me coz once again the imei number is not registered as a tmobile device. So the store manager told me if I have a Twitter account to look for tmobile on Twitter and keep twitting about it . I spoke with representative and she said she knows about my issue and within 72 hours it will be fixed . The next day I reset my phone thru the recovery mode ( power button volume up home button) after the phone booted I set it up , I revive an OTA update which is "weird" and then after the update i tried the unlock app on the phone and BAM ! The is permanently unlocked .
I purchased the Galaxy s7 Unlocked USA (SM-g930u with AT&T). I quickly found out that the bootloader is locked down and you cannot do very much with it. I did root it, but didn't like it much. My girlfriend has a Galaxy s7 (SM-g930p with Virgin Mobile). She said she would swap me phones so i would be able to customize the device. Does anybody know if this is possible? I've read a couple of posts about swapping firmware, not sure if that is a route, since my bootloader is locked. I bought my sm-g930u 5 days ago from best buy so I can still return it if there is no way to swap phones, or numbers or anything.
Rickyloc said:
I purchased the Galaxy s7 Unlocked USA (SM-g930u with AT&T). I quickly found out that the bootloader is locked down and you cannot do very much with it. I did root it, but didn't like it much. My girlfriend has a Galaxy s7 (SM-g930p with Virgin Mobile). She said she would swap me phones so i would be able to customize the device. Does anybody know if this is possible? I've read a couple of posts about swapping firmware, not sure if that is a route, since my bootloader is locked. I bought my sm-g930u 5 days ago from best buy so I can still return it if there is no way to swap phones, or numbers or anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both devices need to be unlocked and you need to check if each device compatible/allowed on the other network, i.e. AT&T S7 must be allowed on Virgin and Virgin S7 must be allowed on AT&T.
If both devices meet both conditions then all you should need is to put the AT&T SIM in the Virgin device and the Virgin SIM in the AT&T device then go to each carriers website or call each carriers customer support and go through the activation process on each network to get the devices reactivated, you can keep your existing number during the activation process.
It should require no PC tools or flashing unless the Virgin device needs to be unlocked(depending on that device's unlock method, it might or may not require PC or flashing to unlock it).
It should be a pretty straightforward process.
If you're unsure, you can always call both network's customer support and check with them first.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE
Hey all,
Hope this is the correct place for this.
First time I’ve ever had to post here because I couldn’t find what I needed. So I have a T-Mobile note 8 which was sim unlocked by Samsung and T-Mobile because I wanted to give it to my father in law because I just went back to the s8. Now they have Verizon and he is upgrading from an S5.
However I can’t get the dang thing to work on Verizon. And they keep telling me the phone won’t work on their network. The lady at Verizon was an absolute moron and told me that the phone company probably lied to me and it wasn’t as simple as popping a SIM card in to activate it. So I’m not sure, like I said I have T-Mobile and that’s all I have ever had to do while changing phones.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I promise that the phone is network and sim unlocked. I just have tried everything I know how. Would the next step be flashing either unlocked firmware or Verizon firmware??
Now I have gotten the old mans hopes up and really hope I can get the sought out needed help from the smart community!
I look forward to your responses.