Database Users

[Q] Venue Pro In Canada, Ideas?

Ok so now that Dell has the DVP for AT&T, will anyone here be working to change their T-Mobile device to work on AT&T? From what I understand it's just a firmware difference that allows the radio to work on the other frequencies. Consequently the same frequencies of UMTS that Bell and Telus run in Canada. It's great that Dell has decided to move to AT&T as well but unfortunately we can't get the unlocked versions shipped up here directly from Dell.
If someone wants to make some coin, buy a bunch of unlocked AT&T compatible DVP's and sell them to Canadians to work on Bell and Telus. Unfortunately I'm one of those suckers that didn't realize that UMTS 3G ran on 5 different frequencies and bought a T-Mobile one before the AT&T version was available.
I'm basically looking to try and get this one I already have to work, but if it's not possible, I'm willing to trade and/or buy an AT&T one.
Anyone have ideas? Do you think that the May 18th (tentative) firmware release will be able to be hacked to unlock all the frequencies on the radio? I hate to make such a long post but basically I'm grasping at life-lines here. My iPhone is a POS and I'm desperate for an awesome, non-android phone.

You my friend and I are in the same boat. I lucked out and Mobilicity shows up just before I ordered the phone. I like you have the t-mobile phone.
So far however the phone only works on rogers (and subsidiaries) and mobilicy. But as mobilicity is brand new i'm having a hard time staying connected and after paying almost 600 for the phone i'm kinda getting annoyed at the fact it barely stays connected to the 3G, though I have no issues with wifi.
Otherwise the phone is fantastic (with the no "explorer" exception) and with unlimited data through mobilicity, when it's good it's really good.

Lucky for you. Unfortunately I live in Alberta and the only carriers we have here are Bell, Telus, and Rogers. And the only coverage worth mentioning is worth Bell and Telus. So I'm a little SOL. If someone from the states is willing to trade an unlock AT&T version for a brand new (used for a couple hours) T-Mobile version, I'll pay shipping. I don't care. I just want a working phone.

Which S5 to go with for AT&T?

http://www.expansys-usa.com/samsung-galaxy-s5-usa-lte-unlocked-16gb-black-260522/
I didn't think the Exynos version supported USA LTE? Expansys also says is has an Exynos processor and a Qualcomm chip? Can anyone clarify this phone? I am interested in purchasing it, I just want to know if supports AT&T LTE?
Which phone do you guys recommend for AT&T? Returned my AT&T S5 today after coming to the conclusion that $700 isn't worth it for a carrier locked down phone.

Qualcomm chips would support US LTE bands.
Stick to Qualcomm version.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

the one you want is a tmobile phone. G900T. it will work with ATT LTE, doesn't have a locked bootloader.
the problem is if you walk into a Tmobile store and buy one, they will make you wait 40 days before they give you the unlock code.
you could buy the sim unlock at swiftunlock, but now you are up over $800 for the phone; Tmo wants $690 plus this and that, and tax = $765. Plus $25 to unlock = $790.
$800 was to much for me to pull the trigger.
But you can then have an unlocked, flashable, LTE capable phone.
The last thing you might need would be region away from @Chainfire if you intend to travel abroad and use local sim cards upon arrival.
This last step is the one I'm waiting on; the region away. not sure if we'll see it. i hate to be a bother and ask.. i think he said he was on vacation for a month or something

wdkingery said:
the one you want is a tmobile phone. G900T. it will work with ATT LTE, doesn't have a locked bootloader.
the problem is if you walk into a Tmobile store and buy one, they will make you wait 40 days before they give you the unlock code.
you could buy the sim unlock at swiftunlock, but now you are up over $800 for the phone; Tmo wants $690 plus this and that, and tax = $765. Plus $25 to unlock = $790.
$800 was to much for me to pull the trigger.
But you can then have an unlocked, flashable, LTE capable phone.
The last thing you might need would be region away from @Chainfire if you intend to travel abroad and use local sim cards upon arrival.
This last step is the one I'm waiting on; the region away. not sure if we'll see it. i hate to be a bother and ask.. i think he said he was on vacation for a month or something
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate your input. I'm actually considering just switching to T-Mobile. The galaxy phones play much more nicely with their service compared to iPhones. AT&T's system switched me off my grandfathered data plan yesterday, so I'm not exactly liking them at the moment.

S5 Purchase Recomendation

Hey guys,
On a s4 now, and it has been acting up (aka random shutoff) and insurance said I should replace it. They are cutting me a check and I need to purchase one today. I researched the heck out of the ATT and TMOBILE variants, but I cannot find where the best place to get it is (aka COST). Also, I am not the best with technology, so how hard is it to use the TMOBILE on the ATT and does the carrier aggregation stuff matter?
Thank you sooooooooo much,
Brad

(Historically) Which are the preferred carriers to purchase from?

CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
As with a lot of other people on this site, I'm wondering which carrier will be best to pre-order from? I use Verizon but HATE the fact that most of the times it's one of the last carriers to be able to root the phone. I would also hate for this to turn into another Verizon Samsung Note 4 issue. Too bad the rumors where Samsung was going to start making phones that were both CDMA & GSM/UTMS were not true (as far as I am aware of).
This way since I'm now paying outright for my phones (roughly $800 bucks for 7 Edge), I could use it if I moved between carriers. After reading some other posts, now I'm wondering If I'm paying full price (paid in full), Will it be unlocked? I can't be the only one that feels RIPPED OFF when I pay $800 for a device and can't have root = have my own admin access. Can you imagine buying a laptop and not being able to install/change your own OS? not having admin rights/root?
I feel it's a MAJOR excuse for a carrier to even say - if we give you root & you change the ROM, then it makes it more difficult to help you. Guess what?!? I have not ever asked for help and nor would I... Besides, why couldn't they ask for the ROM version your using... if it matches theirs, they assist... if it doesn't, they tell you before they can assist you, you must put their ROM back on? Yes - there will always be that one person... but hey - if they were able to gain root and swap the ROM, they should be able to swap it back or pay to have it swapped back. OR at least pay for insurance and "accidentally drop it" and have it replaced.
It really bites that I (along with so many other people) want to pre-order the phone for several reasons (the free VR and games along with getting the phone first) but don't want to be SCREWED by one specific carrier and not be able to unlock the phone, root and replace the ROM.
So after all that - which carrier (historically) is the best to purchase from?
CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
Additional INFO - I'm also about to call Verizon to confirm - But I read 2-3 months ago that Verizon will now allow another carrier's phone on their network (if it is CDMA). If that's true, then why not purchase the phone thru Sprint or US Cellular if historically those phones have been rooted easier than Verizon? I've been on Verizon for so long, that I'm really not sure...
Comments? suggestions?

What I'm going to do is pre-order from eBay.
The phones have a hell of a mark-up (+$200/$300), but there are unlocked Qualcomms that are usually rooted much more quickly with better support for AOSP.
I hate paying that much, but I'm going to have this phone for years, and the hassle from carrier-branded phones just isn't worth it.
Edit: You should still be able to add insurance and such through your carrier too, depending on their policies.
Didn't have an issue insuring previous phones with AT&T even though they were bought off-plan through other retailers.

It is slightly cheaper when buying it from Best Buy, $779 vs $792. I saw the T-mobile version supports band 13 LTE, but I didn't see anything about CDMA support.

I also did follow up with Verizon about placing a phone on their network that was not purchased from Verizon. They said it is currently limited to 2 phones - I don't have the names because I didn't care much......they couldn't tell me the S7 would be added to the list. So does that mean people on Verizon are STUCK purchasing from Verizon?

For my s6 edge I much preferred the unlocked UK version over the US AT&T version. (Which is why I asked in another thread when we can expect to see unlocked international versions).
AT&T not only added crazy bloat but removed really cool features from the phone. Just took em right out. They also removed Samsung deals/bundles from the phone (there was a MS suite and a free TB of storage or something removed). And in exchange for screwing with the phone they had crazy delays on updates (because they had to re-remove and re-screw the phone).
Coming from iPhone I just can't deal with carrier customizations. Unlocked for life. (crazy that Apple is unlocked now and Android isn't -- bizarro world).

JustWannaRom said:
I also did follow up with Verizon about placing a phone on their network that was not purchased from Verizon. They said it is currently limited to 2 phones - I don't have the names because I didn't care much......they couldn't tell me the S7 would be added to the list. So does that mean people on Verizon are STUCK purchasing from Verizon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus devices are the exception (6, 5X and 6P). The problem with VZW and Sprint is that they use proprietary CDMA technology for voice communication. You can bring just about any device to their networks and have data but you won't be able to make voice calls in most cases.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

JustWannaRom said:
CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
As with a lot of other people on this site, I'm wondering which carrier will be best to pre-order from? I use Verizon but HATE the fact that most of the times it's one of the last carriers to be able to root the phone. I would also hate for this to turn into another Verizon Samsung Note 4 issue. Too bad the rumors where Samsung was going to start making phones that were both CDMA & GSM/UTMS were not true (as far as I am aware of).
This way since I'm now paying outright for my phones (roughly $800 bucks for 7 Edge), I could use it if I moved between carriers. After reading some other posts, now I'm wondering If I'm paying full price (paid in full), Will it be unlocked? I can't be the only one that feels RIPPED OFF when I pay $800 for a device and can't have root = have my own admin access. Can you imagine buying a laptop and not being able to install/change your own OS? not having admin rights/root?
I feel it's a MAJOR excuse for a carrier to even say - if we give you root & you change the ROM, then it makes it more difficult to help you. Guess what?!? I have not ever asked for help and nor would I... Besides, why couldn't they ask for the ROM version your using... if it matches theirs, they assist... if it doesn't, they tell you before they can assist you, you must put their ROM back on? Yes - there will always be that one person... but hey - if they were able to gain root and swap the ROM, they should be able to swap it back or pay to have it swapped back. OR at least pay for insurance and "accidentally drop it" and have it replaced.
It really bites that I (along with so many other people) want to pre-order the phone for several reasons (the free VR and games along with getting the phone first) but don't want to be SCREWED by one specific carrier and not be able to unlock the phone, root and replace the ROM.
So after all that - which carrier (historically) is the best to purchase from?
CDMA - Verizon (not), Sprint?, U.S. Cellular?
GSM - AT&T?, T-Mobile?
Additional INFO - I'm also about to call Verizon to confirm - But I read 2-3 months ago that Verizon will now allow another carrier's phone on their network (if it is CDMA). If that's true, then why not purchase the phone thru Sprint or US Cellular if historically those phones have been rooted easier than Verizon? I've been on Verizon for so long, that I'm really not sure...
Comments? suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile period, not going to lock the boot loader you'll be able to root (provided the community finds a way, but it's a snap dragon and unlocked bootloader so they will most likely before it even releases. ) second if you don't want tmo service you can still root it and use am at&t sim so there's that.

SM-G950UZSATMB - What!? Bootloader unlocked?

I see this BOGO offer direct on Samsung's website for Galaxy S8's. In the past, all Galaxy S phones were SM-G920T (T for T-Mobile) SM-G920V (V for Verizon, etc) and then Best Buy sold that piece of crap SIM unlocked SM-G920U that was bootloader LOCKED and couldn't do anything with it.
I'm trying to find out here if the Bootloader is locked on any variant of the Snapdragon 835 S8's, and which version I should get. T-Mobile has the same BOGO offer on the S8 in the form of a rebate as well, but I can't confirm anywhere the specific model number. I'm so jaded by the fact that T-Mobile left the bootloader locked on their S7 that I can't imagine them leaving it unlocked.
The G6 is also BOGO right now as well, but I don't know if that bootloader is unlocked like all my previous LG phones from T-Mo we're.
I'd really appreciate any kind of confirmed answers you might have!
Cheers!

joesee said:
I see this BOGO offer direct on Samsung's website for Galaxy S8's. In the past, all Galaxy S phones were SM-G920T (T for T-Mobile) SM-G920V (V for Verizon, etc) and then Best Buy sold that piece of crap SIM unlocked SM-G920U that was bootloader LOCKED and couldn't do anything with it.
I'm trying to find out here if the Bootloader is locked on any variant of the Snapdragon 835 S8's, and which version I should get. T-Mobile has the same BOGO offer on the S8 in the form of a rebate as well, but I can't confirm anywhere the specific model number. I'm so jaded by the fact that T-Mobile left the bootloader locked on their S7 that I can't imagine them leaving it unlocked.
The G6 is also BOGO right now as well, but I don't know if that bootloader is unlocked like all my previous LG phones from T-Mo we're.
I'd really appreciate any kind of confirmed answers you might have!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the carriers have "U" devices in the U.S. this year. The SIM you initialize the phone with is what carrier's features are added. A "U" from Samsung apparently doesn't take on the carrier whose SIM is used features and remains virgin. So "U" could be considered "universal" or "U.S." It's still a S-835 device which means "U" definitely doesn't mean unlocked bootloader.

I'm not an expert at all but I really doubt that ANY Samsung bootloader will ever be unlocked again. Pretty much after 2013 all bootloaders were locked [AFAIK] at least for the Galaxy series. I really like Samsung devices but my Galaxy Tab S (late 2014) isn't even going to get the Nougat upgrade - this actually pisses me off greatly.
When you see 'unlocked' concerning a phone/device it means CARRIER unlocked, not the bootloader. The 'unlocked' means that you can use it with any carrier that the device supports - so just about most of the carriers/providers in the entire world. Still not sure about this concerning CDMA (Verizon/Sprint) as some things may not work (different bands). Tried using GSM phones on CDMA a few years back and wasn't able to use 4G/LTE & also MMS.
Good luck.
EDIT:
Was typing this as BarryH_GEG replied to your question. Yes the letter following the model corresponds to the various carriers (Verizon, Cricket, Sprint, etc) and are also different for international versions.
EDIT2:
On another note I own a Galaxy S7 Edge (international) that has the Exynos processor that is unlocked. At the same time this is the only device I've never rooted because it works so well for me, no carrier bloatware. Also the only device I've ever purchased without a removable battery. Until the latest updates I was able to go 2 days without charging (not anymore unfortunately). The international S8/S8+ also use the Exynos processor so you might consider this option. However the cost will be high as it was for me when I purchased my GS7edge as you'll need to purchase it directly without any US discounts or such. I paid out just over $700 for my GS7edge directly, though at the same time my AT&T bill is much lower because of this.
I've researched the GS8+ international and it's looking to be around $800. Compared to trading in my GS7edge international for an unlocked US version I can get for $375 (with trade-in) if I do this within a month or so... I can probably get $400 for my GS7edge (since it's international) but how long will this take? If I only get $300 for it for a quick sale I'll still spend $500 for the new 8+ so is this worth it?
Only stating these issues so that you understand my thinking concerning an unlocked bootloader. These are [mostly, still SS stuff] bloatware free, have incredible power, etc, etc. I miss rooting my device but is it really worth it for the cost? I really want the international/Exynos S8+ but still not sure.
Let me know your thoughts, later.